Jason Kenney, the "unity' guy

In his campaign to become the United Conservative Party leader, Jason Kenney claims "it's time to Unite Alberta and bring back the Alberta Advantage."  He includes a commitment to unity in his banner 'Jason Kenney - Experience, Leadership, Unity.'

Ironically, he's the most divisive politician to enter Alberta Politics in recent memory. He uses dog whistle politics to question the heritage of First Nations people, the right of LGBTQ students to join a Gay Straight Association in school without being outed by their parents, accused the NDP of an ideology conspiracy and the use of social engineering to indoctrinate our young people, and called the politics of millennials a product of hardwiring collectivist ideas and identity politics. 

Lots of people hate Rachel Notley. She called Albertans the embarrassing cousins when referring to Alberta's environmental record; a huge strategic mistake probably the consequence of hubris after having just won a shocking majority for her NDP government. However, since that time, I've found no effort on her part to pit one group of Albertans against another. I couldn't even find a comment she might have made about George Clark's attempted 'kudutah." A more naive, ignorant effort to impact Alberta politics could hardly be imagined. Yet, to criticize George would have been to criticize his supporters. After all, cousins may be embarrassing but they're still part of the Alberta family. 

Jason Kenney likes to compare himself to Ralph Klein but Ralph never used social issues to divide the electorate. And, when he did, he apologized and humbly admitted to a serious drinking problem. During the recession of 1995, Ralph appealed to the public sector to roll back wages by 5%, I was in a room full of teachers who agreed to it. The problem was that he also  eliminated 4500 civil service jobs and 43% of all nursing positions, and cut funding for public kindergarten and didn't restore wages and jobs when the recession ended

Yet, Ralph was not known for using social issues or dog whistles to advance his agenda. After all, he knew the feeling of what it's like to be at the receiving end. In February of 2006,  Ezra Levant, a long-time fan of Jason's, published a story in his political magazine complaining about the influence of Colleen Klein on the political life of her husband. He stated that, "Once she [Colleen] stops being the premier's wife, she goes back to being just another Indian." Despite outrage from MLAs and a number of aboriginal groups, Ezra stood by his comment. Like a gentleman, Ralph refused to engage.

Jason demonstrated his disdain for aboriginal people and their heritage in June of 2016 when he tweeted that "on Aboriginal Day, we honour those  those who first settled Canada and their generations of descendants." What does this mean? Are they immigrants just like the rest of us? And, as immigrants, how can they have been nations when the French and British first arrived? And, if they weren't nations, how can they have signed treaties?

More recently, he's stated that the new social studies curriculum is "predictably riddled with politically correct themes like colonialism and oppression and climate change." I wonder, in what way is colonialism a politically correct theme? After all, according the Oxford Dictionary, colonization is "the action or process of settling among and control over the indigenous people of an area."

Ultimately, wouldn't the colonization of the First Nations peoples be an essential component of Canadian history? How else could I be here if my ancestors hadn't conquered these peoples and then removed them from the land I now inhabit? And wouldn't conquering a people and colonizing their land require some the oppression of those people? So, how could these be politically correct themes? Unless, of course, they were settlers just like us and like us, welcomed others to provide labour for our businesses and industry.

Besides the bizarre nature of these statements, I wonder how Jason can believe they will help unite Alberta? Or, are they meant to appeal to a certain segment of Albertans? Those who don't recognize the rights of indigenous peoples? And, does he even care about how his comments might be perceived by First Nations peoples? Or perhaps, he thinks his dog whistle is cleverly disguised as truly honouring the First Nations peoples.

Jason created a similar rift with the LGTBQ community when he stated that parents should be notified if their son or daughter joins a Gay Straight Alliance in school. He told the editorial board at Postmedia in Calgary that "parents have a right to know what's going on with their kids in schools unless the parents are abusive. I don't think it's right to keep secrets from parents about challenges their kids are going through." Except perhaps, if one of the students biggest and most feared challenges is informing his or her parents about their sexual orientation.

Bill 10, making GSAs mandatory if students request them, was introduced Laurie Blakeman, Libertal MLA as a private members in 2014. The bill received from all three parties and became legislation after a vote of 31 MLAs for and 19 against.

David Eggen, Minister of Education, called Jason's views extremist. Laurie Blakeman
tweeted ,"Dear #jkenney Remember, #GSAs were created to address the astonishing #s of young gay students committing suicide. Access to GSAs helped." K.D. Lang questioned Jason's own sexual orientation when she tweeted, "You're gay aren't you? @jkenney."

Could Jason's youth steeped in Catholic orthodoxy have prompted him to revisit this emotionally charged issue? (See "Nutty Jason Kenney, A History: Part 1) Does he see it as a way to bolstering support from his base? Or perhaps, he believes that outing LGBTQ students to their parents would be good for the student. Or perhaps, it doesn't matter so long as "parental rights" are observed.

Jason recently accused the NDP of carrying out a secret agenda with the current Alberta school curriculum review. As proof, he cites the fact that the names of teachers and professionals on the committee charged with the review were not released. Initially, my wife used her rights under Alberta FOIP legislation to prevent the publishing of her name. Like others on the committee, she had seen and heard the kinds of vitriols posted on Twitter against Rachel Notley and other members of her caucus and didn't relish the possibility of similar types of abuse.

Initially, my wife wondered why the publishing of the committee members' names mattered. After all, she'd participated in a number of social studies reviews, the first under Lyle Oberg, then PC Minister of Learning back in the early 2000s and then another when Dave Hancock was Minister. No demands from the opposition had been made for the names to be made public at that time and no accusations were made of secret PC agenda. However, after hearing Jason's accusations of a secret NDP agenda, she retracted her rights under FOIP and agreed to have her name published.

Jason expounded his "expert" views on the curriculum in a conversation with the Edmonton Journal back in August. He said the curriculum should "impartially transmit essential knowledge and skills to young people so that they can come to their own political and moral judgements about issues. I see that the language of that curriculum . . .  echoes of social engineering, telling young people what to think, rather than how to think, rather than quipping them with knowledge and facts and skills." He continues to say that the reason the NDP is proceeding in secret is because "the NDP has a political agenda at play here."


Jason speaks with the authority of a radio talk-show host with only dubious support for what is said. For example, how can a curriculum "impartially transmit essential knowledge and skills" and teach students "how to think rather than quipping them with knowledge and fact and skills"? How is not publishing the names of those participating proof of a secret NDP agenda? What does he mean by social engineering? Does he really think it only means teaching students what to think because the dictionary states that it's "an attempt to manage social change and regulate the future development and behaviour of a society"? If he means the latter, how can a school curriculum possibly achieve that goal? Or does he not care? Is Jason's real goal to create suspicion and anger? And, how does that help unite Alberta?

In a June, 2016 interview with Ezra Levant of Rebel Media, Jason states that "the big challenge which I don't have an easy answer is how to address the prevailing political attitude of millennials . . . I think it's the first generation to come through a schooling system where many of them have been hardwired with collectivist ideas with watching Michael Moore documentaries, with identity politics, from their primary and secondary to their universities. "

What does Jason Kenney know about millennials? Upon what does he base his judgement? He isn't a millennial and he doesn't have children He works 18 hours a day so when would he have time to get to know one? He refers to concepts that he doesn't seem to understand. For example, the equivalent in the brain to hardwiring in a computer would be the same as the anatomical make-up of the human brain at birth. If collectivist ideas are hard-wired at birth, no education system could change that.

Does Jason know that collectivist ideas and identity politics don't easily mix? Identity politics emphasizes individual rights and freedoms with respect to race, religion, sexual orientation or social background. Collectivist ideas require trading some of those rights and freedoms for the benefit of the group.

Identity politics depends on the protection of individual rights and freedoms as set out in our constitution. In 2006, a school board in Quebec refused to allow a Sikh student to carry a kirpan in school that is both a dagger and a religious object. The case was taken to the Supreme Court who overturned the ruling by the school board and Quebec's attorney general.  So, in this case, as in many others, the student's identity, as it's expressed in his religious rights, won out over a the school board's concern for the safety of the student body.

Does truth matter to Jason Kenney or would he rather push emotional buttons on social issues that divide Albertan? He's told millennials they have a "political attitude" that needs fixing. That teachers "hard-wired" students to accept collectivist ideas. Members of the Alberta curriculum review are part of a secret agenda to impose NDP ideology on students using a strategy called "social engineering" that brings up images of the Soviet Gulag.

According to Jason's "Grassroots Guarantee," he'll look to the "grassroots" of his party to create policy. But who will that grassroots include? Students? Millennials? First Nations? The LGTBQ community? Public service workers? Environmentalists? Or will he create a deeply divided political environment where only some people will feel welcome to engage in the political process?