An internal feud that is shattering Alberta’s ruling party has taken a new turn after Prime Minister Jason Kenny’s Twitter manager compared critics to Kenny’s United Conservatives with clowns.
The tweet was sent on Friday morning by Brian Rodgers, who is usually the chief of staff to the infrastructure minister but is temporarily working as Kenny’s manager as some of the prime minister’s staff have taken unpaid leave to support him. leadership review.
Rodgers responded to a newspaper column that included renewed criticism of Kenny by some members of the UCP group, including Lila Ahir and Vice President Angela Pete.
Rodgers dismissed the criticism as coming from “the same old team” and published a short video of spinning, gesturing clowns from the Simpson TV show.
LOL! I was expecting something new here, but it turned out to be the same old crew: pic.twitter.com/Py4516o9H4
– Brian Rodgers (@Brogersca) April 22, 2022
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Pete replied on Twitter: “This is exactly the kind of harassment and intimidation that happens every day by the prime minister’s staff. MLAs offer different opinions and they are ridiculed as clowns or called crazy. ”
Acher, who was removed from the cabinet last year after criticizing Kenny, also joined the battle on social media.
This is exactly the kind of harassment and intimidation that happens every day on the team of Prime Ministers. MLAs provide different opinions and they are ridiculed as clowns or called crazy. https://t.co/concPghvWq
– Angela Pitt (@AngelaPittAB) April 22, 2022
“We will not shrink in front of the government. It’s just a different form of abuse, “Ahir wrote on Twitter.
“Corruption comes from those in leadership positions who believe they are the smartest people in the room. It’s time to find another room.
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“Our party and our vision have the opportunity to be revived and renewed through a leadership race.”
Corruption comes from those in leadership positions who believe they are the smartest people in the room. It’s time to find another room. Our party and our vision has the opportunity to be revived and renewed through a leadership race. https://t.co/X6eGDAk2e0
– Lila Sharon Ahir (@LeelaAheer) April 22, 2022
The party is in the midst of a postal vote to decide whether Kenny will remain leader.
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Almost 60,000 party members have the right to vote in the leadership review. The results will be announced on May 18.
Earlier this week, Kenny reiterated that if he failed to get 50% support in the review, he would resign, according to party rules.
Read more: Alberta Prime Minister Jason Kenny defends recorded comments on “votes of division”
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5:45 Why All Alberts Should Pay Attention to the UCP Leadership Review Why All Alberts Should Pay Attention to the UCP Leadership Review – April 10, 2022
But he said that if he wins, he expects everyone in the group to line up so that the party can present a united front to defeat the opposition NDP in the 2023 provincial elections.
The vote itself is distrusted by Kenny’s opponents. This was supposed to be a personal vote on April 9 at Red Deer, but was changed to a postal vote just weeks before the vote took place and after the deadline for registering newcomers.
Read more: Jason Kenny calls on UCP to support him or risks losing Alberta’s NDP election
Critics say it has changed in Kenny’s favor. Meanwhile, the party remains under investigation by the RCMP for allegations of fraudulent criminal identity related to the vote in which Kenny won the leadership in 2017.
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Kenny has been repulsed by some in his group and party for more than a year – problems related to and fueled by low elections and disappointing fundraising numbers.
His meeting fired some dissidents, Todd Lowen and Drew Barnes, while others such as Pete, Ahir, Brian Jean, Peter Guthrie and Jason Stephen were allowed to stay, despite such harsh criticism of Kenny.
Kenny said disagreements over his leadership stemmed from restrictions he placed on personal freedoms to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
Critics, including backbenchers, say it is much more that Kenny and his inner circle rule from top to bottom with a fist, a profound violation of the ethos of ordinary people that Kenny promised when he helped create the UCP in the marriage of two antagonistic Alberts. conservative parties in 2017
Kenny said this week that he was too easy on dissenters and complained that Albert’s residents were increasingly unperturbed by the ongoing feud, which he described as a “soap opera”.
He also called the leadership review a proxy party to be swallowed up by extreme “lunatics” drawn like bugs to the bright light of his party’s success.
Read more: Kenny was seriously considering leaving his post before deciding to fight for his job: audio recording
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Jean, Kenny’s co-founder of the UCP, said in a statement: “Jason Kenny says he is the only person who can support a unified UCP, and then a senior political official in his inner circle publicly harasses and insults one-sixth of the group.
“If UCP has become a soap opera, it may be due to the fact that too many people around this prime minister seem to think that the (political cauldron) House of Cards is reality TV.
© 2022 The Canadian Press
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