Despite his earlier work that focused on highlighting Albertans’ grievances, former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney now calls the idea of separatism “bananas.”Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Danielle Paradis is an Edmonton-based writer, editor, podcaster and associate professor at MacEwan University.
A man says he drove a blue pickup truck through all 87 ridings and every major community in Alberta to let them know he understands them.
Next, he commissioned a Fair Deal panel, which suggested creating an Alberta police force, holding a referendum on removing equalization from the Constitution, and exploring what it would mean to withdraw from the Canada Pension Plan. He sued the federal government to try to block its attempts to overhaul environmental assessments. Then, in 2019, he also invoked rising separatist sentiments and Alberta’s sense of alienation, warning of a national unity crisis.
The man’s name is Jason Kenney and despite his earlier work that focused on highlighting Albertans’ grievances, he now calls the idea of separatism “bananas.” He’s debated a separatist leader, and he’s involved with the federalist organization Vote to Stay, in addition to his active social media and mainstream media presence.
Jason Kenney warns Alberta independence movement could become ‘a real factor’ in politics
For the anti-separatist, this creates a dilemma. Many were happy to see Mr. Kenney out as premier, but he’s now undergoing a glow-up; perhaps the separatist crisis makes for strange bedfellows.
Still, back 2019, The Globe and Mail editorial board warned Mr. Kenney that playing footsie with separatist sentiment was not a good idea.
Now, can his federalist credentials be trusted?
The argument for separation in Alberta has been consistent since the national energy program in the 1980s: Albertans are blessed with rich natural resources and could be prosperous from our oil and gas, but the rest of the country takes us for granted, and we must strike out on our own.
Mr. Kenney once leveraged Alberta’s culture of political grievance. He’s now found that the anger toward Ottawa – and Canada – he both inspired and benefited from has taken a turn that he doesn’t like. The separatist movement is a bit like Mr. Kenney’s big blue truck: a powerful machine, but he didn’t know how to handle it.
It was the United Conservative Party under Mr. Kenney that brought in the Citizen Initiative Act in 2021, which allows Albertans to take an idea such as separating from the rest of Canada, and turn it into a petition to be considered by the legislature or a question to be put to a referendum. While Premier Danielle Smith lowered the threshold for the separatists, it was Mr. Kenney who created the original framework.
After years of participating in sowing dissent, Mr. Kenney has spent the past year performing what you might call the Captain Renault move: He is shocked, shocked to find separatism flourishing in the gambling house he helped sustain.
To understand how we got here, we must look back to 2016 when Mr. Kenney announced he was leaving federal politics and launched his bid to “put Alberta first.”
He cited the need to prevent another Alberta New Democratic Party win, which had managed a surprising victory in 2015, ending 44 years of rule by the Progressive Conservatives.
The PCs and the Wildrose, another right-wing party, may have merged in 2017 to create today’s United Conservative Party, but the differences that caused a split in the conservative movement remain. The big tent included those who think Alberta should leave Canada.
Ultimately, it was the UCP‘s public-health restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic that created a rift in the party that led to Mr. Kenney’s resignation in 2022; he was undone by the people who once supported him.
Since then, the party Mr. Kenney forged has become further beholden to political extremists. Recent polling shows as many as 55 per cent of the party’s supporters may be separatists. And Mr. Kenney has criticized them – heavily. He’s right to do so, but it has a faint, suspicious ring: Does he not realize his role in inspiring this very movement?
It feels like Mr. Kenney has travelled a long way. The Mr. Kenney of today holds pro-Canada events alongside Liberal MP Corey Hogan, encouraging people to speak out against separation. He warns that the separatist movement is moving from the fringe and is becoming a real factor. Mr. Kenney calls separatism a historically discredited concept.
But the foil hat brigade didn’t invade the province. They have always been here, and Mr. Kenney’s stances as premier helped nurture them.
Mr. Kenney played footsie with separatist sentiment. He gave vent to anti-Ottawa grievances from the premier’s pulpit that now animate the movement. Yes, he’s now condemning them. But Mr. Kenney deserves some of the blame for fanning the flames in the first place.