Kenney should resign, says former Wildrose Leader Brian Jean

CALGARY – The premier should resign, according to a former Alberta political leader.

Brian Jean says he’s been continually let down by the government and he, like many other Albertans, took issue with the lack of an apology from the UCP regarding the Sky Palace dinner.

His message: Jason Kenney should step down for the good of the UCP and the good of Alberta.

“I have been thinking about this for the last several days, as I watched Premier Kenney take another relatively minor issue and turn it into a political crisis,” he wrote on Facebook.

“I was disappointed that the Premier and his chosen inner circle made a mess of following the COVID rules that he placed on all Albertans. But I was much more disappointed that when he was clearly in the wrong he just wouldn’t apologize. And that got me thinking about how often I have been disappointed in how this government does things.”

He goes on to say that this government fights too much and has an attitude problem.

“The premier seems to think that everyone who isn’t 100 per cent loyal to Jason Kenney, is an enemy of this government. This brutal attitude has migrated its way into the political staff who still support Kenney and many of his ministers. It leaves you with the impression that many people at the top levels of this government don’t actually like Albertans,” he said.

Jean says he has tried to give Kenney sound advice over the last two years of the UCP being in power, but it’s fallen on deaf ears.

“He won’t take it. He is too set in his ways,” he said.

Jean goes on to say that if an election was held today, the NDP would win handily–which he says is shocking considering the UCP blew the rival party out of the water in an election just two years ago.

The threat of an NDP government is not only huge problem, says Jean, but it would be “a disaster”.

“When we drilled down on voter motivation we discovered that more than half of people who told [a recent poll] they were voting NDP said that they wished there was someone else to vote for but they wouldn’t vote UCP. Even more scary is that half of the UCP voters in the poll wanted someone else to vote for but they would never vote NDP. Jason Kenney’s poor attitude is motivating huge numbers of Albertans to hold their nose and reluctantly support the NDP,” he explained.

“So, premier, before it is too late, do the right thing and step down for the good of the party we created and the good of Alberta.”