The Devil You Know?
If you have been reading my written meanderings for a while, you are probably expecting me to be super excited about what happened yesterday.
Unless you haven't heard.
Jason "Kenbabe" Kenney made it through his leadership review by the skin of his teeth (incidentally, I hate the phrase it makes my teeth hurt). And then took the podium. From the crowd's reaction to his speech that I watched, his announcement that he was stepping down came as a surprise for everyone.
My initial reaction when I heard was one of elation. Then excitement. Now I am worried.
Jason (the real-world embodiment of Randy from The Trailer Park Boys) was not the right leader for the average Albertan. Own an oil and gas company? Do your kids go to a private school? Do you believe that public healthcare is terrible, and those who can afford to jump the line are the ones that deserve health care? Then he was your man.
For the rest of us, who work every day and don't have much of their paycheque left after the bills, we are not the Albertans he cares about. Over and over again he showed us how little he thought of us. Unless you were in some way useful to him and his friends, you just don't matter.
Now that he has stepped down though, he will take his two million dollars federal pension and ride into the sunset, more than likely to work as a consultant of some kind and continue to rake in the dough for only looking after himself.
Here is where my nerves kick in. As I type this, the remainder of the leadership from the UPC party is meeting at MacDougall Centre in downtown Calgary to appoint a new leader. In UPC terms, Kenney was considered a moderate. Others in the wings appeal more to the far right, people who feel like Kenney and his government did too much when it came to covid, and that they didn't give the convoy members enough support.
The next provincial election is almost exactly a year away. We vote on May 23, 2023. That means whoever becomes the leader has the next year to convince their followers that everything was JK's fault, that he went rogue, and that the party itself is blameless. The angry right has proven that they can be mobilized en masse to get what they need to do. And whoever takes over isn't going to have to do too much to stoke them up.
The rest of us, (not quite as right) right, left, or center, need to stand up and be counted. We can't be cowed away from showing up. You may want to mute or block all of your Facebook friends now (you know who I mean), the facts with no proof are about to ramp up, as is the anger towards those who don't fall right in line behind them.
Buckle in friends, this election is going to be a wild one. And for once, I am not excited about it. The mistruths and anger are a lot, and there will be no friendly debate. Just remember to vote how you want, and for the things, you believe in, and no one needs to know who you voted for. Chances are whoever asks doesn't want to hear what you did anyway, they just want another chance to tell you how their way is the only right way.
I am going to end this with my favorite JK moment. His dance-off with John Tory. If you haven't seen it, Google it. It's the only thing he has done that I enjoy.
While this song is about goodbyes, and we are saying goodbye to Kenbabe today, I just really like this song and I think everyone should listen to it.
The Last Goodbye by Jeff Buckley was originally called "Unforgiven". It was released as the second single from the 1995 album "Grace". The album went on to place on Rolling Stone's list of 500 top albums of all time.
Unfortunately, Jeff Buckley was taken too soon. In 1997 while waiting for his band in Memphis to arrive so they could work on the next album, Buckley went on a fully clothed impromptu swim in a slack water channel of the Mississippi River. He got caught up in the wake of a passing boat and drowned.
The music he left behind is beautifully moving, his cover of Hallelujah is second to only k.d. Lang's in my mind.
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