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CALGARY, Alberta (LifeSiteNews) – The Premier of Alberta announced late yesterday his resignation as leader of the governing United Conservative Party (UCP).  

Jason Kenney, 53, resigned after he only narrowly won a leadership review by UCP members. He managed to obtain 51.4 percent of the vote from 34,000 mail-in ballots. Of the votes cast, 17,638 voted yes to keep him as party leader while 16,660 voted no.   

Only 50 percent plus one majority was needed to preserve his party leadership, but Kenney decided to step down. As a result, he will also be replaced as provincial premier. 

“The result is not what I hoped for, or frankly, what I expected,” said Kenney while addressing a crowd gathered last night near Calgary to hear the vote results. 

“It clearly is not adequate support to continue on as leader, and that is why tonight, I have informed the president of the party of my intention to step down as leader of the United Conservative party…I’m sorry, but friends, I truly believe we need to move forward united. We need to put the past behind us, and our members — a large number of our members — have asked to clear the air through a leadership election.” 

Kenney said that the past “two years were deeply divisive for our province, our party and our caucus.” 

“But it is my fervent hope that in the months to come we all move on past the division of COVID,” he added.  

Once the UCP selects an interim premier, Kenney’s days as the leader of the province will be over. Kenney’s resignation has also triggered a leadership race. The party elections are expected to take place late this year. 

Reaction to Kenney’s resignation as UCP party leader and thus as premier was mixed. 

Interim leader of the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) Candice Bergen thanked Kenney for his service. 

“Thank you to my friend @jkenney for your many years of service to our country and your province. Whether at the federal level as a Minister of the Crown or as the Premier of Alberta, you have inspired and engaged so many,” tweeted Bergen. 


Former Calgary Flames player and gold medal Olympian Theo Fleury, who has been very critical of COVID mandates, as thrilled with the news of Kenney’s resignation.  

“World Economic Forum member @jkenney steps down. A win for humanity,” tweeted Fleury 

Former UCP MLA Drew Barnes, who was kicked out of the party by Kenney for being critical of COVID rules, tweeted “I would like to thank @jkenney for his service to Albertans.” 

“I look forward to continuing to serve the people of Cypress Medicine Hat and Albertans to ensure we are the freest most prosperous place in North America.”  

  

People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier who refused to get the COVID jabs, and of note who worked with Kenney while he was an MP, seemed glad about the news he resigned.  

“Not sad at all over Jason Kenney’s resignation. Every premier who imposed authoritarian covid policies and violated our fundamental rights and freedoms deserves to be kicked out,” tweeted Bernier.  

The UCP leadership vote was to take place with in-person voting on April 9, but Kenney and party brass changed the vote to mail-in ballots instead. The mail-in vote took place from April 9 to May 11, before the results were made public Wednesday.  

The sudden change to a mail-in vote was met with outrage from thousands of party members who at the time said they planned  sue the UCP and say the changes go against party bylaws. 

At the time of Wednesday’s vote, Kenney’s province-wide approval rating sat around 30 percent.  

Shortly after the COVID crisis hit, disunity in the UCP became acute as many MLAs within Kenney’s party openly criticized the COVID rules set by the government.  

Last year UCP insiders claimed Kenney gagged party members from criticizing his lockdown regime. 

Kenney alienated his base by imposing draconian COVID rules and betraying social conservatives  

In 2021 Kenney promised he would never implement a vaccine passport in Alberta. However, in late 2021, he went back on his word and implemented a discriminatory vaccine passport program that banned the vaccine-free from eating out, going to the movies, or to theater, sports games, or recreation centers.  

This caused many of his MLAs to speak out against his flip-flop.  

Kenney also severely restricted church worship size which resulted in no less than three Alberta pastors being arrested and spending time in jail for breaking COVID rules.  

Alberta pastor Artur Pawlowski was jailed for nearly three months after speaking out against COVID mandates when he gave a sermon to truckers blockading the highway in Coutts, Alberta. 

Under Kenney’s watch, thousands of healthcare workers who refused to take the COVID jabs lost their jobs. Alberta mandated the shot for nurses, doctors, and others working in the medical field. This policy was only dropped a few months ago.  

Kenney touted himself as a conservative who was for freedom and rights. However, his earlier stellar reputation as a pro-life Member of Parliament started to wane once he entered provincial politics. 

A few years ago, shortly before his party came to power in Alberta, Campaign Life Coalition warned about Kenney’s “rapid slide to the left.” 

In 2018, Kenney and most of his United Conservative Party caucus abstained from voting against a bill from the New Democratic Party’s then-government that banned pro-lifers from standing outside Alberta abortion facilities. 

Kenney said at the time that he was not going to be “playing games” on social issues. 

His comments met with a fierce backlash from Campaign Life Coalition’s Jeff Gunnarson, who said of Kenney’s non-vote: “The NDP are not playing games. They are trampling on pro-lifers’ rights whenever they can get away with it, and shame on Kenney for not standing up for basic human rights and freedoms.” 

In 2019, Kenney’s party won a majority over the NDP. It had governed the province under Premier Rachel Notley since 2015. 

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