Jason Kenney pleads for unity as his leadership is under increasing scrutiny
CBC
This column is an opinion from Graham Thomson, an award-winning journalist who has covered Alberta politics for more than 30 years. For more information about CBC's Opinion section, please see the FAQ.
The political vultures are circling.
A bit prematurely perhaps, but they're here at the annual general meeting of the United Conservative Party this weekend in Calgary.
They're eager to pick at the carcass of Alberta Premier Jason Kenney – even though the premier is not politically dead. Not yet. But as the most unpopular premier in the country with a disapproval rate around 80 per cent, he is most decidedly wounded.
As Kenney addressed 1,500 party members Saturday morning, Brian Jean and Danielle Smith were in the convention hall dismembering the UCP leader with their eyes.
Jean is a former leader of the Wildrose Party and Smith is, um, a former leader of the Wildrose Party. Jean's political career ended after losing a bitterly contested UCP leadership race to Kenney in 2017. Smith blew up her political career by crossing the floor to the Progressive Conservatives in 2014.
Both see Kenney as vulnerable prey, staggering his way towards a leadership vote next spring.
Two political birds of prey aren't exactly a flock, but they represent a number of the old right-wing, libertarian Wildrose party members who feel betrayed by Kenney.
And neither were particularly inspired by Kenney's performance at the convention, even after many in the audience gave their leader so many standing ovations it's a wonder organizers bothered to put chairs in the hall.
"He's lost the trust of Albertans," said Jean, who dismissed Kenney's warm reception as political theatre generated by political staffers in the audience. "We don't have time for him to play games to try to earn it back."
Smith, who once declared herself to be "unelectable" after the politically disastrous floor-crossing seven years ago, now appears to think her political future looks rosier than even Kenney's.
"I would feel like that if the position (of leader) was open I would have to run," she told the Western Standard, an Alberta online news outlet. "I believe in unity and this is the real issue, so let's throw some names on the table."
Right now, of course, the position is not open. And Kenney is hoping to keep it that way.
His Saturday speech included a rerun of his old attacks against the "Notley-Trudeau alliance," blaming the province's economic woes on the "double recession" of depressed oil prices and the pandemic, and offering up a shopping list of government successes, including recent economic announcements.
P.E.I.'s Public Schools Branch is looking for 50 substitute bus drivers, and it'll be recruiting at three job fairs on Saturday, June 8. The job fairs are located at the Atlantic Superstore in Montague, Royalty Crossing in Charlottetown, and the bus parking lot of Three Oaks Senior High in Summerside. All three run from 9 a.m. until noon. Dave Gillis, the director of transportation and risk management for the Public Schools Branch, said the number of substitute drivers they're hiring isn't unusual. "We are always looking for more. Our drivers tend to have an older demographic," he said.