Thread: I call too BS on this #UCP “rebellion”. Why? Kenney knows he is in tough in 2023 and can’t win without his right flank. He needs to maintain some moderate support too. He has to undercut the fledgling right wing parties. How can he do this? 1/ #ableg #abpoli

Have some high profile MLAs speak out against the covid lockdown. Keeping them in caucus allows him to show they are a big tent caucus (where covid can spread of course). He can condemn them in public to show how serious he is. /2 #ableg #abpoli

He can leak that he threatened that he’ll go to an election which shows how serious he takes the “rebels” and how serious they are about the issue. Of course, it is leaked to a right wing magazine where they can virtue signal to the far right about this. /3 #ableg #abpoli

The idea of calling an election is a joke considering the rebel MLAs are running in constituencies where a donkey under a con banner would win. They’d win re-election and Kenney would be fighting to hold his own while losing every other urban constit. #ableg #abpoli

If he was actually serious, he’d have threatened to toss them from caucus, refuse to sign their nomination, or recruit people to run for the noms against them. If they were serious, they’d have left caucus on their own. /5 #ableg #abpoli

Kenney is doing what Kenney does. He is doing what he thinks the smartest person in the room would do. It is bad for the province but good for his party on an issue that they are not doing well on (one of several). /6 #ableg #abpoli

Remember that Kenney ran a stalking horse candidate to destroy his opposition for the leadership of the party. He plays political games. He doesn’t care about the good of the province. /7 #ableg #abpoli

The separatist parties are his biggest threat to re-election. He cannot split the right at all. If he can staunch the bleeding to them on an issue where they have some real traction, he has a chance. If he doesn’t, he is DOA. #ableg #abpoli

One final point: Kenney comes from the Harper world. In Harperland, you stay in line or else. On the biggest issue facing our province right now, you simply don’t allow your caucus to have disunity unless you are ok with it. #ableg #abpoli