Roundup: Kenney gets some policy resolutions

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Alberta’s United Conservative Party held their foundational policy convention in Red Deer this last weekend, featuring plenty of cameo appearance by federal Conservatives including Andrew Scheer, and you can bet that Justin Trudeau was a favoured target (along with the premier, Rachel Notley, of course). Jason Kenney vowed to make an enemy of the “green left,” to the point where he was vowing to fight things that are areas of federal jurisdiction, which is funny considering that he’s been baying at the moon about the federal government apparently not asserting their jurisdiction vigorously enough when it comes to pipelines getting built. Funny how that happens.

There was an interesting digression into conservative feminism as part of the weekend’s narratives, with an airing of grievances against the particular brand of feminism that Justin Trudeau preaches, and the allegations that it means that Trudeau is dictating their values to them (particularly when it comes to issues like abortion, where Trudeau follows the logic that women should have agency over their own bodies – shockingly). Rona Ambrose announced that she is leading a new non-profit group to help women get involved in the UCP, through fundraising, mentorship, logistics, and networking – things that are not seen as tokenism or quotas. Heather Forsyth, former minister under Ralph Klein and interim leader of the Wildrose Party, was less than impressed, referring to talk of barriers facing women in politics as “socialist crap.” Of course, Dr. Cristina Stasia reminded her that socialism has long been sexist and hostile to women in politics as it’s seen as a “man’s role.” So there’s that.

https://twitter.com/CristinaStasia/status/992949081776390144

A number of social conservative issues came up at the convention, and despite sitting MLAs encouraging the grassroots members to vote against them – things like requiring parents be told if their children attend a Gay-Straight Alliance meeting at school, or having parents sign-off on “medically invasive procedures” for minors (read: abortions), which the grassroots crackpots insist were about “parental rights.” Sure, Jan. And Kenney outright said afterward that he’ll take these under advisement but won’t be held to them, saying that they’re “poorly worded” and the like. Because he wants to win and not be another “Lake of fire” party like Wildrose was, which cost them at least one election. However, Kenney has courted enough social conservatives and empowered them enough that they decisively won several policy votes meaning that they’ll be difficult to ignore, no matter how hard he tries to play down those resolutions when it comes time to draft his election platform, given that he conspicuously stayed out of the policy development process in order to give members a freer hand. It’ll be an even bigger problem for him to ignore them now.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau’s office says that he won’t be campaigning in the Ontario elections (while Andrew Scheer and Jagmeet Singh will be). Make of that what you will.
  • From Bangladesh, Chrystia Freeland says that she is working to have Canada play a leadership role in dealing with the Rohingya crisis there.
  • Freeland is now off to Washington for more NAFTA talks, in what is being called the make-or-break week of negotiations.
  • Scott Brison says that if passed swiftly, the electoral reform bill can apply to next year’s election; opposition parties don’t look like they’ll be too cooperative.
  • Here’s a look at Canadians who’ve been convicted abroad being repatriated to Canada, and why this government is keener to do it than their predecessors.
  • When pressed, Erin Weir says that he hasn’t ruled out legal action against the federal NDP for his treatment over the last few weeks.
  • Paul Wells looks at the Ontario Liberals dredging up the lie that the Harper Conservatives cut healthcare, noting this to be the tactic of the desperate.
  • My weekend column looked at the Senate Modernization Committee’s second report, and what lessons they’re drawing from their self-reflection.

Odds and ends:

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