The leaders of the Wildrose and PC parties are shrugging off some tough comments from Jason Kenney about the lack of progress in uniting provincial conservatives in Alberta.
In an interview with Postmedia this week, Kenney said he was frustrated that “institutional stasis and egos and bad blood” are getting in the way of forming a “united alternative” to the NDP government.
The Calgary Midnapore MP and former Conservative cabinet minister said he wanted to help address the situation and didn’t rule out a leadership run for a provincial party in an effort to unite conservatives.
Wildrose Leader Brian Jean, a former MP who served with Kenney in the Conservative caucus, said he thinks Kenney’s comments were misinterpreted and doesn’t expect him to enter provincial politics.
“Obviously, that’s Jason’s prerogative if he wants to do that. That’s not the indicators I get from people or other people around him but that’s totally 100 per cent up to him,” he said Friday.
While Jean has recently faced some questions around his leadership of the Wildrose, it is only the Progressive Conservatives who actually have an opening at the top. The party will select a new leader in spring of 2017 to replace interim leader Ric McIver.
Jean said he could not see Kenney running for the PC leadership because of policy differences and suggested that if the MP was interested in the Wildrose leadership, “I would expect he would probably talk to me about it.”
Both the Wildrose and Tories have ruled out the idea of joining together but other organizations have formed in the province to push for a single unified conservative party to be in place to take on the NDP in the 2019 election.
McIver, a friend of Kenney’s and a former member of the MP’s riding board, said he respects his opinion and looked forward to discussing the issue with Kenny at some point.
But he said he would not encourage him to run for the PC leadership.
“No, I think somebody that wants to run for the leadership should want to, as opposed to being talked into it,” said McIver, who is himself considering running for the permanent party leadership.
In his comments this week, Kenney said he believes federal Conservatives in Alberta need to play a role in uniting “free-enterprise Albertans” on the provincial level.
On Friday, Calgary Nose Hill MP Michelle Rempel posted on Twitter that she agreed with Kenney’s concerns about ego, bad blood and inertia among Alberta’s provincial conservatives.
“He’s right. The right in AB needs to inspire Albertans (with) fresh policy, and focus less on internal sausage making,” she posted on Twitter.
With files from Don Braid, Calgary Herald
