Jason Kenney's fight is over. Let the fight begin.
The 50-year-old United Conservative Party leader, known for saying he can't help but march to the sound of rhetorical gunfire, soundly defeated Rachel Notley's NDP with a majority in Tuesday's Alberta election.
The former federal cabinet minister now takes his fight to Ottawa as Alberta's 18th premier. He has promised to challenge the federal government on everything from the carbon tax to proposed energy regulations and equalization payments.
It's a new to-do list for Kenney after checking off the final box on a plan he announced three years ago to unite Alberta's warring right-of-centre Progressive Conservatives and Wildrose Party and take them to the summit.
"I had zero inkling to do it,'' Kenney said in a pre-campaign interview.
Thank you #Alberta!
— Jason Kenney (@jkenney) April 17, 2019
We Albertans are proud Canadians and tonight we have elected a government that will stand up for our fair deal in confederation. #abvote pic.twitter.com/RylmCAAn7s
"But as I got further into the spring and then summer of 2016, I just realized that somebody with the relevant profile, network and experience had to step forward with a plan.''
Kenney was born in Oakville, Ont., raised in Saskatchewan, and spent his adult years based in Alberta.
He said he was just 10 years old, sitting on a couch and minding his own business at a Saskatchewan school fundraiser, when politics first found him.
John Diefenbaker, well over a decade removed from being prime minister, came up to young Kenney, asked him his name, and struck up a conversation: Do you know the mythical story of Jason and the Argonauts? What's your favourite subject at school? What are your future plans?
Congratulations to my friend @jkenney on his victory in Alberta tonight! Looking forward to working with Premier Kenney and the new @Alberta_UCP government to help Albertans get back to work and back on track! pic.twitter.com/4IGhZMvyah
— Andrew Scheer (@AndrewScheer) April 17, 2019
"That 10-minute conversation made an indelible impression on me,'' remembered Kenney.
"That a former prime minister would spend 10 minutes talking to a 10-year-old boy was remarkable to me. I never forgot the kindness that he showed. And that maybe gave me sort of my initial interest in politics and public service."
He has lived much in the public eye as he has fought for conservative principles and the concept of ordered liberty, first as an anti-tax crusader and later as a key lieutenant in former prime minister Stephen Harper's cabinet in portfolios that included immigration, employment and defence.
He is not married and happily recounts a life committed to public service. A day's politicking is followed by late-night reading from a stack of philosophy books at the bedside. He is partial to Aristotle and Edmund Burke.
Congratulations to UCP Leader Jason Kenney on his election by the people of Alberta. I look forward to working together in the interests of both of our provinces.
— John Horgan (@jjhorgan) April 17, 2019
He is schooled in the ground game of politics and had legendary campaign war chests as a Calgary MP.
Some credit him with moving Harper's government into majority territory by reaching out to ethnic newcomers, breaking the shibboleth that they vote Liberal, so much so he gained the nickname "minister for curry in a hurry.''
He is a Catholic and has spoken out against gay marriage and abortion in the past, but promises not to act on those issues if he becomes premier.
Critics say he can't be trusted. They note he has promised, as premier, to roll back some protections for students in gay-straight alliances in schools.
Jason Kenney spoke in French last night to ask for the support of Quebec to build a new oil #pipeline to a Canadian coastline.
— Geneviève Normand (@GeNormand) April 17, 2019
François Legault replied in English this morning. Here is what he said about the UCP's big win in Alberta.#ableg #abvote #abvotes pic.twitter.com/GlCAs1APBL
He won the leadership of the Progressive Conservatives, then the new United Conservatives and finally the provincial election, illuminating his drive, populist instincts, and nose for the political jugular.
In a province where the unemployment rate is above seven per cent in Edmonton and Calgary, he campaigned against Notley on "jobs, jobs, jobs," tapping into latent discontent over the federal government's failure to get the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project underway.
To win the UCP leadership, he drove back and forth across Alberta in a blue pickup truck to meet and greet thousands of supporters and fence-sitters. Then, in less than two years, he got 87 constituency associations and candidates running.
It was also about doing whatever it takes. When Kenney ran for the PC leadership, he was fined by the party for setting up a hospitality booth beside a voting station.
Congratulations to my friend @jkenney, the next Premier of Alberta!
— Doug Ford (@fordnation) April 17, 2019
Albertans finally have a leader to make their province open for business & open for jobs.
And Ontario has another strong partner that will fight for Canadian families against the job-killing federal carbon tax! pic.twitter.com/obM7XGCUpx
Last month, campaign documents and emails revealed that his UCP leadership team worked in lockstep with another candidate to have him attack Kenney's chief rival while Kenney stayed above the fray.
Mounties are investigating the UCP leadership race for possible fraud.
Kenney has said his next step is to get back on the campaign trail, this time to get the federal Liberals defeated in the fall.
"It is in the vital economic interests of Alberta that the Trudeau government be replaced this October," he said earlier this week.
For Kenney, one campaign is over. Let another campaign begin.
It’s a new day for the people of Alberta. Congratulations to my friend, Premier @jkenney on a hard-fought win! I am confident that under his leadership, our province’s best days are yet to come. pic.twitter.com/7vq0m6CmYr
— Stephen Harper (@stephenharper) April 17, 2019
A list of Alberta premiers since the province was created in 1905
EDMONTON — Former federal cabinet minister Jason Kenney will be the next premier of Alberta after leading his United Conservative Party to a majority in the provincial election on Tuesday. Here is a list of previous premiers:
A list of Alberta's premiers:
Rachel Notley, NDP, 2015-2019
Jim Prentice, Progressive Conservative, 2014-2015
Dave Hancock (interim), Progressive Conservative, 2014
Alison Redford, Progressive Conservative, 2011-2014
Ed Stelmach, Progressive Conservative, 2006-2011
Ralph Klein, Progressive Conservative, 1992-2006
Don Getty, Progressive Conservative, 1985-1992
Peter Lougheed, Progressive Conservative, 1971-1985
Harry Strom, Social Credit, 1968-1971
Ernest Manning, Social Credit, 1943-1968
William Aberhart, Social Credit, 1935-1943
Richard Reid, United Farmers, 1934-1935
John Brownlee, United Farmers, 1925-1934
Herbert Greenfield, United Farmers, 1921-1925
Charles Stewart, Liberal, 1917-1921
Arthur Sifton, Liberal, 1910-1917
Alexander Rutherford, Liberal, 1905-1910
Congrats to my good friend @jkenney on your landslide victory last night! Jason is one of the hardest working politicians I have ever met and is a huge reason I got involved in politics. Alberta now joins the fight for Canadian families against the job-killing TRUDEAU CARBON TAX! pic.twitter.com/r4AFJ65USm
— Bob Saroya, MP (@BobSaroya) April 17, 2019
Working with @jkenney as Defence Minister allowed me to see his work ethic, intellect & passion firsthand.
— Erin O'Toole (@ErinOTooleMP) April 17, 2019
Alberta is in good hands. pic.twitter.com/3C8vfHqb9x
A look at Alberta's elections since the province was created in 1905
EDMONTON — A chronology of Alberta elections:
Nov. 9, 1905: Lawyer Alexander Rutherford, son of an immigrant farmer from Scotland, leads the Liberals to a lopsided victory over R.B. Bennett's Conservatives, taking 22 of 25 legislature seats. Bennett would go on to become prime minister.
March 22, 1909: Another sweep for the Liberals with 36 of 41 seats, largely due to support from farmers and immigrants. Rutherford, however, gets the boot. Public outrage over a generous contract awarded to a railway to build a line to Fort McMurray forces him to resign in 1910.
April 17, 1913: Liberals choose Alberta Chief Justice Arthur Sifton as premier in a bid to restore public trust. He leads them to their third consecutive victory — winning 39 of 56 seats — and into Prohibition. Women win the right to vote provincially in 1916.
June 7, 1917: Liberals keep their grip on power with 34 of 56 seats. Women vote for first time provincially, but must wait two more years for the right to vote federally. The first oil boom in Turner Valley goes bust. Alberta has one of the highest enlistment and casualty rates of the First World War. More than 45,000 head off to fight; more than 5,000 don't return.
July 18, 1921: Farmers and miners, disenchanted with old-line parties, sweep Liberals from power. The United Farmers of Alberta, led by Henry Wise Wood, win 38 of 61 seats but Wood declines to be premier. His caucus chooses farmer Herbert Greenfield. Alberta's Famous Five — Nellie McClung, Emily Murphy, Louise McKinney, Irene Parlby and Henrietta Edwards — begin their fight for women to be recognized in law as ''persons.'' Prohibition is repealed in 1923.
June 28, 1926: John Brownlee, who succeeds the ineffectual Greenfield in 1925, leads the UFA to a second term, winning 43 of 61 seats. A bookish lawyer tutored by Bennett, Brownlee begins balancing budgets, selling provincially owned railways and securing control of natural resources. The British Privy Council in 1929 declares that women may hold public office.
June 19, 1930: Neo-conservative Brownlee takes the UFA to a third term with 39 of 63 seats but soon faces heat over his policies and personal life. He is dragged into court in a sex scandal. He resigns as premier in July 1934 and is replaced by R.G. Reid. The Great Depression produces soup kitchens, bread lines and protests.
Aug. 22, 1935: A Boston newspaper headline screams ''Alberta Goes Crazy'' as William Aberhart's Social Credit League sweeps to power amid drought and farm bankruptcies. The radio evangelist, dubbed ''Bible Bill,'' mixes politics and religion to grab 56 of 63 seats, but is unable to keep his promise to pay each Albertan a monthly $25 dividend. By 1936, with Alberta's debt and interest payments sucking up half the province's annual revenue, Aberhart increases income taxes and introduces a sales tax. Some 22 backbenchers call for his resignation.
March 21, 1940: Aberhart wins another term, taking 36 of 57 seats. The victory comes despite his decision to repeal an MLA recall act when it is employed against him and despite his introduction of a raft of other laws the Supreme Court finds unconstitutional. Among them is one that attempts to muzzle the news media. When Aberhart, 64, dies in 1943, he is succeeded by trusted lieutenant Ernest Manning.
Aug. 8, 1944: Moving the Socreds further to the right, Manning wins 51 of 57 seats. While Aberhart had battled big banks; Manning wages war on socialism. Nearly half of the province's adult male population enlists to fight in the Second World War. Oil is discovered near Leduc, just south of Edmonton. Coalfields are booming.
Aug. 17, 1948: Manning takes 51 of 57 seats. After lobbying Ottawa to return 22,000 Japanese war detainees to British Columbia, he relents and gives them permission to remain. Manning drags Alberta out of debt. The discovery of seven more oilfields puts the province on the path to prosperity.
Aug. 5, 1952: Another huge majority for Manning. The Socreds win 53 of 57 seats. After initial reluctance, Alberta agrees to ship natural gas to Central Canada. Two pipelines are constructed.
June 29, 1955: Manning wins another election, but this time with a slimmer majority. Socreds take 37 of 61 seats. The economic boom continues. By 1957, Alberta spends more per capita than any other province. In 1957 and 1958, the Socreds give Albertans $21 million in oil dividends.
June 18, 1959: Manning clinches another huge majority, winning 61 of 65 seats on a platform of free enterprise and opposition to national medicare and bilingualism. Despite personal views against lewd behaviour and drinking, Manning eases restrictions on movie censorship and booze.
June 17, 1963: The Manning machine roars along, gobbling 60 of 63 seats. Despite the premier's strong commitment to individualism and opposition to socialism and unions, Alberta's per capita spending on social services exceeds the national average. Manning's government gives Aboriginals the right to vote in provincial elections.
May 23, 1967: Manning wins his seventh election. Harvard-trained lawyer Peter Lougheed comes onto the political scene, picking up six seats for the Progressive Conservatives and capturing 26 per cent of the vote. Manning resigns in 1968 to enter the corporate world, leaving behind a stunned caucus and no obvious successor. Harry Strom, a soft-spoken rancher, fails to spark new life in the party.
Aug. 30, 1971: Campaigning on the need for change without criticizing the Socreds, Lougheed's Tories win 49 of 75 seats. The Socreds are reduced to a 25-member opposition. Lougheed begins delivering on the party's 120 election promises and repeals Alberta's sexual sterilization law. Good times begin to roll. Over the next decade, Alberta's gross domestic product increases sixfold.
March 26, 1975: Tories win 69 of 75 seats. Lougheed establishes the Heritage Savings Trust Fund with skyrocketing oil and gas revenues, promotes Fort McMurray's oilsands and rattles sabres with Ottawa over ownership of resources.
March 14, 1979: Lougheed continues to wage war with Ottawa over oil-pricing controls that economists estimate cost the province $50 billion. Albertans reward him with another resounding majority — 74 of 79 seats. Anger with Ottawa over oil policy sees birth of the bumper stickers: "Let the eastern bastards freeze in the dark" and "This car doesn't brake for Liberals."
Nov. 2, 1982: Recession hits Alberta but doesn't dampen voter faith in Lougheed's Tories, who win 75 of 79 seats. But oil company layoffs signal an era of unemployment, bankruptcies and bank failures. Popular NDP Leader Grant Notley, one of only two New Democrats in the legislature, dies in a 1984 plane crash. Lougheed retires in 1985.
May 8, 1986: Don Getty gets the party nod and leads the Tories to another majority government. Tories win 61 of 83 seats. Oil slips from US$44 to $10 per barrel and Getty is forced to put the brakes on spending. He hikes taxes and imposes cuts in health, education and social services.
March 20, 1989: Getty is punished for calling a snap election by losing his own seat, but his party remains in power with 59 of 83 seats. Getty later wins a byelection. He survives a 1990 leadership challenge but huge losses of public money in bad government investments overshadow his tenure. He steps down in 1992, leaving behind as part of his legacy February's Family Day holiday.
June 15, 1993: Liberals under former Edmonton mayor Laurence Decore appear poised to seize power but lose the brass ring to populist Tory Ralph Klein. Klein, a former Calgary mayor and Getty's environment minister, had defeated cabinet colleague Nancy Betkowski (later Nancy MacBeth) in a leadership race. Tories win 51 of 83 seats on a platform of severe program cuts, government downsizing and privatization of services.
March 11, 1997: The Tories ride Klein's folksy appeal to a 63-seat majority. Despite Klein's heavy cuts, his popularity is aided by big budget surpluses fuelled by lucrative oil and gas royalties. The Liberals, led by Grant Mitchell, win 18 seats.
March 12, 2001: Klein and the Tories capture 74 seats and win back parts of Edmonton, which had been shut out to them since the mid-1980s. Klein defeats former-Tory-rival-turned-Liberal-leader Nancy MacBeth, who fails to win her own Edmonton riding. High oil and gas prices pump billions of dollars into the Alberta economy, allowing enough money to be set aside by April 2005 to pay off the balance of the $23-billion debt.
Nov. 22, 2004: The Tories record a 10th consecutive majority win but lose seats for the first time since Klein took charge in 1992. The NDP and Liberals make gains in Edmonton and, for the first time since 1997, the Liberals win in Calgary. The new Alberta Alliance party elects its first member. Klein resigns as leader in 2006 after getting 55 per cent support in a leadership review.
March 3, 2008: Ed Stelmach takes over the Tories and returns the party to a large majority. It wins 72 of 83 seats while the Liberals take nine and the NDP two. The Alberta Alliance, now named the Wildrose Alliance, loses its lone seat held by party leader Paul Hinman. Despite the victory, Stelmach doesn't survive the term. Faced with a recession that cripples the province's finances, Stelmach runs Alberta's first deficit in more than a decade and is forced out in 2011 by pressure from within the party.
April 23, 2012: With Klein's debt-free legacy in tatters, the Tories and their new leader, Alison Redford, seem ripe for defeat. Much of the party's socially and fiscally conservative base migrates to the Wildrose and its new leader Danielle Smith. Several missteps in the final days of the campaign, coupled with Redford's ability to win support from labour groups, leads to an unexpected Tory victory, although the majority is reduced to 61 seats. Like Stelmach, however, Redford doesn't survive a term rocked by spending scandals. Smith and 10 other Wildrose members cross the floor to the Tories after Jim Prentice is elected leader and premier in 2014.
May 5, 2015: The NDP wins its first majority government toppling the Progressive Conservatives. The party under leader Rachel Notley sweeps Edmonton and makes inroads in Calgary, Lethbridge and rural areas. The Wildrose wins enough seats to form official Opposition. The Tories have to settle for third. Prentice resigns the leadership effective immediately. He dies in a plane crash about 18 months later.
April 16, 2019: Jason Kenney, a former federal cabinet minister who came to the provincial political scene and united two right-of-centre parties, wins a majority government with the new United Conservatives. A bitter campaign focused more on character assaults than policy. The NDP attacked Kenney for his past views on same-sex rights and abortion. Kenney criticized Notley for working closely with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on pipelines and environmental policy.
