Jason Kenney won the Alberta election because he understands Albertans GlobeDebate
Special to The Globe and MailPreston Manning is the founder of the Manning Centre, and the former leader of the Reform Party of Canada.
First, the NDP and its social-media allies tried to tell Albertans that the ballot question was about identity politics. The majority of Albertans said the ballot question was about economic issues – jobs, taxes and pipelines. Mr. Kenney and the UCP listened and responded accordingly; the NDP didn’t – and paid the price.Competence was also key in this election.
Because the NDP government in Alberta could not run on its record – massive deficits, tax increases, unaddressed unemployment and mismanagement of the energy file – it turned to attack politics and focused most of its campaign on Mr. Kenney personally. He and the UCP were also in attack mode, but their focus was the government’s performance, not its leader.
The NDP government in Alberta, despite a 30-year history of criticizing and opposing free markets, adopted the market mechanism approach, instituting a carbon tax. But it predictably bungled the implementation, just as Kathleen Wynne’s government did in Ontario and Mr. Trudeau’s government is doing on the national scene.
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