The Prime Minister of Alberta did not make any regrets or apologies on Tuesday, as he asked questions for the first time since announcing his resignation.
Jason Kenny shocked many on May 18 when he resigned as leader of the United Conservative Party after receiving a slight majority in his leadership review.
Kenny later clarified that he intends to stay until his successor is elected.
He was asked on Tuesday if he would have done things differently and immediately began responding, focusing on the fury of COVID-19.
“I think the energy in the ‘no’ vote is driven mainly by people angry about vaccines, and I do not apologize for promoting safe and effective vaccines that have saved lives,” Kenny told reporters in a health statement in Edmonton. .
“There was also a lot of residual anger about the restrictions on public health. And while I guess we could go back and think about certain policies at certain times, I generally don’t regret the difficult decisions we made. “
Kenny said many of the people who opposed him from his own party were not longtime members and came to the vote with conspiracy theories in mind.
“There is a small but highly motivated, well-organized and very angry group of people who believe that I and the government are promoting part of a globalist program and that vaccines are at the heart of it,” he said.
He was also asked about his own general population surveys, which were the lowest of any prime minister for much of the pandemic.
“Some of the sociologists they referred to deviated from the forecast of the results of the last elections with 15 and 20 points. So, if you take them as an objective indicator of Alberta’s politics, I would call it journalistic abuse, “Kenny told a columnist, who asked him twice if he wanted to take responsibility for the decline in his popularity.
Kenny said he respected the results of the May 18 vote and would continue to focus on improving the economy, while boasting that his party had already fulfilled about 90 percent of its campaign promises.
“THIS IS JASON KENNY”: BROTHER
A local political scientist, who also announced on Tuesday that he was writing a book about Kenny, was critical of the outgoing prime minister’s comments, but said he was not surprised at all.
“He has never apologized for anything. And even when he does, it’s backhand,” said Dwayne Brother of Mount Royal University.
“He does not accept criticism. He does not apologize and that is one of the reasons he left as prime minister. This is Jason Kenny as we know him.”
Brother said the first-term prime minister was slowly apologizing for the COVID-19 scandals, such as when several MLAs traveled internationally against federal councils and when he and others dined at the top of SkyPalace without following provincial rules.
Kenny later apologized and claimed responsibility for both incidents, as he did when apologizing for the premature lifting of restrictions on COVID-19, but Brother believes they came too late.
The prime minister could also apologize, Brother said, for unpopular decisions related to rewriting the curriculum, mining coal near the Rockies, or spending money on Allen’s research, which he then found little, but Kenny did not.
“He does not take responsibility. “Even when mistakes were made, he sent other people to apologize,” Brother said.
“It’s not his challenge (anymore). This is the challenge of Travis Toyus and every other minister who will run (for UCP leader). They need to distance themselves from Jason Kenny. Brian Jean doesn’t need to do that. Daniel Smith doesn’t need to do that. “
The UCP has not yet set a date for a leadership vote.
With files from Alex Antoneshin of CTV News in Edmonton
Add Comment