After Kenney's exit, MPs reflect on future
`A time not to panic, not to get excited'
OTTAWA — The fall of Jason Kenney, a juggernaut of conservatism in Canada, has prompted many federal Tories to consider the future of the party, which is in the midst of a leadership race seen as a fractious fight for its soul.
Conservative MPs on Thursday reacted to Kenney's resignation as Alberta premier with a mix of sadness, surprise and gratitude for his years of public service.
The party stalwart served in the cabinet of former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper.
He announced his resignation as United Conservative Party leader late Wednesday after narrowly winning a leadership review with 51.4 per cent of the vote.
That verdict followed months of open rebellion by MLAs who, among other things, fiercely opposed Kenney's imposition of lockdowns and COVID-19 vaccine passports.
“This is a time, I think, of quiet reflection for conservatives in Alberta and in the conservative movement,” said Calgary MP Stephanie Kusie, who is assisting with Pierre Poilievre's leadership campaign in the federal race.
“This is also a time not to panic, not to get excited, not to fight each other, but to stay focused on the principles and values which have allowed us to win before.”
But that may be too late. Kenney is the latest conservative leader in the country to have found himself on the outs with his party's base for reasons that include their handling of the pandemic.
The last example before him was former federal Conservative leader Erin O'Toole, who was forced out in early February by a majority of his MPs.
Tourism Minister Randy Boissonnault, a Liberal MP from Edmonton, said Thursday he sees a trend of conservative leaders being pushed out of their parties for not being “extreme enough,” saying that should be a wake-up call to the movement's moderates.
Before their respective falls, Kenney and O'Toole both painted themselves as trying to build modern, mainstream conservative parties that some darker, more extreme elements from within were trying to take in a different direction.
Veteran Conservative strategist Melanie Paradis sees that as being a direction fuelled by anger.
“Close observers have seen the movement going in this direction for a while.”