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Former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney joined The Evan Bray Show on Friday.
The former United Conservative Party leader discussed Official Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre’s speech at his leadership review, Alberta separatism and the possibility of another election.
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Listen to Jason Kenney on The Evan Bray Show:
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Evan Bray: What are your thoughts on Pierre Poilievre’s convention speech and some of the important highlights?
Jason Kenney: I thought it was a really good speech. It was positive, hopeful, optimistic and visionary. I think he really connected with the crowd.
He had maybe a bit of a slow start but he had this section geared towards the end that was about believing in Canada, celebrating our history, our identity, what we built as a country and the value of this country. I think it was his own implicit way of responding both to Quebec and Alberta separatism, and some of the threats we’re getting from U.S. president Donald Trump.
If I were to offer any criticism, I think he should have said something more explicitly about Trump dishonouring our war dead and our troops, threatening to turn Canada into the 51st state and his constant economic attacks on us.
Those are issues that a lot of Canadians, myself included, are really upset about, and I think they need to be taken on more head-on. But apart from that, I thought it was a really good speech.
Bray: Was there was a strategic reason why Trump didn’t feature more prominently in that speech?
Kenney: I’ve known Poilievre since he was a teenager. He worked at my first campaign as a volunteer when he was 16, he was an intern in my office and he worked as a junior minister with me in Ottawa.
I think in this case, he’s very good at focusing and defining really important issues. He’s very focused — and has been for years — on the cost of living, housing affordability, food inflation, taxes.
I think he wants to keep his focus on kitchen-table economics, the daily struggles of ordinary working Canadian families and I think maybe he regards Trump as a bit of a distraction.
My view is he can do both of those things. He should not become or try to be the leader of the opposition to President Trump; that’s not his job. He shouldn’t be talking about Trump every day, but I don’t think it’s realistic to ignore this huge disruptive factor for our economy and our lives.
Bray: Do you see the possibility of an election in the near future?
Kenney: I think it’s unlikely but it’s not impossible. I believe Mark Carney has a kind of de facto majority anyway, because the NDP holds the balance of power in the House of Commons, and they’re in no rush, they’re basically bankrupt. They’ve only got six or seven seats, and they’re in no rush to have an election.
The Conservatives are cooperating with the Liberals wherever they find agreement, even advancing their increase in the GST rebate. I don’t think they’re facing obstruction. I think (Carney would) have a hard time explaining to Canadians why he asked for a mandate months ago to deal with this big U.S. crisis, only to turn around and have two elections in one year.
Finally, I do think Carney is a bit of a technocrat who really believes he stepped into this job to help the country through a crisis situation. So, taking 10 weeks off as we head into summer negotiations with the U.S. on the renewal of the CUSMA trade agreement would be a huge distraction.
Bray: Polling says it could be as many as a million people in the province of Alberta that want to separate from Canada. How much of a threat you think this separatist movement is, and how it should be approached by the federal government or maybe even by the federal conservatives?
Kenney: I don’t think it’s a threat of actually separating, but there is a real threat that they could meet the required signatures to get on a ballot later this year, and that itself would be very divisive and disruptive.
Separatism has always been around as a marginal view in Alberta politics, going back about 50 years since the National Energy Program. In all that time, though, they have run candidates in most federal and provincial elections. They run hundreds and hundreds of candidates, but they only ever got one elected in one riding in one by-election very briefly at the height of the national energy program back in 1982.
I take from that that this has never been a movement with broad public support. But if they can get enough people to sign that petition, it’s going to be very divisive.
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