Kenney walks around issue of divisive rhetoric

By COLLIN GALLANT on April 1, 2022.

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant

Jason Kenney, who last week complained he was the target of illogical smear campaigns on social media, sidestepped questions about his conservative colleagues using the same sort of language when describing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The Alberta premier was in Medicine Hat to announce new air ambulance funding and address business groups, when reporters asked whether Trudeau deserves the same sort of conspiracy-theory driven attacks Kenney is complaining about.

“He doesn’t,” said Kenney. “Canada is a democracy, but I strongly disagree with Justin Trudeau on just about everything.”

“In terms of his abuse of authority, that’s why Alberta is the only province in Canada that is suing over the constitutionality of his use of the Emergencies Act.”

The Emergencies Act was used by the government to break up blockades and convoy protests this winter on Parliament Hill.

Some demonstrators there openly compared Trudeau to Adolph Hitler, demanded a new government be formed or that Trudeau and cabinet members be arrested.

Last week, Alberta Conservative leader Kenney, detailed messages he has received accusing him of being part of a global conspiracy to create a one-world government, enslave citizens with COVID health measures or usher in totalitarian state control.

“I see a lot of anger,” Kenney said Thursday. “I think those voices … people calling for my execution for crimes against humanity, for violating the Nuremburg Trials, there’s a random collection of words they use … It represents a tiny fraction of the population.

“I want to focus on mainstream Albertans.”

This week, Lethbridge MP Rachel Thomas was caught up in controversy after she said in a House of Commons address that “many Canadians” agree that the definition of ‘dictator’ could be applied to Trudeau as well.

Medicine Hat-Cardston Warner MP Glen Motz, who attended the same announcement as Kenney on Thursday, told the News he hadn’t heard Thomas’s comment.

But, he says he’s heard constituents use similar terms to describe Trudeau for years, and Thomas was likely passing on the criticisms, said Motz.

“There’s a lot of political rhetoric and the discourse is divisive, and quite frankly the prime minister has created divisions,” said Motz.

“I have heard the exact same language – authoritarian, tyrannical – in thousands of emails from voters in the riding and Canadians over the years.

“I would suspect those things come from the feedback we get from constituents.”