It’s been a long time coming, but the Jason Kenney government might finally be seeing the first rays of a new dawn.
Certainly the skies couldn’t have looked any darker than they did three months ago, not when that now infamous ‘best ever summer’ came to its merciful and inglorious end. Let’s face it, when an Alberta premier is polling on a par with a federal politician named Trudeau then that proverbial snowball, nervously eyeing the entrance to hell, seemed better placed to eventually re-emerge triumphant.
Yes, there’s undoubtedly a bit of a spring in Kenney’s step these days, proving that old adage about a week being a long time in politics is magnified to the power of twelve when an entire season passes.
There are three reasons for this uptick in his fortunes: simply put, the premier rediscovered the healthy, wealthy and wise approach to provincial politics.
By doing so he finally realized these seemingly endless silly sideshows – the Conservative version of virtue signalling – had become unnecessary and unneeded distractions.
Heaven help us: we’ve had calls to move knocked-over statues to the legislature grounds, a silly and ineffective war room wasting endless time and money, a tirade against some journalistic attack on pick-up trucks, go-nowhere probes into suspected environmental influence pedalling, a doomed-to-failure plebiscite on federal transfer payments, talk of a provincial police force as well as an Alberta Pension Plan – the list was growing daily.
Sure, much of this stuff resonated with the UCP base, but surely there’s a time to attack Ottawa and that’s not when your provincial economy is in the soup, you are borrowing so many billions it’s hard to keep track and, oh yes, there’s the not-inconsequential problem of managing a seemingly endless brutal health crisis in which Albertans are still dying in their dozens some weeks.
People care about two things right now: their health and their wealth. The wisdom to understand this is what Kenney seems to have finally acquired, after more than two exhausting years swinging at each and every pitch.
First the ludicrous decision to essentially declare an end to this pandemic and take the summer off has been put into the dustbin of history.
Today, there’s a laser focus on COVID-19 and its endless permutations, under the control of a much less confrontational and dogmatic health minister. Understanding that nature doesn’t really give a sweet tweet if some politician calls time on its deadly games is key to staying the course, with all the twists and turns ahead.
Then, hallelujah, energy prices come roaring back, reminding us once again that being lucky is always preferable to being smart.
Just how much we still rely on oil and gas to provide the bedrock of this province’s finances was revealed in the astounding change of fortune in the recent budgetary update – Alberta going from an astounding projected annual deficit of more than $18-billion to one of less than $6-billion, primarily on booming bitumen sales and higher pricing.
Much of this turnaround had little to do with the provincial government but, hey, politicians get blamed when energy prices go the other way, so it’s fair to bask in today’s trajectory.
Still, there’s still a steep hill to climb if the Kenney lot is to overtake the current popularity of the NDP in Alberta: the internal strife now coalescing around former Wildrose boss, Brian Jean and his bid to be re-elected and subsequently cause internal havoc in the UCP party being the most urgent.
Because, as Toronto Maple Leaf fans will undoubtedly attest, new dawns aren’t always the precursor to ultimate success.
Chris Nelson is a syndicated columnist.
