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EDMONTON — One of jason Kenney’s caucus members says Alberta’s premier is reaping what he’s sown through private attacks, dividing other people and intimidating opponents.
“It is this negativity that has developed a culture of concern that destroys unity,” Peter Guthrie, a member of Airdrie-Cochrane’s United Conservative Party, said tuesday in a five-minute video posted on his Facebook page.
“The prime minister encourages the disrespectful remedy through his own actions,” Guthrie said.
“It is this technique and the taste for leadership that created a rift between the (United Conservative Party) caucus and the executive, which reinforced the views opposed to Jason Kenney. “
The Prime Minister’s Office responded to a request for comment.
Criticism of Kenney through some members of his own caucus has been surfacing for more than a year, through disappointing polls and fundraising numbers.
Kenney said so because of resentment over some of his COVID-19-related decisions. But Guthrie and other members of the UCP legislature say the prime minister has a tightly knit top-down command design that is insensitive to grassroots councils.
Criticism has become increasingly acute in recent weeks after the party executive made last-minute adjustments to distribute mail-in ballots rather than holding an in-person vote to review Kenney’s leadership.
Critics say the adjustments were made so that Kenney gets the support of the majority. Otherwise, he would have to resign according to party rules and pursue a race for leadership.
Guthrie, along with other dissident members of the legislature, and Kenney’s supporters have publicly attacked others in mainstream and social media.
Last week, several MPs expressed their deep fear for Kenney in a newspaper column. Leela Aheer, who was demoted from the cabinet last year for criticizing the prime minister, said she feared the UCP could be equated with corruption. MP Angela Pitt called the government a closed circle of decision-makers who despise dissenting voices.
His MP, Jason Stephan, said unity means walking in combination from a precipice. Newly elected UCP member Brian Jean compared Kenney to a millstone around the party’s neck that will drag him to defeat in alberta’s 2023 provincial election.
In response, Kenney’s challenge manager, Bryan Rogers, took to Twitter to compare dissidents to clowns. Guthrie accused Harrison Fleming, Kenney’s deputy communications director, of calling dissidents a “sad group of bitter MPs” on an unnamed Twitter site.
Kenney himself, in a leaked audio recording, called his detractors “crazy” and “crazy people” and called them insects attracted by the bright light of his party’s success.
“This intimidation of management is controlled by the prime minister because he supports his goal,” Guthrie said.
“In their minds, there’s nothing about doing unethical or distasteful things whether it’s a merit to their cause or a way to get away with it. “
Guthrie’s position is one of the longest and sharpest attacks on Kenney’s leadership since MP Todd Loewen called Kenney a year ago. Loewen was immediately expelled from the caucus, as was another Kenney critic, Drew Barnes.
UCP members are lately sending their votes on Kenney’s leadership. The effects will be announced on May 18.
Last week, Kenney called on all parties to avoid public attacks. He added that he had been too lenient with the dissenters and promised that if he got a majority in the vote, all members of the caucus would have to line up.
Political scientist Lori Williams said Kenney’s competitive political taste for “trying to tap into anger” is coming home.
“There’s this strategy led by Jason Kenney himself of not disagreeing or explaining why the other people who criticize them are wrong, but (instead) attack them personally,” Williams said of Mount Royal University in Calgary.
“Everyone who disagrees with him is (labeled) socialist. They’re crazy. They are extremists. They are trade unionists.
“It’s going to arouse anger. This will strengthen the division.
This report through The Canadian Press was first published on April 26, 2022.
Dean Bennett, the Canadian press
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