COVID-19 dominated the headlines everywhere in 2021, and Alberta was no different.
The province was forced to see-saw between various versions of open and closed as cases spiked and then faded twice before rocketing again in December.
The NDP rose in polling and fundraising, both Edmonton and Calgary picked new mayors, and the seemingly never-ending battle over healthcare raged on.
Unlike in previous years, Alberta’s premier declined a request for a year-end interview with CTV News.
Nonetheless, here is a recap of some of the biggest political stories of 2021.
2021 started with a scandal for the United Conservative Party government, in the debacle dubbed “alohagate.”
After six of his MLAs and a senior staffer travelled internationally, Jason Kenney apologized to Albertans.
The trips resulted in consequences for the legislators, and Kenney’s chief of staff resigned.
“The buck stops with me,” Kenney said on January 6.
It wouldn’t be the last time Kenney made a COVID-19-related apology to angry Albertans.
“I want sincerely to apologize to my colleagues and to Albertans for letting you down,” Kenney said in June, after a controversial dinner at the already-infamous Sky Palace.
In December, the UCP was also criticized for holding a Christmas party just hours after several officials asked Albertans to cancel theirs, in an effort to slow the spread of the Omicron variant.
“If I were to sit in judgement of everyone who perhaps caused increased risk, I would not have enough hours in the day,” Dr. Deena Hinshaw said when asked about all three controversies.
In April, while COVID-19 was raging and the province tightened restrictions, a major crack in the UCP became clear. Seventeen UCP MLAs signed an open letter in opposition to Kenney’s decisions on restrictions.
“It’s time to protect civil liberties,” Drew Barnes, Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA, said at the time.
“The fact that we have a quarter of the UCP caucus raging against health orders represents a fundamental crisis of leadership,” NDP Leader Rachel Notley said.
In May, Barnes and Central Peace-Notley MLA Todd Loewen were booted from the UCP caucus.
But that wasn’t the end of the infighting.
Several MLAs openly criticized the premier for various things in 2021 including Leela Aheer, Rajan Sawhney, Richard Gotfried, Angela Pitt and Peter Guthrie.
“I demand the resignation of the premier. This is a failure of leadership,” Aheer said in October, when the premier’s office was sued.
With Alberta’s vaccine rollout underway, Kenney unveiled his “Open for Summer” plan with much confidence in May.
“It means that we’re finally getting back to normal, and I think it means the best Alberta summer ever,” he said while unveiling a huge banner.
Kenney’s enthusiasm was shared by a top government aide.
“The pandemic is over. Accept it,” Matt Wolf tweeted, in a proclamation that’s surely one of the most famous posts in the history of Alberta politics.
That’s because, despite some Calgary Stampede parties that followed, the premier apologized for loosening restrictions too early, just four months later as the virus surged again.
“It is now clear that we were wrong. And for that, I apologize,” Kenney said in September.
Prior to that press conference, the premier and his cabinet were accused of leaving their posts abandoned while they vacationed.
Critics said they were refusing to be held accountable, and failing to take charge of a mounting crisis, as they declined to introduce new restrictions and answer questions, including from a CTV News reporter.
Wolf left the premier’s office before the end of the year.
“This is my party,” Brian Jean said in November.
The former Wildrose leader re-entered politics with his sights set on taking out the premier.
“Do the right thing and step down for the good of the party we created and the good of Alberta,” Jean urged Kenney in June.
With the premier polling at around 22 per cent approval, Jean set out to win a by-election to become an MLA in an attempt to take over.
That vote will happen in 2022, and Kenney is scheduled to face a leadership review from UCP members around the same time.
Kenney fired back at Jean, questioning his “commitment and reliability.” He then declared a victory after the party’s annual general meeting.
“I know some of you guys were hoping for a fight yesterday, but it didn’t happen,” the premier told reporters in November.
Throughout the chaos in the UCP, Kenney tried to keep his party and his message to the public focused on the economy.
A rebound of oil and gas revenue was expected to slash the province’s budget deficit to under $6 billion dollars.
Kenney and his ministers also tried to drown out the criticism he faced by making announcements about investments in the film, technology and resource industries.
File photo.
“Albertans are natural optimists. They just need a reason for their optimism. Well, there are lots of reasons right now including the fact that we are leading Canada by far in economic growth,” Kenney told the Calgary Chamber of Commerce this month.
“Kenney’s pinning everything on (oil and gas prices),” said political scientist Duane Bratt of Calgary’s Mount Royal University.
Between a surge in cases of the new Omicron variant, a divided caucus, and a party that has had trouble steering clear of scandal, Kenney has his work cut out for him in 2022.
The premier still hopes to prove he’s the person who can pull his party, and the province together, before an election in 2023.
With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Chelan Skulski and The Canadian Press
Opinion: Brad West been one of the sharpest critics of decriminalization
Published Apr 22, 2024 • Last updated 2 hours ago • 4 minute read
VICTORIA — Port Coquitlam Mayor Brad West fired off a letter to Premier David Eby last week about Allan Schoenborn, the child killer who changed his name in a bid for anonymity.
“It is completely beyond the pale that individuals like Schoenborn have the ability to legally change their name in an attempt to disassociate themselves from their horrific crimes and to evade the public,” wrote West.
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The Alberta government has legislated against dangerous, long-term and high risk offenders who seek to change their names to escape public scrutiny.
“I urge your government to pass similar legislation as a high priority to ensure the safety of British Columbians,” West wrote the premier.
The B.C. Review Board has granted Schoenborn overnight, unescorted leave for up to 28 days, and he spent some of that time in Port Coquitlam, according to West.
This despite the board being notified that “in the last two years there have been 15 reported incidents where Schoenborn demonstrated aggressive behaviour.”
“It is absolutely unacceptable that an individual who has committed such heinous crimes, and continues to demonstrate this type of behaviour, is able to roam the community unescorted.”
Understandably, those details alarmed PoCo residents.
But the letter is also an example of the outspoken mayor’s penchant for to-the-point pronouncements on provincewide concerns.
He’s been one of the sharpest critics of decriminalization.
His most recent blast followed the news that the New Democrats were appointing a task force to advise on ways to curb the use of illicit drugs and the spread of weapons in provincial hospitals.
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“Where the hell is the common sense here?” West told Mike Smyth on CKNW recently. “This has just gone way too far. And to have a task force to figure out what to do — it’s obvious what we need to do.
“In a hospital, there’s no weapons and you can’t smoke crack or fentanyl or any other drugs. There you go. Just saved God knows how much money and probably at least six months of dithering.”
He had a pithy comment on the government’s excessive reliance on outside consultants like MNP to process grants for clean energy and other programs.
“If ever there was a place to find savings that could be redirected to actually delivering core public services, it is government contracts to consultants like MNP,” wrote West.
He’s also broken with the Eby government on the carbon tax.
“The NDP once opposed the carbon tax because, by its very design, it is punishing to working people,” wrote West in a social media posting.
“The whole point of the tax is to make gas MORE expensive so people don’t use it. But instead of being honest about that, advocates rely on flimsy rebate BS. It is hard to find someone who thinks they are getting more dollars back in rebates than they are paying in carbon tax on gas, home heat, etc.”
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West has a history with the NDP. He was a political staffer and campaign worker with Mike Farnworth, the longtime NDP MLA for Port Coquitlam and now minister of public safety.
When West showed up at the legislature recently, Farnworth introduced him to the house as “the best mayor in Canada” and endorsed him as his successor: “I hope at some time he follows in my footsteps and takes over when I decide to retire — which is not just yet,” added Farnworth who is running this year for what would be his eighth term.
Other political players have their eye on West as a future prospect as well.
Several parties have invited him to run in the next federal election. He turned them all down.
Lately there has also been an effort to recruit him to lead a unified Opposition party against Premier David Eby in this year’s provincial election.
I gather the advocates have some opinion polling to back them up and a scenario that would see B.C. United and the Conservatives make way (!) for a party to be named later.
Such flights of fancy are commonplace in B.C. when the NDP is poised to win against a divided Opposition.
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By going after West, the advocates pay a compliment to his record as mayor (low property taxes and a fix-every-pothole work ethic) and his populist stands on public safety, carbon taxation and other provincial issues.
The outreach to a small city mayor who has never run provincially also says something about the perceived weaknesses of the alternatives to Eby.
“It is humbling,” West said Monday when I asked his reaction to the overtures.
But he is a young father with two boys, aged three and seven. The mayor was 10 when he lost his own dad and he believes that if he sought provincial political leadership now, “I would not be the type of dad I want to be.”
When West ran for re-election — unopposed — in 2022, he promised to serve out the full four years as mayor.
He is poised to keep his word, confident that if the overtures to run provincially are serious, they will still be there when his term is up.
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LIVE Q&A WITH B.C. PREMIER DAVID EBY: Join us April 23 at 3:30 p.m. when we will sit down with B.C. Premier David Eby for a special edition of Conversations Live. The premier will answer our questions — and yours — about a range of topics, including housing, drug decriminalization, transportation, the economy, crime and carbon taxes. Click HERE to get a link to the livestream emailed to your inbox.
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