Conservatives built the Alberta separatist movement. Now they have to break it |
I am not generally in the habit of saying nice things about Jason Kenney. I think his time as premier was defined by his craven approach to COVID, one that ultimately cost him his job because it wasn’t craven enough for the conspiracy theorists who came to dominate the political party he built. I was appalled by his relentless campaign of political vandalism against climate policies like the carbon tax. And I firmly believe that his constant rage farming around Ottawa’s supposed war on the oil and gas industry seeded the ground for the Alberta separatist movement’s latest flowering.
But credit where it’s due: at least he’s trying to do something about that. Kenney has been willing — happy, even — to use his rhetorical talents to cut the separatists and their ludicrous arguments down to size, whether that’s on national television or social media. And right now, we need more Jason Kenneys if we’re going to put the separatist threat — and the seemingly inevitable prospect of American interference in any potential referendum — to bed.
After all, the separatists aren’t about to listen to the arguments being made by Thomas Lukaszuk, Naheed Nenshi or other pro-Canada politicians. They certainly won’t listen to a columnist who refuses to coddle........