Jason Thomas Kenney (born May 30, 1968) is a Canadian former politician who served as the 18th
premier of Alberta
The premier of Alberta is the first minister for the Canadian province of Alberta, and the province's head of government. The current premier is Danielle Smith, leader of the United Conservative Party, who was sworn in on October 11, 2022.
The ...
from 2019 until 2022 and the leader of the
United Conservative Party
The United Conservative Party of Alberta (UCP) is a conservative political party in the province of Alberta, Canada. It was established in July 2017 as a merger between the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta and the Wildrose Party ...
(UCP) from 2017 until 2022. He also served as the member of the
Legislative Assembly (MLA) for
Calgary-Lougheed
Calgary-Lougheed is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. It is one of 87 districts mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first-past-the-post method of voting.
The district is primarily ...
from 2017 until 2022. Kenney was the last leader of the
Alberta Progressive Conservative Party (PC Party) before the party merged with the
Wildrose Party
The Wildrose Party (legally Wildrose Political Association, formerly the ''Wildrose Alliance Political Association'') was a conservative provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. The party was formed by the merger in early 2008 of the Al ...
to form the UCP. Prior to entering Alberta provincial politics, he served in various cabinet posts under
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...
from 2006 to 2015.
Kenney studied
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...
at the
University of San Francisco
The University of San Francisco (USF) is a private Jesuit university in San Francisco, California. The university's main campus is located on a setting between the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. The main campus is nicknamed "The Hil ...
, but returned to Canada without completing his degree. In 1989, he was hired as the first executive director of the Alberta Taxpayers Association before becoming the president and chief executive officer of the
Canadian Taxpayers Federation. Kenney was elected to the
House of Commons in the
1997 federal election for the
Reform Party. In
2000, he was re-elected as a
Canadian Alliance candidate and then was re-elected five times as a candidate for the
Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada (french: Parti conservateur du Canada), colloquially known as the Tories, is a federal political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main right-leaning parties, the Progressive Co ...
.
Following the Conservative victory in the
2006 federal election, Kenney was appointed
parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Harper. In January 2007, he was sworn into the
Privy Council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mo ...
as the secretary of state for multiculturalism and Canadian identity. Kenney held the post of
minister for citizenship, immigration and multiculturalism from October 2008 to July 2013, when he became
minister of employment and social development The Minister of Employment and Social Development was a position in the Canadian government from 2013 to 2015. Its responsibilities are now split between:
* the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion
The minister of ...
and minister for multiculturalism. In February 2015, he was named
minister of national defence. Kenney was considered a
potential party leader following the defeat of the Conservative government in
October 2015 and resignation of Harper as leader.
In July 2016, Kenney announced his intention to run for the leadership of the Alberta PCs in that party's
2017 leadership election. Kenney resigned his seat in Parliament on September 23, after sitting in the House of Commons for over 19 years. He was elected party leader on March 18, 2017, on a platform of merging with the Wildrose Party. He was leader until the merger was effected on July 24. Kenney was then elected United Conservative Party leader on
October 28.
On April 16, 2019, Kenney led the United Conservative Party to a
majority government
A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. This is as opposed to a minority government, where the largest party in a legislature only has a plurality of seats ...
in the
2019 Alberta general election
The 2019 Alberta general election was held on April 16, 2019, to elect 87 members to the 30th Alberta Legislature. In its first general election contest, the Jason Kenney-led United Conservative Party (UCP) won 54.88% of the popular vote and 63 s ...
, defeating incumbent Premier
Rachel Notley
Rachel Anne Notley (born April 17, 1964) is a Canadian politician who served as the 17th premier of Alberta from 2015 to 2019, and has been the leader of the Opposition since 2019. She sits as the member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for ...
of the
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* ...
. Kenney came under criticism for his handling of the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
from members within the UCP and the general public, triggering a
leadership review
In Canadian politics, a leadership review is a vote held at a political party convention in which delegates decide whether to endorse the incumbent party leader or schedule a leadership convention to elect a new leader. In most parties at present, ...
in May 2022. On May 18, 2022, Kenney narrowly won the leadership review 51.4% to 48.6%, but announced that this support was insufficient and that he would step down as UCP leader. Kenney remained premier until October 11, 2022.
Danielle Smith
Marlaina Danielle Smith (born April 1, 1971) is a Canadian politician and journalist who has been serving as the 19th premier of Alberta since October 11, 2022, and leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) since October 6, 2022. Smith e ...
was chosen to succeed him by the United Conservative Party on October 6, 2022.
Early life and career
Jason Thomas Kenney was born on May 30, 1968, in
Oakville, Ontario
Oakville is a town in Halton Region, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Lake Ontario between Toronto and Hamilton. At its 2021 census population of 213,759, it is Ontario's largest town. Oakville is part of the Greater Toronto Area, one of the ...
, the son of Lynne (Tunbridge) and Robert Martin Kenney.
His father was a teacher at
Appleby College and was of Irish heritage. Kenney's grandfather was jazz musician and big band leader
Mart Kenney.
Kenney attended the
Athol Murray College of Notre Dame in
Wilcox Wilcox may refer to:
Places
;Canada
*Wilcox, Saskatchewan
;United States
*Wilcox, Florida, an unincorporated community in Gilchrist County, Florida
* Wilcox, Missouri
* Wilcox, Nebraska
*Wilcox, Pennsylvania
* Wilcox, Washington
* Wilcox, Wisconsin ...
,
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...
, a private Catholic high school of which his father was president. Kenney may have been inspired to enter politics following a brief discussion with former prime minister
John Diefenbaker.
Kenney studied
philosophy
Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...
at the
University of San Francisco
The University of San Francisco (USF) is a private Jesuit university in San Francisco, California. The university's main campus is located on a setting between the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. The main campus is nicknamed "The Hil ...
, a
Jesuit
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
university in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, but failed to complete his coursework. It was there that he discovered conservatism. During his time in California, Kenney was interviewed by
CNN for a segment exploring religious values. In the segment, where he was credited as "Jason Kenny – Anti-abortion Activist," he argued against Jesuit professors who declared free speech as essential to a university. Allowing pro-choice activists on campus, Kenney argued, was "destroying the mission and the purpose of this university." In the student newspaper, the ''
San Francisco Foghorn'', he suggested that giving a platform to pro-choice groups would mean the school had no basis to refuse a similar platform to pedophiles or to the
Church of Satan.
The
Archbishop
In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdio ...
rejected Kenney's petition that summer, and he never returned to complete his undergraduate degree. Instead, Kenney returned to Canada to begin work for the
Saskatchewan Liberal Party
The Saskatchewan Liberal Party is a liberal political party in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.
The party was the provincial affiliate of the Liberal Party of Canada until 2009. It was previously one of the two largest parties in the provi ...
. He was "very involved in the young Liberals" as a young man, and in 1988 was executive assistant to
Ralph Goodale, the leader of the provincial party at the time. Not long after, in 1989, Kenney was hired as the first executive director of the Alberta Taxpayers Association, which advocated for fiscal responsibility. In 1990, Kenney was named president and chief executive officer of the
Canadian Taxpayers Federation, a self-described taxpayer's advocacy group that scrutinizes governmental expenditure from a conservative perspective.
In opposition (1997–2006)
![Jason Kenney (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Jason_Kenney_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Kenney was first elected to the Canadian
House of Commons in 1997, at the age of 29. He was elected as a member of the
Reform Party of Canada, which later became the
Canadian Alliance. While a member of the House of Commons, Kenney was co-chair of the
United Alternative Task Force, national co-chairman of
Stockwell Day
Stockwell Burt Day Jr. (born August 16, 1950) is a Canadian former politician who led the Canadian Alliance from 2000 to 2001, and a member of the Conservative Party of Canada.
A provincial cabinet minister from Alberta, Day served as ministe ...
's campaign for leadership of the Alliance, and national co-chair of the Canadian Alliance's
2000 election campaign. While on the Opposition benches between 1997 and 2006, Kenney served in several prominent
shadow cabinet roles, including deputy
House leader for the Official Opposition, critic for
Canada–United States relations
Relations between Canada and the United States have historically been extensive, given the two countries' shared origins and border, which is the longest in the world. Starting with the American Revolution, when Loyalists fled to Canada, a voca ...
, critic for
national revenue, and critic for
finance
Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...
.
He was a member of a group of Reform Party MPs that were known as the Snack Pack due to their habit of eating greasy food and ridiculing the ruling Liberals.
Kenney supported the
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...
and suggested that the
Chrétien government's refusal to support the war would damage Canada's relationship with the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
.
Kenney was a member of the Canada Tibet Committee and hosted the
Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dal ...
in 2010.
Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister (2006–2007)
![KennyOullet&Johnson](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/KennyOullet%26Johnson.jpg)
On February 6, 2006, Kenney and
Sylvie Boucher
Sylvie may refer to:
* ''Sylvie'' (novel), an 1853 novel by Gérard de Nerval
* Sylvie (actress) (1883–1970), French actress
* Sylvie (band), a Canadian rock band from Regina, active in the 2000s
* ''Sylvie'' (album), a 1962 album by Sylvie V ...
were appointed as
parliamentary secretaries to the prime minister,
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...
. That August, when two opposition MPs suggested removing
Hezbollah
Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's parami ...
from Canada's list of terrorist organizations, Kenney came under fire for comparing the organization to the
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
. Later, he rebuked
Prime Minister of Lebanon
The Prime Minister of Lebanon, officially the President of the Council of Ministers, is the head of government and the head of the Council of Ministers of Lebanon. The Prime Minister is appointed by the president of Lebanon, with the consent o ...
Fuad Saniora
Fouad Siniora ( ar, فؤاد السنيورة, translit=Fu'ād as-Sanyūrah; born 19 July 1943) is a Lebanese politician, a former List of Prime Ministers of Lebanon, Prime Minister of Lebanon, a position he held from 19 July 2005 to 25 May 2008. ...
for his criticisms of Canada, invoking the $25 million
CAD
Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve co ...
that the country received from Canada in reconstructive assistance during the
2006 Lebanon War
The 2006 Lebanon War, also called the 2006 Israel–Hezbollah War and known in Lebanon as the July War ( ar, حرب تموز, ''Ḥarb Tammūz'') and in Israel as the Second Lebanon War ( he, מלחמת לבנון השנייה, ''Milhemet Leva ...
.
Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity (2007–2008)
On January 4, 2007, Kenney was sworn in as the secretary of state for
multiculturalism
The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for "Pluralism (political theory), ethnic pluralism", with the tw ...
and Canadian identity and as a
Privy Councillor
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...
. In this capacity, Kenney was the Harper government's representative to ethnic communities in Canada, and made frequent appearances at ethnic community events across the country.
In early 2008, Kenney posted an announcement on his website, declaring that the Canadian government recognized the
flag of the Republic of Vietnam as the symbol of the
Vietnamese-Canadian
Vietnamese Canadians ( vi, Người Canada gốc Việt; french: Canadiens vietnamiens) are Canadian citizens of Vietnamese ancestry. As of 2016, there are 240,615 Vietnamese Canadians, most of whom reside in the provinces of Ontario, British Co ...
community. Further, he declared that "attempts to disparage
he flag
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
are a deeply troubling attack on one of Canada's ethnic communities and on the principles of multiculturalism." In May 2008, he made a speech at an
Army of the Republic of Vietnam
The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN; ; french: Armée de la république du Viêt Nam) composed the ground forces of the Republic of Vietnam Military Forces, South Vietnamese military from its inception in 1955 to the Fall of Saigon in April ...
rally, lending support to the program.
That same month, Kenney launched the Community Historical Recognition Program (CHRP), which established $13.5 million CAD in funding over five years for commemorative projects by ethno-cultural communities that had been subject to discriminatory Canadian immigration and wartime policies.
By the project's conclusion in 2013, all of the funds had been utilized, save for $500,000 that was earmarked for education about the
Chinese head tax
The Chinese Head Tax was a fixed fee charged to each Chinese person entering Canada. The head tax was first levied after the Canadian parliament passed the Chinese Immigration Act of 1885 and it was meant to discourage Chinese people from enterin ...
, and was left unspent when one Chinese community group failed to file the required paperwork.
Because more than thirty other projects involving the Chinese-Canadian community had been funded through the CHRP, Kenney considered the project a success and declined to release the funding, citing the conclusion of the program.
In 2013, Kenney said in his remarks on the end of the CHRP program that the government was "committed to recognizing and educating Canadians about the experiences of those pioneers who overcame such heavy burdens. Their experiences mark an unfortunate period in our nation's history. We must ensure that they are never forgotten."
Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism (2008–2013)
![Jason KENNEY ride in the 2010 Calgary, Alberta Stampede Parade](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Jason_KENNEY_ride_in_the_2010_Calgary%2C_Alberta_Stampede_Parade.jpg)
In 2008, Kenney became
Minister of Citizenship and Immigration
The minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship (french: Ministre de l'immigration, des réfugiés et de la citoyenneté) is a minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet. The minister is responsible for Immigration, Refugees and Citi ...
in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's cabinet shuffle of October 30, while retaining responsibility for multiculturalism, which he had been given in 2007.
In April 2009, Kenney officially launched
Asian Heritage Month to "better understand the rich diversity the Asian Canadian community brings to Canada".
While speaking in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
in December 2009 about Canadian government funding of
human rights organizations
:''The list is incomplete; please add known articles or create missing ones''
The following is a list of articles on the human rights organisations of the world. It does not include political parties, or academic institutions. The list includes ...
, Kenney said, "We have de-funded organizations, most recently, like
KAIROS
Kairos ( grc, καιρός) is an ancient Greek word meaning 'the right, critical, or opportune moment'. In modern Greek, ''kairos'' also means 'weather' or 'time'.
It is one of two words that the ancient Greeks had for 'time'; the other bei ...
who are taking a leadership role in the
boycott
A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict som ...
f Israel
F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''.
Hist ...
We're receiving a lot of criticism for these decisions ... but we believe we have done these things for the right reasons, and we stand by these decisions." He later added in a letter to the ''Toronto Star'' that, "While I disagree with the nature of KAIROS's militant stance toward the
Jewish homeland
A homeland for the Jewish people is an idea rooted in Jewish history, religion, and culture. The Jewish aspiration to return to Zion, generally associated with divine redemption, has suffused Jewish religious thought since the destruction ...
, that is not the reason their request for taxpayer funding was denied."
On June 26, 2010, Kenney announced changes to the Skilled Worker Immigration Program. For their applications to be processed, skilled worker applicants were thereafter required to either have an offer of arranged employment or be qualified in one of 29 eligible occupations out of the 520 described in the National Occupational Classification (NOC). A cap of 20,000 applications per year for the skilled workers class was also introduced. As of July 1, 2011, a maximum of 10,000 Federal Skilled Worker applications will be considered for processing in the subsequent 12 months. Within the 10,000 cap, a maximum of 500 federal skilled worker applications per eligible occupation will be considered for processing each year.
Kenney said that his reform of the immigration point system fixed problems with the previous immigration system. He also said the new system was more efficient in accepting migrants who could make the best contributions to the Canadian economy. The Canadian Experience Class Program was created to attract more international students who qualify as a graduate in the program, with an increased focus on youth, job skills, and a fluency in English or French.
And at the same time, the immigration department imposed a new language requirement for the Federal Skilled Workers (FSW) program. Many of these changes were made to reduce the processing times for immigration applications. Vancouver immigration lawyer Richard Kurland said that these changes would guarantee "no more backlogs."
Kenney, however, decided to delete the backlog of 280,000 skilled worker applications, and a lawsuit by the deleted applicants failed to preserve the applications.
There was significant criticism of the institution of a Designated Country of Origin (DCO) list, which attributes countries as being unlikely to persecute. Therefore, refugee claimants coming from these countries—including
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
,
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
, and
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
—will undergo a different refugee claimant process than those from non-DCO countries. Furthermore, refugee claimants from countries on the DCO no longer receive emergency healthcare coverage.
In 2011, Kenney imposed a ban on
niqab face veils for those taking the oath of citizenship. In his appeal on behalf of the
Department of Citizenship and Immigration in ''Citizenship and Immigration v Ishaq'', 2015 FCA 194, the three justices ruled in favour of
Zunera Ishaq and her right to wear the niqab, confirming that the federal requirement was unlawful.
Investigations into citizenship fraud
On July 19, 2011, Kenney announced that the government intended to revoke the citizenship of 1,800 people it believes obtained their status through fraudulent means. The decision to revoke Canadian citizenship was rare, and a large-scale proposed crackdown had no precedent. At the time of his announcement, fewer than 70 citizenships had been revoked since the
''Citizenship Act, 1946''.
An investigation into residence fraud continued to grow, and almost 11,000 cases were being reviewed in September 2012.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC; french: Immigration, Réfugiés et Citoyenneté Canada)Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program since 2015; the legal title is Departm ...
(CIC) revoked up to 3,100 citizens' citizenship, citing cheating or lies. Kenney said of the matter, "Canadian citizenship is not for sale and we are taking action to strip citizenship and permanent residence status from people who do not play by rules."
CIC worked in tandem with the
Canada Border Services Agency
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA; french: Agence des services frontaliers du Canada, ''ASFC'') is a federal law enforcement agency that is responsible for border control (i.e. protection and surveillance), immigration enforcement, and cu ...
(CBSA), the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...
(RCMP), and various overseas Canadian offices to prevent citizenship fraud.
Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness
The minister of public safety (french: ministre de la sécurité publique) is the minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet responsible for overseeing Public Safety Canada, the internal security department of the Government of Canada. The p ...
Vic Toews
Victor Toews (; born September 10, 1952) is a Paraguayan-Canadian politician and jurist. Toews is a judge of the Court of King's Bench of Manitoba. He represented Provencher in the House of Commons of Canada from 2000 until his resignation on Ju ...
said that "These efforts reinforce our government's commitment to protecting the integrity of our immigration system." The CIC estimates that about 5,000 people with Canadian permanent resident status are outside of Canada, and implicated in residence fraud.
In January 2009, Kenney made public statements critical of
U.S. soldiers seeking asylum in Canada who were facing punishment for their refusal to participate in the Iraq War. Unlike in the Vietnam era, Kenney said, the current asylum seekers were neither "
draft dodger
Draft evasion is any successful attempt to elude a government-imposed obligation to serve in the military forces of one's nation. Sometimes draft evasion involves refusing to comply with the military draft laws of one's nation. Illegal draft ev ...
s" nor "
resisters", but rather "people who volunteer to serve in the armed forces of a democratic country and simply change their mind to desert. And that's fine, that's the decision they have made, but they are not refugees." He also referred to the asylum seekers as "bogus refugee claimants". These remarks were seen by some supporters of the asylum seekers as a form of interference in the asylum process. Kenney believed that
Kimberly Rivera
Kimberly Rivera (born c. 1982) is an Iraq War resister and former U.S. Army Private First Class who went AWOL in February 2007 after a year of service. She was the first female U.S. military deserter to flee to Canada. She was deported from Canad ...
, an American soldier seeking refuge, was not a legitimate refugee. "Military deserters from the United States are not genuine refugees under the internationally accepted meaning of the term," said Alexis Pavlich, the minister's press secretary.
In 2012, Kenney took steps in 2012 to find and combat
marriage fraud
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...
. His efforts were primarily focused on marriages in which one party was a Canadian citizen and the other, an immigrant, was using marriage to facilitate their entry into Canada, at which point they would leave their sponsor's home and declare the marriage to be a lie. In response, Kenney instituted a five-year prohibition on spousal sponsorship for those who had already been sponsored by a spouse into Canada. He also implemented a "conditional" permanent residency status, to ensure that a spouse or partner had to live as husband and wife for a minimum of two years with their Canadian sponsor, or else they would have their status revoked.
Admissibility decisions
As part of Kenney's ''Faster Removal of Foreign Criminals Act'', introduced in June 2012, the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism would have the ability to deny entry to Canada based on "public policy considerations." Kenney was quoted in ''
The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'' as saying that present immigration laws do not allow someone to be kept out if they are seeking to promote violence. The previous year, both the official opposition
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* t ...
(NDP) and Quebec's National Assembly had asked Kenney to exercise negative discretion, but no such ability existed under Canadian law. During debate in the House of Commons, the NDP criticized this component of the bill, arguing it gives too much power to the minister.
Earlier, in March 2009, the CBSA prevented British politician
George Galloway
George Galloway (born 16 August 1954) is a British politician, broadcaster, and writer who is currently leader of the Workers Party of Britain, serving since 2019. Between 1987 and 2010, and then between 2012 and 2015, Galloway was a Member o ...
from entering Canada, where he had planned to give a series of speeches against the
War in Afghanistan
War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to:
*Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC)
*Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (637–709)
*Conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire (13th century), see als ...
. The Office of the Immigration Minister stated that the Canada Border Services Agency deemed Galloway as inadmissible to Canada due to national security concerns. Galloway had openly given what he called "financial support" to
Hamas
Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...
, classified as a terrorist group in Canada.
Galloway pursued the matter in the Canadian court system, where it was revealed that Kenney's office had emailed the CBSA on the matter. The
Federal Court found that Kenney's office had used "a flawed and overreaching interpretation of the standards under Canadian law for labeling someone as engaging in terrorism or being a member of a terrorist organization." The presiding judge also determined that the CBSA had produced its assessment of Galloway on scant evidence after receiving instructions from Kenney's staff, who attempted to bar Galloway because "they disagreed with his political views".
''The Globe and Mail'' later pointed out that, while Kenney was quick to refuse Galloway entry into Canada, his department gave entry to controversial politician
Geert Wilders
Geert Wilders (; born 6 September 1963) is a Dutch politician who has led the Party for Freedom (''Partij voor de Vrijheid'' – PVV) since he founded it in 2006. He is also the party's leader in the House of Representatives (''Tweede Kamer'' ...
, who compared
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
to
fascism
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
and campaigned to ban the
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...
from the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
. Wilders spoke in Toronto and Ottawa, generating further controversy.
Citizenship policy changes
A new law amending the ''
Citizenship Act'' came into effect on April 17, 2009. One of the changes instituted by the Government of Canada is the "first generation limitation", considered a punitive measure by some against naturalized citizens who reside abroad for lengthy periods of time. Minister Kenney said the following in the
House of Commons of Canada
The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada.
The House of Common ...
on June 10, 2010: "That's why we must protect the values of Canadian citizenship and must take steps against those who would cheapen it … We will strengthen the new limitation on the ability to acquire citizenship for the second generation born abroad."
The new rules would not confer a Canadian citizenship on children born outside of Canada to parents who were also born outside of Canada. Thus, for children to obtain Canadian citizenship if born abroad, they would have to have one parent who was born in Canada. Another effect of this law was to abolish automatic citizenship by birth for the children of parents in Canada in the service of a foreign government. Children born to foreign diplomats in Canada would only become Canadian if at least one parent was either a Canadian citizen or a Permanent Resident.
In 2010, Kenney introduced ''Discover Canada'', a new citizenship guide for prospective citizens. ''
The Canadian Press
The Canadian Press (CP; french: La Presse canadienne, ) is a Canadian national news agency headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Established in 1917 as a vehicle for the time's Canadian newspapers to exchange news and information, The Canadian Pre ...
'' reported that Kenney blocked information about
same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...
from the Citizenship and Immigration study guide for immigrants applying for citizenship, although a sentence was included in a 2011 revision. The revised edition also added information about arts and culture, the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
, and an admonition against importing "violent, extreme or hateful prejudices" to Canada.
Kenney took steps to restore full citizenship status to the "
Lost Canadians
Lost Canadians are individuals who have believed themselves to be Canadian citizens or to be entitled to citizenship, but who are not/were not officially considered citizens due to particular and often obscure aspects or interpretations of Canadia ...
", Canadian nationals who had "fallen through the cracks". Bill C-37 corrected the citizenship issues for 95% of "Lost Canadians," and special grants were to be made to resolve the remaining 5%. Kenney says the Lost Canadians group should not be politicizing their plight, but they should be making a "solid application and a strong case". Kenney's predecessor,
Diane Finley
Diane Finley (born October 3, 1957) is a former Canadian politician. From 2006 through 2015, she served in the cabinet of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Her ministerial portfolios included Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, M ...
, had authorized a special grant of citizenship to Guy Valliere, although he died prior to receiving citizenship.
Refugee reform
![Jason Kenney and Ngo Thanh Hai with Members of Committee To Support Victims of Communism](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Jason_Kenney_and_Ngo_Thanh_Hai_with_Members_of_Committee_To_Support_Victims_of_Communism.jpg)
On March 29, 2010, Kenney announced an overhaul of the
Canadian refugee system. The reform package committed to allowing the resettlement of 2,500 more refugees living in United Nations refugee camps and urban slums.
The plan also included expansion of the Government-Assisted Refugees Program to 500 places, while a further 2,000 resettlement places were added to the
Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program
The Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program (PSR) is a Canadian government initiative that allows for refugees to resettle in Canada with support and funding from private or joint government-private sponsorship. The government also offers semi-pri ...
.
In total, the new plan would lead to the resettlement of 14,500 UN-selected refugees from refugee camps and urban slums to Canada.
''
Protecting Canada's Immigration System Act
Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although th ...
'' was introduced on February 16, 2012, and received
Royal Assent
Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...
on June 28, 2012. It was broadly criticized as it "gives Ministers broad, unfettered and unprecedented powers" among other new powers. It was sponsored by Kenney.
There was controversy around changes to Interim Federal Health, the social assistance program for refugee claimants. Physicians and allied health professionals opposed these cuts through national protests in all major cities in Canada. Physicians opposing the cuts to refugee health care include
Vincent Lam
Vincent Lam (born September 5, 1974) is a Canadian writer and medical doctor.
Early life and education
Born in London, Ontario and raised in Ottawa, Lam's parents came to Canada from the Chinese expatriate community in Vietnam. He attended ...
, who stated that Canada is a country known for its tolerance and diversity, but healthcare professionals are "dismayed and ashamed at the cuts for healthcare for refugees."
Afghan interpreters who served alongside Canadian troops in southern Afghanistan, and who applied for Canadian visas on the basis of facing threats from insurgents, were denied visas. Kenney backed this decision.
Kenney promised that Canada would resettle more refugees from 2011 to 2012 than in previous years. Instead, there was a 26% drop in refugee resettlement in Canada during that period, hitting a 30-year low.
Loly Rico
Loly Rico is the president of the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants. She is married to Francisco Rico-Martinez, with whom she co-directs the Toronto-based Faithful Companions of Jesus Refugee Centre. Rico and her family moved to Canad ...
, president of the
Canadian Council for Refugees, criticized Kenney for not following through on his promise.
Office of Religious Freedom
Following through on a Conservative campaign promise from the
2011 Canadian federal election
The 2011 Canadian federal election was held on May 2, 2011, to elect members to the House of Commons of Canada of the 41st Canadian Parliament.
The writs of election for the 2011 election were issued by Governor General David Johnston on March ...
, Kenney initiated the creation of the
Office of Religious Freedom, an agency of
Foreign Affairs Canada
Global Affairs Canada (GAC; french: Affaires mondiales Canada; AMC)''Global Affairs Canada'' is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (). is the department ...
, to monitor
religious oppression domestically and promote
religious freedom
Freedom of religion or religious liberty is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also includes the freedom ...
internationally. Former British Prime Minister
Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
endorsed the office in a visit to Canada in 2013, saying, "I think it shows leadership from Canada. And Canada, by the way, in many ways is a perfect place from which to promote this ideal because of the complexion of the country." The Liberal government which formed after the
2015 Canadian federal election
The 2015 Canadian federal election held on October 19, 2015, saw the Liberal Party, led by Justin Trudeau, win 184 seats, allowing it to form a majority government with Trudeau becoming the next prime minister.
The election was held to elect m ...
closed the office in 2016.
Minister of Employment and Social Development (2013–2015)
As part of the July 2013 cabinet reorganization, Kenney was named
Minister of Employment and Social Development The Minister of Employment and Social Development was a position in the Canadian government from 2013 to 2015. Its responsibilities are now split between:
* the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, and
* the Min ...
. While in this position, he focused on expanding the review process for the
Canada Pension Plan
The Canada Pension Plan (CPP; french: Régime de pensions du Canada) is a contributory, earnings-related social insurance program. It forms one of the two major components of Canada's public retirement income system, the other component being Old ...
and Old Age Security disability appeals, which had become backlogged under the previous tribunal process.
In January 2014, Kenney reached an agreement with all provincial and territorial counterparts, except Quebec, to implement the
Canada Job Grant, which aimed to train unemployed workers who did not qualify for
unemployment insurance
Unemployment benefits, also called unemployment insurance, unemployment payment, unemployment compensation, or simply unemployment, are payments made by authorized bodies to unemployed people. In the United States, benefits are funded by a comp ...
over a period of four years.
The final agreement provided more flexibility for the provinces and territories than the initial 2013 proposal, which had been rejected by Kenney's counterparts for its "take it or leave it" nature, which potentially forced the provinces and territories to forgo $300 million of the $500 million in federal funding provided to them by Labour Market Agreements if they did not accept the plan.
$2.5 million were spent on advertising for the program during
Stanley Cup playoffs
The Stanley Cup playoffs (french: Les séries éliminatoires de la Coupe Stanley) is an elimination tournament in the National Hockey League (NHL) consisting of four rounds of best-of-seven series to determine the league champion and the winner ...
spots in 2013 and 2014, even before the details of the federal-provincial agreements were finalized or approved, which prompted
Advertising Standards Canada
Ad Standards (formerly Advertising Standards Canada) is the advertising industry's non-profit self-regulating body created in 1957 to ensure the integrity and viability of advertising in Canada. The organization's members include major advertise ...
to label them as "misleading."
Minister of Defence (2015)
After a February 2015 cabinet shuffle in which
Minister of Foreign Affairs
A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...
John Baird left federal politics, with former Defence minister
Rob Nicholson
Robert Douglas "Rob" Nicholson (born April 29, 1952) is a Canadian politician who represented the riding of Niagara Falls in the House of Commons of Canada from 2004 to 2019 as a member of the Conservative Party. Under Prime Minister Stephen Ha ...
taking his place, Kenney was promoted to
Minister of Defence
A defence minister or minister of defence is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from coun ...
. While serving in this position, Kenney took a hard-line approach to national security, saying that it was necessary for Canada to fight against
Islamic State
An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...
militants to prevent them from becoming a threat to the country.
In March 2015, Kenney claimed that Russian warships had confronted
Royal Canadian Navy
The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack s ...
craft, and that Russian fighters had buzzed at low altitude while it participated in a
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
maritime task force off the coast of
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
as part of a mission against
Russian intervention in the country.
NATO officials later stated that Russian ships could be seen on the horizon, but never approached the fleet, and that all flyovers had been at high altitudes.
Later that month, Kenney defended the Canadian airstrike campaign against ISIS being extended into
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
, claiming that, among the coalition air forces, only Canada and the United States had aircraft capable of using
precision guided munitions
A precision-guided munition (PGM, smart weapon, smart munition, smart bomb) is a guided munition intended to precisely hit a specific target, to minimize collateral damage and increase lethality against intended targets. During the First Gul ...
. In fact, Arab allies such as
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
and the
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
had won praise from general
Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, for their use of precision guided munitions. General
Tom Lawson, then the Chief of Canada's Defence Staff, issued a statement defending Kenney, but later retracted his statement and apologized, saying that its contents were incorrect.
Sources within the Department of Defence say that Lawson had been pressured into releasing the inaccurate statement by Kenney's office.
Also in March, Kenney faced criticism for tweeting photos purporting to be of ISIS enslaving young girls. One of the images was taken years before ISIS came into existence and appeared to be from an
Ashura
Ashura (, , ) is a day of commemoration in Islam. It occurs annually on the 10th of Muharram, the first month of the Islamic calendar. Among Shia Muslims, Ashura is observed through large demonstrations of high-scale mourning as it marks the ...
procession, while another turned out to be a picture staged by actors in London, England.
In April 2015, Kenney announced that troops from the
Canadian Armed Forces
}
The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force.
...
would be sent to Ukraine as trainers for Ukrainian forces as part of Operation UNIFIER. The soldiers, who arrived in September 2015, were from
2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group
2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (2CMBG; french: 2e Groupe-brigade mécanisé du Canada, 2GBMC) is a Canadian Forces brigade group that is part of 4th Canadian Division of the Canadian Army. It is currently based in CFB Petawawa. One of its thre ...
(2 CMBG) and were stationed in at the
Ukrainian Armed Forces
, imports =
, exports =
, history =
, ranks = Military ranks of Ukraine
, country=Ukraine
The Armed Forces of Ukraine ( uk, Збро́йні си́ли Украї́ни), most commonly known ...
International Peacekeeping and Security Centre near the Polish–Ukrainian border at
Yavoriv
Yavoriv ( uk, Яворів, ; pl, Jaworów; yi, יאַוואָראָוו , translit=Yavorov; german: Jaworiw) is a city in the Lviv region of western Ukraine which is around 15 kilometers from the Polish border. It is the administrative centre ...
.
In May 2015, after a report was published on sexual misconduct in the Canadian Forces, Kenney promised that an independent centre at arm's length from the military would be formed to hear complaints of sexual misconduct in the military and provide support and resources for victims.
Return to opposition and entry into provincial politics
Although the Conservatives were defeated at the
2015 federal election, Kenney was reelected in
Calgary Midnapore
Calgary Midnapore is a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 2015. It has been represented by Stephanie Kusie since she won the 2017 by-election.
Calgary Midnapore was ...
, essentially a reconfigured version of his old riding, where he was named to the
Special Committee on Electoral Reform. Kenney was long considered a likely candidate to succeed Stephen Harper as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, and had been mentioned as a prospective candidate and presumed frontrunner in the
next leadership election to be held in 2017. His name was also mentioned as a prospective leader of the
Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta
The Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta (often referred to colloquially as Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta) was a provincial centre-right party in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta that e ...
(PC) who could potentially unite the rival Progressive Conservative and
Wildrose parties. On July 6, 2016, Kenney announced that he would be seeking the leadership of the Alberta PC Party, citing his desire to unite Alberta's two major centre-right parties. The following day, he announced that he would resign his seat in the
House of Commons within three months once the leadership campaign period officially opened, a decision that was severely criticized by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, which Kenney had previously lead, for misusing taxpayer dollars. He officially resigned September 23.
Kenney was elected leader of the PCs
on March 18, 2017, with more than 75% of the delegate votes on the first ballot. He re-affirmed his pledge to unite the party with the rival Wildrose Party. Two months later, on May 18, the PC and Wildrose party announced a merger agreement that would be voted by on their respective memberships. The results, announced June 22, had 95% of Wildrose and PC members vote in favour of a merger.
The new
United Conservative Party
The United Conservative Party of Alberta (UCP) is a conservative political party in the province of Alberta, Canada. It was established in July 2017 as a merger between the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta and the Wildrose Party ...
was recognized as the Official Opposition by the
Legislative Assembly of Alberta
The Legislative Assembly of Alberta is the deliberative assembly of the province of Alberta, Canada. It sits in the Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton. The Legislative Assembly currently has 87 members, elected first past the post from singl ...
on July 25, 2017, and shortly thereafter registered with
Elections Alberta
Elections Alberta is an independent, non-partisan office of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta responsible for administering provincial elections, by-elections, referendums within the province. This is in accordance with the Alberta Election Act ...
.
Nathan Cooper named
interim leader while the party organized a leadership election.
However, as Alberta law forbade political parties from transferring assets, the PC and Wildrose parties continued to exist on paper, and the UCP was formally a newly-created party.
On October 28, 2017, the party's
inaugural leadership election was held. Kenney was elected as the first full-time leader of the party, defeating former Wildrose leader
Brian Jean
Brian Michael Jean (born February 3, 1963) is a Canadian politician who has served as the minister of Jobs, Economy and Northern Development since 2022 and the member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche since Mar ...
and lawyer
Doug Schweitzer
Douglas Edward Schweitzer (born 1978 or 1979) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who was elected in the 2019 Alberta general election to represent the electoral district of Calgary-Elbow in the 30th Alberta Legislature. He is a member of the Unit ...
. The following day, MLA
Dave Rodney
David Anthony Rodney (born June 27, 1964) is a Canadian politician and was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the constituency of Calgary-Lougheed, first as a Progressive Conservative and then the United Conservative ...
announced his resignation of his seat of
Calgary-Lougheed
Calgary-Lougheed is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. It is one of 87 districts mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first-past-the-post method of voting.
The district is primarily ...
in order to create a vacancy for Kenney. Kenney was elected as MLA on December 14, and sworn in as
Leader of the Opposition
The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...
on January 29, 2018.
"Kamikaze campaign" scandal
The
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...
and the Alberta Election Commissioner are investigating allegations that Jason Kenney and his team were involved in orchestrating
Jeff Callaway
Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey.
Music
* DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes
* ...
's campaign for the leadership of the United Conservative Party in an attempt to harm Kenney's biggest rival, Brian Jean. Documents obtained by ''
The Star
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' confirm that Kenney's campaign controlled major aspects of Callaway's campaign, including the providing of strategic plans, attack ads, speeches, and talking points intended to discredit Jean. These documents were handed over the election commissioner, according to Callaway's former campaign manager Cameron Davies. Davies also said that Kenney had attended a meeting at Callaway's house in July 2017, where the "kamikaze campaign" was discussed, and that Kenney had firsthand knowledge of this strategy.
A leaked document alleged that Jason Kenney's team first approached
Derek Fildebrandt
Derek Alexander Gerhard Fildebrandt (born October 18, 1985) is the publisher, president and chief executive officer of the Western Standard New Media Corp. and a former member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta.
Canadian Taxpayers Federat ...
in July 2017 about running a "dark-horse" campaign, but ultimately decided against working with him. Fildebrandt confirmed this account but stated that it was he who rejected the idea.
An emergency injunction was sought to halt the probe into the financing of Callaway's UCP leadership campaign for the duration of the 2019 Alberta general election, but was denied by
Court of Queen's Bench Justice Anne Kirker, who ruled it was in the public interest for the investigation to continue.
CBC News
CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca. ...
and
CTV News
CTV News is the news division of the CTV Television Network in Canada. The name ''CTV News'' is also applied as the title of local and regional newscasts on the network's owned-and-operated stations (O&Os), which are closely tied to the national ...
received documents indicating that fraudulent e-mail addresses attached to party memberships were used to cast ballots in the party's leadership race in 2017, which Jason Kenney won. CBC News picked a sample of e-mail addresses based on suspicious domains, and determined that 60% of those were used to cast ballots in the leadership election.
Former UCP MLA
Prab Gill
Prabhdeep Gill ( pa, ਪ੍ਰਭਦੀਪ ਗਿੱਲ; born c. 1975) is a Canadian politician and a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. He was elected in the 2016 Calgary-Greenway by-election to replace Manmeet Bhullar, who had died ...
sent a letter to the RCMP outlining allegations that the Kenney leadership campaign used fraudulent e-mail addresses to intercept PINs needed to vote in the leadership race, and that they were subsequently used by the Kenney campaign to vote for Kenney.
Many of the suspicious domains were traced to a network with ever-changing domains, and it is unclear who registered these domains. The majority of the fraudulent e-mail addresses were registered in the weeks preceding the leadership vote. CBC noted that it is not clear how widespread the voting fraud is outside of their selected sample of suspicious domains, and it is also possible that common e-mail providers such as
Gmail
Gmail is a free email service provided by Google. As of 2019, it had 1.5 billion active users worldwide. A user typically accesses Gmail in a web browser or the official mobile app. Google also supports the use of email clients via the POP an ...
or
Hotmail
Outlook.com is a webmail service that is part of the Microsoft 365 product family. It offers mail, Calendaring software, calendaring, Address book, contacts, and Task management, tasks services.
Founded in 1996 by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smit ...
were used with fraudulent addresses. A dozen individuals were contacted by CBC News to confirm whether or not they voted in the race, all of whom confirmed that they did not vote in the race and the e-mails on the voter's list were not their true e-mails.
The RCMP went to question at least one family to speak with them regarding the allegations of voter fraud.
Premier of Alberta (2019–2022)
Under Kenney's leadership, the United Conservative Party won a majority government in the
2019 Alberta general election
The 2019 Alberta general election was held on April 16, 2019, to elect 87 members to the 30th Alberta Legislature. In its first general election contest, the Jason Kenney-led United Conservative Party (UCP) won 54.88% of the popular vote and 63 s ...
, winning 63 seats and 54.88% of the popular vote in 2019 election. On April 30, 2019, Kenney was sworn in by
Lieutenant Governor
A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...
Lois Mitchell
Lois Elizabeth Mitchell (née Boulding; June 22, 1939) is a Canadian businesswoman and philanthropist who was the 18th Lieutenant Governor of Alberta from 2015 to 2020. Her appointment as Lieutenant Governor was made by Governor General of Cana ...
, becoming the
18th Premier of Alberta.
During the first session of the
30th Alberta Legislature, the Kenney government passed several notable of pieces of legislation, including the ''Act to Repeal the Carbon Tax,'' the ''Alberta Corporate Tax Amendment,'' and the ''
Public Sector Wage Arbitration Deferral Act
The ''Public Sector Wage Arbitration Deferral Act'' (Bill 9) is a bill, informally known as the "bargaining rights bill", introduced by the Province of Alberta's United Conservative Party (UCP) government under Premier Jason Kenney, during the 3 ...
''. The government also passed legislation allowing parties to merge, clearing the way for PC and Wildrose to legally and formally merge into the UCP, and hence dissolve. Premier Kenny established a one-year, $2.5 million
Public Inquiry into Anti-Alberta Energy Campaigns
Public Inquiry into Anti-Alberta Energy Campaigns was a $3.5 million inquiry led by Steve Allan, commissioned on July 4, 2019, by newly elected Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and tasked with investigating foreign-funded efforts to undermine the oi ...
and a Calgary-based $30 million 'war room' to "fight misinformation related to oil and gas". They announced their first provincial budget on October 24, 2019, which fulfilled their "promise of slight austerity" with "cuts to spending programs and the elimination of hundreds of bureaucracy jobs", according to ''The National Post''.
''The Post'' said that these and the corporate tax cuts "were the key planks of a four-year plan to bring the budget into balance."
The goal is to reduce government spending by $4-billion over four years.
Oil Sands lawsuit
On February 2, 2022, five environmental organizations filed a lawsuit in Edmonton against Kenney for defamation. The lawsuit alleged that, in public statements and in social media posts, Kenney deliberately distorted the results of a public inquiry led by Calgary forensic accountant Steve Allan investigating the possibility that the groups accepted American money to spread misinformation about the environmental impacts of
oil sands
Oil sands, tar sands, crude bitumen, or bituminous sands, are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. Oil sands are either loose sands or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and wate ...
development in Alberta. They were represented in the filing by Paul Champ of Ottawa-based Champ & Associates.
Leadership tensions and resignation
On March 8, 2021, CBC News reported that following discontent about the travel controversy and government policies around pandemic measures and coal mining, several UCP constituency associations had discussed holding a
leadership review
In Canadian politics, a leadership review is a vote held at a political party convention in which delegates decide whether to endorse the incumbent party leader or schedule a leadership convention to elect a new leader. In most parties at present, ...
at an upcoming convention, putting Kenney's leadership of the party to a vote. On March 13, the UCP announced a leadership review will be held at the party's annual general meeting in 2022, expected to be held in October, six months ahead of the fixed election date for the
next Alberta general election.
On April 7, 2021, 15 UCP MLAs, including former Minister of Municipal Affairs Tracy Allard and Speaker
Nathan Cooper, signed a letter criticizing the Government's public health orders. Two other MLAs added their names to the letter after it had been released publicly. UCP MLA
Dan Williams also released a video criticizing the closure of GraceLife Church by Alberta Health Services. Kenney stated that Government MLAs were permitted to dissent over COVID-19 health restrictions but breaking health rules or encouraging others to do so would result in their expulsion from the Government Caucus. This was described as a "revolt" and an unprecedented level of opposition from within a government caucus. During a three-hour caucus meeting following the release of the letter, Kenney reportedly threatened to ask the lieutenant governor to dissolve the legislature and call a
snap election
A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled.
Generally, a snap election in a parliamentary system (the dissolution of parliament) is called to capitalize on an unusual electoral opportunity or to ...
if dissidents did not support the government.
On April 22, 2021, a letter calling for the resignation of Premier Kenney, started circulating within the UCP party's leadership boards. The letter gained 90 signatures composed of board presidents and board members of UCP riding associations. The letter states that the boards believed that they did not believe Kenney had the moral authority or trustworthiness to lead this party into the next election or to continue to deliver on important conservative priorities and that for the sake of a strong and free Alberta and for the well-being of the conservative movement in this province, the boards ask that Kenney do the proper thing and resign. The petitioners will bring up the letter during an upcoming board meeting.
On May 13, 2021, MLA
Todd Loewen
Douglas Todd Loewen (born September 16, 1966) is a Canadian politician and the Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Central Peace-Notley. Loewen was first elected in 2015 as a member of the Wildrose Party for the electoral district o ...
stepped down from his role as UCP
caucus chair and called on Jason Kenney to resign, citing "persistent issues of dysfunction within the government" and claiming that "the Premier chooses not listen to caucus".
On September 22, 2021, MLA
RJ Sigurdson
RJ Sigurdson is a Canadian politician who was elected in the 2019 Alberta general election to represent the electoral district of Highwood in the 30th Alberta Legislature
The 30th Alberta Legislative Assembly was constituted after the gene ...
presented a motion of no-confidence at a UCP caucus meeting, after the government introduced new public health restrictions, including a vaccine passport, following a fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta. The motion was withdrawn after it was agreed that the UCP would hold a leadership review in Spring 2022, rather than October 2022 as previously scheduled.
On May 18, 2022, Jason Kenney narrowly won a confidence vote held by the UCP with 51.4% support from members of his party. He then announced on the same evening his intention to resign as premier of Alberta and leader of the UCP, citing the clearly divisive nature of his leadership and a need for party unity.
He subsequently confirmed that he would not be candidate in the
leadership election
A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party.
Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a l ...
to succeed himself.
Post-premiership
On November 29, 2022, Jason Kenney resigned as MLA for Calgary-Lougheed, with immediate effect.
Political positions
![Jason Kenney and Andrew Scheer (33927663458)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Jason_Kenney_and_Andrew_Scheer_%2833927663458%29.jpg)
Kenney has been a social conservative in his political career, voting in favor of abortion restrictions and against same-sex marriage.
Abortion
Kenney is an anti-abortion politician, voting in favour of abortion restrictions and receiving an endorsement from the socially conservative lobbyist group
Campaign Life Coalition
The Campaign Life Coalition (sometimes shortened to Campaign Life) is a Canadian political lobbyist organization founded in 1978. Based in Hamilton, Ontario, the organization advocates for socially conservative values. Campaign Life Coalition opp ...
. In 2012, Kenney was one of ten Cabinet ministers who decided to vote in favour of a motion to study when life begins. In 2018, a bill to create "no-protest zones" around abortion clinics was introduced to the Alberta legislature, following similar legislation in place in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia, and
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
. As leader of the United Conservative Party, Kenney refused to debate on the bill and led his caucus to walk out of the house 14 times over the course of two months when the bill was at issue.
LGBTQ issues
Kenney voted against same-sex marriage as an MP, saying, "A majority of Canadians support the provision of benefits on grounds such as domestic partnership relationships, which are grounded on unions of economic dependency rather than relationships of a mere conjugal nature, and yet still two-thirds of Canadians, from every culture that exists in this country, from every corner of the globe who have come to this country to build a future for themselves and their families, recognize that marriage is, as the Supreme Court said the last time it spoke to this issue in the Egan case in 1995, 'by nature a heterosexual institution'."
In 2016, Kenney supported the removal of "traditional definition of marriage" from the conservative party policy book.
Kenney was criticized by the provincial NDP, some LGBTQ activists, and some journalists for saying in a ''Postmedia'' interview that parents generally have a right to know if their child has joined a Gay-Straight Alliance, unless it would be contrary to the best interests of the child in the circumstances.
In November 2018, Kenney faced pressure to expel an outspoken member of the United Conservative Party who compared the
gay pride flag
''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
to the flag of
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. Although Kenney had previously directed the party to cancel the membership of another member, he said that the decision to expel members rested with the party's board.
A two-decade-old audio recording surfaced in December 2018 of Kenney boasting about overturning a gay marriage law in 1989 in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
. Kenney was referring to his role in organizing a petition to repeal the city ordinance that extended recognition rights of heterosexual couples to same-sex couples. This ordinance, originating during the
1980s AIDS epidemic, extended rights that were previously exclusive to heterosexual couples, such as hospital visitation, to same-sex couples. Kenney addressed the audio clip by stating that he regrets the comments he made and that, since then, his record shows he supports domestic partner arrangements and benefits for couples regardless of sexual orientation. The comments led to backlash from outside and within the United Conservative Party. One board member and campaign manager for the party resigned his positions and membership with the party, citing the audio recording of Kenney as his reason for departure.
Minority outreach
Kenney was widely recognized for his central role in reaching out to ethnic minority voters in 2011, leading to the Conservative Party's successful election campaign, and the Conservative parliamentary majority that resulted. He publicly acknowledged that his ongoing strategy of promoting conservative values and policies in government so as to capture the support of ethnic communities was in the works beginning years prior to Stephen Harper first winning government in 2006.
Kenney also suggested that Harper was one of the first people he consulted with on the ethnic outreach strategy, when the latter was still an opposition Canadian Alliance MP.
Kenney's ethnic outreach strategy was also evident when, in early 2011, a letter using government stationery was sent to Conservative riding associations seeking assistance in raising $200,000 funding for an ad campaign aimed at bolstering support among ethnic communities in ridings that the Conservatives were targeting in the next election. News of this broke when a copy was believed to have been mistakenly sent to the office of opposition MP
Linda Duncan instead of that of fellow Conservative MP
John Duncan John Duncan may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* John Duncan (painter) (1866–1945), Scottish painter
* John Duncan (artist) (born 1953), American artist and musician
* Big John Duncan (born 1958), Scottish punk musician
* John Duncan (harpist) ...
(no relation). This led to criticism over the letter's labelling of certain groups and ridings as "ethnic" or "very ethnic". Kenney publicly apologized for the mailing error, citing a staffer's inexperience for the mistake.
As immigration minister, Kenney was largely credited with building bridges attracting ethnic communities to the Conservative Party, which was long dominated by the Liberal Party. In addition, he also handled the apology and financial compensation for the Chinese head tax and the official recognition of the Armenian and Ukrainian genocides. According to an observer, "He acts as a conductor to correct historical wrongs, It might not seem important to the majority of the population, but for the concerned communities, it's huge."
According to ''The Globe and Mail'', the Chinese–Canadian community nicknamed Kenney the "Smiling Buddha" in reference to his efforts to garner ethnic votes on the basis of what some perceive as commonly held conservative values.
The ''Toronto Star'' characterized him as having a "
Bieber
Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter B ...
-like" following in many communities. Kenney justified his efforts to gain ethnic support by stating, "You observe how these new Canadians live their lives. They are the personification of
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...
's aspirational class. They're all about a massive work ethic."
Personal life
Kenney is
bilingual
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...
, speaking French and English. He has never been married and has no children.
Awards and recognition
Kenney received the
Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal
The Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal (french: link=no, Médaille du jubilé d'or de la Reine Elizabeth II) or the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal was a commemorative medal created in 2002 to mark the 50th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's ...
in 2002, and the
Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal
The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (french: Médaille du jubilé de diamant de la reine Elizabeth II) or The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal was a commemorative medal created in 2012 to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's ...
in 2012.
In 2004, Kenney was named one of Canada's "100 Leaders of the Future" by ''
Maclean's
''Maclean's'', founded in 1905, is a Canadian news magazine reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian perspe ...
'' magazine, "one of Canada's leading conservative activists" by ''The Globe and Mail'', and one of "21 Canadians to watch in the 21st century" by the ''
Financial Post
The ''Financial Post'' was an English Canadian business newspaper, which published from 1907 to 1998. In 1998, the publication was folded into the new ''National Post'',"Black says Post to merge with new paper". ''The Globe and Mail'', July 23, ...
''.
On May 13, 2009, ''Maclean's'', in association with the
Dominion Institute, ''
L'actualité
''L'actualité'' is a Canadian French-language news and general interest magazine published in Montreal by Rogers Communications until 2016, then by Mishmash (XPND Capital). The magazine has over a million readers, according to Canada's Print Measu ...
'', and presenting sponsor
Enbridge
Enbridge Inc. is a multinational pipeline and energy company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Enbridge owns and operates pipelines throughout Canada and the United States, transporting crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. ...
, presented Kenney with the award for "Best Overall MP".
''Maclean's'' named Kenney the "hardest working" MP of 2011, citing overwhelming support from all political parties who recognized Kenney's constant "20-hour work days" and "permanent 5 o'clock shadow".
On November 4, 2012, he received an
honorary doctorate
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...
from the
University of Haifa
The University of Haifa ( he, אוניברסיטת חיפה Arabic: جامعة حيفا) is a university located on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Founded in 1963, the University of Haifa received full academic accreditation in 1972, becoming Is ...
.
In 2014, Kenney received the
UN Watch
UN Watch is a Geneva-based non-governmental organization whose stated mission is "to monitor the performance of the United Nations by the yardstick of United Nations Charter, its own Charter". It is an accredited NGO in Special Consultative Statu ...
Moral Courage Award for speaking out on behalf of those who had been victimized by international tyranny.
At the ceremony in
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
, representatives of the
14th Dalai Lama
The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...
presented Kenney with a traditional Tibetan scarf.
Also in 2014, Kenney was awarded the inaugural
Benjamin Disraeli
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation o ...
Prize by
Policy Exchange
Policy Exchange is a British conservatism in the United Kingdom, conservative think tank based in London. In 2007 it was described in ''The Daily Telegraph'' as "the largest, but also the most influential think tank on the right". ''The Washing ...
, a centre-right UK
think tank
A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...
, in recognition of the successful outreach to Canada's ethnic and cultural communities.
The award was presented by British Conservative cabinet minister
Michael Gove
Michael Andrew Gove (; born Graeme Andrew Logan, 26 August 1967) is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations since 2021. He has been Member of Parli ...
.
In August 2016,
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Petro Poroshenko
Petro Oleksiyovych Poroshenko ( uk, Петро́ Олексі́йович Пороше́нко, ; born 26 September 1965) is a Ukrainian businessman and politician who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. Poroshenko ser ...
of
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
awarded Jason Kenney with an
Order of Merit
The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by K ...
, Third Class.
Electoral record
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kenney, Jason
1968 births
Athol Murray College of Notre Dame alumni
Canadian Alliance MPs
Canadian Roman Catholics
Canadian Zionists
Conservative Party of Canada MPs
Defence ministers of Canada
Living people
Members of the 28th Canadian Ministry
Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Alberta
Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada
People from Oakville, Ontario
Politicians from Calgary
Reform Party of Canada MPs
Leaders of the United Conservative Party
Leaders of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta
United Conservative Party MLAs
Recipients of the Order of Merit (Ukraine), 3rd class
Premiers of Alberta
21st-century Canadian politicians