Newly-minted PC boss Kenney to meet with Jean
CALGARY New Progressive Conservative Leader Jason Kenney will meet Monday with Wildrose Leader Brian Jean to discuss the path to a single united conservative party.
Jean is pro-unity, but wants his party to absorb the PCs so as not to lose the substantial Wildrose war chest.
But in his first post-win news conference Sunday, Kenney doubled down on his oft-repeated message that unity must be decided by grassroots members.
“This is not about the political parties, it’s about Alberta,” he said.
How the two parties will become one is, at this point, still a mystery.
Kenney is banking on a strategy similar to the one that melded the federal Progressive Conservatives and the Canadian Alliance to become the Conservative Party of Canada in 2003.
That means developing a plan with Wildrose through the work of a negotiation committee — hopefully in a matter of weeks — and taking it to members of both parties.
“If we can put together a sensible agreement, it will take away the fear of the unknown,” Kenney said.
“I want to go as quickly as we can, but not cut corners.”
Kenney hopes to see more cooperation between the Wildrose and the PCs on the floor of the legislature to help pave the way for unity.
With a lot of work to be done outside the legislative building — namely figuring out the mechanics of a united party and shoring up support in a looming leadership battle with Jean — Kenney said he’s not looking to get himself a seat in the PC caucus. Nor will he be drawing a salary from the party.
HORSE BEFORE CART
Kenney wouldn’t be drawn into detailed policy questions, saying part of the reason the Tories were decimated in the 2015 election was their arrogance, so ideas must be developed from the grassroots.
However, he did say he would roll back the carbon tax and other NDP fiscal policies that he said are damaging investor confidence in Alberta.
“Let’s get the democratic horse in front of the policy cart,” he said.
Kenney does agree with some NDP changes, such as election finance reformation laws, but he was critical of what he called a lowering of discourse in the house, taking a swipe at the NDP for “becoming almost as mean-spirited as they are incompetent.”
The PC party board met Sunday with Kenney.
With Kenney winning on a platform to essentially dissolve the party, the Tories are now in unchartered territory.
With an election in just two years, PC Association of Alberta president Katherine O’Neill wants to resolve the tangled question of unity as quickly as possible.
“You could tell around the table today that people want to work with our new leader,” she said Sunday following the meeting.
“There’s a lot of unanswered questions, but people still want to be at the table to move us to that next step.”
It’s no secret that not everyone’s on-side with Kenney’s vision, but O’Neill said board members don’t seem to be actively trying to block unity, and are willing to explore where the party goes from here.
For now, O’Neill said it’s business as usual for the PC party, which will continue to sell memberships and fundraise because it still has an organization to run. SUPPORTING THE ROYAL ALEX AND UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS
Let’s get the democratic horse in front of the policy cart. JASON KENNEY