Letter from Canada: Alberta looks beyond Kenney
The province’s governing party is struggling to come to terms with the oil and gas industry’s new focus on the energy transition
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney announced his resignation on 18 May, following a leadership review in which he secured the support of just 51.4pc of the members of his United Conservative Party (UCP). Instead of stepping down immediately, Kenney will continue as premier until a new UCP leader is selected, likely in the autumn. Kenney’s response to the Covid-19 crisis has been widely cited as the core reason for the erosion in his support, having alienated both wings of the UCP, the party he founded in 2017 by amalgamating the Progressive Conservative and Wildrose parties. The primary impetus for founding the UCP was to combine the province’s conservative vote to keep the socialist New Democrati
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