Jason Kenney just can't catch a break. As if explaining some untoward inter-candidate correspondence wasn't enough, the leader of Alberta's United Conservative Party (UCP), then comes Caylan Ford, the party's now ex-candidate for CalgaryMountain View, caught grousing about the "demographic replacement of white peoples in their homelands" on Facebook. Within less than a day, Ford stepped down on her own, not apologizing for her comments, but merely saying she had no wish to be a "distraction."
Too late. She is now the latest in a growing line of similar distractions for the UCP. In October 2018, the party disqualified EdmontonWest Henday candidate Lance Coulter after he appeared in photos with members of the anti-immigrant Soldiers of Odin. In February of this year, Kenney slammed the unidentified "ignorant fool" who sent an inflammatory letter featuring the UCP logo to an Edmonton mosque. Such bozo eruptions are delights for NDP Premier Rachel Notley, who, hours after announcing April 16 as the date of the next provincial election, told the press that "I personally do not believe that Jason Kenney is racist, but I believe that the UCP as a party has a problem with racism."
Why is that? What attracts open xenophobes to a party led by a man renowned for his successful and diligent outreach to new immigrants? The simplest answer is that they have no other credible party to support. Kenney most likely knows that every vote he attracts from this crowd causes him to lose one from people with sense. If he wants to draw the line and he should "ignorant fool" was a good start. Here's what else he should say before this happens again:
As you all know, a candidate for our party recently stepped down after it was revealed that she held some very troubling attitudes toward newcomers and minorities. She was right to step down on her own. Otherwise, we would have been forced to disqualify her, as we were forced to do with another candidate last fall.
When I learned that Ms. Ford subscribed to these views, I was angered and I was confused. I was confused that someone as intelligent and educated as she seemed could hold such ignorant views, not just about immigrants to Canada, but about members of the LGBTQ community. I was even more confused that she believed that there is room for this perspective within the United Conservative Party.
Let me make our perspective clear: We do not want to hear another word about "demographic replacement." We do not want to search the souls of people who kill in the name of racial supremacy. We do not want to play "devil's advocate" with these ideas, whether they were made real in Germany in the 1930s or in New Zealand in 2019. They have offered nothing but misery and destruction wherever and whenever they've taken root. Those roots must be ripped out.
And don't even try to dress any of this up like you're just asking "the tough questions." This is not a question: If you believe in white supremacy or any other form of racism, we do not want your support. Whether you're a candidate, a donor, a staffer, a volunteer, or a voter, your support is no good to this party or this province. The closest thing to the right thing that you can do is break your ties with the UCP before we break them for you. I would rather bring in a newcomer who wants to make Alberta better than keep someone born and bred here who wants to make it worse.
To the individual who came forward with Ms. Ford's comments: You did the right thing. If anyone else within our party knows of anyone else who shares her dangerous and outdated viewpoint, please come forward as well. Some people may call that snitching. I call it trying to save our party from being destroyed from within. I also call it trying to save the people of Alberta from being represented by people who don't deserve to represent anyone.
Our number-one mission is to create jobs, get our resources to market, and restore the Alberta Advantage. If you would rather waste your energy complaining about people with a different identity than your own, think long and hard whether this is the right party, the right province, or even the right country for you. Because your Alberta and our Alberta are not the same place. And on my watch, they never will be.
Written by Jess Morgan
