The moment of truth for Jason Kenney

The former Harper government minister, who became Alberta’s premier, is a key figure at home and on the national scene, a tenor of the Canadian conservative movement. But for a year, Jason Kenney was fighting for his political survival.

It was in Alberta, opposition to pandemic restrictions came from Conservative government banks.

About fifteen members of Jason Kenney’s caucus, most of whom were elected in the countryside, openly condemned the vaccine passport and the forced mask as well as various changes in the government’s direction on the pandemic.

This internal uprising not only led to the ouster of two members of the Conservative rank, but it also caused the return to the scene of former Wildrose party leader Brian Jean, who was recently elected in a by-election in by openly promising to overthrow Jason. Kenney.

In an interview, the new MP for Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche vowed that he would not return because of personal ambition, but to save the United Conservative Party from disaster a year before the next election.

” Fourteen, fifteen months of polls indicate that Jason Kenney will not get more than 30% support. Leaders who do not achieve 30% will not be competitive in the next general election. “

If the measures against COVID have angered many conservatives, it is also the leader’s leadership style that is not pleasing to many. Brian Jean is still not melted to see Jason Kenney sitting down with some ministers last year, when the Albertans still had to abide by health policies.

Failure of his leadership, a series of bad decisions over a long period of time, ignoring those who should have been listened to.listed Brian Jean when asked what he blamed the Prime Minister.

Specialist on the right in Canada, political science professor and vice-dean of the Saint-Jean Campus of the University of Alberta Frédéric Boily has confirmed that despite the pandemic, it is Jason Kenney’s style that has not passed the conservative base.

There is a kind of junction [des critiques] a given moment between the leadership style and the health measures taken by the governmenthe explains.

Maybe not the end of the divisions

By agreeing to submit this vote of confidence sooner than expected, Jason Kenney hopes to end for good the infighting within his troops.

But by setting the bar at 50% + 1 support to stay at the helm of the party, the Alberta premier can still get involved in infighting despite the victory.

With the result in the range between 50 and 55%, or even up to 60%, it will not silence the growl.emphasizes Frédéric Boily who recalled that former Prime Minister Ralph Klein submitted his resignation after collecting only 55% of support during the confidence vote in 2006.

Premier Ed Stelmach and Alison Redford also resigned after each garnering 77% support from members of Alberta’s defunct Progressive Conservative Party.

Voting, which was to be done in person at Red Deer in April, was finally held by mail, and the period for voting was extended by one month by higher PCU authority.

To further confuse matters, Jason Kenney’s opponents accuse him of circumventing policies on selling party member cards in anticipation of the vote.

In this context, the legitimacy of Wednesday night’s results can still be questioned.

It all depends on the figures we seesaid Brian Jean who refused to move forward on the validity of the poll.

With this vote of confidence from members, Alberta’s unity rights are at stake. believes Calgary Conservative strategist Sarah Biggs.

” If Mr. does not leave. Kenney [le parti]there is a high probability that we will see a new party again. “

Brian Jean, he makes sure he doesn’t want to go back to the old fault lines of Alberta right.

I want to unify the PCU, and I believe the best way to do that is to remove Jason Kenney.

Though weakened, Jason Kenney remains a formidable political organizer whose key advisers have worked full-time in recent weeks to prepare for the confidence vote. The Prime Minister still has many supporters within his caucus.