Kenney urges unity at Red Deer town hall meeting

Jason Kenney urged unity during a town hall event in Red Deer Tuesday night.

He told the 150 people in attendance at the Radisson hotel that the province is under attack by an ideology based on resentment of success and that at times, Albertans have taken their home province for granted.

“Half of us never bother voting in provincial elections. I think perhaps we began to take for granted our prosperity and the generosity of this society. We can’t take that for granted anymore. Alberta isn’t just a spot on a map, it’s an idea — an idea of a place where if you work hard, you can achieve your dreams,” the PC leader said.

Kenney touched on several subjects in his half hour speech.

He took aim at the carbon tax, saying it is driving the province into a fiscal ditch.

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Kenney described Alberta’s education system and Discovery Math as one example of many ‘pedagogical fads’ being introduced in our schools.

He also claimed he has ‘hard evidence’ of the NDP attempting to infiltrate the Wildrose and PC parties in order to prevent a successful vote in favour of the proposed United Conservative Party.

Kenney, PC MLA Richard Gotfried and Wildrose MLAs Nathan Cooper and Jason Nixon, all endorsed the idea of having those in favour of the UCP sign up with both parties in order to counter as many potential NDP infiltrators as possible.

The only way for conservatives in Alberta to defeat the NDP, Kenney explained, is to do so together.

“Pick a Wildroser here, give him a microphone, then a PC here, give her a microphone — they could have it out. I’m pretty sure the Wildroser will say ‘Well you PCs got arrogant and ran up big deficits and there was the royalty review and you left us.’ Then the PC will say ‘Well you Wildrose were too rigid and uncompromising and some of your people said dumb things and you left us, so you’re to blame. Maybe for some people, that debate is somehow emotionally satisfying, but I don’t really care because there’s only one party that wins that debate and it’s called the NDP,” Kenney said to a round of applause.

One audience member also complained about the lack of consultation with party members in the lead-up to Kenney and Brian Jean coming to terms on a framework agreement. Kenney, with some input from Nixon, explained that both sides were forced to use their discretion in coming up with the UCP’s founding principles in order to move the process along and then hand the rest over to the members.

It was even suggested the NDP could call a snap election, which the men on stage readily admitted would tie their hands even further and potentially cause real challenges.

“I fear the idea of Alberta is at risk today — it is under attack by an ideological socialist government that not only doesn’t understand our basic values, but they are trying to change who we are as a province and as a society into their own political image,” said Kenney.

“We’re going to be anywhere from $70 to $100 billion in debt in 2019 and from my perspective, and most of my constituents say, that’s just too much to gamble with because we’re gambling with our children’s future,” said Nixon, MLA for Rimbey – Rocky Mountain House – Sundre. “It’s about building a movement that can move Alberta’s interests forward together for many generations to come. If we continue this fight on the right of centre in politics, it’s going to do nothing but hurt conservative values in this province.”

PC Party members will vote on ratification over three days (July 20-22) and Wildrose on July 22.