Former Wildrose Leader Brian Jean calls for Kenney's resignation
Brian Jean says he’s been let down by the incumbent government and took issue with the lack of an apology from the UCP regarding the Sky Palace dinner.
"FOR THE GOOD OF THE UCP, FOR THE GOOD OF ALBERTA, IT IS TIME FOR JASON KENNEY TO RESIGN," Jean's most begins. "I have been thinking about this for the last several days, as I watched Premier Kenney take another relatively minor issue and turn it into a political crisis. I was disappointed that the Premier and his chosen inner circle made a mess of following the COVID rules that he placed on all Albertans. But I was much more disappointed that when he was clearly in the wrong he just wouldn't apologize. And that got me thinking about how often I have been disappointed in how this government does things."
Jean went on. "The Kenney government has a real "how" problem. Even when they do things that Albertans overwhelmingly support, they somehow manage to do them in a way that offends and angers the most people possible. This government likes to fight too much. Too often they are fighting Albertans for no reason other than the government's poor attitude. The Premier seems to think that everyone who isn't 100% loyal to Jason Kenney, is an enemy of this government. This brutal attitude has migrated its way into the political staff who still support Kenney and many of his ministers. It leaves you with the impression that many people at the top levels of this government don't actually like Albertans."
The former Wildrose leader then proceeded to talk about the UCP's polling issues. Recent polls show the UCP trailing the NDP by a significant margin. "I recently commissioned a top Alberta pollster to drill down into how Albertans view the current political situation. The poll shows that the NDP would win a resounding majority government if an election were held right now. They would win all the seats in Edmonton and area, they would win all but a handful of seats in Calgary and they would split the rest of the province with the UCP. This is part of a political trend that has been growing since the election. This is shocking, just 2 years after the NDP was justifiably defeated. When we drilled down on voter motivation we discovered that more than half of people who told the pollster they were voting NDP said that they wished there was someone else to vote for but they wouldn't vote UCP. Even more scary is that half of the UCP voters in the poll wanted someone else to vote for but they would never vote NDP. Jason Kenney's poor attitude is motivating huge numbers of Albertans to hold their nose and reluctantly support the NDP. This is a huge problem."
He then proceeded to offer a solution. "A problem that can only be solved in two ways, either Kenney changes, or Kenney leaves. I have given the Premier a lot of good advice in the last two years but he won’t take it. He is too set in his ways. So, Premier, before it is too late, do the right thing and step down for the good of the party we created and the good of Alberta. The alternative is Rachel Notley winning in 2023 and believing she has a mandate to create the Alberta the NDP wants. That would be a disaster."
The same day this story broke, Kenney took responsibility for the dinner incident. "“I take full responsibility for this. I invited my colleagues there,” Kenney said Monday. “We have to set a higher example, a higher threshold of conduct, so I want to sincerely apologize to my colleagues and to Albertans for letting you down, for not being more careful to scrupulously follow every aspect of the public health guidelines that we expect of everyone.”
The Wildrose Party under Jean and the Progressive Conservatives under Kenney joined in 2017 to become the UCP. Jean lost to Kenney in a subsequent leadership vote.
