Things are falling apart for Jason Kenney. David Climenhaga writes:
Todd Loewen, United Conservative Party MLA for the northwestern Alberta riding of Central Peace-Notley, broke party ranks Thursday morning and called for the resignation of Premier Jason Kenney.
Damning the Kenney government as “out of touch and arrogant,” Loewen also quit as chair of the party caucus. “I feel it is best to resign this position to be able to speak freely.”
Loewen is one of the COVID 18, who have objected to Kenney's lockdown measures:
It’s important not to valourize Loewen. He is, after all, part of a group of mostly rural MLAs whose principal objection to Kenney is that the premier is imposing COVID-19 mitigation measures that, while still insufficient, are too strict for their taste. In other words, they’re significant contributors to the problems harming the province and causing the UCP to unravel.
That said, it’s a blistering and articulate letter that sounds as if Loewen spent hours getting the wording just right. The letter was posted just before midnight last night on Loewen’s Facebook account.
The former Wildrose MLA assails Kenney’s arrogant style of one-man government, complaining of arbitrarily cancelled meetings, big decisions made without notice to members and input from members barely considered.
He extends the list of complaints beyond pandemic response to the government’s war on doctors, its coal development policy on the eastern slopes of the Rockies, which he said “did not align with the expectations and values of Albertans,” and its dealings with “a hostile federal government.”
“The caucus dysfunction we are experiencing is a direct result of your leadership,” he told the premier. “Messaging from your government has been contradictory, confusing, and needlessly inflammatory,” he went on, skillfully wielding an Oxford comma.
“The people of Alberta have lost trust in this government because you have not brought needed balance and reason to the discussion,” he continued. “These folks have not abandoned the principles and values of the UCP, but they have abandoned you specifically.”
One of life's inescapable axioms is that what goes around comes around.
Image: cbc.ca
