Latest news with #RepublicanPartyofAlberta
National Post
01-05-2025
- Politics
- National Post
Don Braid: Jason Kenney refutes Alberta's 'fringe' separatists, says Carney has 'clean slate' with province
Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberals are back in power. It's great news for Alberta separatists. Article content Article content Various independence-boosting groups can now continue to farm rage and raise money. A Conservative victory would have been bad for business. Article content Former premier Jason Kenney took a run at the new Republican Party of Alberta, formerly the Buffalo Party. Article content 'One of many cynical fundraising grifts that will seek to monetize people's frustration,' he said on X. 'These guys have learned from the MAGA industry how to do this. It's big business in the U.S. Article content Article content He challenged the carbon tax, Bill C-69, the plastics ban and application of the Emergencies Act, winning as often as he lost. Article content He launched a referendum on reforming equalization that carried but was ignored by Ottawa, despite their constitutional duty to take it seriously. Article content No Alberta premier, including Danielle Smith, has done more to check Ottawa's powers since Peter Lougheed in the 1980s. Article content Article content 'Resentment and anxiety in Alberta are a very real thing,' Kenney said in an interview. Article content Article content 'Alberta and the resource-producing parts of western Canada have totally legitimate grievances about the direction of policy under the Trudeau government, and totally legitimate anxieties about where this will go under Carney. Article content Article content 'It's the job of the provincial government to defend Alberta's interests in the federation . . . it's the job of any premier to raise those issues. Article content 'But when it comes to separation, I think the so-called separatist movement in Alberta has never been a serious enterprise. Article content 'Over about a dozen federal and provincial elections, they have only managed to elect a candidate in one riding. That was Gordon Kessler in 1982, as a Western Canada Concept candidate in a byelection — at the height of the National Energy Program, in the heart of rural Alberta.'
Calgary Herald
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Calgary Herald
Braid: Former UCP premier Jason Kenney refutes separatists, says Carney has chance to right wrongs
Article content Article content Various independence-boosting groups can now continue to farm rage and raise money. A Conservative victory would have been bad for business. Article content Former premier Jason Kenney took a run at the new Republican Party of Alberta, formerly the Buffalo Party. Article content Article content Article content Kenney is no friend of Liberal Ottawa. As the first UCP premier, he constantly battled the feds in the courts. Article content He challenged the carbon tax, Bill C-69, the plastics ban and application of the Emergencies Act, winning as often as he lost. Article content He launched a referendum on reforming equalization that carried but was ignored by Ottawa, despite their constitutional duty to take it seriously. Article content Article content Article content Article content 'Resentment and anxiety in Alberta are a very real thing,' Kenney said in an interview. Article content 'Alberta and the resource-producing parts of western Canada have totally legitimate grievances about the direction of policy under the Trudeau government, and totally legitimate anxieties about where this will go under Carney. Article content 'It's the job of the provincial government to defend Alberta's interests in the federation . . . it's the job of any premier to raise those issues.
