Jason Kenney warns against listening to ‘extreme voices’ in final days as premier

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Jason Kenney is soon to depart as Alberta’s Premier. But he’s worried about political stability in the province, and he’s urging his fellow United Conservative Party members to move beyond the divisive politics of the pandemic – lest they completely lose the confidence of mainstream voters.

In a wide-ranging exit interview on Wednesday, the often-polarizing Premier also said he will sit as MLA for Calgary Lougheed for “a period of time,” but won’t run in the next Alberta election. In May, he received only a slight majority of support from party members in a leadership review, and announced he would step down as Premier once a new party leader was selected. Since then, he’s tried to outrun his lame-duck status, quickening his already frenetic pace of work – another news conference on health care is scheduled for Thursday morning, just hours before the UCP announces the result of its leadership race.

Mr. Kenney’s comments are reflective of his time in the legislature, but also strike at the big problems the next UCP leader and Alberta premier will face. Forever a political animal, he also can’t help weighing in.

“What concerns me is the possibility the harsh polarization that Alberta experienced through COVID continues to characterize our politics,” Mr. Kenney said.

“We don’t need to be seeking recrimination and re-litigation of the divisive COVID debates. I think if that becomes characteristic of the party or the movement, it will lose the confidence of mainstream Albertans.

opinion: Albertans could some day miss Jason Kenney, even if his current approval numbers spell a different story

“If in the future the decision is to keep picking at the scabs and listening to the most extreme voices on COVID stuff, on vaccines, you name it, then I think that’s a ticket to political irrelevancy.”

Mr. Kenney said the pandemic tore apart the Alberta conservative movement he helped to unite. “COVID was like a buzz saw that went through that coalition.”

Danielle Smith is the presumed front-runner in the race to replace Mr. Kenney as UCP leader. She has based her campaign on communication aimed at those party members the most disillusioned with public institutions such as Alberta Health Services, COVID-19 health mandates, and the federal government.

Ms. Smith and Mr. Kenney are in many ways cut from the same cloth politically. They have travelled in the same conservative circles for more than two decades. But that hasn’t stopped Mr. Kenney from unabashedly criticizing Ms. Smith’s plan for a sovereignty act, saying he could never support a bill that “would shred the rule of law, ignore the authority of the courts, massively destabilize investor confidence, jeopardize the construction of pipelines and take us a huge step toward separating from Canada.”

He has also said in the past his party was under siege from “hateful, extreme and divisive voices.”

Now, as he speaks about whether the UCP will continue to listen to those extreme voices, is he speaking about Ms. Smith’s appeal to angry conservative Albertans?

“Ask me that question next week,” he said.

“I will say, though, in the leadership review vote that we had in May, over half the people who voted in that have never before been members of the United Conservative Party, the Progressive Conservative or the Wildrose parties. So I think a very substantial number of people voting in the current leadership race, again, have no history in any of the conservative parties in Alberta.”

Critics would say that Mr. Kenney himself egged on the angriest Albertans, especially as it related to COVID-19 health restrictions and vaccine mandates. He says he was stuck in the middle. “My critics say that I was recklessly indifferent to COVID and far too reluctant to bring in restrictions. And my critics say that I brought in draconian restrictions and somehow marginalized the unvaccinated.”

Once this week is done, he’s likely to get caught up on some sleep. And some time next year, he will turn his attention to what comes next, potentially a job in the private sector, sitting on boards, or writing long-form policy pieces. He also wants to volunteer for organizations focused on the crisis in Ukraine, or to advance reconciliation in Canada.

“Friends have come to me and said, ‘by the way, so-and-so said you should give them a call.’ I said, ‘well maybe tell them to contact me in the new year.’ “

Will he work as a political pundit? “Please God, absolutely not.”

Mr. Kenney said that knowing he is leaving politics has made him “less filtered” in his remarks. He has also spoken with emotion about Queen Elizabeth’s death, and the return of the Manitou Stone, which holds spiritual significance to Indigenous people across the Prairies.

It’s a contrast to his self-described “normally stoic personality.” His lack of a personal story is fascinating to some Albertans, while others view him as some kind of conservative robot. I ask if he should have shown more of his personal side, earlier on.

“Yeah, maybe,” he replies. “I’ve never pretended to be a warm, cuddly, knock-off of Bill Clintonesque empathy. I’m a get-er-done workaholic.

“I can tell you in emergency cabinet meetings during COVID, where after a 12-hour meeting, I had to sum up the consensus and make decisions which I hated, and more than once I had to do that with tears coming down my eyes,” he said.

“But I don’t think the public wants to see their leaders wearing their emotions on their sleeve every day.”

The past few weeks have also seen a flurry of last-minute announcements. Mr. Kenney insists it’s not about shoring up his legacy, but about his obsession with completing tasks, and with jobs and economic growth. Late on Wednesday, it was the news the government will bolster its aviation training and tourism budgets in exchange for Calgary-based WestJet expanding its operations in the province.

“If I have a legacy, it’s not going to be defined by the last couple of weeks in office,” Mr. Kenney said. “God knows I’m not in politics for the adulation.”