The outgoing Prime Minister of Alberta did not regret or apologize on Tuesday, as he was answering questions for the first time since announcing his resignation.
Jason Kenney surprised many on May 18 when he resigned as leader of the United Conservative Party after receiving a slight majority in his leadership review.
Kenney later clarified that he intends to remain until his successor is chosen.
On Tuesday he was asked if he would have done things differently and immediately launched into a furious response focused on COVID-19.
“I think the energy of the opposite vote was driven primarily by people who are angry about vaccines, and I do not apologize for promoting safe and effective vaccines that have saved lives,” Kenney told reporters in a health care ad in Edmonton.
“There was also a lot of residual rage about public health restrictions. And while I guess we could go back and talk about particular policies at specific times, I generally don’t regret the difficult decisions we made.”
Kenney said many of the people who opposed him from his own party are not longtime members and went to the polls considering conspiracy theories.
“There is a small but very motivated, well-organized and very angry group of people who believe that I and the government have been promoting a part of some globalist agenda and that vaccines are at the heart of it,” he said.
He was also asked about his own number of general population polls, which had been the lowest of any prime minister for much of the pandemic.
“Some of the pollsters you are referring to did not predict the results of the last election by 15 to 20 points. Therefore, if you take them as an objective metric of Alberta’s policy, I would call it journalistic malpractice.” Kenney. he told a columnist who twice asked him if he wanted to take responsibility for the fall in his popularity.
Kenney said he respected the results of the May 18 vote and would continue to focus on improving the economy, although it was presumed that his party had already fulfilled about 90 percent of its votes. campaign promises.
“THIS IS JASON KENNEY”: BRATT
A local political scientist, who also announced on Tuesday that he is writing a book about Kenney, criticized the outgoing prime minister’s comments, but said he was not at all surprised.
“He’s never apologized for anything. And even when he does, it’s a setback,” said Duane Bratt of Mount Royal University.
“He doesn’t accept criticism. He doesn’t apologize, and that’s one of the reasons he’s leaving as prime minister. It’s Jason Kenney as we know him.”
Bratt noted that the first-term prime minister was slow to apologize for the COVID-19 scandals, such as when several deputies traveled internationally against federal councils and when he and others dined on top of the SkyPalace without following suit. provincial regulations.
Kenney later apologized and claimed responsibility for both incidents, as he did when he apologized for prematurely lifting COVID-19 restrictions, but Bratt believes they came too late.
The prime minister may also have apologized, Bratt said, for unpopular decisions around resume rewriting, coal mining near the Rocky Mountains, or spending money on the Allan Inquiry, which he later found little. but Kenney hasn’t.
“He doesn’t take responsibility. Even when mistakes were made, he sent other people to apologize,” Bratt said.
“This is no longer his challenge. This is the challenge of Travis Toews and any other minister who is running (for the UCP leader). They have to distance themselves from Jason Kenney. Brian Jean doesn’t need to do that. Danielle Smith doesn’t need to do that. “
The UCP has not yet set a date for the leadership vote.
With files by Alex Antoneshyn of CTV News Edmonton