Western Standard - CORY'S RANT： where the UCP needs to go next.

00:00:00.000 kenny's last decision as his leader of the ucp was the right decision i mean while he technically

00:00:05.520 won the leadership review with more than 50 support he realized his position was untenable

00:00:09.840 so for the sake of the profits in his party and likely his own sanity he chose to step aside

00:00:15.600 if kenny had tried to cling to power despite such a weak showing in the review the ucp would have

00:00:20.320 torn itself to pieces i mean there's no guarantee that's not going to happen still in the future but

00:00:24.320 he couldn't sit on there with such a slim uh number support uh at that point in the end what

00:00:32.080 many members at the ground level and even caucus concluded is that kenny just couldn't lead the

00:00:36.400 party to victory in the next year's general election polling numbers have consistently

00:00:40.480 indicated that rachel notley's ndp could win the next election if nothing dramatic changed within

00:00:45.200 the ucp and the dismal fundraising numbers were telling the same story so with three years in

00:00:50.720 power and with kenny at the helm the ucp had lost the confidence of albertans there's no guarantee

00:00:56.240 by any means that a new leader will manage to right the boat and win the next election it's possible

00:01:01.200 that a new leader could actually fare worse than kenny had i know some kenny loyalists are implying as much

00:01:06.800 but the party had reached such a state internally and in public opinion they had to take a dramatic

00:01:12.640 change in course and i agree it means you have to replace the leader i still have nothing but respect

00:01:18.240 for jason kenny i i differed with many of his decisions and but i still felt that it was time

00:01:23.280 for him to go it was with a feeling of regret that i came to those conclusions though i mean

00:01:27.360 kenny worked his way to the top from being a persistent activist with the canadian taxpayers

00:01:32.000 federation at the start of the 90s to his time with the reform party and the opposition to his

00:01:36.560 cabinet roles with the harper government and then his uniting the progressive conservatives

00:01:40.320 and wild rose into the ucp and becoming premier i mean kenny's trajectory had been nothing but

00:01:44.960 upward he's a tireless worker and a savvy political operator with vision and ambition

00:01:50.560 one skill though that just seemed to elude him and that brought him down in the end was that of

00:01:55.200 leading a party some people have that royal jelly and some don't it's a rare trait to see

00:02:01.200 conservative leaders who can hold it together i mean by their very nature conservative-minded

00:02:05.440 people tend to be individualists you know we don't like being governed and we chafe

00:02:10.240 chief under authority they're inherently the worst possible people to try and unite and hold together

00:02:15.440 jason kenny tried and he failed the skill of being an opposition mp or even a cabinet minister

00:02:21.840 is much different than that of a party leader communicating compromising seeking general consensus

00:02:26.720 has to be done in a leadership role kenny on the other hand tended to be introverted even within his

00:02:31.280 own party preferring to keep within his own tight circle of staffers he rarely compromised on any

00:02:35.920 positions until he felt cornered and forced to do so and he didn't engage directly or candidly you

00:02:41.920 know with his own caucus members often it created a recipe for internal party can you know discontent

00:02:47.760 when trying to put out the fires within his own party kenny's team played political games they

00:02:51.760 stacked nominations while disqualifying other contenders and fighting off all efforts to hold a

00:02:57.120 leadership review at all you know through controlling the party executive and eventually pulling every

00:03:02.640 string possible to try and stack the review itself those efforts soured the membership and watching

00:03:08.000 those will sour the electorate when jim prentice lost the general election in 2019 it was due to

00:03:12.960 voters expressing disgust with the political games being played the luring of danielle smith across the

00:03:18.080 floor with the other crossers was considered by political insiders to be a brilliant coup but it was 1.00

00:03:22.560 viewed by voters as dirty inside political brinkmanship the view shattered trust among the electorate with both

00:03:28.400 the pcs and the wild rose parties people didn't vote for notley's ndp because they liked the socialist

00:03:33.520 policies they did it because notley appeared more trustworthy and honest when compared to conservative

00:03:38.080 options the new leader of the ucp will be well served to remember that lesson trust is far more

00:03:44.480 important than policies when it comes to elections the trust with the ucp was eroding early as constant

00:03:49.760 revelations of dirty play within their own leadership race came out people were repulsed and it just never

00:03:54.640 improved if the next leadership race becomes mired in questionable political play notley's going to

00:04:00.800 waltz back into the premier's chair next year the ucp needs more than just a new leader they need a new

00:04:06.560 attitude and this winning at all costs approach from staffers and campaigners has to stop the public at

00:04:11.840 large is no use for it and they're going to reject it at the polls kenny's tenure is finished

00:04:16.560 i suspect whenever he fully steps down he's going to have the best night's rest he's enjoyed in a decade

00:04:21.040 he's earned it he did what he could and it was a lot but he fell short in the end let him retire

00:04:26.320 from public life and peace should he choose to there's a little sense dancing on his political

00:04:30.960 grave now the clock is ticking the ucp has an opportunity to turn the ship around but it will

00:04:36.160 have to happen quickly and they have to do it right let's hope some lessons have been learned

00:04:41.520 as they go into the process of picking a new leader

Western Standard - May 20, 2022

CORY'S RANT： where the UCP needs to go next.

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