Almost no one expected Devin Dreeshen to resign from Jason Kenney’s cabinet Friday morning.
The thirtysomething minister of agriculture may have been mired in a messy scandal stemming from allegations made in a wrongful dismissal lawsuit by a former United Conservative Party political staffer, and facing public accusations of drunken and bullying behaviour in his office as a result, but his position nevertheless seemed secure.
Mr. Dreeshen himself clearly thought he was going to get away with it.
On Monday, he published a smirking office photo on his Facebook page, sitting at a computer that was perched atop a Styrofoam beer cooler propped up by drink coasters, with what appeared to be a bottle of Irish whiskey peeking from the drawer of a nearby credenza.
On Wednesday, Premier Kenney blew off reporters’ questions about Mr. Dreeshen’s drinking during a news conference on another topic. His intent was clearly to imply that since Mr. Dreeshen and Ariella Kimmel were once in a personal relationship, the serious allegations about Mr. Dreeshen’s behaviour in her statement of claim were just another he said/she said story.
“When it comes to individual, personal relationships, those are things that I don’t comment on,” Mr. Kenney said.
The premier likely also felt a debt to Mr. Dreeshen, who is said to have raised a significant part of the respectable contributions to the UCP’s coffers in the third quarter of 2021.
So confident were government office staffers that it would hardly be a surprise if they’d had an office pool on when the story would fade away and media and the opposition would move on to talking about something else.
So it came as a shocker Friday when Mr. Dreeshen published a statement on Facebook saying, “This morning, I offered Premier Jason Kenney my resignation as Minister of Agriculture and Forestry and he has accepted.
“I accept that my personal conduct with regards to alcohol has become an issue for the government as a whole,” the statement continued. “I deeply regret that this is the case, but have decided that it is best for both myself and the province to resign my position and focus on my personal health and wellness.”
Even Friday, though, Mr. Kenney appeared to still be defending Mr. Dreeshen’s office tippling – telling the CBC that he’d once had a drink in Mr. Dreeshen’s office and arguing it is socially acceptable for politicians to serve alcohol to visitors in their workplaces. “Political life is a very social activity,” he explained.
There’s been a lot of public attention paid to the former minister’s drinking habits over the past few days, so perhaps his statement of concern about his alcohol consumption and its impact on his health is sincere.
That said, it seems out of character with what we know about the young conservative movement activist famously photographed in a red MAGA hat, drink in hand, toasting Donald Trump’s election victory in New York five years ago next Monday.
When journalists asked Mr. Kenney about Mr. Dreeshen’s MAGA views the summer before the 2019 Alberta election, he defended the future MLA’s volunteer work for Mr. Trump. “I think it’s actually helpful to have in our caucus an MLA who can get people on the phone in the U.S. administration, who knows some of them and has worked with some of them,” Mr. Kenney said.
So if Mr. Dreeshen felt safe from consequences, his experience backed him up.
But if Mr. Kenney was not inclined to do anything about Mr. Dreeshen’s behaviour, and Mr. Dreeshen himself was disinclined to see it as a problem, what happened between the first half of last week and Friday morning to change Mr. Dreeshen’s mind?
The sudden change suggests cooler heads within the UCP Caucus looked at the way this was going to play in Ponoka, Provost and Pincher Creek and decided to stage an intervention with the premier, whose own position is precarious, and insist that the errant minister needed to be somewhere he would attract less lightning.
To wit: Deep in the party’s backbenches as MLA for Innisfail-Sylvan Lake, where he can maintain a low profile at least until the party’s current case of blunderrhea clears up and its polling improves.
There are certainly still a few members of the Conservative movement in Alberta who recall Ralph Klein’s apology in 2001 after that premier’s drunken 1 a.m. visit to an Edmonton homeless shelter where he said to have shouted at residents to find jobs and tossed money on the floor.
Mr. Klein quickly apologized and vowed to go on the wagon. Whether he actually did stop drinking or just kept his bad habit to private venues remains a matter of dispute.
What is not controversial is how quickly media and Conservative supporters forgave him for his sins.
That may or may not happen in Mr. Dreeshen’s case – depending on how messy the process of resolving Ms. Kimmel’s suit turns out to be.
I suspect Premier Stumble n’ Bumble tm and his UCP realize that this is not the 1990’s, so being intoxicated in the Legislature is no longer acceptable, or anywhere else for that matter. It may have taken a week to figure that out, but Dreeshen’s frat boy PR shot with the beer cooler and bottle of hard liquor poking out, probably helped seal his fate. Let’s hope the fellow gets help. If Kenney had any care for the fellow then he would have told him to consider to resign and seek treatment. If Kenney did not; well it speaks to Kenney’s character. Still a pathetic spectacle altogether. Personal matter . .. come on.
I suppose having now been relieved of his onerous ministerial responsibilities, Mr. Dreeshen has two choices. He can spend more time on his favorite daytime activity, or here is a batter idea, focus on his well being and maybe get help. I hope he chooses the later.
Mr. Kenney’s defence of even having had a drink with Mr. Dreeshen is not much of a defense either. Yeah, almost everyone has a drink with the office drinker eventually. It might even have been this atmosphere of social conviviality that created a blind spot here for Kenney, no doubt he did not stick around long enough to see the nasty side of it.
However, as much as we focus on it there is also a bit of misdirection happening here. The biggest problem for the UCP here is not drinking, it is what they are facing legal action for. Unfortunately, this is also not a good combination for them – some voters may be turned off by the drinking, others by the sexual harassment claim and many by both.
I believe the UCP is a vehicle Kenney is no longer in full control of now. I suspect some MLA’s made a forceful case to Kenney that the Dreeshen problem needed to be dealt with now and not dismissed and he realized it was best not to continue to fight this.
As for Ralph, he was so much better at contrition and asking for forgiveness than anyone in the UCP now. However, I think after that moment in the homeless shelter something changed and even supporters started to quietly question his judgement. Yes the problem appeared to go away and it appeared he recovered politically, but I think some serious damage remained below the surface. He showed everyone who he really was and people did not like that so much.
What I believe happened regarding Dreeshen’s very unexpected resignation, after he and Kenney appeared to double down in their attitudes toward workplace drinking and office romances, is the apparent resurrection of Brian Jean’s political career. Though Kenney has tried to throw cold water on an emerging Draft Jean movement, by declaring Jean to be an unreliable and inconsistent public servant, it seems that the tide toward Jean has strength and the potential to sink Kenney’s listing boat.
The special meetings of the government’s CoS and the Cabinet yesterday establishes that the end maybe nigh. So, expect to see a ton of legislation coming forward. Lots and lots of neoCON and SoCON initiatives, each one another nail in the coffin of Alberta’s peaceful kingdom.
Blaming PMJT for what’s to come will truly be rich.
Speaking of Ralph Klein, can you imagine a drunken Jason Kenney bursting into a homeless shelter in the middle of the night. That would be fun. In fact, that may do more to reverse his sagging poll numbers than any rise in the price of oil. Everybody likes a politician who proves to be human after all and not only makes mistakes but admits they were wrong with a promise to be better. Besides who among us hasn’t gotten a little tipsy once in their lives and was an embarrassment at the party.
Jason Kenney admit he made a mistake and apologize quickly after an a##hole moment? Never going to happen.
Although I am glad to see Dreeshen gone, I think it is for the wrong reason. I have been disgusted with the man ever since he posted on social media that he had spent an hour in a virtual townhall reassuring Cargill workers that it was safe for them to go to work, two days before AHS shut it down as unsafe.
Clearly Dreeshen had no inside knowledge that Cargill was safe, he just told the workers what they needed to hear to go to work, so beef producers wouldn’t suffer a slowdown of their industry. This was a classic case of UCP choosing livelihoods (of beef producers, who weren’t risking their health) over the lives of immigrant workers. How sad that something like that has no consequences.
Hey Bob,
Don’t forget our Minister of Health Jason Copping , who was then Minister of Labour, was also at that townhall reassuring Cargill workers.
The CBC story made it sound like they had quite a few more staffers leaking further details about drinking in the legislature. The wording of the story very much sounded like when they reached out for confirmation they were told he was taking a walk in the snow as you often say. I’m guessing they cut him loose before any one else “important” is implicated.
Everyone remembers the bottles of Jamie in the sky palace photo, evidently the brand of choice for our UCP betters.
Perhaps the truth of the matter lies in what is coming next in the way of scandals. I suspect that Devin Dreeshan is the tip of a very big iceberg. His resignation draws attention away from the rest of the Liquor Cabinet and their proclivities. Is the problem one individual, or is it systemic in this UCP band of brothers? Choose Your Own Adventure.
In any case, I hope DD is sincere in his regret, seeks counselling and changes his ways. I like to think that his family and true friends helped him with this decision. He will need all the help he can get from people who care enough about him to steer him straight.
Well said ABS.
I love your use of the word “proclivities.” Kenney has a lot of proclivities in his closet that’s for sure. Wait until stupid Alberta voters find out what those are.
The notoriety of the UCP continues to grow far and wide. This morning at a coffee klatch held 3,000 miles away in Halifax, even though nobody could remember his exact name, the drinking cabinet minister of Alberta was brought up for derision by people not au fait with details contained in this Alberta Politics blog. Dreeshen made the news down here. Along with of course, the name of his boss, kenney, for about the two-dozenth time on various issues. Folks simply wonder what in hell is “wrong” with these people. I read out the description of the beer cooler as PC stand and showed the pic. Much shaking of heads at the brassiness of it all.
Then the CPC and in particular O’Toole’s name was brought up for ridicule over his so-called “principled” stance regarding the matter of has he or hasn’t he and his MPs been vaccinated, and what in hell is the big fuss and secret about it in a time of a declared health emergency. Considering that two of those present voted for the CPC less than two months ago as an anti Trudeau gesture, and one of them brought up O’Tooles gaffe, I’m sure Con strategists would be delighted to learn that O’Toole and co are now regarded as complete nitwits. It was agreed that it was “get with the program time”, and I didn’t even have to stoke the fire. It self-ignited.
I brought up the relatively new name of the Manning Centre and its guru as the fundamentalist behind intellectual Conservatism today as it teeters off the rails to irrelevance in the bushes. Much laughter at the name. Perhaps Preston can crawl out of his The Canada Strong and Free Network Building and come down to the Maritimes to advise all us hayseeds what we’re not understanding about why we should all be complete dinks and act accordingly, as one guy put it today. Not a Dipper in the kitchen, so he can save the socialist and commie rhetoric and appeal to our common sense instead. I’m afraid he’d get laughed out of the place. Old timey horsesh!t has had its day and is well past its sell-by date. When people start laughing at you, it perhaps can fairly be said that you’ve lost the plot, powder-blue sports jackets and all.
Hi David,
Always a pleasure to read your blogs.
There is no doubt that legal counsel is working hard on behalf of kenney, the ucp and dreeshen trying to set up meetings in their suites of dark backrooms where they so like to do their business, out of sight of prying eyes.
I hope Ms. Kimmel sticks to her guns and gives the ucp government and dreeshen some well deserved publicity regarding the way they do business.
Too many of the decisions this regime brings forward are the result of backroom arrangements – the various deals to mine mountains and destroy water sources for Albertans while refusing to address environmental damage, the probable current negotiations regarding minerals rights, mining and exploitation, the sudden reversal of requiring permits for “recreational overland vehicles” and the latest talking points about ‘blue hydrogen’ which will make certain Albertans and no doubt foreign companies too rich for words as they will be given deals for minuscule royalties while requesting billions of dollars from the federal government to ‘explore’ carbon capture while making record profits………..
The story never changes in Alberta, the conservative regime falls all over themselves to serve the politically connected (in return for political donations or future considerations) while working stiffs have billions stolen from their pensions (that they contributed to) but can only count on being handed the bills – $14 Billion for upgrades to the electrical grid, endless billions to clean up the messes that oil companies left and no doubt even more billions to clean up after the other backroom deals that the ucp are sure to cook up before being shown the door.
It’s almost, but not quite enough to drive a person to drink.
These Reformers just don’t get it. Starting with Ralph Klein who insisted on making a fool of himself , but then he was no different when I knew him in our early twenties. When I turned 21 him and a cousin of mine tried to get me to join their nightly smoking and drinking parties. I refused, I wasn’t that stupid. It cost both of them their marriages and they each got charged with impaired driving at least once that I know of.
Klein loved making people look stupid and always bragged about being a Liberal. He was neither Liberal or Conservative. He had his brand of dictatorship. I lived next door to a lawyer when Klein did his gong show performance about drinking and pretended that he was going to quit drinking and she had dealings with him several months later and said that he certainly hadn’t stopped. He was plastered when she spoke with him.
Now Reformer Brian Jean wants a chance to try to trick stupid Albertans once again, like he did as leader of the Wildrose Party, spouting the Klein lie that Alberta was broke because we have had to send billions to Ottawa and Quebec in the form of Equalization Payments. There are certainly a lot of stupid Albertans who believed it and still do.
As the former MLAs from the Lougheed era pointed out to me , it wasn’t surprising that these Reformers had been defeated in elections when the people found out what they stood for:
“Preston Manning, Stephen harper, Brian Jean, Danielle Smith, Jim Prentice, Andrew Scheer . Now you can add Erin O’Toole to the list and Jason Kenney will be next. But you can bet stupid Albertans have learned nothing and Brian Jean will be given another chance to make fools of them.
ALAN K SPILLER: You are certainly right. Albertans have learned nothing by supporting these pretend conservatives and Reformers.
2003 BC Liberal leader Gordon Campbell was caught drunk driving at over 2x the legal limit in Hawaii. No problem. He went on to wreck the BC economy for 8 more years.
Don’t get me started on Scott Moe.
https://saskatoon.ctvnews.ca/23-years-and-i-find-out-our-premier-killed-my-mother-scott-moe-apologizes-for-fatal-crash-following-facebook-post-1.5134917
What happens in Shellbrook stays in Shelbrook.
Ah yes so instead of consequences for the MAGA midget no consequences for anyone !! #whataboutism
OMG, the picture taken by the police in Maui clearly shows how drunk the B.C. premier was at the time. the whole thing was buried as soon as possible by the MSM and about any news on the situation, i.e. who was with him in the vehicle and where he had been boozing it up. It wasn’t a surprise to some in this province nor his alleged reputation as a “stick man”. el gordo was then forced out of office by about a dozen of his MLAs because they caught him in a rather big lie. Off he went to London where more dirt followed him. Then B.C. got Christy Clark and things got worse.
Regarding King Ralph’s drunken rage fest at a homeless shelter, while he was contrite in its aftermath, it was clearly the beginning of his end.
Following incident, Ralph was under steady attack. The allegation, later well proven, that Ralph preferred to fly on the Alberta government’s then posh fleet of private planes, rather than commercial airlines, because he liked to smoke during the flights, was just one of many knives shoved into his back. The call from one PC MLA called Klein “You’re not just a frequent flyer — you’re a liar, liar,” established nicely the pressure for Klein to leave was strong. And with Klein’s departure, as his CoS, Rob Love revealed later, Klein was abandoned by his political allies. Even in retirement, Klein proved to be too toxic to be around.
Isolation, hatred, and disgust should always be Klein’s legacy. I will be dancing on his grave forever.
An alternative explanation for dipsomaniacal behavior of Dreeshan and apparently others in the UPC caucus, according to the CBC report, might be found in Herodotus. Perhaps the cabinet was emulating the ancient Persians in their decision making processes:
“It is also their general practice to deliberate upon affairs of weight when they are drunk; and then on the morrow, when they are sober, the decision to which they came the night before is put before them by the master of the house in which it was made; and if it is then approved of, they act on it; if not, they set it aside. Sometimes, however, they are sober at their first deliberation, but in this case they always reconsider the matter under the influence of wine.”
Herodotus Histories, Book 1, Chapter 133; https://www.iranchamber.com/history/herodotus/herodotus_history_book1.php.
In truth, I hadn’t wondered about Dreeshen’s resignation from Cabinet beyond thinking, “Thank God, that’s one less idiot under the Dome.” Wrong, of course—Dreeshen’s still an MLA, still a member of the governing party. He’s just stepped out of the spotlight and made room for some OTHER idiot to move into his old office.
After all the “What’s the problem? Everybody does it” blather earlier this week, you might feel like we’re in a time warp. I’ve heard—never experienced—that some members of the old boys’ club (ANY old boys’ club) don’t trust others who won’t have a drink with them. Maybe so, but very 19th century. By 2021, I’d like to think that what a man does and how well he keeps his word is more important than male bonding by sharing ritual vices. Today it makes sense that someone, perhaps a team of lawyers, would have pointed out that kicking Dreeshen off the front line would make damage control easier.
Speaking of damage control—that infamous photo of the beer-cooler monitor stand is even weirder when you see the uncropped version. Behind Dreeshen is a desk with large chair, some kind of electronic device, apparently a glass cover and—of all things—a piece of flexible clothes-dryer duct in front of a window. It looks to me like Dreeshen set up some kind of frat-boy gag photo in front of his own desk. Proper response is, “WTF?” Check it out here:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/devin-dreeshen-drinking-allegations-alberta-ucp-1.6237656
I find it far too easy to believe that boozy chats in the office more-or-less after hours are a regular feature of Kenney’s cabinet. Likewise the casual belittling of female staff. Now, maybe Dreeshen’s just the sacrificial goat who’s supposed to distract the unwashed public from the highway-blocking dumpster fire that is the UCP government. Maybe (now that he’s had his face rubbed in it) Dreeshen realizes he’s got a problem, and genuinely intends to dry out. If so, good for him. Maybe Kenney’s in full-on damage control mode, trying desperately to deflect from what he knew and when he knew it. (I find that far too easy to believe, too.)
Kenney’s problems go far beyond one boozy cabinet minister. Just think, he’s got a brand-new enemy in Ottawa to blame for Oilberduh’s woes, that eco-freak tree-hugger Alberta-basher Steven Guilbeault—now arch-enemy #2 after his boss. Expect a dozen rapid-fire bills to pass before the emboldened anti-Alberta activists get back on their bicycles to storm the bastions of yesterday’s businesses. And Covid-19 hasn’t gone away, it’s just making a tactical withdrawal (until the next time Kenney prematurely drops public-health precautions). Oil companies are making a killing (good) but oil jobs aren’t coming back (bad) and provincial revenue is still way down (bad but who cares? Cut services again!) because Kenney’s corporate tax cuts are as deep as ever (stupid, but Kenney will never acknowledge that). The only remaining pipeline is being built (good) but the federal government OWNS it (humiliating). And Kenney’s old nemesis, Brian Jean, is trying to get back into the party to get right in Kenney’s face (very, very bad—for Kenney. Almost as bad for Alberta if Brian Jean wins).
Is it all so much that a cynical, suspicious, anything-but-Con old fart like me might feel just a bit of sympathy for Jason Kenney? Naaaah.
What is it about Conservatives of late. Federal and Provincial.
They seem in such a hurry to ‘eat their young’. At the Federal level three electoral disasters, three Leaders. And based on how things look at the moment, Leader number four could be on the horizon.
Alberta….not only did they eat their young, they blew up the Partly. Now, with the remnents glued together in an uneasy alliance (partly due to less than honourable leadership campaigns) they are at it again. Kenney will be and should be dumped. If Brian Jean, the UCP Party back room boys do not do it, the voters will.
One thing is clear. Current UCP Cabinet members and sitting MLA’s do not have the intestinal fortitude or the integrity to do the right thing. They are placing their own chances of being elected in their ridings above the doing the best thing for their Province and for their Party.
Bunch of gutless, scared, toadies IMHO.
I recall that the lawsuit, against the Premier’s office, mentioned that drinking was held at the Min. of Health’s office, which would have been Shandro’s domain, at that specific time. Could that in part explain Shandro’s bright coloured nose and high complexion tint, when he would appear at the Covid afternoon press announcements? Possibly Doug Schweitzer too? I recall several people commented on their unusual ruddy complexion on a number of those afternoons!
What changed Dreeshen’s mind?
He didn’t have to step down. He could have stayed on without much consequences. My guess is he stepped down to hide or sweep an even bigger scandal under the rug. He certainly didn’t step down because Kenney demanded, nor out of a sense of honour. If you eliminate those two factors, what are we left with?
Hey Devin, how is that Cargill situation working out for you?
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/cargill-alberta-union-meat-packers-1.6239617
It’s quite a contrast between the bombast of pickle-schnozed Ralph Klein and the nose-thumbing Devin Dreeshen with his “Make Alberta Grain Alcohol” cap and saucy office party postcard. (Hey!—was Dreeshen the “friend” who Jason Kenney said birthday gifted him that forty of Jameson’s Irish Whiskey spotted in that infamous Sky Palace pic, the one that went viral?—just wondering—for a friend…)
I think you’re right that K-Boy was instructed to get Dreeshen’s resignation by a quandaried caucus which has allowed the premier to sit upon a probatory bubble—at least for now. Their quandary is, of course, how to get the dimutinous UCP ship to safe harbour of the next election by the spring of 2023. Neither of the two mutually antipathetic factions particularly wants Kenney for captain but, in the circumstances, they’re stuck with him for the time being—but obviously (and getting more so all the time) with conditions. Plainly K-Boy has been stripped of his power to punish or cow his MLAs and, just as plainly, his jailers are not coy about setting him straight whenever they distrust his political instincts, in this case to continue defending his three-sheets-to-the-wind minister.
Maybe they figure their best odds of getting past the sirens of K-Boy’s reckless political navigation is to display that they’ve got him under control. That might be the most cogent course plottable now that the UCP carrack of calamity has passed through the Herculean gates and must batten hatches for an 18-month, two-winter voyage across rough seas, worrying every watch that Brian Jean might slip stealthily aboard, his dripping jaws clenching a dagger. And when captain K hails to passing ships, “we seek the Red Herring of anti-Alberta energy campaigns”, the two first mates will semaphore: “never mind that man tied to the mast; he’s just in therapy, that’s all— and taking his scurvy meds. No worries, heh, heh, all good! Heh, …”
But decks awash with the flub-floes of “blunderrhhea”? Good gawd!—I had no idea.
“Voyage of the Dumbed”, “A Year And A Half Before The Mast”, “The Boy Who Cried Sea Sasquatch”. Not even Thomas and Morgan-Witts, Defoe or London could make this stuff up!
very nicely written and oh so true. thank you.
I recall a time from my naive youth, when I used to socialize with many a drunken Ref/CRAP/CA/CON, the abundance of alcohol consumed was something of a rite of passage for many of the young CON males. It seems that when Presto Manning first brought his Godly Christian soldier to Ottawa in 1993, he imposed a number of obligations on his RPC caucus. One of these obligations, which was much publicized, was that all of Presto’s Soldiers would shun the lavish and opulent banquets served in the MPs private dining room in favor of the bill of fare at McDonald’s. As much as the Quarter Pounder is a delightful treat, it is cruel treatment when it becomes one’s regular sustenance. Worse, eating regularly at McDonald’s became something of a proof of loyalty to Manning’s mission. I can take comfort that surely the instances of Diabetes among CONS must be sky-high thanks to their (un)dying loyalty to the leader.
Another obligation imposed by Manning was sobriety. Yes, the RPC caucus would be a dry one. Beer and wine were verboten. During party events, there was not a drop of the Devil’s Elixir to be had…ever. How did any work get done, for gosh sakes?! However, some years later, the policy was changed, and the booze was allowed to flow freely, much to Manning’s dismay. With the arrival of Stockwell Day, another Godly abstainer of the Sin Gin, there was fear that the booze embargo would return. But Day boasted that he would go anywhere, even the “beer halls” to promote the CA’s values. The use of the term beer halls I’m sure caused many to think that Day was hoping to start a putsch, which would have been apropos for the CA’s fascism enthusiasts.
All this points to the bizarre and hypocritical relationship that CONs have with alcohol. It is their fascination and their downfall as well.
Don’t forget, though, that ole Stock is reputed to have led his flock down the road and across the main drag in Bentley to pray for the intervention of the Almighty to remove of the local bar, a petition that was not successful. Under the latest generation of Alberta Conservatives we seem to have moved from one bizarre relationship with alcohol to another, equally bizarre one – from Preston’s totalitarian teetotalism to the Jasons’ alcoholic absolutism. The moderation moderates all seem to be in the NDP. Surely someone can come up with a 12-step program for getting control of Alberta’s unhealthy reliance on Conservatives. DJC
Regarding Alberta’s co-dependency for voting CON, there’s no cure for stupid.
Being that Day reportedly went to visit Keegstra when he got out of prison, beer hall probably IS the dog whistle you’re thinking of….
I always had this pipsqueak as a Monday morning deserter! Oh well! I guess that there must have been a sale on Jose Cuervo, that he and his suffering short list of friends couldn’t resist! You just can’t imagine these people, until your fellow citizens make them cabinet ministers! https://youtu.be/U7EZ9V6F9yo
I would suggest he resigned because there was so much more happening or had happened when it came to drinking than most of us will ever know. Having watched Canadian politics, especially here in B.C. since I was in elementary school back in the 1950s it usually isn’t just about booze. People who are drunk, under the influence, etc. tend to make bad decisions and flap their gums when they ought to have kept them closed. Perhaps the MLAs who may or may not have had a chat with Kenney may or may not have more information then he would want. The C.E.O.S of corporate Alberta and elsewhere may not be interested in having people run the province while drunk. We know what happens when people drive when drunk, so how bad could it get if some one was governing while drunk Some times its better to resign than to be black mailed.
Alberta is not in great shape. Besides the economy there are the “disagreements” with the medical workers in the province To navigate all of this you need people to be sober and focused. The current crop of UPSers aren’t the brightest in the tool box, then to have them drunk, ya that is like a really bad situation about to happen.
Alcholism is a disease which can kill any body if it goes on long enough and destroy your life. It is hoped this young man gets the help he needs to over come his drinking on the job habit.