In the wake of Jason Kenney’s win in the Alberta election, he took to the microphones yesterday to try and sound statesmanlike, immediately ratcheting down his rhetoric on a number of files including his “turn off the taps” pledge (which never made any business sense) and his demand that the Trans Mountain Expansion construction get underway – acknowledging realities that he never did on the campaign trail. Of course, he still plans to kill the province’s carbon tax (and lift their emissions cap) which sets up for constitutional battles that they are doomed to lose. As for Rachel Notley, she becomes yet another woman first minister who has failed to win a second election, keeping that established pattern going. And I would encourage you all to read Jen Gerson’s roundup of the whole election, and the lessons in the end – that you can’t hope to paint your opponents as bigots and win, and that you can’t run a campaign about lashing out against the world without consequences.

This having been said, a narrative started emerging over social media as soon as it became clear that Kenney was winning last night, which was conservatives across the country were insisting that the NDP’s campaign as solely “nasty” and full of “personal attacks” which was why they lost. Kenney himself, during his press conference yesterday, insisted that he had a “positive campaign” that the media somehow missed. I’m not sure what part of lies and snake oil promises are “positive,” nor am I convinced that pointing out racism, misogyny and homophobia/transphobia is a “personal attack.” In fact, it seems to point to this aggrieved sense that I’ve seen where the Conservatives in Ottawa will go to bat for avowed racists because their racism was being pointed out – that being called a racist is somehow worse than the actual racism being espoused. That’s a fairly troubling mindset, and yet we’re no doubt going to be seeing a lot more of it as Justin Trudeau makes a concerted effort to point out the winking and nudging to white nationalists that Andrew Scheer has engaged in.

And now the hot takes – because everyone’s got one. Colby Cosh points out that this really wasn’t the Lougheed vs Klein fight that some people portrayed, and that the broader climate fight is in the works. Stephen Maher advises that Trudeau abandon his “sunny ways” (more than he already has) and start bare-knuckle brawling, adding that if Kenney lets his social conservatives loose, that could work to Trudeau’s advantage. Andrew Coyne notes Kenney’s adoption of a statesman-like tone in victory following “campaign exuberance,” and that Trudeau would be in a tough spot to not approve Trans Mountain if Kenney repeals the province’s environmental plan. David Moscrop wonders if the trends in Alberta are changing and whether its conservatism will hold for Kenney’s benefit. Tristin Hopper makes the salient point that the increasingly uncompromising nature of the environmental movement hardened Albertans against the NDP.

Good reads:

• At a town hall on Tuesday, Justin Trudeau had some heated exchanges over building pipelines while still moving ahead on fighting climate change.
• Trudeau also made the point about emphasizing climate change and diversity following Kenney’s election victory yesterday morning.
• Chrystia Freeland joined European allies in pushing back against the US allowing Cuban-Americans to sue companies that do business in Cuba.
• The UNHCR’s representative in Canada says the proposed refugee changes are in line with UN practice, only affect three percent of claimants, and are appropriate.
• The federal incentives for zero-emissions vehicles go into effect May 1^st, clarifying the policy vacuum left by the budget announcement.
• Municipalities say that the provinces aren’t sharing cannabis tax revenues with them as promised, while the federal government says they can’t do anything about it.
• The Senate has shrugged off the Commons’ message to hurry up and pass the UNDRIP bill (given that they have no mechanisms to speed it up).
• The writs have now been drawn up in Newfoundland and Labrador for an election on May 16^th.
• The federal Liberals were not campaigning in PEI’s provincial election, because apparently it was felt they would do more harm than good.
• Kevin Vickers has officially been acclaimed as leader of the New Brunswick Liberals.
• Chris Selley offers a righteous smackdown of the Ford government using out-of-context court footage from the carbon tax reference in an attack ad.

Odds and ends:

Here’s a look at how fast anti-Muslim hoaxes about the Notre Dame fire were spread around the Internet (which bodes ill for future elections).

Programming Note: I’m taking the full Easter long weekend off, so look for your next post on Tuesday-ish.

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