The harsh moralistic worldview of Jason Kenney has spurred right-wing populism to the mainstream in Canadian politics, but he unleashed forces he couldn’t control.

From Jason Kenney’s days as an anti-abortion activist at the University of San Francisco, and through his years as a Canadian Taxpayers Federation lobbyist, Reform MP, top cabinet minister in the Harper government, and Alberta premier, he has been single-mindedly driven to bring his harsh moralistic worldview into the mainstream.

Kenney took on the old guard of Canada’s liberal consensus and won, playing a key role in shifting the country’s political discussion to the right. But the very right-wing populist forces Kenney cultivated would come back to haunt him.

Jeremy Appel has observed Alberta politics and reported on various aspects of Kenney’s agenda since 2017, when Kenney made his way across the province in his big blue pickup truck to rile up aggrieved conservatives. Kenneyism examines Kenney’s political beliefs, his rise through federal political ranks, and his ultimate resignation from the leadership of the United Conservative Party.

• Former Alberta premier Jason Kenney has spent the past 30 years pushing his right-wing populism to the mainstream in Canadian politics; those same populists proved his downfall
• Author is a journalist known for his unsparing criticisms of Kenney and the United Conservative Party of Alberta in the Medicine Hat News
• Author currently writes The Orchard newsletter on Substack and co-hosts two podcasts: The Forgotten Corner and Big Shiny Takes
• Author residence: Edmonton