Jason Kenney's non-resignation resignation

Merely announcing intention to quit muddles playing field

After one of the most dramatic and consequential weeks in modern provincial political history, it seems strange to note that, for now, nothing has actually changed.

Jason Kenney's resignation as UCP leader and Alberta premier will presumably go down in the annals of spectacular turns of political fortune. Of course, that has to actually happen first.

Kenney resigned as leader, except he didn't. He gave up being premier, except he is the premier and will be for the foreseeable future. Alberta politics has undergone a tremendous upheaval and it has left us with more or less the previous status quo.

If all of this seems confusing and perplexing, that's because it is. If someone can explain how any of this is in any way good for Alberta, I'm all ears.

As unfair as it may have seemed to Kenney and his supporters, the path forward was quite clear last Wednesday evening: Kenney failed to achieve a meaningful level of support in his leadership review and so he concluded that the best thing to do was to step aside as leader in the hopes that doing so could help to heal the divisions in the party.

Even that scenario comes with its own share of chaos.

Mind you, the province seemed to function reasonably well for those few months in late 2013 and early 2014 when Dave Hancock was interim premier.

When it comes to premiers resigning before their first term is up, thus necessitating a leadership race to crown a new premier, this isn't Alberta's first rodeo.

But a situation where a premier announces his resignation but then doesn't actually resign and instead announces an intention to resign following a leadership race that isn't yet automatic because of the resignation that didn't happen? Well, that creates a whole new level of chaos and uncertainty.

A caretaker premier is likely inclined to aspire to nothing more than being a steady hand on the wheel. Absent a crisis, there's no need for major policy decisions or interventions. However, all bets are off when it comes to a lame duck premier who has no intention of being a lame duck premier.

Since Jason Kenney is not technically an “interim” leader (merely the duly elected leader who presumably intends on forsaking the leadership at a future date), he is not precluded from running in the leadership race. If, somehow, that leadership race fails to materialize, then he would simply carry on as leader and as premier.

Are we to believe that these considerations will have no bearing on how Kenney chooses to govern the province in the weeks and months ahead?

This leadership review has been enough of a distraction for the government already, and whatever political chess Kenney is playing now could just prolong and exacerbate that.

Kenney clearly does not want to resign, and maybe he's not totally wrong to feel aggrieved at the perceived cruelty or unfairness of it all. But politics can be a cruel and unfair business, something that those who have been on the losing end of the Kenney political machine can surely attest to.

Whatever circumstances or political adversaries conspired to create this political storm, Kenney himself is not blameless. The lack of introspection here speaks directly to that. The hubris it would take to now try to orchestrate an unthinkable political resurrection is yet further evidence of Kenney's blind spot with regard to his own shortcomings.

For all his faults, it may well be that Alberta is in better hands with Kenney than those who have already declared an intent to campaign for the soon-to-be-vacant job. But that's not the point here.

For someone who sounded so magnanimous last Wednesday night, Kenney's actions and decision since then paint a much different picture. As hard as it surely is for him, he should resign (for real).