Jason Kenney, then a leadership candidate for the new United Conservative Party, in August 2017 (Photo: Screenshot of Jason Kenney campaign video).

You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but, as Abraham Lincoln is reputed to have observed, you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.

Back in the summer of 2017, when he stood up in the parking lot of the Blackfoot Diner in Calgary and put his name to his “Grassroots Guarantee,” Jason Kenney seemed to have most of the people in Alberta fooled. Those who didn’t believe him, presumably, were committed NDP supporters.

Kenney rival Brian Jean (Photo: Sergei Scurfield, Creative Commons).

Looking snappy in a suede Western-style sports jacket, the Progressive Conservative Party leader and United Conservative Party leadership candidate signed the promise on Aug. 1 on a large green and white plastic sign. 

It read: “The policies of the United Conservative Party must be developed democratically by its grassroots members. Not imposed by its Leader.”

The policy set out on the now-defunct GrassrootsGuarantee.ca website also promised regional and constituency policy workshops “inviting all members to participate in open, informed debate to generate ideas for local policy resolutions,” and votes on grassroots resolutions.

“We must develop policy in the same way that we created the united party, democratically, with the grassroots members in charge,” Mr. Kenney told reporters who showed up for the stunt, typical of events organized by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation back in the days Mr. Kenney ran that organization. 

The conservative movement had fallen apart in the years that led up to the election of Rachel Notley’s NDP in 2015, he told the assembled media, “because of an arrogant, top-down style of leadership.” 

“We had leaders telling people what to think, rather than listening to them in humility,” Mr. Kenney said. “We must not repeat the mistake of that arrogance, we must have an approach of humility and servant leadership that empowers the grassroots members to decide the policy direction of this new party.”

“I don’t think it’s my role as a leader to tell the membership what to think,” he summed up. “It’s time for less ‘I’ and ‘me’ and more ‘us’ and ‘we’ as we build this party together.”

Former UCP senior policy advisor Blaise Boehmer (Photo: Twitter).

Looking back from the perspective of 2021 at that old-timey event, it seems steeped in irony. Can it only have been four years? It feels like an epoch!

Mr. Kenney defeated Brian Jean, his main rival, and Doug Schweitzer to win the UCP’s leadership three months later, on Oct. 28, 2017. Jeff Callaway, the now-notorious “Kamikaze Candidate,” had dropped out of the race on Oct. 4. 

It didn’t take long for Mr. Kenney to grow forgetful about his promise. Arguably, he revealed in May 2018 it wasn’t worth the Coroplast it was written on, the instant party members passed a potentially embarrassing policy motion on Gay-Straight Alliances at a UCP policy conference in Red Deer.

“I’ve always been clear that as leader I will consult broadly with Albertans outside of our party to develop a common-sense, mainstream platform to reignite our economy,” Mr. Kenney said piously at the time.

If talk of common-sense, mainstream policies doesn’t sound like the Jason Kenney we’ve come to know since then, remember that then-premier Rachel Notley had not yet called an election.

Mr. Kenney certainly fooled a majority of voters on April 16, 2019, when the UCP handily defeated the NDP in the general election and he found his hand firmly on the province’s tiller.

U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, a shrewd observer of politics (Photo: Alexander Gardner, 1821-1882, Public Domain).

The rest, as they say, is history. More and more Albertans kept discovering that Mr. Kenney might be a pretty good campaigner, but he couldn’t run a government nearly as well as advertised. 

In fact, since then, it’s pretty well been a gong show every day right up to the present moment, with the party split once again along social conservative/business conservative, rural/urban lines not unlike Alberta conservatism’s predicament in 2015. 

According to several pollsters, Mr. Kenney’s approval rates now languish in the sub-basement. 

A significant percentage of UCP members and the party’s caucus in the Legislature want him gone. 

Eighteen or more constituency associations have voted for an accelerated leadership review that could cost him his job. 

His old rival, Brian Jean, is seeking the UCP nomination in the Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche by-election and says he wants to knock off Mr. Kenney and take over as leader. 

And now plans are afoot by Mr. Kenney and his supporters to change the rules of next weekend’s UCP annual general meeting to prevent a vote on an early leadership review. 

The rules have been published and, lo and behold, they include this: “No resolutions other than the Special Resolutions and Resolutions approved by the Board will be considered, with the exception of those proposed by the leader.” (Emphasis added.)

This, commented Calgary Herald political columnist Don Braid, “hardly looks like the work of a grassroots party.”

Blaise Boehmer, of all people, has posted a critical tweet about this.

Until recently, Mr. Boehmer was a key senior policy advisor to the Kenney Government known for aggressively promoting its agenda on social media.

On Nov. 1, though, he was named director, corporate communications and public affairs, by National Public Relations, which bills itself Canada’s leading public relations firm. 

Said Mr. Boehmer’s tweet:

“Here lies 

“Grassroots Guarantee (2017-2021) 

“Rest In Peace”

It contains a link to Mr. Braid’s column.

This is just one person, but as a symbol of the unhappiness in the UCP, it has a certain impact. 

We seem to have reached the point where Mr. Kenney is fooling almost no one. 

Listening to party members with humility? Forget about that.

Mr. Kenney still has supporters, of course, but they are people who have hitched their wagons to his star and not found a way to unhitch them. 

Surely no one is left now who doesn’t understand the Grassroots Guarantee guarantees nothing!

Alberta signs onto Trudeau Government’s child care deal

After carping about how Albertans don’t want what Mr. Kenney called “cookie-cutter, nine-to-five, urban, government and union-run institutional daycare options,” the UCP Government has signed onto the Trudeau Government’s child-care deal. 

One presumes that large numbers of Albertans, including some UCP supporters, made it clear to Mr. Kenney they had no problems at all with that kind of child care, as long as it saves them money.

It would seem that the cause of Mr. Kenney’s petulant objections was not high principle, but the federal election campaign, during which the federal chapter of the premier’s party was pushing the kind of boutique tax break that worked once upon a time for the government of Stephen Harper.

The details will be announced this morning at a news conference at the YMCA Shirley Stollery Child Care near downtown Edmonton. It will be attended by Mr. Kenney and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other federal and provincial worthies, including Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland and Alberta Children’s Services Minister Rebecca Schulz.

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41 Comments

  1. It should surprise no one (by now) that Premier Crying & Screaming Midget makes a lot of promises, even signs his name to them, but never, ever has any intention of following through on them, let alone even remembering that he made those promises in the first place. Welcome to “J. Kenney’s Fabulous Reality Distortion Field”.

    Prior to the 1984 election, Brian Mulroney wrote a book entitled “Where I Stand”. In it, Mulroney declared that the budget will be balanced in four years, all members of his government will act at the highest levels of integrity, honesty and frugality, and severe punishments will be handed out to anyone in his government who dare violate the sacred trust of any and all Canadians. Right after the election, every single copy of this book was taken off the shelves, just in case Mulroney was called out for all those sterling promises he made.

    I recall, years ago, during my misspent youth hanging with the RPC’s hangers-on, Presto Manning made a lot of promises. Did Manning keep any of them? Well, he never had to, because he was constantly under attack from his own party over too many things to mention. But the one promise he did follow through on was to never accept the MPs’ pension, which he denounced as being “gold-plated”. He put it in writing and expected all his candidates and MPs to do likewise. And they did, but they quickly backtracked and signed on to the pension when the new rules would have ended any chance of grandfathering. Manning was dismayed that so many of his MPs had violated their sterling word to their constituents. As for the RPC MPs themselves, many sniffed that they deserved a pension and promptly told Manning to GTFO. And he did.

    Remembering a passage from Manning memoirs, he mentioned that Stephen Harpo has a significant flaw: he believes that words are meaningless. Living through Harpo’s era of governance, everyone more than once saw Harpo pulling some kind of stunt that broke some promise he made. Like fixed election dates, Harpo swore up and down that this was an important principle that he would stick to. That is until the Liberals were so dazed and confused, Harpo broke this important principle and had an unnecessary and very early election. And in the end, Harpo kept having elections until he got his majority.

    All Kenney is doing is following the advice of his master, making promises he has no intention of keeping, then making up a myriad of excuses when things go sour. Which brings us to Kenney’s promise to be a grassroots kind of leader. Well, Albertans fell for this one pretty easily, didn’t they?

    Rumour has it that Alberta has reached a deal with Ottawa concerning their participation in the national childcare strategy. Kenney was the relentless hold out, demanding “no strings attached” to any deal with Ottawa. Now, Kenney, being a single, childless, middle-aged man, doesn’t like conditions that would enforce his obligation to REALLY provide inexpensive childcare to Alberta’s families. I mean he may decide that the federal money ear-marked for childcare would be better spent on another pipeline to no where, or perhaps wrecking a few more mountain ranges and ecosystems for the sake of coal mining. Kenney is a tiny man with big ideas, so nothing should stand in his way, not even an obligation to provide funding for childcare services that Alberta families can benefit from. Besides, why hand PJMT another win, anyway?

    So, following tomorrow’s pending announcement, watch Kenney very closely. Who knows? He’s been pressed to the wall so many times, he may just be willing to follow through on the agreement with Ottawa. Or, he may decide to execute half-measures because he’s an angry little man who hates kids. Either way, we can count on Kenney to crack open another bottle of cough syrup and drown his sorrows.

    1. “Remembering a passage from Manning memoirs, he mentioned that Stephen Harpo has a significant flaw: he believes that words are meaningless.”

      “I’ve never seen the leader of a Conservative party, certainly not Bob Stanfield, certainly not Joe Clark, lie — I choose the word deliberately — the way Mr. Harper has,” Broadbent said.”

      https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/harper-lies-about-coalition-details-broadbent-1.753734

      Not only has Jason Kenney been schooled by the best (or worst, take your pick), but the overall general tendency in the larger society has been one of a normalization of lying, gaslighting, and coverups as tactics used to preserve the day to day functioning of a severely flawed social hierarchy and its system of status relationships; where, all those individuals that are lower in the social hierarchy remain both passive and submissive to all those individuals that are above them in the hierarchy (Where, “chain of command”: “is an official hierarchy of authority that dictates who is in charge of whom and of whom permission must be asked.” ). And where, of course, ‘deference’ is based on legitimacy, or more aptly perceived legitimacy. Since the whole apparatus and its functioning is based on ‘perception management’. It is a very standard and very basic view of human interpesonal (social) dynamics.

      1. interpesonal should read interpersonal . . . . poor eyesight and tiny screens are both an unforgiving and bad combination. My apologies for sloppy editing.

  2. To paraphrase and twist a former Prime minister of Canada, populism, but not necessarily populism. Jason is proving to have painted himself into a corner. His situation is likely hopeless, but assuming Brian Jean replaced him; I don’t see a much different outcome. The party is too divided.

  3. Overall, our Mr. Kenney sure does seem to have flexible principles sometimes, both when it comes to the grassroots and child care.

    He was right, actually twice, about one thing though – that the conservative movement has fallen apart because of arrogant, top down leadership. Now, Kenney can’t really be blamed for what happened to the PC’S, but he can be blamed for knowingly repeating the same mistake.

    I believe the grassroots guarantee actually died a long time ago, but I suppose some of the those closer to Kenney didn’t fully realize it until more recently. Its downfall caused by a politician desperate to tell people what they wanted to hear because his career in Ottawa in opposition was going no where.

    Yes, sometimes you can fool people by telling them what they want to hear for a while. However, eventually the contradictions become to evident for even most supporters to ignore. Those who still stuck on Kenney’s sinking ship are likely looking for a way to get off

  4. These pretend conservatives and Reformers in the UCP sure did a good job of duping Albertans, and boy were they ever duped! Some of us who were smart enough, gave ample warnings about how bad the UCP were going to be, but these warnings went unheeded, or we were mocked for doing so. It was the same situation under Ralph Klein. We lost billions of dollars from bad oil royalty rates, bad tax policies, very pricey shenanigans, and the core services that we all rely on were gutted, so privatization could happen. Other vital services, such as utilities were deregulated, jacking up their costs. These Reformers are what Peter Lougheed warned us about. Had we stayed on the proper pathway that he took for this province, we wouldn’t be in this horrific mess today. There are still people who believe the UCP are running this province good. They are brainwashed by the lies the UCP is feeding them, and Alberta isn’t any better off. The older generations tell the younger generations to support these pretend conservatives and Reformers, and the younger generations just follow along, without questioning anything. Where is the sense in that?

    1. Just wait until the biggest boondoggle of them all. We ain’t seen nothing yet.

      The youngsters might soon find out that the “coal” is code for “rare earth minerals extracted from fly ash”, heavily processed on site in fragile ecosystems. Imagine, giving away coal to the lowest bidder, only to learn that the “waste” is very valuable, and the people of this province have been swindled out of their mineral wealth once again. While the uninformed UCP oldsters might have no clue what a rare earth mineral is, youngsters like us who use cellphones, laptops, etc. will know that modern life depends on the lithium batteries that power them. It’s not great-grandpappy’s era. It’s the 21st century. Time to start living in the present.

  5. Signed the ripooff of a Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval sign with his own pudgy hand, did he? Old timey corny hucksterism at work. Makes you wonder whether people will ever learn not to trust politicians. Sure, everyone says they’re cynical about people tooting their own horn to get elected, but the public reset time to ignorance after ridiculous promises is about two weeks. Or the same old flimflam regurgitated endlessly for centuries woudn’t reappear right on cue, with some pseudo-earnest power-hungry nutter promising “This time will be different!!” It must be only pure desperation that makes people listen to the lies and take a chance on the liar. “Damme, I’m wrong again, Holmes!” “Hardly surprising, Watson. You miss all the obvious clues.”

    Fresh from preaching airy-fairy nonsense at COP26 and exultant that tarsands weren’t mentioned once in the rush to condemn coal, Tweedledum and Tweedledee have got a grudging one-day visa from @BahHumbugjk to enter Alberta and give away free childcare money. Wonders will never cease.

  6. I notice Mr. Boehmer is silent on another giant Coroplast promise Jason Kenney signed, namely his Public Health Guarantee. As you pointed out, Dave, that promise was already compromised at the UCP’s founding convention with a resolution to move to “‘privately-delivered health services where cost-effective’ and to ‘give Albertans the choice of privately funded, privately delivered health care services’” (https://albertapolitics.ca/2019/02/jason-kenneys-heath-care-guarantee-isnt-worth-much-but-that-may-be-good-enough-for-many-voters/). But then Mr. Boehmer would have no problem with top-down two-tier medicare. He probably has a pretty sweet supplementary health-care plan at National Public Relations.

  7. Bye-bye, mile-high flapper pie.
    The good old boys were drinking whiskey and rye.
    Singin’, “This’ll be the day that I die…”

    Sincere apologies to songwriter Don McLean.

  8. It’s good to finally sign on to the Federal Child Care Program. However, if I was Trudeau I’d build -in safeguards to prevent Kenney from stealing that money and giving it to his friends – you know the fossil fuel industry.

    Kenney simply can’t be trusted to use that money for what it is intended.

    Let’s watch…

  9. Blackfoot Diner a fun restaurant. Especially cute is the model train circling around happy foodies as they enjoy fine dining. Too bad this classic eatery was used for nefarious purposes.

      1. Most folks try to avoid people who have worked (it’s often said you never stop working) for central intelligence holding the second highest political office in the country. It certainly makes one wonder where their loyalty truly lies.

        Chrystia Freeland is especially interesting because she was working with far right Ukrainians she’s literally descendent from, at the behest of the American government in they dying years of the Cold War.

        As many folks have pointed out Canada has literally been training fascists in Ukraine now, while she’s deputy PM, which I think begs a question or two from media. No ?

      1. Bret Lawson So are you saying you support Russia, like you have Jason Kenney? I have known her and her parents, and grandparents since 1975 in Peace River. Her mother, father and grandfather were lawyers and her grandmother was the manager of their law office.
        They were a smart and well respected family and with us having Ukrainians in our family we know how Russia has treated them over the years and we don’t blame her from trying to do something about it.

        1. Always with the Russia huh?

          Im sure her and her family are great people. Unfortunately when you are on the shitty end of the federal politics, jurisdiction-ally and politically, the federal policies enacted are detrimental to the prosperity of the future Canada in my opinion.

          And I dont like systems that hurt people.

          1. Bret Larson I get it, apparently it was okay to hurl sarcastic comments at Rachel Notley , like Jason Kenney taught you to do, when the previous conservative MLAs were praising her for being like Lougheed.

            Maybe you should google what former conservative MLA Allan Warrack said about her, I heard the same thing from other conservative MLAs.
            “Notley governs like Lougheed”

        2. Uh no,

          Her maternal grandfather was a propagandist for the third reich.

          This has been extensively covered by folks in this country, as well as folks in the United States and elsewhere.

          Her Uncle also worked for USAID. Freeland herself has been working with far right Ukrainian nationalists since her time in university.

          This is not a “Russian conspiracy” its historical fact. The article I posted is written by an American who has worked for the defence department most of his life.

    1. Chrystia Freeland, perhaps recruited as a CIA/US State Dept. operative while she was attending Harvard and Oxford? Even the KGB gave her the codename “Frida” and noted in her files she was to be “respected” as an effective operative in the Ukraine.

      Freeland’s a spook?

      Premier Crying & Screaming Midget has got to respect that.

      1. So while Kenney tries to save his ass, and has changed his mind and is now cooperating with Trudeau on the child care program what a farce. You knew he had to. These reformers will do anything to get elected. After the horrible mess he made of the covid pandemic by refusing to listen to our doctors who did he run to for help , Trudeau of course.

        They couldn’t exist without Trudeau’s help. Oil producers are stating that they think Trudeau’s targets can be reached by using solar power, while these reformers teach their ignorant supporters that Green Energy won’t work. My late father was a power plant engineer and he knew better.

        Now Devon is powering their Rec Centre, and street lights with solar power, Shell Canada is going to power their refinery at Scotford with solar power, and the Travers solar project starting in Lomond in 2017 will provide power for 150,000 homes. If that isn’t enough proof Germany with a population of 83 million will have zero emissions by 2045. It makes Canada look really stupid for not doing something sooner, but is was Harper who told the world he didn’t give a damn about global warming and the pollution Alberta was producing.

        While Jason Kenney finally agrees to help our young families with child care, Brian Jean makes an ass of himself by attacking his opposition, with sarcastic comments , a Nigerian who is likely a lot smarter than him. These reformers just keep shooting themselves in the foot and the faster we get rid of all of them the better off we will be. There is certainly nothing conservatives about them. Looking after themselves and their rich friends is all they care about.

    2. Interesting coincidence, PZ Myers at his blog, “Pharyngula”, has posted about the confluence between Steve Bannon and the Duginists’ shaping the policies of the present Russian government.
      After having read such material as “Blood Lands”, by Timothy Snyder, there can be no surprise about individuals making the decisions that they do. Recently, I have become familiar with the term, “Tankie”. It came into common usage after the events in Czechoslovakia in 1968. The term refers to the hard core friends of the Soviet Union, who stood in support of the removal of the Dubcek government by the Soviet Union and other forces from the Warsaw Pact.

  10. Judging from somebody who gets all the mails from all the different sides, the Kenny government does a pretty good job at keeping people engaged and looking for consensus.

    As for Drew, the first time I meet him he seemed to want me to not like one of the last leaders of the federal party, so he is consistent. And I actually dont mind the angles he pushing. Abit of give and take is what is required to actually represent the grass roots. Because all grass roots arent the same.

    And of course, its a problem with a bigger tent. One that the government worker lead NDP dont have.

  11. Preston Manning was, and still is delusional. He labours under that mistaken belief that politicos and the public view him as some sort of oracle.

    In reality, he is a washed up, has been, failed political leader. Nothing there.

    Not certain…take a look at his work/advice in the last two Calgary municipal elections. Abysmal. Aspiring office holders who have relied on his advice/direction have failed miserably. Not surprising.

  12. “Looking snappy in a suede Western-style sports jacket…..”

    Dave, not sure that Jason Kenney is ever looking snappy, ha ha

  13. I am not sure why anyone thinks grassroots populism is some kind of political virtue.

    Grassroots populism is usually a scam that attempts to tap into a sense of personal and collective grievance to motivate people to vote for a particular candidate. Politicians, and Kenney is no exception, who cynically exploit grassroots populism have little intention of listening and paying attention to the grassroots, except when it serves their own interests. In fact, you could argue that Premier Bumbles is the poster child for the cynical hypocrisy of grassroot populism, whereby he attempts to fool as many people as he can for the most amount of time with no intention of ever heeding their wishes when it comes into conflict with his political survival and his other selfish and ideologically driven interests.

    A leader should, of course, listen to the concerns of the electorate. They should not, however, cynically appeal to the prejudices or ignorance of the so-called “grassroots”, which is often manipulated by lies and propaganda from vested interests, such as the government itself (in the case of this UCP government), the fossil fuel industry, etc. They lead and, where appropriate, they guide and they educate. Nor should a leader change the rules of the game like spoiled children when they feel they are losing, such as what Kenney is doing by attempting to changing the constitution at the convention. A leader should always choose the best interests of the people they govern over their own interests and be willing to make difficult choices with grace and courage. Bumbles has neither grace or courage.

    Bumbles is no leader. He is a selfish, childish, and petulant ruler, not really all that interested in governance or the best interests of either the “grassroots” or the electorate at large, and who feels himself anointed to achieve some secret, no doubt religiously inspired, dominionist, socially conservative set of goals.

    I am sure there will be some howls at the AGM over his attempt to avoid punishment by the various riding associations that want to see him gone and for his past and current performance. It should be an interesting AGM, and not in a good way for Kenney. And, regardless of the success of his tactics, there is no really good outcome for him. If he gets the amendment he wants and avoids an earlier review, people will not forget how he manipulated things to assure a particular outcome that was in no one’s interest except his own.

  14. Watching the news conference today, announcing that (AT LAST) there is a national childcare strategy happening, I was amused to see Kenney, for some inexplicable reason, go off about the constitution and Ottawa owes Alberta $900 Bazillion for just being Alberta. It’s a good thing PMJT was wearing a mask, because judging by the constant winking and blinking of his eyes, he must have been having the heartiest laugh ever. Of course, when Trudeau came up to the mic for his response, he declared this is not the time for constitutional debate, but a time for the National Childcare Strategy. Oh, Kenney has been owned again. The camera panning to Kenney’s clearly seething masked face was solid gold. I wonder what was holding Trudeau back from turning to Kenney and saying, “Looks like this man needs a drink.”

    1. If he knows what’s good for him a drink would suit Kenney better than challenging JT to a three round boxing match.

    2. “Inexplicable”? Not really, Just Me. Kenney can’t stop himself from playing up to the Base. Getting slapped down in public is good for his health–raises the heart rate and blood pressure, just like a cardio workout. Good thing we still have public health care! (Oh wait, the doctors and nurses are leaving. Oh well, can’t have anything when RepubliCons form a government….)

  15. Bet one asinine will beggars the grassroots, his guarantee: move twisted pins around with signature spell. Yet a post-game caduceus of goals, rapt round the staff he’s slipin’ us, augers not very well.

    Factions plural against faction of one put goal posts back in their places; “Guaranteed”, the bet is called, but showing three pairs of Aces.

    K-Boy’s depleted but still undefeated when no rule of law can’t be lamed: “I’m not done yet ‘til I dive on your deck—I never cheated, I only gamed.”

  16. Grassroots support??????

    Seems to me that only grass I can see is that which is being smoked by Kenney’s political advisors and close supporters.

    It has been a disaster since day 1.

    Best summer yet???? Perhaps next year, or the year after.

  17. Clearly it’s time for 20-30% deep, sustained cuts to spending, private health care, right to work legislation, an end to communist lockdowns, and stupid $10 a day child care. A market fundamentalist approach is what is really required for all of our prosperity.

    1. I believe a provincial, if not even providential, force could muster long guns for a firing squad! So many deserving targets! Eh what?

  18. I see that 22 UCP constituency associations have passed resolutions calling for a leadership review. I suspect the sudden announcement is an “I’ll show YOU!” response to Kenney’s attempt to raise the bar from 22 to 29. Too late, Jason! You told the grassroots that they would democratically decide what to do with the party–and now they’re gonna tell you. What are you gonna do now?

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