It looks like Jason Kenney is feverishly working to position himself to take the lead on saving Canada from the pro-independence Alberta movement, for which he holds mocking disdain.The ex-premier claimed he’s all “done [with] politics,” then said “we’ll see” when he appeared on freelance journalist/podcaster Jen Gerson’s On the Line podcast. This was the same day, but prior to the announcement that the Alberta independence petition gathered more than enough signatures to trigger a referendum. The ex-premier sent out contradictory messages regarding his plans. But his views of the movement were clear. He said it’s comprised of mostly alt-right media, along with anti-vaxxers, and Convoy truckers who “moved on” from COVID-19 to exploit the COVID-19 turmoil by morphing into the independence movement.Perhaps this COVID-19 tyrant is being coy about his plans because he has been chasing media attention from friendlies to gauge whether angry Albertans will drive him off with pitchforks. Or if he can take centre stage. His big challenge lies in swaying Albertans to appreciate the need for Jason Kenney, as much as Jason Kenney and Gerson appreciate the need for Jason Kenney.Gerson’s a huge Kenney fan. Fair enough. Her right. Her podcast. We all have heroes. But CBC’s Rosemary Barton came to mind. Barton radiated with adulation when she tossed ex-PM Justin Trudeau leading softball questions..It was evident where the tête-à-tête was headed when Kenney and Gerson lamented that no one had stepped up to organize and lead a pro‑federalist, centre‑right campaign to counter Alberta’s well-organized independence movement. Gerson said what’s needed is a “pan-partisan coalition or even a conservative-ish coalition of people who are willing to go to the mat for federalism in order to counter the enormous amount of AI-slop-generated propaganda that’s coming out of the separatist team.” “I keep saying I’m astonished that I seem to be the only prominent person in the right of centre in Alberta politics now that is consistently speaking out against this concept, and it does strike me as passing strange,” said Kenney. Hint. Hint.Gerson finally stated the key point they obviously wanted to push.“But, but, but Jason Kenney, why wouldn’t the main leader be you?” That’s when he said he was “done [with] politics.”“But the team still needs to have a leader. Like a main guy,” implored Gerson.“We’ll see how this comes together,” said Kenney..He said the pro-independence movement is “electorally marginal” but “dangerous.” A win would be economically “catastrophic” for the province. Therefore, someone must rise to crush it. That someone must be able to manage “unpersuadable” pro-federalist whiners who’ll be dissatisfied no matter what crumbs Ottawa benevolently meets out. Kenney and Gerson concurred that these federalists don’t want to leave Canada and fretted that they might repeatedly manipulatively employ the threat of independence as a Conservative “knife to the throat” negotiating strategy with Ottawa. Imagine the audacity of wrangling better deals for Alberta! A main guy must thwart such madness.Rest assured. Kenney’s got experience in handling dissidents. During COVID-19, he proved he’s adept at crushing freedom and punishing dissent and bullying people — including MLAs he drove to revolt — into compliance. But shouldn’t aspiring main guys have class? A little compassion?.A sickening low point was when they laughed at Convoy Canadians who support Alberta independence. “By the way, do you remember just as an ironic point, during the trucker convoy, what their symbol was? It was the Canadian flag,” said Kenney, chuckling heartily. Gerson laughed.Are they callous or clueless?Seas of Canadian flags were proudly waved. What did patriotism get peaceful protesters? Betrayed. Manhandled. Beaten, fined. Jailed. Lives and careers ruined. Some are still embroiled in legal battles.Hysterical, eh?He blamed disgruntled COVID-19 “outsiders” — not his broken promises and tyranny — for flooding UCP internal votes and running him off in the 2022 leadership vote. Meanwhile, they agreed it’s regrettable that alt-right media have platforms to influence large audiences. Both clutched their pearls at the waning influence of legacy media.Said Gerson: “…the collapse of the mainstream media, it’s just that I find it so despairing that if I continue to go on that route, I’m going to put some alcohol in my tea if we’re going to continue in that conversation.”.Said Kenney: “There's no doubt that much or most of the energy in recent years here has been coming from that side of politics which at its most extreme end is conspiratorial...”“There's a broader context here, which is that the withdrawal of a large share of our population, this is more true in Alberta than broadly Canada, from mainstream institutional legacy media opting for alt-right echo chambers, whether it’s social media or alt-right opinion sources, that has been a significant part of this,” said Kenney.He pined for the olden days when fringe figures were restricted to self-publishing messages by “literally cranking out in their basement or Quonset hut” and sending pamphlets “to a mail list of a couple hundred people.” Or it could be “shut down” when calling radio shows.Kenney brought up the independence movement like anti-Semite Jim Keegstra and “your crazy drunk uncle from Tofield who shows up at Thanksgiving and rants.”By mentioning “the worst dregs of the dark side of Social Credit,” a negative connotation is associated with today's independence movement. Meanwhile, Kenney believes Prime Minister Mark Carney’s plan for Alberta can be trusted more than the pro-independence Albertans’ plan for Alberta. He said a better energy-security strategy, including new West Coast pipelines and LNG, is needed. He praised Carney as an “improvement” over Trudeau.That might satisfy Kenney. But Albertans are sick of unkept promises. And fed up with being financially bled via the equalization program that Kenney helped design when serving under former PM Stephen Harper. Albertans want an end to Ottawa’s destabilizing policies, destroying industries and prosperity. Many see independence as the only way it’ll happen..Kenney lectured Conservative politicians.“The primary political motive for some people remaining silent and ducking under the table on this imminent threat of a separatist referendum is because they look to their volunteer, organizational, donor, and voter base and see a not insignificant number of people who are either separatists or what I’ll call the frustrated federalist willing to vote yes ostensibly to gain leverage …When we actually test this stuff at the ballot, it fu**in’ always falls flat.”He piously reminded them that they took oaths in Parliament or the Legislature pledging allegiance to the king or queen. “Implicit in that oath is a commitment of loyalty to the entire constitutional structure of our country.”So said the guy who violated Charter rights guaranteed by the Constitution during COVID-19 when he surrendered Albertans to former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government’s brutal mandates.Kenney trampled on Albertans then and won’t stop putting verbal boots to them now. They’re “right‑wing Jacobins” who want to “burn everything down.” People desperate for attention. Conspiracy theorists. “I’m not going to be too distracted by the people who think separation’s going to end chem trails,” he sniffed.What’s Kenney’s endgame?Speculation’s rampant that he aspires to take Pierre Poilievre’s place as the Conservative leader. Taking down the Alberta independence movement might not be good for Albertans, but it would give Kenney something to boast about.
