Western Standard - May 20, 2021


MLA Todd Loewen Opens up about Kenney's Leadership

Topics
trust in Kenney economic crisis Jason Kenney's leadership
Mentioned
Jason Kenney MLA Drew Barnes Todd Lowen Peter Guthrie Cochrane Airdrie Stephen Harper Dennis Modry Peter Kenny Hodkinson O'Toole Redmond Scheer
The Cory Morgan Show, May 17 2021 with guests Drew Barnes & Todd Loewen The Cory Morgan Show. May 21. Authors of ＂Life after COVID＂ & constitutional talk

Episode Stats


Length

25 minutes

Words per minute

172.5

Word count

4,390

Sentence count

284


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Todd Lowen, a United Conservative Party (UCP) Member of the House of Commons, wrote a letter to Premier Notley asking for the Premier to listen to his caucus before canceling meetings. In this episode, we discuss the letter and what it means going forward.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 Of course, again, the premier's reaction is quite often to dismiss and ridicule and redirect and that's the problems we have.
00:00:10.000 In order to build trust with Albertans, we need to be straight with them and we need to be able to…
00:00:30.000 Hello everyone, Nadine Wellwood and I'm here today with MLA Todd Lowen to discuss the letter that was posted just a few days ago.
00:00:47.000 And you've been a busy man ever since there, Mr. Lowen.
00:00:50.000 Yes, definitely lots of interest in that letter and of course it did raise some, you know, some interest across the province.
00:00:57.000 I think a lot of people are reaching out from all across the province and wanting to talk about that letter and what it means going forward.
00:01:04.000 Yeah, so if it's okay today, what I want to do is actually take this letter and break it down a little bit for our viewers
00:01:11.000 because you didn't mince words in many ways. For a man a few words, it said an awful lot.
00:01:16.000 Yeah, you know, I'm not normally one to drag things out when I'm trying to explain something.
00:01:22.000 So I did of course get to the point on that letter very quickly and I did express a lot of the frustrations that I feel and I think a lot of Albertans feel.
00:01:32.000 Now before we get to the letter though, this is a little atypical behaviour for you from what I understand from some of your colleagues.
00:01:41.000 You know what, this came out at midnight roughly and you know, were you hoping that it wasn't going to raise as much attention as it did or why so late?
00:01:57.000 You know, it's just a matter of trying to get it done and get it out. Of course, there was a lot of thought and a lot of anxiety on my own part, of course, doing something like that.
00:02:06.000 And so, you know, you want to make sure you do it right and get the words right and make sure that you're expressing exactly how you feel and exactly how Albertans feel.
00:02:16.000 And that's, that's what I felt I was doing. So I wanted to be careful as I went and proceeded with that. And of course, what it was, it was on the eve of the cancellation of the second caucus meeting that the Premier cancelled.
00:02:29.000 And it was, I think that was kind of a culmination of the situation. We know we're in a serious situation right now across Alberta and people are worried and concerned about things.
00:02:42.000 And we have a Premier that's cancelling the opportunity for MLAs to be able to speak to government, listen to explanations from ministers and from the Premier himself.
00:02:52.000 And so shutting down that opportunity basically is shutting down a large portion of democracy. And because MLAs, they have, you know, practices that time for them to express their views and listen to government direction.
00:03:06.000 So is this a sort of a snap decision that you made and you just kind of reached that boiling point and you made it happen? Or was this something that was brewing for some time?
00:03:15.000 You know, did you, who did you consult or was this truly just your decision to make?
00:03:22.000 Well, obviously it was my decision to make, but, but you know, it's something that had been brewing for a long time, for about the last year and a half.
00:03:29.000 I think there's been a lot of frustration in caucus and myself included, of course, with how this Premier has been treating caucus and treating input from caucus members.
00:03:39.000 And so this was, you know, this had been brewing for a while, but obviously, you know, in the end, it just, you know, it was just, you know, kind of the last day or two where I really realized that I had to do something.
00:03:50.000 You know, obviously, we need something to drastically change in Alberta right now because of the situation we're in.
00:03:56.000 And obviously, if the election was held today, the MVP would win. And that's, that's unacceptable.
00:04:02.000 We have to get things turned around. We have to get that direction change as quick as possible.
00:04:07.000 And so I felt, okay, this, you know, he's finally pushed it just too far by basically removing caucuses opportunity to speak altogether.
00:04:16.000 Fantastic. So I'm going to jump into your letter here and highlight some of the key points.
00:04:21.000 I mean, obviously you were the UCP caucus chair, so it's not like you didn't hold a significant position within caucus.
00:04:32.000 And you stated, I no longer believe that caucus can function properly.
00:04:38.000 Meetings being canceled, you know, decisions of government being made without notice to the members.
00:04:44.000 Input as elected members are rarely considered.
00:04:47.000 I mean, these are significant claims. I mean, government doesn't function by one person, but a series of representatives.
00:04:55.000 It shouldn't. That's for sure. It should be the representatives having, you know, at least a sizable say in how things proceed.
00:05:04.000 And that's just not how it operates. This, we've seen multiple times when caucuses, you know, virtually everyone in caucus has spoken in one direction.
00:05:16.000 And we've seen the premier take it the complete opposite direction.
00:05:19.000 And of course, we've seen that more than once, and it continues to happen.
00:05:22.000 And then, of course, there's lots of things that are just brought, well, that we find out in the media at the same time as the Albertans find out.
00:05:30.000 And so, obviously, there's no consultation at all in those cases, never mind, you know, maybe not listening to us going into a decision like that.
00:05:39.000 So this sounds to me more like it's become a Kenney government, you know, ruled by one individual, not a government of Albertans ruled by their MLAs.
00:05:50.000 Yes, absolutely. It's basically a one man show. And there's nothing that happens in government that Kenney doesn't have his fingers on.
00:06:01.000 So let's talk about leadership then, because obviously that that's very disappointing.
00:06:06.000 I mean, Kenney ran under unifying Albertans and conservative principles.
00:06:12.000 And, you know, I feel personally his leadership has kind of come from a place of fear as opposed to confidence.
00:06:20.000 You know, when you say, you know, you lack his confidence and his ability to lead, elaborate on that a little bit for us.
00:06:28.000 Well, I think a leader needs to be able to take input.
00:06:31.000 And, you know, obviously the ultimate decisions sometimes, you know, have to be relied on the leader to make.
00:06:37.000 But obviously there has to be some input and there has to be a willingness to change direction when the majority of people are feeling something different.
00:06:45.000 And I think we haven't seen that that actually happen. And so there's many times I've heard even within cabinet meetings where, you know,
00:06:54.000 everybody's going one direction that they just walks in and goes the opposite direction.
00:06:58.000 And things like that are unacceptable. But, you know, like I said, I could see there's times when the tough decisions have to be made.
00:07:05.000 And I appreciate that. But obviously, when the way it's been happening is just not acceptable.
00:07:13.000 I think each of us as MLAs have to bring forward our views from our constituents and bring those views that we need to be respected, listened to.
00:07:24.000 And then, of course, at least at some point, acted upon those views.
00:07:30.000 So how has Kenny's really, in your opinion, failed Albertans in leading the province?
00:07:38.000 Well, I think there's multiple ways. We've seen multiple things that have been brought forward by this government.
00:07:44.000 And then the government's had to completely reverse because they were mishandled.
00:07:48.000 And we've seen things like one of the biggest issues is a fair treatment from Ottawa.
00:07:54.000 We have, you know, the premier campaigned on that, both in the leadership and in the election campaign,
00:08:01.000 on standing tough against Ottawa and representing Alberta on the federal stage.
00:08:07.000 And I think many constituents of mine have expressed that.
00:08:11.000 And those expressions are coming from across Alberta, where the premier has failed in that regard.
00:08:16.000 So when I look at Jason Kenney, he comes from Ottawa. He's not, you know, an Albertan.
00:08:23.000 He comes from Ottawa. He's coming from the Conservative Party of Canada, you know, under, you know,
00:08:29.000 all the way back to the days of Stockwell Day, you know, Stephen Harper and, you know, throwing his support behind Scheer and O'Toole.
00:08:39.000 Still, he's although somewhat silent on O'Toole, who doesn't seem to be representing much of conservatism at all these days.
00:08:48.000 You know, just does Kenny, how does the polls are not showing that Albertans are backing or supporting his decisions.
00:08:58.000 And yet he continues to just dig his heels in and go further down the same rabbit hole.
00:09:03.000 You know, is this a mistake?
00:09:06.000 Yeah, absolutely. I think we've seen, you know, obviously he's incredibly unpopular in Alberta right now.
00:09:14.000 And that's a result of his decisions in his direction.
00:09:17.000 And yeah, Albertans just don't seem to trust him anymore.
00:09:21.000 And I think that we've seen so many flip flops and so many things that he said would happen and they haven't.
00:09:27.000 And so those directions are what's concerning Albertans.
00:09:30.000 And that's exactly what it boils down to. It boils down to trust.
00:09:33.000 And I think once you lose trust, then there's time to change direction.
00:09:37.000 And obviously, but you're right.
00:09:39.000 It seems like the finger digs in his heels and then starts discrediting and lashing out against everybody around him.
00:09:45.000 Yeah, because he's actually come out and said that, you know, he feels that he's done a good job.
00:09:50.000 And, you know, he has the confidence of his caucus and he proved that when he expelled both yourself and MLA Drew Barnes.
00:09:58.000 And that I don't think that's exactly how it happened that day.
00:10:02.000 Maybe you can share a little bit about, you know, those who the MLAs who did support you.
00:10:07.000 But, you know, again, you still managed to get expelled.
00:10:12.000 So what's what's going on?
00:10:13.000 Whose story is right here?
00:10:15.000 Well, again, nothing happens in government that Jason Kinney doesn't have his fingers on.
00:10:21.000 He orchestrated the whole thing that day, right from, you know, investigating, you know, investigating family members of mine and bringing that forward in the caucus meeting.
00:10:32.000 And so when things like that are happening and then, you know, I heard the people on an interview suggest that he took a hands off approach.
00:10:40.000 And that's absolutely not true.
00:10:43.000 He again, he orchestrated the whole thing that the whole meeting was orchestrated, right from the, you know, the chair that was to take over, who in the past had actually opposed to having a motion come forward in caucus.
00:10:57.000 And then all of a sudden, the first thing that happened in that meeting was after the investigation was was reported on was a motion from a member that was entertained.
00:11:09.000 And of course, the motion that was entertained was the, you know, kicking myself and Drew Barnes out of caucus.
00:11:16.000 Which I want to touch on that for a quick second, because as I understand it, it was Peter Guthrie who put forward that motion.
00:11:23.000 And interestingly enough, because of course, Peter is in my writing here of Cochrane Airdrie.
00:11:30.000 And, you know, he's published a tremendous number of articles about democracy and the importance of upholding democracy.
00:11:37.000 And yet, you know, you get a little bit of dissent and somebody who disagrees and he happens to be the one to say, oh, they need to go.
00:11:46.000 Yeah, so no, that's that's a that's a whole story in itself there that I probably won't get into right now.
00:11:52.000 But yeah, so I mean, you know, that that's how the this kind of came down.
00:11:57.000 And obviously, again, this was all orchestrated. And of course, Jason Kenny, he spoke very harshly about myself and Drew Barnes in that meeting.
00:12:10.000 And so he says that nobody knew how he voted, but to be there in that room and suggest you didn't know would be absolutely disingenuous.
00:12:25.000 That doesn't happen in politics, disingenuous.
00:12:28.000 Oh, come on. Yeah.
00:12:31.000 So you resigned because you wanted to speak freely.
00:12:34.000 What are the issues that you wish to speak freely on?
00:12:37.000 You know, I think there's so many issues in government right now.
00:12:41.000 And obviously, when when we look back at some of the mistakes the government's made, we backtracked on, of course, there's issues there.
00:12:48.000 There's also, again, and I know that probably keep bringing it up because it's so important, is standing up to Ottawa and defending Alberta.
00:12:56.000 And that hasn't been done. We need to be stronger there.
00:12:59.000 You know, again, there's probably a myriad of things I would like to that I'd like to be working on.
00:13:05.000 Well, one of the things I've always said, you know, if Alberta was serious about taking back its own provincial powers, the first thing that we have to do is control our own money.
00:13:14.000 Jason Kenney has not, in my opinion, even addressed that issue, which to me, there's no point in talking about a police force or anything until we have to stop asking Ottawa for money.
00:13:28.000 Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, we did have the Fair Deal panel and it traveled around and gathered, you know, information across Alberta.
00:13:36.000 And, you know, that was that was probably a good thing, too. But but of course, what comes after a panel is is is action.
00:13:43.000 And we haven't seen that action. And, you know, I think we obviously we need to move forward on things like that.
00:13:51.000 It seems like with with Peter Kenny, if he wants to do something, he does it.
00:13:55.000 And if he doesn't want to do something, then he sets up a panel to talk about it.
00:13:58.000 And there's some things we just need to act on and we campaigned on many of those things.
00:14:03.000 We need to be working on those things moving forward.
00:14:07.000 Yeah. So you talk here about caucus obviously being dysfunctional.
00:14:10.000 We've seen that. And, you know, you attribute that as a direct result of his lack of leadership.
00:14:17.000 You know, messaging has been contradictory, confusing and needlessly inflammatory.
00:14:22.000 Are you talking about inside a caucus or even the messaging that's going out to the public?
00:14:27.000 Actually, both. I mean, there's obviously, you know, things that happen within caucus where
00:14:32.000 where I think the language and the approach taken is far too abrasive for team building
00:14:38.000 and then trying to get people on side and they're working together.
00:14:41.000 And I think we've seen that outside of caucus, too, where the premier, you know,
00:14:46.000 likes to take shots at different people and different groups of people that probably aren't warranted.
00:14:50.000 I think there's there's ways to approach people and talk to people that's that's far more constructive and get better results.
00:14:59.000 Now, I'm going to ask you for some specifics here because we've been talking very generic.
00:15:03.000 But, you know, you even mentioned here about the troubling economic crisis.
00:15:07.000 I mean, we've got the highest unemployment.
00:15:09.000 We've got small businesses that are, you know, being bordered up.
00:15:14.000 It's just and worse yet, you know, we come out with restrictions and rules and regulations.
00:15:21.000 People comply with those restrictions with rules, those regulations.
00:15:24.000 They amend their businesses.
00:15:26.000 I'm thinking build patios only to find out two weeks later that they've gone through a huge expense,
00:15:31.000 not only of both time and money, but now, I mean, this demoralization that's happening as well.
00:15:39.000 You know, how do we get out of this economic mess that we're in?
00:15:44.000 Well, I think we just need to be we need to start talking straight to Albertans and we need to start explaining these details and things that we're working on.
00:15:52.000 And you pointed out a really good example as far as the outdoor patios and stuff like that.
00:15:56.000 You know, right in my hometown, I had several different businesses, you know, work on their patios, build patios just so they could serve their customers outside.
00:16:05.000 You know, in fact, once on the afternoon, I had a little time and I knew one of my local restaurateurs was working on his patio.
00:16:13.000 And I thought, well, I'll just go give him a hand.
00:16:14.000 So I gave him a couple of hours hand on that.
00:16:17.000 And then to watch him be shut down, it's, you know, it's demoralizing.
00:16:22.000 I think these business owners deserve to have to be talked to straight so that they can be able to, you know, plan their businesses, plan their lives and everything.
00:16:31.000 Again, it's just so frustrating to see these things happening.
00:16:35.000 And that's where that frustrations come from and that loss of trust that Albertans have in Jason Kenney.
00:16:41.000 And that's what I want to touch on is the trust, because, you know, being ignored and dismissed.
00:16:45.000 And it seems that Jason Kenney, you know, his comments about he wants a new base, for example, he's he's drawing a division in between Albertans.
00:16:57.000 And, you know, there's no government solution of one size fits all.
00:17:03.000 And these trampling of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that I personally see and experience.
00:17:09.000 I don't understand.
00:17:12.000 You know, there seems to be such a lack of distrust of the Alberta, the public in general, the people who voted him in.
00:17:20.000 He doesn't even seem to trust their ability to make a decision that's best for their families.
00:17:27.000 Yeah, I know.
00:17:28.000 And that's the thing we, you know, we just see this over and over again.
00:17:31.000 And like you mentioned, that's where this distrust has come from, is the constantly changing the plan and having these businesses, you know, suffer so much.
00:17:41.000 And we see lots of suffering out there and we have to be able to explain things to people so that they can understand and get buy in on some of these things.
00:17:51.000 But there's just at this point, there's just no buy in.
00:17:53.000 There's people are frustrated there.
00:17:55.000 And, you know, that frustration doesn't help things at all.
00:17:58.000 We need to have, you know, we see our mental health issues happening in this province.
00:18:03.000 And there's so many so many effects that we need to be concerned about.
00:18:08.000 And obviously, you know, all these these changing goalposts and different things has caused a lot of a lot of issues all around.
00:18:16.000 You know, one of the examples I want to give like Jason's Kenny's comments on, you know, when people now bring up Texas and Florida, for example.
00:18:24.000 You know, I when I listen to his tweet and his comments on that to me, it really just almost points out his failures.
00:18:33.000 He's doing it him to himself.
00:18:35.000 He talks about how Texas, for example, has so many more beds available.
00:18:40.000 Well, to me, that points back to our failure here with our public health care system, which, you know, he's had 15 months to address.
00:18:49.000 But we're not talking about those issues.
00:18:52.000 And it sounds like he's not listening, not only to the public, but to his own MLAs who want to discuss these issues.
00:18:59.000 Yeah, you know what, there's so many things that could have been changed and could have been made better.
00:19:04.000 I mean, as caucus members, we've brought many things up that were dismissed.
00:19:09.000 And of course, again, the premier's reaction is quite often to dismiss and ridicule and then redirect.
00:19:16.000 And that's the that's the problems we have.
00:19:19.000 You know, we in order to build trust with Albertans, we need to be straight, straight with them.
00:19:24.000 And we need to be able to know the things we do have to make sense.
00:19:28.000 They have people, you know, if we come up with something and all of a sudden people just poke holes in it in the first three minutes.
00:19:34.000 It's you know, then there's no there's no buy and there's no acceptance and people just get frustrated.
00:19:40.000 So, Todd, where is Premier Kenny getting his information?
00:19:43.000 Because I know, I mean, there was an open letter from Dr. Dennis Modry, Dr. Hodkinson.
00:19:48.000 We've had Colonel Redmond retired there.
00:19:52.000 He's had plenty of opportunity to look at alternatives to how to deal with all of this.
00:19:58.000 So, you know, has he presented to caucus the the information, the evidence, the proof to move down the and do the measures that he's done?
00:20:08.000 You know, we hear of for the most part, all we hear about is the results of the recommendations from the chief medical officer.
00:20:18.000 We don't often get the the actual data and everything like that.
00:20:22.000 You know, they'll have charts and things like that they bring forward.
00:20:25.000 But but there's not that fulsome information that that you're talking about.
00:20:30.000 We were we're getting all our information from basically one person from what from what I can understand anyways, from what I see.
00:20:36.000 And and that's it. And so it's you know, that's that's basically where the direction seems to come from.
00:20:42.000 But of course, I don't know what goes on behind closed doors with the, you know, the cabinet committee and the chief medical officer and the premier.
00:20:49.000 So, you know, those are those are, you know, there's things discussed there.
00:20:53.000 I'm sure that that I don't know at all.
00:20:54.000 So I'm not sure where, you know, how fulsome of discussions are having there as far as accepting other advice and then looking at other avenues.
00:21:05.000 Well, so in all fairness, has Jason Kenney actually done anything right?
00:21:14.000 Well, of course, I think there's been some good things that this government has done.
00:21:17.000 And and I think we'll, you know, we have to keep working on some of the some of the things we campaigned on and everything.
00:21:23.000 But but unfortunately, what's happened is the you know, what the trust has been lost with some of these big issues that they're really important to Albertans and the important conservatives that that have been failed on.
00:21:35.000 And that's the that's the issue. And again, it comes down to trust.
00:21:38.000 And, you know, once that trust is lost, it's near impossible to rebuild.
00:21:43.000 And I think I think we're in a serious trouble now.
00:21:46.000 We of course, we don't want to lose the next election to the NDP.
00:21:49.000 We want to make sure that we have a conservative government.
00:21:52.000 And it isn't about, you know, controlling and keeping power.
00:21:55.000 It's about making sure that we have good policies that are brought forward after the next election and before the next election, too.
00:22:02.000 So and obviously the situation that we're in right now that, you know, the NDP would win an election if it was called right now.
00:22:09.000 We have to, you know, wrestle that back out of their hands.
00:22:12.000 We have to change something drastically to get things back on track.
00:22:16.000 And I think the best thing that we can do right now is a change of leadership.
00:22:20.000 So I'm going to put you on the spot.
00:22:23.000 Three things that we should have done differently.
00:22:28.000 Well, obviously, I think we should have acted on some of the things that the Fair Deal panel recommended.
00:22:35.000 Obviously, there's there's lots of things right there that we could have done.
00:22:38.000 When I look back at things like the coal policy, for instance, we could have done more consultation there ahead of time.
00:22:46.000 We explained Albertans why we were doing what we're doing.
00:22:49.000 And instead, I think we let the narrative get out of control there.
00:22:52.000 And then, you know, I guess I just want to look at things overall as far as just the overall brush of how this this government is operated under Jason Kenney.
00:23:02.000 We just need to to be listening more and be accepting more of other viewpoints and be able to express that to Albertans.
00:23:11.000 Albertans are incredibly smart people and they're hardworking and they're diligent.
00:23:17.000 And they just want to know the know the facts and they want to make decisions based on that.
00:23:21.000 Absolutely. So if you have anything you'd like to say to the good people of Alberta right now.
00:23:29.000 You know, I think it's again, I think we need to change direction.
00:23:35.000 You know, that's obviously one of the main things.
00:23:37.000 And obviously, you know, Jason Kenney had an opportunity to to to have a, you know, undergo a leadership review.
00:23:47.000 And he could have done it this fall, but he chose to play political games and bump it back till till the end of 2022, just before the next election.
00:23:56.000 And that was a political move. It wasn't what's in the best interest of the party.
00:23:59.000 It's what's in the best interest of Jason Kenney.
00:24:01.000 And that's that's I think that's unacceptable to party members.
00:24:04.000 I've already talked to any party members that that accept that as the best thing for the party.
00:24:09.000 And, you know, this this needs to be changed.
00:24:12.000 And that's why I asked for his resignation is that this this action needs to happen, needs to happen fast.
00:24:18.000 And and we need to get back to rebuilding and make sure that we've been bringing government forward that government is safe.
00:24:25.000 Yeah, it seems to be a lot of career politicians in particular that serve their own self interests first, despite the people who've elected and voted for them and put their trust in their lives really in their hands.
00:24:38.000 Absolutely. Absolutely. No, I think, again, we got 4.4 million Albertans and I know that there's some incredibly intelligent, talented people out there that have really good views, really good ideas.
00:24:51.000 And and and there's some there's a many that would be very good at governing this province.
00:24:56.000 So I think we need to move on and get that process started.
00:25:00.000 Fantastic. I said we would keep this to 20 minutes and it's 25.
00:25:04.000 So I apologize for the five minute sneak it in there.
00:25:10.000 But thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us.
00:25:13.000 And please do keep us informed, stay in touch and hopefully we can do this again.
00:25:18.000 OK, sounds good to me. Thanks a lot. Appreciate it.
00:25:21.000 And have a great day. Wonderful. Thank you. Thanks.
00:25:25.000 Thanks.