Jason Kenney

Tuesday May 14, 2019 

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday May 14, 2019 

Nearly two-thirds of Canadians oppose provincial governments spending taxpayers’ dollars to battle federal carbon tax, poll says

Nearly two-thirds of Canadians oppose provincial governments spending taxpayers’ dollars to battle the federal carbon tax, says a new poll released Monday as the Ontario government launched a new television ad slamming the levy.

April 30, 2019

About 64 per cent of respondents said it is unacceptable for provinces to opt out of the federal effort to combat climate change, including the carbon tax, according to a survey done by Nanos Research for The Globe and Mail. As well, 64 per cent of respondents said they oppose provincial governments spending public money to fight the tax.

Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and New Brunswick are pursuing legal challenges to the levy, which the Liberal government imposed in those provinces that do not have a carbon pricing system of their own, as part of Ottawa’s overall effort to meet its international commitment to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.

April 17, 2019

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is expected to unveil legislation on May 22 to rescind the provincial carbon tax adopted by the former New Democratic Party government. Mr. Kenney said he, too, will launch a legal challenge if, as promised, the federal government imposed its carbon tax in place of the provincial one that is to be cancelled.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford and his ministers have launched a multipronged opposition campaign that includes the court challenge in which a decision is expected soon; frequent ministerial photo ops highlighting the cost of the levy; a move to require gas stations to post stickers detailing the cost, and paid advertising. In a spot to air Monday, an Ontario government ad says the carbon tax will cost the average family $648 a year in 2022. Like the rest of the provincial material, the Ontario ad does not include any mention of the fact that the federal legislation requires all revenue raised to be returned to the province, with 80 per cent of families expected to receive more through a rebate delivered on their income tax return than they paid out in tax.

April 15, 2015

“It’s pretty clear that Canadians don’t like the idea of provinces opting out with the exception of Canadians in the Prairie provinces,” pollster Nik Nanos said. “While the carbon tax and the rebate is not a big political winner [for the federal Liberals], people definitely don’t like using provincial tax dollars to fight the federal carbon tax.”

The survey – which has a margin of error of three percentage points – polled 1,000 Canadians by phone and online between April 25 and 28. (Globe & Mail) 

 

Friday May 3, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday May 3, 2019

Move over, Doug Ford. Jason Kenney is Canada’s new disruptor

Jason Kenney is back. First stop, Ontario. 

Days after being sworn in as Alberta’s new premier Tuesday, sweeping to power with a 55-per-cent majority unrivalled by any politician in Canada today, Kenney wants to win over Ontarians.

Direct and in person.

Best known as a savvy Harper-era federal minister, officially responsible for immigration and multiculturalism, but unofficially assigned to wooing and winning the 905 vote, Kenney has reinvented himself as a fiery prairie populist.

All these years later, the Oakville-born Alberta premier still has an eye, and an ear, for the GTA.

Now he wants to be heard.

Not just by the Bay Street crowd who rewarded him with standing ovations during a lunchtime speech on Alberta’s energy woes, or from the smiling Ontario premier who pledged his support Friday (after bearing a private grudge against him for years — more on that later).

The new premier is getting his message out any way he can, not least in the pages of the Toronto Star. Which is why he sat down for a wide-ranging interview about Alberta’s plight, his political fight, and his plan to disrupt Canada even if it means talking up disunity in a country that still frets about national unity.

Ontarians, he says, should hear him out.

“Obviously, Ontario is sort of the elder brother of the federation, and I think it can play a role,” he tells me. The response at Friday’s business lunch showed “they get what Alberta is going through.”

Many politicians lay claim to a 100-day plan of action. Kenney, however, has unveiled a 100-hour agenda of disruption that he has spent years mapping out.

And he is just getting started — threatening B.C. with a fuel blockade and confronting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with a constitutional challenge over control of energy resources. (Continued: Toronto Star) 

 

Wednesday April 24, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday April 24, 2019

D’Oh Canada! Canadian journalist voicing Trudeau on The Simpsons

Canadian journalist Lucas Meyer is putting the hours he’s spent listening to politicians to good use, lending his imitation of Justin Trudeau to The Simpsons.

March 24, 2017

Sunday’s upcoming episode, “D’Oh Canada,” will feature a subplot involving Lisa being granted asylum in Canada during a family trip to Niagara Falls.

Meyer, a lifelong fan of the show, said he was thrilled and a bit stunned to receive an email from a Simpsons producer last September. He auditioned a few hours later and found out he got the part the next day.

“I just couldn’t believe it, I sent it to my wife and she was losing her mind,” he said.

“A, it was unexpected. B, it’s not just a show it’s The Simpsons, one that I grew up with. And C, it’s not just a guest voice. It’s guest-voicing the prime minister.”

Meyer, who grew up in Montreal and Antigonish, N.S., has been honing his impersonation skills for years. He said Trudeau is one of his favourites to mimic, along with Don Cherry, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and his mother-in-law, Esther.

August 15, 1997

While working as a reporter in Calgary in 2017, Meyer relented to urgings from friends and posted a compilation of his impressions on YouTube. The video has garnered about 32,000 views and caught the attention of The Simpsons producers.

Meyer kept the news secret for more than six months and finally shared it Monday on social media.  

“I never would have anticipated this,” he told CBC News with a laugh.

Tim Long, a Canadian-born consulting producer on The Simpsons, hinted the episode featuring Trudeau would touch on a “current scandal,” perhaps the SNC-Lavalin controversy.

“That may be one of those things that nobody in America is going to get,” Long, who was born in Brandon, Man., and grew up in Exeter, Ont., said in a recent phone interview with The Canadian Press.

“It’s funny, though, because of course America got used to the idea that, ‘Well, Trudeau is great’ — at least the liberal part of America has sort of got it in their head that, ‘Oh, he’s amazing and Canadians must love him’ — and I think they’re shocked to learn that he’s in a little bit of trouble right now.”

Meyer currently works as a reporter with Newstalk 1010 in Toronto and has had his own professional dealings with Trudeau on the scandal. (Source: CBC) 

Meme-able illustrations

Saturday April 20, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday April 20, 2019

Justin Trudeau finally got some good news this week. Courtesy of Jason Kenney.

The election of the old Harperite and his band of right-wing friends of the oil industry has suddenly made it clearer than ever the divide over the future direction of the country.

October 16, 2015

It’s clear where Kenney and the majority of Albertans who voted for him stand. Forget climate change and the catastrophe facing the planet. Albertans’ choice is a pipeline in every garden and a couple of pickup trucks in every driveway.

We now know that the NDP’s victory in 2015 was a fluke. Rachel Notley was an able politician but her attempt at a balanced approach to the issue of how a province hooked on carbon could make a reasonable effort at reducing the damage caused by its coal-fired power plants and GHG-producing oil sands was never going to win over voters long-term.

Like Philippe Couillard, who bravely and successfully tackled Quebec’s fiscal deficit and was rewarded for his efforts by being tossed out of office, Rachel Notley learned that voters don’t want politicians to take hard choices. They want to hear nonsense from their leaders, provided it doesn’t cost them a cent.

May 15, 2018

It’s the same idiocy that got Doug Ford elected. Remember him promising how easy it would be to balance the Ontario budget by simply getting rid of inefficiencies and cutting spending on “pencils and foolscap.”

I know Alberta is going through a tough time but that’s what happens when you live in a commodity-dependent economy. Prices go up and they go down, and you’re particularly vulnerable when prices sink and you’re a high cost producer.

Yet when times are good, Albertans convince themselves they’re rich because they’re so smart. And when boom inevitably turns to bust, they’re suddenly surprised. Who would have thought oil prices couldn’t tank? And of course, Justin Trudeau, not the world market, is responsible for oil prices.

All of this is made worse by Albertans approach to government finances. Alberta has made its own bed, deciding it wasn’t going to be Norway, which forces its citizens to pay their own way through taxes and squirrels away its petroleum windfalls for a rainy day. Instead, Alberta has modelled itself on a Mideastern petro-state. (Continued: iPolitics) 

 

Wednesday April 17, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday April 17, 2019

What Jason Kenney’s UCP victory in Alberta could mean for the rest of Canada

After a bitter four-week campaign fraught with controversies and personal attacks, Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party has unseated Rachel Notley and the NDP in Alberta’s provincial election.

October 6, 2018

The UCP win marks a return to centre-right politics for Alberta after Notley disrupted 44 years of Progressive Conservative rule with her win in 2015. It also marks the first time a government has failed to win a renewed mandate in the province on its first try.

Holding on to 24 seats, Alberta’s NDP have been relegated to opposition status while the UCP will enjoy a majority rule after winning 63 seats on Tuesday night.

Much of the campaign focused on Alberta’s struggling economy, employment, and building pipelines after global oil prices crashed in 2015 and thrust the province into a recession.

Standing before cheering supporters after his victory on Tuesday night, Kenney announced the province was now “open for business” and vowed to stand up for Albertans.

As the premier-designate prepares to “fight back” against the federal government, here’s what the election results could mean for the rest of the country.

Kenney’s win in Alberta is expected to be a major headache for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after the former federal cabinet member repeatedly vowed during the campaign to challenge the federal Liberals on everything from the provincial carbon tax to how Ottawa distributes funds to the provinces for government services.

David Stewart, a political sciences professor at the University of Calgary, said Kenney has made it clear that he plans to have a confrontational relationship with the federal government.

“I think they [Trudeau government] should be prepared for the end of the carbon tax, the end of any kind of cooperation on climate change with the province of Alberta, and from having any kind of ally in this part of the country,” Stewart told CTV News Channel after the election results came in.

Kenney has already promised to push for a cut in federal income taxes on Albertans as well as changes to Employment Insurance to better assist those who lost their jobs during the energy recession.

The former federal cabinet minister under Prime Minister Stephen Harper has also taken aim at how federal money is redistributed to provinces. He has also threatened to hold a referendum in 2021 to remove equalization, a program that forces “have” provinces to give money to Ottawa to distribute to “have not” provinces.

Even Notley’s working relationship with Trudeau came under fire during the lead-up to the election, with Kenney accusing them of a “Trudeau-Notley alliance” that put Ottawa’s interests ahead of the province. (Source: CTV News)

Jason Kenney Before he became premier gallery

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator - Thursday July 16, 2009 Minister calls for overhaul of Canada's refugee system Canada needs a refugee-claims system that will quickly turn away those who falsely claim persecution to take advantage of the country'sÊgenerosity, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says. Imposing visa restrictions on Czechs and Mexicans was necessary to stem a rising flow of claimants, he said, but what is really needed isÊan asylum system that accepts or rejects refugees quickly - and he indicated he is working on a reform proposal: "Stay tuned," he said. The decision to introduce a visa requirement was met by howls of protest, with the Czechs recalling their ambassador in protest andÊMexico also stating its unhappiness. For Mr. Kenney, it wouldn't be necessary to impose visa restrictions to stem the flow of asylum-seekers if false claimants knew beforeÊcoming that their cases would be heard swiftly and they would be returned home immediately after a decision was made. "This does underscore the need to reform our asylum system so that it ensures that real victims of persecution get swift relief andÊprotection in Canada, and that economic migrants seeking to abuse our generosity are shown to the door quickly," he said. Although he would not say precisely what reforms he has in mind, the government is studying changes made by Britain in 2004. It is considering borrowing ideas like giving immigration officers the first decision on refugee claims rather than a tribunal, reducingÊlayers of appeals, and fast-tracking claims from countries that are generally considered safe in an effort to send home rejected claimantsÊsooner. (Source: The Globe & Mail)http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/minister-calls-for-overhaul-of-canadas-refugee-system/article1218679/ Canada, Jason Kenney, Immigration, immigrants, refugee, citizenship, airport, restrictions, visa
Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday July 16, 2009 Minister calls for overhaul of Canada’s refugee system Canada needs a refugee-claims system that will quickly turn away those who falsely claim persecution to take advantage of the country’sÊgenerosity, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says. Imposing visa restrictions on Czechs and Mexicans was necessary to stem a rising flow of claimants, he said, but what is really needed isÊan asylum system that accepts or rejects refugees quickly – and he indicated he is working on a reform proposal: “Stay tuned,” he said. The decision to introduce a visa requirement was met by howls of protest, with the Czechs recalling their ambassador in protest andÊMexico also stating its unhappiness. For Mr. Kenney, it wouldn’t be necessary to impose visa restrictions to stem the flow of asylum-seekers if false claimants knew beforeÊcoming that their cases would be heard swiftly and they would be returned home immediately after a decision was made. “This does underscore the need to reform our asylum system so that it ensures that real victims of persecution get swift relief andÊprotection in Canada, and that economic migrants seeking to abuse our generosity are shown to the door quickly,” he said. Although he would not say precisely what reforms he has in mind, the government is studying changes made by Britain in 2004. It is considering borrowing ideas like giving immigration officers the first decision on refugee claims rather than a tribunal, reducingÊlayers of appeals, and fast-tracking claims from countries that are generally considered safe in an effort to send home rejected claimantsÊsooner. (Source: The Globe & Mail)http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/minister-calls-for-overhaul-of-canadas-refugee-system/article1218679/ Canada, Jason Kenney, Immigration, immigrants, refugee, citizenship, airport, restrictions, visa
July 11, 2012
July 11, 2012
May 15, 2013
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2015-06-12
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October 16, 2015
October 16, 2015
May 31, 2016
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October 6, 2018
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