Alberta
Kenney’s Leadership Review is a Circus – Red Deer South UCP MLA Jason Stephan

This opinion editorial submitted by Red Deer South MLA Jason Stephan
Alberta’s legislature begins with a daily prayer asking leaders to “never lead the province wrongly through love of power”.
Our political system does require reform, concentrating too much power in the hands of the Premier.
Other than elections, leadership reviews are vital checks and balances against autocratic ambitions. It is a serious matter to meddle with the few checks and balances for the public that remain.
The UCP leadership review has become a spectacle and a circus.
Fundamentally moving goalposts, after deadlines, destroys trust and integrity of process. It provides opportunities to cheat.
The party executive first chose a process that suppressed member participation. Many grassroots members and CA boards raised concerns about this, which the executive ignored and rejected.
Many are concluding the leader was losing his vote, under his preferred rules, so he metaphorically grabbed the ball and ran away.
Many are concluding these fundamental changes in process, after deadlines, seek to manipulate the outcome of the vote.
Many do not trust this new process has not, or will not, be rigged.
Last week I stood in the legislature and said:
“Some politicians label those who agree with them as the mainstream; while those who disagree with them as fringe minorities, extremists, or threats undermining stability.”
Kenney is doing what he condemned Trudeau for doing.
“Some politicians say of course we can have unity – if only you would agree with me!
That is not unity. That is ridiculous.
We are governed by laws, not by individuals, and our paramount loyalties are to principles, not office holders.”
Kenney says those who vote to change him as leader undermine unity and stability.
That is self-serving. “Stability” was also used by Trudeau as a self-serving excuse to justify his pact with the NDP.
Some politicians say vote for Kenney or there will be divisions in the party!
They are too late – divisions are upon us and sometimes this leader has increased, rather than decreased, them.
We have seen too much dividing, too much labelling, sometimes change in leadership is required to heal, to unite and move forward.
Some politicians say vote for Kenney, we cannot risk the NDP getting back in!
Albertans are tired of politicians using fear as a tool.
Conservative policies, regardless of the leader, increase economic prosperity. With oil over $100, a conservative government budget would be balanced, with or without Kenney.
The ends do not justify the means and so this leader does not enjoy the trust of most Albertans. This recent development only amplifies and reinforces those feelings.
Kenney is less popular than the party. Is it in the best interests of our party, our province, to go into an election hoping to win, in spite of the leader? Isn’t that too much to risk, as we cannot risk the NDP getting back in!
Some politicians say vote for Kenney, we need him to get Alberta a fair deal! What has he accomplished so far? If he is not fair, where his moral authority to demand Ottawa to be fair?
With Trudeau forming an axis with the NDP, we do need to prepare ourselves for the real possibility of further hostile, targeted attacks that harm Alberta businesses and families.
The Premier of Alberta needs to be respected and trusted by Albertans to fearlessly defend our interests. The current Premier does not have that.
Some politicians say vote for Kenney or you get someone worse!
More fear. To assume that any one person is the only one who could be the leader of our party is a false assumption.
There are many honest and principled Alberta men and women who would be great leaders of our party.
Politics should not be a career. It is a special opportunity to serve and having contributed one’s experiences and talents, one should step aside and allow others to do the same.
The Premier’s leadership, and now his unprecedented efforts to full out campaign and control the results of his own review have become a circus, a distraction, and a liability to the province and the party.
Confidence is lost, and for the good of the party, for the province, the Premier should be gracious, resign and support a positive leadership race for a new leader to unite the party and the province.
“Dividing and labelling others only produces contention and destroys trust.
That is not leadership.”
This is true.
“Great leaders lead in love and inspire the best in those they serve.”
This is what we need.
Alberta
Alberta Cabinet shuffle reflects new ministries. Adriana LaGrange in charge of “health care refocusing”

Premier Danielle Smith has made changes to cabinet to address key priorities of Albertans.
Following the conclusion of the spring sitting of the legislature, and the resignation of the Honourable Ric McIver from his cabinet position to serve as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Premier Smith has made changes to her cabinet and caucus leadership.
The new cabinet comprises both seasoned and newly appointed ministers, reflecting Alberta’s diverse population. Together, they are committed to serving all Albertans and striving to unlock the province’s full potential. Those members taking on new roles include:
- Minister of Advanced Education, Myles McDougall
- Minister of Hospital and Surgical Health Services, Matt Jones
- Minister of Indigenous Relations, Rajan Sawhney
- Minister of Jobs, Economy, Trade, and Immigration, Joseph Schow
- Minister of Mental Health and Addiction, Rick Wilson
- Minister of Municipal Affairs, Dan Williams
- Minister of Primary and Preventative Health Services, Adriana LaGrange
- Minister of Tourism and Sport, Andrew Boitchenko
- Associate Minister of Multiculturalism, Mohammed Yaseen
- Associate Minister of Water, Grant Hunter
Additionally, Grant Hunter will be serving as the Chief Government Whip.
The Honourable Demetrios Nicolaides will be adding childcare to his portfolio and become the Minister of Education and Childcare. The Honourable Jason Nixon will also see his title changed to the Minister of Assisted Living and Social Services to reflect his oversight of Assisted Living Alberta.
“I’m eager to collaborate with this dedicated team to fulfill the commitments we made to Albertans during the last election. Our government has already addressed many key priorities of Albertans, but we know there is more work to do, and I’m excited to continue working alongside each of my cabinet colleagues as we move forward an ambitious agenda for Albertans.”
This new cabinet also serves as the critical next step in the journey to refocus Alberta’s health care system. Each of the four health care agencies – Primary Care Alberta, Acute Care Alberta, Assisted Living Alberta, and Recovery Alberta – are now established, and will now each have a corresponding minister responsible. Minister LaGrange will continue to oversee the health care re-focusing efforts.
“I’m pleased to continue the important work of re-focusing our health care system with the support of my colleagues. Moving forward, we will work together to ensure that patients in our health care system have an integrated seamless experience and get the care they need when and where they need it.”
Cabinet members will be tasked with working collaboratively to complete the important work that Albertans voted for, including continuing to grow the economy, keep life affordable, reform the health care system, fight crime, and defend Alberta from punitive federal government policies.
Alberta
Alberta group releases referendum question on leaving Canada, becoming ‘sovereign country’

From LifeSiteNews
‘Do you agree that the Province of Alberta shall become a Sovereign Country and cease to be a province of Canada?’ reads the proposed question from Alberta Prosperity Project, which says it has over 240,000 pledges to vote ‘yes’ on the referendum.
A group behind a citizen-led movement for Alberta’s independence from Canada in light of increasing frustration with the Liberal federal government made public the question it will put to a future referendum that could come in 2026.
The Alberta Prosperity Project (APP), which bills itself as a sovereignty advocacy group, released Monday the question it wants on a referendum.
“Do you agree that the Province of Alberta shall become a Sovereign Country and cease to be a province of Canada?” the question reads.
Thus far, the group says it has over 240,000 pledges from people who say they will vote “yes” to the referendum question. The group wants to have at least 1 million signatures, which is more than the 600,000 needed before a citizen-led petition would be allowed to be brought before Alberta’s legislature.
The APP says its mission is to “empower the Alberta government to restructure Alberta’s relationship with Canada by educating and mobilizing public support for Alberta Sovereignty.”
As reported by LifeSiteNews, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said her conservative government will allow but not support a citizen-led referendum on independence.
Smith’s comments came after she said recently that she would consider taking serious steps for Alberta to have greater autonomy from Canada after the Liberals were re-elected to a fourth consecutive term.
Asked about the APP’s statement, Smith said, “I’ve made my position clear.”
“I support a sovereign Alberta within a united Canada, and it’s my job to see if we can get a new deal with Ottawa, so that I can convince more Albertans to feel the same,” she said to the press.
Her announcement also comes just days after her United Conservative Party government announced Bill 54, which sets the groundwork for possible independence referendums by making such votes easier to trigger. If passed, the bill would lower the signature threshold from 600,000 to 177,000. It is now in third reading.
As it stands, Albertans can call a referendum under the Referendum Act and the Citizen Initiative Act, but in order to trigger such a vote, citizens would first have to collect signatures from 20 percent of eligible voters (about 600,000 citizens) within just 90 days and do so on an official government-approved petition.
Some pre-election polls have shown independence sentiment on the rise among Albertans, with over 30 percent favoring a move toward sovereignty.
The calls for independence have grown since Liberal leader Mark Carney defeated Conservative rival Pierre Poilievre, who also lost his seat in the 2025 federal election. In Alberta, almost all of the seats except two went to conservatives.
Carney, like former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau before him, said he is opposed to new pipeline projects that would allow Alberta oil and gas to be unleashed. Also, his green agenda, like Trudeau’s, is at odds with Alberta’s main economic driver, its oil and gas industry.
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