QUICK NOTE: I promise I will be getting back to Star Trek and The Expanse soon. I have this unfortunate habit of forgetting that March is where a shitload of publishers place their open submission periods. The Ides of March indeed.
I've been trying to process and collate the rapidly emerging news of the alleged collaboration between Jason Kenney's campaign and Jeff Callaway's campaign. Let's go down the rabbit hole, folks.
First off, can I just say that people shit on the media in Alberta as universal bullhorns for the right-wing, but that is provably untrue with the work of people like Jen Gerson, Charles Rusnell, Emma McIntosh and a great many more who've done huge work breaking this story.
Hacks like me get to read their hard work and rant about it, and frankly they don't get a lot of due credit. Remember that the next time one of them prints something you disagree with and you decide to call them a Cuckservative or whatever shit passes for cleverness these days.
That out of the way, what's emerged is a portrait of full-on collaborative efforts by - at MINIMUM - a core staff of the UCP leadership working hard to run a fake campaign with the express purpose of defeating Brian Jean - and more specifically, to appoint Jason Kenney.
It remains to be proved beyond all doubt just how deep the well goes. There are accusations from former Wildrose/UCP MLA Derek Fildebrandt that Kenney approached him to run as the "kamikaze candidate," which Kenney denies. Fildebrandt, of course, now leads his own party, the FCP.
There are also indications in the documents that the Kenney campaign not only was in deep communication with Callaway's campaign, issuing talking points, but also produced ads and graphics. Poli Sci prof Jared Wesley says this could violate election law.
All of this is currently under investigation by the RCMP. And I think it's important to note that this is SEPARATE from the allegations levelled by former UCP MLA Prab Gill. That's a whole other kettle of fish, but it shouldn't get lost in the shuffle.
A lot of people are concerned that with the writ dropping between now and May, we could end up electing a government that is then immediately convicted of election fraud. For a detailed explainer on the writ, check out Dave Cournoyer.
So all of this is a mess, frankly, and I've never seen this kind of drama in any provincial election I've voted in. Which brings me to my main point: what the UCP response to this has been so far.
Aside from attempting no response at all - which is always good - the UCP and their most ardent supporters are sticking to variations on the statement from UCP Exec. Director Janice Harrington: "communication between leadership campaigns is perfectly normal."
"Perfectly normal."
There's so much to unpack with that statement and sentiment, but to me the most powerful message it sends is one that I've often said reflects the spirit of Jason Kenney and the Conservative Party of Alberta - no matter what new banner they slap on themselves: entitlement.
The Conservative Party - call them the UCP now if you like, we know who they are - feels entitled to govern Alberta. And why wouldn't they? Albertans rewarded their decades of resource mismanagement, stagnation and destruction of services, with election win after election win.
The UCP have often called Notley's government "an accident," even from day one. Because to the UCP, they are the Natural Governing Party of Alberta, anything else must be a mistake by the voters. A sentiment you've probably heard before, from another party: the federal Liberals.
Not coincidentally, you've likely heard similar sentiments expressed recently about said Liberal Party in regards to another ongoing controversy with SNC-Lavalin. As many ardent Liberal supporters have claimed "this is all perfectly normal."
Let me tell you something: "normal" is only "normal" if you let it be.
We can collectively lower the bar. Pretend that corruption, cheating, fraud, election theft, that's all "perfectly normal." Or we can stand up and say NO, THIS IS NOT NORMAL, AND WE WILL NOT LET IT BECOME NORMAL.
The intention behind these statements, that "everything about this is just business yep you betcha" is targeted to make us complacent. To pretend that the price of good governance, reasonable taxation, whatever policy you want, is to bow to cheats and liars.
The ONLY power we have as a democratic population to REJECT that status quo of corruption, to stop ourselves from being "perfectly normal," is to VOTE AGAINST IT.
So don't you dare let this stand. Don't you dare tell me the work of those people who blow the whistle on corruption, the people who carry that story, and the people who stand up is worthless to you. You stand up to the people who are saying "normal" and you say THE HELL IT IS.
I look back four years and I tell you what, no matter what I may have thought of Brian Jean, that man busted his ass for his province, and when he lost his son he turned that pain into action and he never ONCE pulled the kind of shit we're seeing today from Jason Kenney.
Last election, I thought for sure Jean had it in the bag, and even if I wouldn't have agreed with his policies I never once felt like he had to cheat to win. That was a "normal" I could live with.
I REJECT Jason Kenney's version of "perfectly normal." I know that Alberta has the courage and power to reject it, too. We're not a normal province. We're extraordinary. And we deserve extraordinary.