Alberta Premier Jason Kenney stepping down as UCP leader

Despite winning support from a narrow majority of Alberta’s United Conservatives, Jason Kenney says he will be stepping down as party leader.

Kenney won his leadership review with 51.4 per cent of votes in favour of keeping him on as leader.

Kenney made the announcement at Spruce Meadows Wednesday evening, saying he has informed the president of the party of his intention to step down.

“While 51 per cent of the vote passes the constitutional threshold of the majority 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 the leader of the United Conservative Party,” said Kenny.

“I’m sorry but friends I truly believe we need to move forward united, we need to put the past behind us. And a large number of our members have asked for an opportunity to clear the air through a leadership election.”

The party says there were just over 34,000 votes cast in the review. While Kenney received just more than 51 per cent support, 48.6 per cent of the ballots were cast against his leadership.

“The result is not what I hoped for or frankly what I expected but I’ve been clear from day one that I will respect the members in this leadership review. And I expect all members of our party to do just that,” said Kenny.

Kenney has previously said that he would stay on as leader with anything over 50 per cent. However, many political pundits said that wasn’t a realistic scenario.

Now, the race for a new United Conservative Party leader is gearing up.

Two former leaders of the Wildrose Party, which merged with the Progressive Conservatives to form the UCP in 2017, have signalled they intend run for the leadership.

Brian Jean, who lost to Kenney in the inaugural UCP leadership race and has been an outspoken Kenney critic, thanked the premier for his “decent and honourable concession.”

Danielle Smith, a radio host following her stint in provincial politics, says the results show the UCP is hungry for a leader who will fight for Alberta’s interests.

Kenney’s resignation reverberated in Ottawa, where he previously served as a cabinet minister in former prime minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government.

Heading into a cabinet meeting Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau thanked Kenney for his years of public service.

“I wish him the very best in whatever next steps he takes on.”

Meanwhile, a Liberal cabinet minister from Alberta says Jason Kenney is the latest conservative leader to be pushed out by party supporters for not being “extreme enough.”

Federal Tourism Minister Randy Boissonnault, an Edmonton MP, says he disagreed with Kenney on many topics, but that it appears the former federal Conservative cabinet minister was pushed out for not being extreme enough on measures like COVID-19 restrictions.

He says a similar fate befell former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole and Ed Fast, who stepped down as the party’s finance critic Wednesday after publicly criticizing leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre’s proposal to fire the governor of the Bank of Canada.

–With files from The Canadian Press