LAC LA BICHE - Last Thursday was a busy day in Alberta politics — at the Legislature and around the Lakeland.
While just over half of the province's MLAs were approving Alberta's 2022 Budget, the Premier was visiting with Bonnyville, Lac La Biche, Boyle and Athabasca community leaders at news events and social events in Athabasca and Lac La Biche. The same day, Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul MLA Dave Hanson was protesting recent changes to the UCP leadership vote, joining a group of MLAs and UCP constituency presidents denouncing the Premier.
Inside a Lac La Biche micro-brew eatery at a quickly-planned community meet-and-greet just four hours after the noon-hour Legislature protest, Premier Jason Kenney didn't directly reference the protest. He also didn't directly comment on recent accusations of political interference by leadership contender and newly-elected local UCP MLA Brian Jean, or other internal UCP challenges getting wide-spread attention.
Kenney made the trip to Lac La Biche with UCP Ministers Nate Horner and Demetrios Nicolaides. Horner is the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Economic Development and Nocholaides is the Minister of Advanced Education. The three had earlier been at a news conference in Athabasca regarding government partnerships with Athabasca University. The Lac La Biche visit was more of a social visit, say Kenney supporters who organized it.
With uncertainty hanging over the Premier's leadership from recent news reports of audio recordings, the days Legislature protest, Jean's constant leadership attacks, and Kenney's own admission that there are extremist pressures on the party he leads, it was Horner who helped to break the ice as they entered the Fat Unicorn Tap Room to the applause of about 50 invited attendees.
"I didn't even know there was a stop at a brewery — but I think this day is working out well," joked the Agriculture minister.
Kenney agreed, shaking hands at the entrance with Fat Unicorn owner and Lac La Biche County Mayor Paul Reutov, saying, "Let's get a beer."
The Lac La Biche meet and greet event was described by Kenney supporter and former two-term Athabasca MLA Jeff Johnson as a UCP leadership event, and not part of a government schedule. That distinction, he said, allows supporters to openly endorse Kenney as the party's leader in the build-up to a leadership race that could result from the mail-in leadership vote that takes place around April 9.
"This really is a UCP event, so we can't not talk about the leadership. The vote is coming up in two weeks. This is a critical point in our province. .. I want to say I support the premier," said Jonnson, explaining that during his terms at an MLA, Johnson went through leadership races and sat on two "fractured" caucuses. Leadership battles within the same party rarely end well, he cautioned. "At all costs, I would say from experience, avoid a leadership race a year ahead of a general election. It burns volunteers and it spends all our money. We end up with a new group that has six months ot re-group — and we'll be giving government to the NDP, not for one term, it will be an era."
Kenney didn't directly comment on the internal divisions, saying only that it's been a hard-fought term as provincial leader.
"I've learned through three tough years of re-uniting a divided conservative free enterprise political family in Alberta that it is a lot harder to unite than it is to divide," he said, calling on what he said are the local builders, unite-ers and leaders, to work with his leadership for a new era of prosperity. "I"ve learned that it's a lot harder to build than tear down and lot harder to lead through historic crises than it is to criticize from the sidelines."
Kenney blamed the COVID pandemic and the criticisms of his government's response for most of the challenges he has faced.
"Look, I know there has been lot of division and frustration — during COVID. Nobody gave us a textbook on how to navigate through COVID," he said, explaining that the NDP and many urban Albertans were in favor of complete lockdowns and stay at home orders. He said others, many in rural areas, wanted to "Let it rip" While he said that response "kind of appeals to my inner freedom-loving Albertan," he saw high death rates in US states that didn't impose restrictions, and recognized that the US also had much more healthcare capacity. "My moral compass is I'm pro-life. I believe in freedom, but I also believe in the sanctity of human life ... we had an impossibly difficult decisions to make. If we made decisions that you think were wrong, I beg your forgiveness. But please understand that we only had bad choices to choose from."
That same compass, he said, doesn't want to point Albertans backwards. Moving forwards and moving past the challenges and troubles of the past is the plan, he told the room of regional faces.
Don't look back
"I believe the worst of this is over.... and we can either spend the rest of the term of this government, or the rest of our lives, arguing in bitterness over COVID — but who wants to do that? Who wants to be angry all the time? How about this ... we let that difficult time recede in the rear view mirror, learn key lessons, fix some things like capacity in healthcare system ... but make the deliberate choice to go forward into this new era of prosperity looking through the windshield, looking forward.
Kenney said his reason for the "quick swing through the region" was to thank community residents and leaders for their hard work in challenging times.
"I wanted to drop by to say thank you for your resilience as community leaders over the past two tough years. It hasn't been easy. We've all lost something.... it's been hard," he said, listing off government accomplishments and future plans that will increase rural economies, increase rural populations, secure rural healthcare services and create more jobs.
"We want to make sure that Lac La Biche, this region, benefits from all of those and other investments," he said.
Hosts stay neutral
Listening to the Premier's presentation and speaking with the other elected officials in the room, Lac La Biche County's mayor said he appreciates any time an elected official asks to visit the community. He said community leaders don't need to get involved in any political fight, they need to focus on what comes after those kinds of decisions are made.
"We remain neutral ... We have to work with the outcome and whoever will represent us," said Reutov who said a stop-in was first suggested a week ago when he spoke with Kenney at the Rural Municipalities Association convention. The specific schedule wasn't confirmed until just the day before.
The mayor said the event wasn't planned to show support or favours in any particular direction. The role of the elected council, he said, is to represent and promote the community.
"Basically, it's establishing channels on a professional and friendly level with no favours attached," he said adding that it's good to have first-hand contact with government members. "My hope is that with the increased attention to our area, the relationship between the County and the provincial government will be stronger at the end of all this ... whatever the political landscape will look like at the end of all this, our goal for the municipality will, and should not change. Period."
Reutov expects to see more political visits to the community in the coming weeks and months as his council and many of the community leaders who attended the meet and greet continue to work on plans for future economic and social improvements for the region.
"I think this is just the beginning," he said.
Attendees at the two-hour social gathering at the Fat Unicorn Tap House included local elected officials and senior administrators, members of the local business community, past municipal officials from across the region, representative of local industrial sectors, senior administration from Portage College and local school boards, and UCP party supporters.
Jean challenges
Brian Jean was not at the event. Lakeland Today has attempted to contact the area's provincial representative for comments, but a response wasn't received by the first version of this news story. Jean has publicly announced his intentions to challenge Kenney for the leadership of the party. A leadership vote is slated for April 9. With more than 15,000 members potentially ready to cast ballots, an in-person convention in Red Deer was recently cancelled to make way for a mail-in leadership vote.
Jean was elected in a land-slide victory at the March 15 by-election in the Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche provincial constituency. Elections Alberta made the election results official on Friday. Jean will be officially sworn into Alberta Legislature on April 5.
The new mail in vote allows current UCP members as of March 19 to vote once they receive their voting papers.
Jean has publicly challenged the move to the mail-in ballots. He says it provides more chances for improper vote counting and improper membership confirmation.
In the days leading up to the March 19 deadline for UCP membership registration, Jean and his supporters have said that registration numbers jumped from just under 30,000 to more than 50,000. Jean called for an RCMP investigation into allegations of fraud during the 2018 UCP leadership race where he lost to Kenney. That investigation by the RCMP is ongoing.
