A Telephone Town Hall with Jason Kenney

On February 8, 2017 I tuned in for a telephone town hall with Jason Kenney.  I'd never participated in one before and I figured it might be interesting.  I was not disappointed.

I wrote previously about the Unite Alberta get-together in Calgary back in January and I attempted to give a semi-unbiased recounting of that event.  One story, which I tried valiantly to corroborate, but could not, involved a 12 year old autistic girl from Grande Prairie who was put into counselling after she expressed doubt about her gender.  Not only, Kenney said, was she put into counselling, but she was given a boy's name and treated as a boy at school; all without telling the parents.  I bring this up now because this time he told us she was from Calgary.  That's how the town hall began.

One caller kept referring to "severely normal Albertans" and wanted to ensure "Martha and Henry" could have a say in the new party.  Kenney reiterated another story from January about how he "gave up his only income and hit the road in his pickup truck".  This story is becoming easier for him to tell even though it's not true.  Most people (though apparently not his supporters) recall that he did not resign his seat as MP until the end of September, almost a full three months after he began campaigning.  But, whatevs, I'm sure.

He told us that Brian Jean is willing to talk merger.  If Kenney is given a mandate, he wants to put Alberta first.  He claims he wants no pre-conditions on unification other than members choose.  Then he brought up the most recent statement from Brian Jean that Mr. Jean wants the party to unite under the legal framework of the Wildrose.  Kenney stated that he had never considered the possibility that one party would capitulate to the other.  He expects the parties to respect both sides, that they come together as equals and in good faith, "just create a new party and make a fresh start".

Another caller said that she believed the parties must amalgamate to have any hope of beating the NDP.  Kenney told her that that's why he was doing this; it was why he gave up his only income.  He believes the NDP will do irreparable damage to free-enterprise if they are given another term.

The carbon tax was brought up again and he promised the repeal of the carbon tax would be Bill1 if they win in 2019.  Again he brought up the "U of A professor" and I can't help but wonder why he won't say Andrew Leach's name.  Kenney name-drops all the time... I find it odd that he won't name Andrew.

There was a question about Bill 10 and parental choice.  To his credit, Kenney told the caller that there was unanimous support for Bill 10 from both Wildrose and PCs in the legislature.  In his mind, Bill 10 itself was settled.  He would, though, look into how the Bill was being implemented in schools as he did not like how the NDP was doing it.

The next caller had a question about the level of PC debt and whether that debt would be a deterrent to the Wildrose.  Kenney admitted that the Wildrose have much higher donations than the PC party but that between the PC party general and its constituency associations, there was enough to pay off the debt.  Kenney said he was not concerned about losing funds through a merger because the PC's are not raising enough money.  While the PC's are raising around $10,000 per month, the Wildrose have been raising about $100,000.  He mentioned that his campaign had raised more than both of them (the number I heard was $630,000+/- from October 2016 to December 2016 though he did not name a number tonight). Then he went way out: "The CPC raised $7,000,000 last year; way more than the PC's and Wildrose combined"... as if there's some natural comparison between a national party and a provincial party in terms of fundraising capabilities.

The following caller asked about the progressives in the PC party.  "The right will unite" he said, "but how do we win progressives?"  Kenney told him that he wants to build a big, broad, tolerant party.  He says he's never called it "unite the right".  There were successful coalitions by Lougheed and Klein.  He said the united party will tolerate a certain degree of difference but that it will be free-enterprise.  "You cannot redistribute wealth that hasn't been created."  He's actually said this a couple of times now and I wasn't sure what to make of it.  It's acceptable to redistribute wealth in a good economy but not a bad one?  Redistribution of wealth is okay for conservatives but not for anyone else?  .....

The final question was regarding the merged/united party.  "Will we select either PC or Wildrose policies after they're forged into one party?"  Kenney said that he wants the PC party and the Wildrose to negotiate.  It should be voted upon by a clear majority of Wildrose members.  It would be a fresh start and a new beginning.  He told those on the phone to also purchase a Wildrose membership so they could have a say.  It's a strange day in politics, I think.

D.