He's been considered a Conservative Party leadership contender until recently, but former federal cabinet minister Jason Kenney is now poised to be leaving national politics to focus on his home province, the CBC reported on Tuesday.
Quoting unnamed sources, the CBC reported that Kenney, 48, was planning to retreat to his home province of Alberta. The public broadcaster said that people were calling for him to help unite the divided right-of-centre parties - the Progressive Conservatives and the Alberta Wildrose Party. The two opposition parties split their support in the 2015 provincial election, allowing the New Democrats to win the election, ending 44 years of Conservative rule in Alberta.
Progressive voters have praised the provincial NDP government for starting efforts to diversify the province's oil-rich economy and introducing a serious plan to tackle greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change. But on the right side of the spectrum, supporters of the opposition parties have accused the NDP of wrecking the economy. Businesses, at that time, were already reeling from plummeting global oil prices that were causing turmoil for energy companies and tens of thousands of job losses in the province.
The CBC reported that Kenney, a strong supporter of Alberta's oil industry, had spoken to several close advisors, including former Tory MP Monte Solberg and Tom Flanagan, a former adviser to ex-prime minister Stephen Harper, who encouraged him to help the province's conservative supporters defeat the New Democrats.
Solberg immediately dismissed suggestions that he was involved.
"To be clear, I didn't meet with Jason Kenney last weekend about anything, but I do wish him the best," Solberg wrote on Twitter.
Kenney had been nicknamed as the minister for curry-in-a-hurry after spending the past few years building up support for federal Conservatives in ethnic communities. He was re-elected in his Calgary-area Alberta riding in the 2015 federal election.
The CBC reported that Kenney was expected to announce his decision to leave federal politics this summer.
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good riddance