Former Conservative Calgary-Midnapore MP Jason Kenney rallied around 150 people together for a Unite the Right event on Monday night.
Kenney, frontrunner for the PC leadership race this spring, spoke to the Cochrane crowd at the Seniors on the Bow Centre about the consequences that have resulted out of an NDP government that is “raising taxes on everything that moves.”
A committed conservative, Kenney maintains that Alberta can’t afford to risk two terms of NDP governance and the only solution is for conservatives to set aside their differences and join forces to ensure a conservative victory in the next provincial election.
“I would hope that we could recruit a new generation of leadership, unencumbered by the baggage of the past,” said Kenney, acknowledging the “cronyism” of previous PC governments and the efforts of the Wildrose to seek a “fresh start” for conservatives.
“We would have to have a new name for this vehicle,” he said, outlining his five-point plan: to elect a new PC leader; followed by immediate negotiation of framework with the Wildrose to create a united free enterprise party; then to move forward with open debate leading to a referendum of grassroots members on unity agreement; the creation of a united party following grassroots approval; and finally to hold a leadership election for a new, united conservative party by winter 2018.
Kenney, a Wilcox, Sask native said the NDP government is responsible for implementing policies that have resulted in Alberta going from the lowest to second highest unemployment rates in Canada.
One of the founders of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Kenney has a career heavily steeped in politics – including several ministerial positions, including defence and multiculturalism, under former Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Kenney spoke at length about the dangers of imposing a carbon tax and what he dubs as “the redistribution of wealth with no benefit to the environment.”
“We are the only major oil and gas producer in the world to impose such a carbon tax,” said Kenney, making note of other countries such as Australia and France who have scrapped their carbon taxes recently and the opposition of President-elect Donald Trump to an agenda of climate change.
Kenney said he acknowledges the popular science behind climate change – but that the imposition of unnecessary costs to push an agenda that punishes the coal industry is unfair when “Alberta is by far the most responsible producer of oil and gas in the world.”
When questioned by an audience member as to whether climate change does exist or is man-made, Kenney clarified that he accepts the consensus and that it is up for debate how much of climate change is man-made and how much is to blame on Mother Nature, adding:
“I don’t think we should be teaching in schools that whatever David Suzuki says is gospel truth.”
“Kenney is putting his short-term political interests in front of long-term interests of Albertans,” said Banff-Cochrane NDP MLA Cameron Westhead who maintains that it is because of Alberta’s “leadership in climate change” that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave the green light to two major pipeline projects – Kinder Morgan and Energy East.
He added that 60 per cent of Alberta households will be getting a rebate to offset additional costs incurred by the carbon tax to be implemented in the new year.
Kenney said if he was at the helm, he would join Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall in challenging a federal carbon tax – something Westhead counters as “grand standing” by the PC leader hopeful.
Kenney said he will also be challenge bringing politics into the classroom; he will support policies that promote the growth of small businesses and attract investors back into Alberta; and to attract millennials who are “attainable” first – those who are in trades and the frontlines of an economic downturn.
