A boisterous crowd of 200 people turned out to the Cochrane Legion last week in support of Alberta Can’t Wait’s unite the right movement.
Conservative heavyweight and stalwart unification proponent, Jason Kenney, headlined the evening riling the crowd into frenzied applause on numerous occasions. He was backed by a strong supporting cast including Banff-Cochrane MP Blake Richards, Peace River MP Chris Warkentin and former MP Rob Anders.
Kenney’s message was simple, Alberta conservatives must join forces to defeat the NDP next election and save the province from a party he said does not represent the interests of “severely normal Albertans … Rachel Notley’s worst nightmare.”
In that vein, he urged Wildrose and PC supporters to cast aside their differences and join forces for the 2019 election.
Many in attendance were hoping Kenney, who many suspect is bolstering for a run at the Progressive Conservative Party’s leadership nomination, to announce his bid.
When asked directly if he would seek the nomination to lead the beleaguered PCs, his answer was the least direct of the evening but left little doubt it was a distinct possibility.
“I have been encouraged by a lot of Albertans,” he said, adding he is giving strong consideration to what his role will be in uniting the right, a cause he spoke passionately about ??
“Stay tuned.”
Calling the NDP an accidental government born from protest votes by those disillusioned by the past governance of the PCs, Kenney followed on comments made by Owen Neal, co-captain of the Banff-Cochrane Alberta Can’t Wait chapter. Neal used the past election results to illustrate the NDP did not have the support of the majority of Albertans and it was indeed a split vote between right wing voters that handed Premier Rachel Notley a victory.
Kenney pinned those comments by telling the crowd that he doesn’t blame voters for the NDP’s rise to power but suspects many were surprised and disappointed by the election results and are now realizing a mistake was made.
Pointing to tens of thousands of lost jobs, billions in new debt, the carbon tax and an increase in minimum wage that he says has cost business owners their livelihoods, Kenney said the province cannot afford another term of NDP rule.
“A lot of people voted for the NDP for the first and hopefully the last time,” he said.
Kenney is no stranger to unite the right movements. He was part of the movement that gave birth to the federal Conservative Party following the unification of the Canadian Alliance Party – formerly the Reform Party of Canada – and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003.
Kenney described that process as infinitely more complicated than provincial unification and said if it can be done at the federal level it can be done in Alberta.
When asked about election laws that could possibly see one party – either the Wildrose or the PCs – lose their assets following a merger, Kenney replied simply that the only assets that matter are the people.
While the unification idea is not popular with all members of either party, the Banff-Cochrane PC Constituency Association supports the movement.
President Ed Masters, who attended the legion event, said while the association does not have an official position “some of our board members support the concept of a unified Conservative Party.”
He added that if Kenney does seek the leadership nomination and wins it will help galvanize the party to that cause.
“It will be a democratic process. If he wins he will have a mandate to do so,” said Masters.
Cochrane town Coun. Morgan Nagel, who emceed the event, is a supporter of a unified right. A conservative and self-proclaimed political junky, Nagel said he will do all he can to support the people who are working toward unification.
“I truly believe the NDP have made major mistakes in our province,” he said echoing comments he made through out the meeting. “I have an economics degree and economics 101 is in the depths of a recession, you don’t raise taxes.”
While he admitted it is not typical for a town councillor to wade into provincial politics, the cause is something he believes in and he fears the province has not seen the worst under NDP rule.
MLA Cam Westhead, said he doesn’t believe a united right would have lost him the election.
He said Albertans were faced with a choice last election and choosing either the Wildrose or the PCs would have meant deep cuts to the province’s public service.
He added the NDP have kept to their election promises and pointed to the corporate tax increase as an example. He cited the PCs own survey that showed 70 per cent support from Albertans for increasing the tax.
Westhead said the economic woes in the province were not the fault of the NDP but of an international economic crisis spurred by low oil prices.
“We’re trying to act as a shock absorber to that,” he said, pointing to the province’s multi-billion-dollar infrastructure program.
Westhead says that that a unified right will not guarantee a return to conservative rule and Albertans will see through the “façade.”
“If the Conservatives get power, they are not going to invest in infrastructure, they are going to layoff teachers and nurses and put us in a worse situation,” he said.
