The recent events in Alberta politics and the election of a new leader for the United Conservative Party (UCP) has shown that politician who stay too long and more importantly over promise and under deliver cannot last past their due date. To claim that conservatism is dead is a cope out and a false narrative.
Jason Kenney is a twenty-five-year career politician, who served this country as one of the best Immigration Ministers of all time. So much so that I devoted a whole Chapter about his work in my book Conservatives: Dead or Alive? He took an enormous gamble to leave federal politics to save Alberta from the claws of a socialist Notley government. He achieved to bring the UCP back into government, but along the way, in my opinion he made some mistakes that cost him his position as leader of the party.
To me, some of these decisions were due to circumstances which were out of his control, but some were. He spent a lot of money on trying to get the oil and gas industry back from the death knell of federal regulations. However, he put too much faith in another opportunistic politician Senator Manchin of Virginia and bought a pipeline which was going nowhere for billions of dollars. He also allowed bracket creep into Alberta taxes, while investing a failed project to investigate the involvement of foreign money in the destruction of our energy industry. Then came the Covid pandemic which was outside of his control he allowed too many outside influences to dictate his policies, while presiding on travel, and health scandals within his caucus. While turning a blind eye on some of his caucus behavior, he closed down the province, and arrested pastors and other people who protested against the intransigent Covid laws. In fact he ignore one of the fundamental tenets of conservatism : Freedom. During the pandemic he seemed to have sided more with Ottawa than protected Albertan’s rights to make choices of their own. The Covid decisions, in my view, were the last straws that broke the camel’s back, and an internal revolt saw him calling for a leadership review that handed him a 51% approval and he decided to step down, but not leaving until a new leader was elected. In my opinion, this latest decision was another mistake, which turn many voters to support Danielle Smith.
While the leadership campaign was under way, Kenney proceeded to govern as Premier and spend a lot of money, which came as a complete lucky economic boom caused by the war in Ukraine. The price of oil went up and a surprised surplus came to the rescue of the Alberta economy. The surplus was not the result of fiscal or monetary polices but rather the economic luck of higher oil prices. In his last days he used this windfall to spend on certain programs that should have been part of his government in the first place, albeit with fiscal restraints. Kenney produced some of his best achievements when he had already been voted out as leader, but upon his departure he made some comments that showed how much of a poor loser he had turned into.
Once deposed, he went on TV and gave interviews concerning his departure. The most revealing aspect of his demise according to him was the death of Conservativism which is being replaced by “Populism with a snarl”. His attack on Smith’s plans to use the Alberta a Sovereignty Act (ASA) is based on old style Progressive Conservative principles. To be clear the ASA states: ““Alberta Sovereignty Act, granting the Alberta legislature absolute discretion to refuse any provincial enforcement of federal legislation or judicial decisions that, in its view, interfere with provincial areas of jurisdiction or constitute an attack on the interests of Albertans.” It does not mean that Supreme Court decisions will be ignored. Many of Smith’s opponents and pundits maintain the ASA may well be unconstitutional, but it resonates with many Albertans that have seen the provincial powers usurped by Ottawa. But if it is defined as populism, it may well be the correct strategy to deal with a Federal government which has for many years disregarded the rights of Alberta to manage its industry that provides so much to Canada’s GDP. The federal government’s clear bias is at the root of Alberta’s stance to have the right to run its affairs. Quebec’s Bill 96 for instance had no blow back from Ottawa, yet many decisions affecting Alberta are deemed subject to the law form Ottawa. Those who claim that the Constitution is being challenged by the ASA, should take a deep breath, and remember that for political reason Ottawa continuously favors Eastern Provinces, and Quebec to the detriment of others. Is Canada still a confederation with equal Provincial rights? Some will say not, hence the proposed use of the Alberta Sovereignty Act.
Where Kenney’s gripes against both Smith and newly elected Canada’s Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre fail, is that he seems to ignore what populism means and why it came to the fore of politics in Canada and other countries. By definition: “Populism is a political approach that strives to appeal to ordinary people who feel that their concerns are disregarded by established elite groups.” It is exactly the desire for people to be heard instead of being led by career politicians like Kenney that resulted in populism. True conservatism had long disappeared in Canadian politics when the party became Progressive Conservative which in my view meant more closely related to Liberalism. As Canadian Liberals under Trudeau moved towards socialism, it is clear many voters who felt that they were no longer heard turned to populism and are shifting to Poilievre. In Alberta, Kenney’s failure to govern as a true conservative, which I really believe he is, resulted in Smith’s resurrection as a leader in Alberta. If there is a fear that conservatism is dying in Canada and being replaced by populism, politicians should look in the mirror. The reason for the shift results from the inability of career politicians to listen to their constituents. Career politicians with 25 years in office tend to become set in their ways and too often become arrogant and claim to have all the answers. One more reason for my insistence that we should have term limits. Career politician who are rejected by their constituents should not blame a shift in ideology, they should blame themselves, I just hope that the election of both Poilievre and Smith bring a wakeup call to real conservatives and that they should compromise on process but never compromise their conservative principles. They should both listen to their constituents or face the wrath of the people and shown the door like some of their failed predecessors.
Marcel Latouche
former President & CEO of IPSA
