Jason Kenney to announce bid for Alberta PC leadership

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Former Harper lieutenant Jason Kenney is announcing a bid for the leadership of Alberta's Progressive Conservative Party where he will run on a platform to unite right-of-centre votes against incumbent NDP Premier Rachel Notley.

Mr. Kenney will announce his pivot to Alberta politics Wednesday, sources say.

Conservative sources close to Mr. Kenney say this career change is premised on the estimate that Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be hard to beat in the next federal election, likely in 2019, and that remaining in Ottawa would mean at least eight years on opposition benches.

Those familiar with the Calgary MP's thinking are not ruling out a return to federal politics in the future, saying they believe Mr. Kenney would make an even more attractive candidate for prime minister if he had half a decade experience as Alberta premier under his belt.

Mr. Kenney will pledge to merge the Progressive Conservative Party – out of power in Alberta for the first time since 1971 – with the populist Wildrose Party, which is splitting the right-of-centre vote in that province. The two parties received 52 per cent of the votes in Alberta's 2015 ballot that elected Ms. Notley to office.

The Calgary politician's most challenging task will be bringing about a merger of the PC and Wildrose parties – with substantial opposition coming from within the parties themselves.

Calgary-North West MLA Sandra Jansen, one of the most socially liberal members of the PC caucus, said she will not sit in a "blended caucus with Jason Kenney." Ms. Jansen added: "If the PC Party is gone, it's gone. But it's not going without a fight from me."

Ms. Jansen said she may jump into the leadership race herself. "I'm pretty seriously thinking about it," she said. "I'm seriously considering it – absolutely."

Politicians trying to bring together PCs and Wildrose, she said, have focused on gaining power rather than shared principles and legislative policy. Ms. Jansen is frustrated by her own party's shift away from socially progressive ideas in an effort to woo more voters.

"We've drifted away from that in an effort to keep everybody happy. We've drifted away from the impetus to stand up for what's right. And it bothers me."

Ms. Jansen is a vocal supporter of LGBTQ rights and legislation that supports women, for example. These types of issues have been lost in discussions concerning the future of Alberta's right wing, she said.

"We do have to legislate in this province on social issues. We have to. We have to talk about how we treat the most vulnerable people in our society. Why doesn't anyone want to have that conversation in an effort to unite the right?" she said. "They don't want to have that conversation because at its essence, the base of the Wildrose is less concerned about those things. And at worst is not interested in things like LGBTQ equality and making sure we take care of our most vulnerable."

Ms. Jansen said she has never spoken with Mr. Kenney and is not in a rush to make a decision on running for leader. "I want to see what the field looks like," she said. "I have time to make up my mind."

Wildrose Leader Brian Jean, in an emailed statement from a spokesman, was cautious about the prospects for a united right.

"We welcome all conservatives devoted to building unity. However, over the next year, the PC party will be involved in a divisive battle as they debate their stated pledge at their recent [annual general meeting] to go it alone," the statement said. "It would be wrong to speculate further on the leadership race for the third party until this is resolved."

Mr. Jean has been vocal about getting Alberta's right-leaning politicians and voters behind one party. The leader, however, has faced opposition within his own party from people who argue he does not lean far enough to the right.

"Wildrose stands firm in its conservative identity, principles and membership based decision making," Mr. Jean's Tuesday statement said. "We will continue to build our party in every corner of Alberta, provide stability, give a forward looking vision for the province and strongly oppose the NDP government's risky agenda that is harming working families."

Mr. Kenney, 48, effectively began his political career in Alberta politics in the early 1990s. As head of the Canadian Taxpayers Foundation in 1993 he publicly hounded former premier Ralph Klein into reforming MLAs' "gold-plated" pension plans.

Mr. Kenney is expected to sell his experience as a federal minister and as a campaign strategist where he built a winning coalition including many immigrant voters that gave the Harper Conservatives their 2011 majority government.

He served as Canada's immigration minister for close to five years, ushering in fundamental changes that made a newcomers' economic utility to this country a far more important selection factor. Mr. Kenney also grappled with skills and labour matters as employment and social development minister, and served as defence minister before last year's election.

The leadership election for the helm of the Alberta PC Party will be held in the spring of 2017. Former PC leader Jim Prentice, another former Harper cabinet minister, lost the premier's office in the 2015 provincial election.

The next Alberta election will take place on or before May 31, 2019. The date is fixed by law.