Jason Kenney Goes Nuclear by Expelling MLAs Todd Loewen and Drew Barnes

What happens when you get elected as a “conservative” government on the promise of creating jobs, shrinking government spending, building pipelines, and fighting Ottawa, and you then do the exact opposite? If watching the Jason Kenney UCP government in Alberta is any indication, the end result is anything but pretty.

Instead of keeping their 2019 election promises, the Kenney UCP government has shut down businesses with harsh Covid-19 restrictions and watched the economy of Alberta spiral downward.  At the same time, Alberta government deficits have exploded so high that they are now larger than the entire budget deficit for Canada in 2019. And, as Ottawa has continued to hamper the Alberta economy and allowed the Keystone XL pipeline to be unceremoniously cancelled by Trudeau-friend President Biden without even pretending to care, Jason Kenney’s response has been nothing more than sending a couple feeble letters of complaint to Ottawa: hardly the fireworks that Albertans were expecting.

As bad as all this was, things have now gotten even worse as the UCP government’s draconian lockdowns have tightened and the RCMP have used the new regulations to charge Pastor Artur Pawlowski and his brother Dawid, Whistlestop Cafe owner Chris Scott and rodeo hosts Ty and Gail Northcott. This series of events have revealed a tyrannical side to the Kenney government restrictions that few would have imagined possible. 

Now many UCP MLAs, especially those from rural and small-town Alberta, are feeling the heat and a Caucus rebellion is bubbling to the surface. Yesterday, some MLAs had seen enough and began openly calling for Jason Kenney to resign.

It all started when Todd Loewen, MLA for Central – Peace Notley, sent an Open Letter to Kenney calling for him to step down. By morning MLA David Hanson supported Loewen’s stand. Within hours there was an emergency Caucus meeting called by the UCP to discuss not only throwing Todd Loewen out of Caucus but also giving the boot to Cypress – Medicine Hat MLA Drew Barnes who had previously been a thorn in the side of Jason Kenney.

Yesterday at 7:30 pm the UCP Caucus reconvened to announce the results of the Caucus vote: it was decided to expel both Loewen and Barnes. According to a report in the Western Standard, “the voting to expel the two MLAs was not taken by secret ballot, but by text message to the chairman.” Therefore, any MLAs courageous enough to defy Premier Kenney’s request to expel his political enemies could now face the wrath of a Premier who is fighting for his political life.

Upon hearing the news of the double-expulsion, Wildrose Independence Party Leadership Candidate Paul Hinman told the National Telegraph, 

It is great to have 2 MLAs standing for freedom and I hope that many more join them soon. I would encourage Albertans to call every UCP MLA and have them stand with Todd Loewen and Drew Barnes. We must stop the avalanche of damage that is being done by Jason Kenney’s  province-wide lockdown and his unconstitutional restrictions. Albertans deserve better.

It is decision time for any UCP MLAs that want to distance themselves from the actions of their government.  Will a bunch of them jump ship, or will they go over the cliff with Premier Kenney? We’re about to find out.