THEY have a ‘plan’. And they stuck to it.
Now they’re stuck.
It’s the fall of 2019. The UCP led by Jason Kenney breathlessly announces to a gathering of Manning Institute faithful the ‘plan’.
It’s bold.
And among the nodding heads, mostly grey and wizened with the years, UCP fellow travellers listen as Premier Kenney outlines the journey ahead.
It’s very bold.
The rank & file UCP are pleased — extremely pleased with the ‘plan’.
And then something happened…
The pandemic became a ‘thing’ in the early going of 2020.
But! The UCP has a ‘plan’.
And so it was the UCP ‘plan’ birthed in a Manning Institute bunker, the home of righteous crusaders pining for a New Jerusalem on the prairies, the bulwark against most everything not UCP-centric continued to execute thee plan come hell or COVID-19.
Thou shalt stick to the ‘plan’, praise be Preston.
Thou shalt dig coal and smite those that sing from a different songbook.
Thou shalt pick fights with doctors, and reward hack journalists who are of no-account.
Enough!
This is a ‘call out’.
We are talking to you — yes, you! — the conservative progressive, who had no more time for the New Democrats (who are hardly ‘new’ after 7 decades and in desperate need of a rebrand).
The UCP will surely be un-elected, as much as the last two governments in our legislature have been flushed. And this is no time to give UCP faithful and their ridiculous ‘plan’ any more consideration other than a warning.
Recall the conservative bunch in Ottawa who toyed with their supporters on the plains (think Mulroney at the end of days). If you are a sitting UCP MLA and not up in arms because of the stupid ‘plan’ you will not be able to buy a job in our province.
You will be loathed.
And no amount of New Jerusalem thinking will provide you with redemption.
The Preston cannot save you. You must save yourself — now.
And as for Mr. Manning and his political notions rooted in the 20th century. You have had three opportunities to remake the country in your vision. Reform — that didn’t turn out so well, did it? The Manning Centre as the means to groom professional politicians; you couldn’t keep the lights on for your magazine and the screed you recently scribbled for the National Post going on and on and on about ‘rights’ in a pandemic, well… that’s another ‘plan’ the UCP can do without.
You are dangerous. Your ideas are out of step. The political & economic future for Alberta is very much in doubt thanks to the Manning Centre’s tone deaf inculcation of our current political masters.
Please retire. Go gently into the night.
But do go… now.
This column is the consensus opinion of the writers Donna Kennedy-Glans & Don Hill. If you haven’t already, please subscribe to BEYOND POLARITY scroll down on your phone or tablet, or look to the right in the panel beside this post. Enter your email to FOLLOW, a wheel spins, hamsters get fed.