A brief, sympathetic look at the tenure of a man some have called a tyrant: Alberta’s outgoing premier Jason Kenney.
Yet, despite these substantial electoral and policy successes, Kenney is out. How did his successes dissipate inside less than a single term as premier?
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Kenney’s political skill was thus neutralized in the pandemic. His experience in regular politics, when compromising is a virtue, became a vice. Kenney is good at making pronouncements of principle while being flexible and effective in action. He was always excellent at adapting his sail to changes in the political winds.But crisis politics are stormy politics, and keeping sails up in a storm will sink you. In a crisis, compromise can become vice because it can quickly turn into indecision when people expect resolve. Crisis demands decisiveness, not zigzagging or reversals.
Kenney could have survived the Christmas travels and sky palace scandals. He could have survived the broken promises about vaccine passports, or his calling people names…