Kenney to defend school choice

UCP leadership hopeful takes aim at ‘NDP front groups’

United Conservative Party leadership hopeful Jason Kenney has accused Premier Rachel Notley’s office of rubber-stamping a campaign against independent schools.

Speaking with supporters in a telephone town hall Tuesday night, Kenney said as leader he would “fight like heck” to defend school choice and parental authority in education.

He also accused the government of running a coalition of “NDP front groups” that are attacking independent school funding.

“I don’t believe that would be happening unless it had been approved or green-lighted by the NDP and by the premier’s office,” Kenney said.

Notley’s office did not offer comment before deadline.

The town hall came hot on the heels of k.d. lang taking to Twitter to offer Kenney free concert tickets to her Aug. 24 Calgary Pride gig if he sits down to talk LGBTQ rights with her.

Blaise Boehmer with Kenney’s camp said Tuesday night it was unlikely Kenney would accept the offer, because he is “100 per cent focused on the UCP leadership race” with a slew of events already planned for this week.

During the hour-long town hall, the former Progressive Conservative leader took questions from supporters about topics ranging from the carbon tax and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to British Columbia’s rejection of pipelines.

He was also asked about immigration, and told listeners that a UCP government under his leadership would consider rolling back benefits for people whose refugee claims have failed.

The question-and-answer session was a chance for Kenney to do as any prospective employee would — listing what he believes are his relevant qualifications for the job, including his time at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, as immigration minister, and his years of pedalling conservative values on the political field.

The conversation came after three more UCP MLAs endorsed former Wildrose leader Brian Jean.

Little Bow MLA David Schneider, Highwood MLA Wayne Anderson and Livingstone-Macleod MLA Pat Stier threw their support behind Jean Tuesday.

During the town hall, Kenney once again slammed the notion of introducing policy in the leadership race, but that didn’t phase Jean.

In a statement Tuesday, the Fort McMurray-Conklin MLA said he’ll keep sharing his ideas for potential UCP policy.

Earlier this week, he unveiled an education policy that — much like Kenney — focused on protecting parental choice.

Jean also accused the NDP of focusing on “experiments and ideology” in Alberta classrooms instead of doing what’s best for students.

United Conservative members will vote on a leader Oct. 28.

Calgary lawyer Doug Schweitzer and former Wildrose president Jeff Callaway are also in the race.