Kenney avoids ouster — but some say clock ticking on leadership
EDMONTON—Premier Jason Kenney will go on to fight another day in Alberta politics — but some experts say it probably won’t be long before he’s pushed out of his own party.
As the province’s health-care system buckles from pressure heaped on by a raging fourth wave of COVID-19, Kenney’s United Conservative Party is divided between those who think the government hasn’t done enough to stop it and those who have opposed public health restrictions and vaccine passports.
Left standing at the centre of it all is Kenney — his political future now in question as some in the party he founded in 2017 have begun to eye, and outright demand, his ouster.
The lead-up to a caucus meeting that took place Wednesday in Calgary was mired in speculation that some MLAs could bring forward a vote of confidence on Kenney’s leadership — but that vote didn’t end up happening. Backbench UCP MLA Searle Turton told The Canadian Press the meeting dealt with a cascade of issues. “There was discussion about the party, about unity, about how we got here, about COVID. Caucus is a robust place to do discussion in a confidential setting,” Turton said. “There were no votes by caucus. There was lots of robust discussion about the pandemic.”
A source with knowledge of the meeting told the Star a motion of non-confidence in leadership was on the table but was withdrawn. It had been contingent on the vote being done by secret ballot, but that option was rejected at the meeting, the source said. The source spoke on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, Kenney spoke to the president of the United Conservative Party on Wednesday and asked that the 2022 UCP annual general meeting take place in the spring and that the leadership review — already scheduled for that year — happen there, according to an emailed statement from UCP spokesperson Dave Prisco.
Insiders say there’s anger on all sides of the party’s caucus. Some are roiled that the premier didn’t bring in public health measures quickly enough in August when COVID-19 cases were rising. Others are angry that after promising the province would be open for good as of Canada Day, and vowing never to bring in vaccine passports, that the premier reversed course on both issues this month.
In an interview with Calgary Herald columnist Don Braid, UCP MLA and former cabinet minister Leela Aheer slammed Kenney for removing Tyler Shandro from the Ministry of Health portfolio.
“This is a failure of leadership from the premier,” she reportedly said.
“The only thing that should have happened today is that the premier says he had failed and is stepping down.”