The premiership of Jason Kenney began on April 30, 2019, when Jason Kenney and his cabinet were sworn in by Lieutenant Governor of Alberta, Lois Mitchell. Kenney was invited to form the 30th Alberta Legislature and became the 18th Premier of Alberta, following the 2019 Alberta general election where Kenney's United Conservative Party (UCP) won a majority of seats in the Alberta Legislature leading to the resignation of Premier Rachel Notley. Kenney stepped down as leader of the UCP party on May 18, 2022, after receiving 51.4% of the UCP party members' votes. His premiership ended shortly after Danielle Smith won the subsequent leadership election and was sworn in as premier.
The approval rating for Premier Kenney's response to the COVID-19 pandemic is the lowest in Canada, falling to 33% in June 2021.Kenney's approval rating was down 51% in August 2020 down from 67% in April 2020. By December 1, 2020, Kenney's overall approval rate among Albertans had dropped to 30% from 60% in September 2019. In March 2020, the reasons for the drop in popularity had included the UCP's response to the 2020 Canadian pipeline and railway protests—including the bill targeting those who disrupt critical infrastructure with severe penalties. Other concerns included aggressive cuts in the 2019 and 2020 budgets designed to balance the budget and support the oil and gas sector. Reductions to funding for post-secondary institutions and to municipalities and the freeze on spending on health and public schools also raised questions. The provincial government unilaterally changed the way doctors could bill the province and warned that there would be freezes or cuts to government employees in the spring of 2020. Concerns were raised about the cost of the Canadian Energy Centre and about the March 4 decision to "fully or partially [close] 20 provincial parks and seeking "partnerships" for 164 more." The bill that targeted those who disrupt critical infrastructure with severe penalties also raised concerns.
By April 7, 2020, a combination of interconnected unprecedented global events—including the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, the COVID-19 recession, the 2020 stock market crash, and the 2020 Russia–Saudi Arabia oil price war with the resulting "collapse in oil prices"—represent what Premier Kenney called "the greatest challenge" in Alberta's "modern history, threatening its main industry and wreaking havoc on its finances."
By April 19, 2020, as the collapse in the price of oil worsened, Alberta's benchmark crude oil—Western Canadian Select (WCS)—descended to negative pricing. By May 2021, the price of WCS had increased to $USD54.78, representing an increase of $USD40 a barrel compared to June 2020.
By January 7, 2021, faced with the controversy related to international visits undertaken by members of the caucus and the cabinet, as well as key staff, during the pandemic. Alberta, at one point, had the highest total COVID-19 case in Canada. In response, the UCP experienced a "sharp decline" in the polls.
Alberta intends to join TC Energy in their $15 billion North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Chapter 11 claim against the United States over the Keystone XL pipeline cancellation, according to a July 7, 2021 Financial Post. This represents a potentially very expensive and very long legal challenge, which the US has never lost.
Of the Albertans surveyed on their voting intentions for the 2023 provincial elections—41% said they would vote for the NDP, 30% for the UCP, and 20% for the Wildrose Independence Party, according to a June 2021 Angus Reid Institute poll. The UCP government also ranked lowest in Canada in its response to COVID-19, with only 33% of Albertans approving of their response as of June 2021. Faced with a potential caucus revolt, Kenney called for a leadership review on May 18, 2022, where he would go on to receive 51% approval from the party membership. While technically sufficient for him to remain leader of the party under the United Conservative Party's constitution, Jason Kenney nonetheless announced, moments after the results were released, that he would resign as UCP leader, and Premier of Alberta (albeit he will only formally leave office once the party elects a new leader). Reuters described his leadership style as "uncompromising", "tenacious" and "combative".
2019 election
Kenney won the United Conservative Party leadership election October 28, 2017. He previously represented Calgary Midnapore. In the 2019 Alberta general election held on April 16, 2019, Kenney won with won 54.88% of the popular vote and 63 seats in the legislature. The 30th Alberta Legislature was constituted after the general election on April 16, 2019.
Cabinet and Office of the Premier
On April 30, the cabinet was sworn in by Lieutenant Governor of Alberta, Lois Mitchell. Ministers in the newly formed cabinet included Travis Toews who was appointed President of Treasury Board and Minister of Finance on April 30, 2019. Doug Schweitzer as Minister of Justice and Solicitor General, Jason Nixon as Minister of Environment and Parks , Sonya Savage as Minister of Energy, Nixon was appointed House Leader, and Doug Schweitzer, Ric McIver, and Savage were appointed as Deputy House Leaders on April 30, 2019.
By September 2021, during the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic as Alberta's health system was overwhelmed, Premier Kenney faced criticism from all sides including from the official opposition and some MLAs those in the UCP caucuswho allegedly challenged his leadership. Critics, who included 2 UCP MLAs blamed Premier Kenney for his "inaction on the fourth wave of the pandemic, saying he waited too long to introduce new measures and that delay will cost lives." In response, Premier Kenney shuffled his cabinet, replacing Tyler Shandro as Minister of Health with Jason Copping. Tyler will replace Copping as Minister of immigration.
Overview The UCP government repealed the federal Carbon Tax in 2019 and replaced it with a provincial carbon tax on industrial emitters, which does not tax consumers directly.
In 2019, the government began a series of corporate tax cuts with the goal of becoming the most competitive rate in Canada—8% by 2022–23.
The government deferred arbitration on public sector wages.
They established the commission an inquiry into anti-Alberta energy campaigns, called the Canadian Energy Centre—a 'war room'. A report was commissioned on Alberta's finances by Janice MacKinnon's task force, that recommended freezes and cuts that would help to reach the UCP's goal of eliminating the deficit by 2023. It focused on slashing health care costs and various measures related to the public sector, including education. The report's mandate did not include the impact of potential revenue if a provincial sales tax were introduced. By September 2019, polls showed that Premier Kenney had a 60% approval rate. The November 2019 fall budget closely followed the MacKinnon's August report's recommendations. The first presumptive COVID-19 case in Alberta was announced by Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's Chief Medical Officer of Health on March 5, 2020. On March 17, Premier Kenney declared a public health state of emergency. By the end of his first year as premier, Kenney's overall performance approval rate had dropped to 47% with the leader of the opposition rising to 46% approval rate.
During the Spring Sitting of the 1st Session of the 30th Alberta Legislature, which spanned May through July, 2019, the Kenney government passed about thirteen pieces of legislation, including the Act to Repeal the Carbon Tax, the Alberta Corporate Tax Amendment, and the Public Sector Wage Arbitration Deferral Act. Premier Kenney established a one-year $2.5 million Public Inquiry into Anti-Alberta Energy Campaigns and a Calgary-based $30 million 'war room' to "fight misinformation related to oil and gas".
Bill 32, Restoring Balance in Alberta's Workplaces Act, 2020, was introduced by Labour Minister Copping, on July 7, 2020. Minister Copping said Bill 32 will counterbalance "significant changes" made during the NDP tenure, that favoured unions at the expense of the "rights of job creators". There are numerous changes to "workplace rules and union activities" which include where and how unions can picket and an opt out option which allows union members to choose to have their "union dues go to political parties or causes."
The November 16, 2020 Leger poll, showed that support for Premier Kenney's response to the COVID-19 pandemic was at 37%, which was much lower than that of any other provincial leader. As Premier Kenney's poll numbers fell, there were signs of a potential electoral split on the right, which could contribute to the NDP winning in the next provincial election. During the UCP caucus meeting in October 2020, in a lengthy response to a question from a delegate about the potential for Alberta separating from Canada if the Liberals won another term in the 2021 Canadian federal election in 2021, Premier Kenney responded that his patriotism was to the country, Canada. By July 2020, there were two registered provincial separatist parties—the Independence Party of Alberta led by Cory Morgan, a blogger and columnist for the Western Standard, and the Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta, established in July 2020 with the merger of the Wexit Alberta party and the Freedom Conservative Party of Alberta with Paul Hinman as leader, and 40% of Albertans—mainly in rural Alberta—supported separation.
According to a 2022 investigative report by journalists Charles Rusnell and Jennie Russell and based on interviews with UCP staffers, both current and former, the efforts made by the office of the premier to "stymie transparency and accountability...are unlike anything they have seen in their many combined years working for other governments". This included a systemic and regular email deletion protocol called "records management".
Carbon price and carbon tax As promised in his election platform, Premier Kenney's first piece of legislation was Bill 1: An Act to Repeal the Carbon Tax, which had been put into place in November 2015 during the premiership of Rachel Notley. Premier Kenney was one of four provincial premiers that challenged the constitutionality of Canada's carbon tax. Kenney has loudly "denounced" carbon taxes and threatened "more legal action" after a Saskatchewan superior court dismissed the legal "challenge of the constitutionality of the federal carbon tax." Both Ford and Kenney were strongly critical of carbon taxes saying they will "either trigger a recession or sink the oil patch," according to an October 10, 2019 article in The National Observer. Premier Kenney had said that Climate Leadership Plan introduced by Rachel Notley "crippled the Alberta economy." This claim was refuted by the November 15, 2019 Government of Alberta report, "Economic Assessment of Climate Policy in Alberta," which was submitted by the Kenney's government as a court document to the Alberta Court of Appeal, as part of Alberta's constitutional challenge of the federal government's carbon tax. The Alberta government's "own analysis" revealed that Notley's carbon tax economic effect was "an average reduction in annual growth of Alberta's gross domestic product (GDP) of only 0.05%."
Carbon price In December 2019, the federal government accepted Kenney's Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) Bill 19 legislation—a provincial carbon tax on industrial emitters—which helps Canada reach its Paris Agreement goals. Industrial emitters will pay "$30 per tonne of emissions" with an estimated reduction in emissions of "32 megatonnes in 2030." The funds collected will go towards "deficit reduction and technological advancements with respect to climate change." There is no carbon tax on consumers.
Public Inquiry into Anti-Alberta Energy Campaigns