Blue Storm

The Rise and Fall of Jason Kenney

Duane Bratt, Richard Sutherland, David Taras, Duane Bratt, Richard Sutherland, David Taras

• Publisher: University of Calgary Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9781773854168
• eBook ISBN: 9781773854205
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Political Campaigns & Elections
• Index: Politics & International Relations

In 2019, the United Conservative Party, under the leadership of Jason Kenney, unseated the New Democratic Party to form the provincial government of Alberta. A restoration of conservative power in a province that had seen the Progressive Conservatives win every election from 1971-2015, UCP quickly began to make political waves.

This is the first scholarly analysis of the 2019 election and the first years of the UCP government, with special focus on the path of Jason Kenney's rise to, and fall from, provincial political power. It opens with an examination of the election from a number of vantage points, including the campaign, polling, and online politics. It provides fascinating insight into internal UCP politics with chapters on the divisions within the party, gender and the UCP, and the symbolism of Kenney's famous blue pickup truck. Explorations of oil and gas policy, the Energy War Room, Alberta's budgets, health care, education, the public sector, Alberta's cultural industries, and more provide unprecedented insight into the actions, motivations, and impacts of Kenney's UCP Government in power. Contributions from top political watchers, journalists, and academics provide a wide range of methods and perspectives.

Concluding with a survey of the impacts of COVID-19 in Alberta and a comparison between Jason Kenney and Doug Ford, Blue Storm is essential reading for everyone interested in Alberta politics and the tumultuous first years of the UCP government. Providing key insights from perspectives across the political spectrum, this book is a captivating deep-dive into an unprecedented party, its often controversial politics, and its unforgettable leader.

Table of contents

• Half Title
• Series
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• I. Setting the Scene
• Introduction: Jason Kenney and the Perfect Storm
• II. The 2019 Election
• Two Combative Leaders, Two Disparate Parties, and One Bitter Campaign: The 2019 Alberta Election
• The Alberta 2019 Election Online: A Turn to Two Party Electoral Dominance?
• Standard Error: The Polls in the 2019 Alberta Election and Beyond
• III. Inside the United Conservative Party
• Divisions among Alberta’s “Conservatives”
• Albertans and the Fair Deal
• Policing and Alberta’s United Conservative Party Government
• Playing the Populist Victim: Women, Gender, Representation, and the United Conservative Party
• Kenney’s Ride: Albertan Neo-Liberal Myths and the Symbology of a Blue Dodge Ram
• IV. Oil and Gas Policies
• Alberta’s Climate Policy: Public Kenney versus Private Kenney
• Jason Kenney, Energy, and Pipelines in the 2019 Alberta Election: A Study in Hubris
• Just Our Facts: The Energy War Room’s Adventures in Branded Content
• V. Alberta’s Fiscal Situation
• The Long Slide towards Fiscal Reckoning: Managing Alberta’s Finances in an Age of Decline
• Always More Than It Seems: Rural Alberta and the Politics of Decline
• Cultural Industries Under the United Conservative Party
• VI. Health Care, Education, and Public Sector Policies
• Bitter Battles: The United Conservative Party’s War on Health Care Workers
• Education and the United Conservative Party of Alberta
• Riding the Roller Coaster: Post-Secondary Education in Alberta under Kenney
• Labour in the Time of COVID
• VII. COVID in Alberta and Ontario
• Comparing the Kenney and Ford Governments
• “With Comorbidities”: The Politics of COVID-19 and the Kenney Government
• VIII. Conclusion
• Conclusion: States of Uncertainty
• Contributors
• Index