Kenney to remain premier for now

CALGARY • Jason Kenney will remain premier of Alberta and the leader of the United Conservative Party until a new head of the party is chosen.

UCP caucus chair Nathan Neudorf released a statement Thursday evening after a six-hour caucus meeting, saying the caucus had a “vigorous discussion” regarding the future of the party and the government and decided to affirm Kenney as leader.

“We agreed that we must remain united, focused on the best interests of Albertans and committed to doing the job Albertans elected us to do,” said Neudorf. “In that spirit, we have affirmed Premier Jason Kenney’s continued leadership of our caucus and government until such time as a new leader is chosen, the timing of which will be determined by the United Conservative Party.”

The caucus meeting came the day after Kenney announced his intention to resign as leader after he received 51.4 per cent support in a leadership review.

Kenney did not speak with reporters following the caucus meeting.

But he tweeted out his resignation letter to the UCP, which says he will step down once a new leader is elected.

Some in the UCP caucus wanted Kenney to resign immediately. Before the meeting in downtown Calgary on Thursday, MLA Brian Jean, one of Kenney’s loudest critics and a confirmed challenger for his job, said the premier needed to remove himself immediately to allow the party to begin “healing.”

“The healing process can’t start until Jason Kenney leaves. He knows that, we know that and we need to start the renewal process of the UCP,” said Jean. “Kenney knows parliamentary tradition. It would be parliamentary tradition for him to step down immediately.”

Several MLAS appeared determined to have a new leader by the end of the caucus gathering, with MLA Richard Gotfried, who has been critical of Kenney, saying he was willing to take as long as necessary to make it happen.

“I’ll stay here till three in the morning if we need to, to get that done. But we need to take the opportunity now,” said Gotfried. “The signal has come from Albertans, now’s the time to take that reset button opportunity and to move boldly forward.”

Many of the UCP MLAS remained tight-lipped Thursday about whether they would put their names forward for the top job.

MLA Devin Dreeshen declined to comment, saying it was an “interesting question” when asked if he would put his name forward. He said the party has a lot of work to do and needs to remember that their political opponents are the NDP and not each other.

“I think (Kenney’s) team was really surprised. I think they thought they had this in the bag and I think at 51 per cent that really shocked a lot of people,” said Dreeshen.

In the lead-up to the leadership review, senior political staffers took to Twitter to compare members of the party who disagreed with Kenney to clowns, and often criticized Jean and fellow critic and former Wildrose leader Danielle Smith for failing to win general elections in the past.

NDP Leader Rachel Notley said Thursday her party is united and ready to take on whoever is leading the UCP in next year’s provincial general election.

“Our message is no matter who the leader is, is that we are ready. We are more than ready and so it doesn’t really matter who ultimately is leading them into the next election. The fact is that they’ve got a record, and I’ll put mine up against that one any time,” said Notley.

Smith reannounced Thursday her intention to seek the top job with the UCP.