Jason Kenney is opening up his Alberta election platform and spilling out the contents for all to see.
The UCP Leader has been on a tear in the past week, playing to his base, unapologetically yanking out populist-pleasing platforms and sending New Democrat opponents into a tizzy. After months of being cagey about where a UCP government would stand on a number of controversial issues, Kenney is now head on in election mode.
This is not your centrist, big tent, Progressive Conservative platform.
Kenney wants to look at lowering the minimum wage for young workers in a move to please the restaurant lobby. He would repeal NDP legislation that significantly tightened up health and safety regulations for farm workers. There would be no government subsidies for wind or solar generation in the province.
With a nod to those distrustful of government, a UCP government would introduce recall legislation. Kenney says the UCP government would cut salaries to MLAs and the premier. (Never mind that a supposedly all-party committee in the legislature is responsible for MLA compensation). And he would ban time-wasting desk thumping in the legislature too. MLAs set on crossing the floor would likely have to face a by-election.
Some of his proposed reforms are direct shots across the NDP bow.
His platform bans unions, employee organizations, corporations or other organizations legally affiliated with a party from operating contributing to a Political Action Committee (PAC). He mentioned the Alberta Federation of Labour which traditionally mounts an advertising campaign around election time.
Kenney also says he plans to introduce an eye rollingly titled End Partisan Government Advertising Act to stop the use of tax money for partisan ads. He's been ranting about the government's Made in Alberta ads, "which are an unvarnished NDP pre-election campaign with zero value for taxpayers."
His policy pushes on education are raising the rancour of the current government and left-wing voters.
Kenney told party faithful he would stop the current three-year school curriculum revamp in its tracks. With an echo of curriculum rollbacks in Ontario after the Ford government's ascension to power, Kenney called the $64-milion update being rolled out to Alberta schools an "ideological rewrite."
Alberta Education Minister David Eggen thundered back at the proposal, calling it a "drive-by shooting", negating a process that involved feedback from 100,000 Albertans. Kenney has reeled his rhetoric back in a bit, saying in a later press conference that some parts of the current revamp will survive but he would launch a new round of consultations.
Kenney has also said he would expand school choice, removing the cap on how many charter schools can operate in the province at any given time.
Kenney's various speeches and press statements on this increasingly detailed platform are all hitting the media at the same time that the NDP is launching a desperate-looking campaign directed specifically at Kenney and his record as a federal politician and right-wing activist.
The NDP's The Truth About Jason Kenney website serves up unflattering slices of Kenney's history with fairly lurid headlines including: 'Jason Kenney: A persistent and determined opponent of a woman's right to choose' and 'Jason Kenney led a cruel and dehumanizing campaign against LGBQT Canadians.'
Kenney says his views, including his opposition to same-sex marriage, have evolved over the years and he now supports LGBQT rights.
On the thorny question of reproductive rights, abortion access and funding, Kenney is more circumspect.
"A United Conservative government will not address this issue, will not engage in this debate, will not initiate legislation," he told reporters.
That assertion was in answer to statements by the anti-abortion group The Wilberforce Project which is supporting the UCP and said in a recent blog post: "If the UCP wins the upcoming election, then we will have the most pro-life legislature in decades, and maybe ever."
Under Kenney's democratic reform promises, UCP MLAs will be allowed to vote freely in the legislature, except in cases where the matter at hand isn't deemed a confidence vote or a key platform commitment. Whether his promise to steer clear of abortion access and funding is a key platform commitment isn't yet entirely clear. Kenney may well further clarify that position as time goes on.
Kenney has certainly proven open in recent days to revealing quite a lot about the 'truth about Jason Kenney'. He's betting there are enough Alberta voters aligned to his brand of conservative politics to put him over the top in the coming spring election.
