Blue Storm
The Rise and Fall of Jason Kenney
The first scholarly analysis of the 2019 Alberta Election, which led to the victory of Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party, and of the UCP’s first years in government.
In 2019, the United Conservative Party, under the leadership of Jason Kenney, unseated the New Democratic Party to form the provincial government of Alberta. A restoration of conservative power in a province that had seen the Progressive Conservatives win every election from 1971-2015, UCP quickly began to make political waves.
This is the first scholarly analysis of the 2019 election and the first years of the UCP government, with special focus on the path of Jason Kenney’s rise to, and fall from, provincial political power. It opens with an examination of the election from a number of vantage points, including the campaign, polling, and online politics. It provides fascinating insight into internal UCP politics with chapters on the divisions within the party, gender and the UCP, and the symbolism of Kenney’s famous blue pickup truck. Explorations of oil and gas policy, the Energy War Room, Alberta’s budgets, health care, education, the public sector, Alberta’s cultural industries, and more provide unprecedented insight into the actions, motivations, and impacts of Kenney’s UCP Government in power. Contributions from top political watchers, journalists, and academics provide a wide range of methods and perspectives.
Concluding with a survey of the impacts of COVID-19 in Alberta and a comparison between Jason Kenney and Doug Ford, Blue Storm is essential reading for everyone interested in Alberta politics and the tumultuous first years of the UCP government. Providing key insights from perspectives across the political spectrum, this book is a captivating deep-dive into an unprecedented party, its often controversial politics, and its unforgettable leader.
Resources
Resource Collections
Single Resources
PDF PDF Chapter 20. “With Comorbidities”: The Politics of COVID-19 and the Kenney Government
PDF Chapter 19. Comparing the Kenney and Ford Governments
PDF Chapter 18: Labour in the Time of COVID
PDF Chapter 17. Riding the Roller Coaster: Post-Secondary Education in Alberta under Kenney
PDF Chapter 16. Education and the United Conservative Party of Alberta
PDF Chapter 15. Bitter Battles: The United Conservative Party’s War on Healthcare Workers
PDF Chapter 14. Cultural Industries Under the United Conservative Party
PDF Chapter 13. Always More Than It Seems: Rural Alberta and the Politics of Decline
PDF Chapter 12. The Long Slide towards Fiscal Reckoning: Managing Alberta's Finance in an Age of Decline
Metadata
- container titleBlue Storm
- isbn978-1-77385-418-2
- issn2371-6142
- publisherUniversity of Calgary Press
- publisher placeCalgary, AB
- restrictionsCC-BY-ND 4.0
- rightsThis Open Access work is published under a creative commons licence.
- rights holderUniversity of Calgary Press
- series number4
- series titleArts in Action