As he packed up his parliamentary office Tuesday, Jason Kenney railed against the Liberals’ carbon tax plan, remarked on his achievements turning new Canadians into Conservatives and vowed to donate 100 per cent of his pension proceeds to charity -- if he’s still in the public sector when he starts collecting.
Kenney told CTV Power Play Host Don Martin that he plans to resign his seat this week, which means that he will not continue to be paid by taxpayers once the Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership contest is officially underway.
Kenney admitted he has his work cut out for him uniting the second-place Wildrose Party and third-place PCs in time to take down Rachel Notley’s New Democrats three years from now.
“In one sense, it’s a little bit crazy,” he said.
The anti-pension crusader turned politician told promised that if he’s still “in the public sector” in when he qualifies for a partial federal pension several years from now, he’ll “refuse to take it.”
“I’ll give 100 per cent of the proceeds to poverty relief related charities,” he said, adding that the pension has “gone from being eight to one taxpayer to MP contribution to one to one, so we’ve done our job.”
One of Kenney’s biggest achievements was bringing a diverse group of new Canadians into the Conservative Party when he was minister of immigration.
He noted that in 2004, only about 20 per cent of new Canadians voted Conservative compared to 30 per cent overall.
By 2011, when the Conservatives won majority government, they had more of the immigrant vote -- 43 per cent -- than Canadians overall (40 per cent).
Kenney said the Conservatives still managed to get about 33 per cent of the immigrant vote in the 2015 election when they took 32 per cent overall, “so that’s a positive sign.”
Kenney added that he’s “cautiously optimistic” about the party he leaves behind, noting it has a strong Quebec caucus and good fundraising numbers despite last fall’s loss to the Liberals.
The outgoing MP spent one of his last questions in the House of Commons Monday criticizing the Liberals’ plan to force a carbon tax on any province that doesn’t either put in its own or institute cap-and-trade. Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna suggested “perhaps he doesn’t believe in climate change.”
“Virtually everybody accepts that there is such a thing as a man-made contribution to climate change and we have to be prudent in reducing greenhouse gasses,” Kenney told Power Play. “I don’t disagree with that.”
However, Kenney said a carbon tax during the Alberta’s “worst recession in decades” makes little sense, considering Asia is building “1,100 new coal-fired plants” and “Canada is 1.6 per cent of global emissions.”
Asked what he’ll miss most about Parliament, Kenney said the debates.
“I love the cut and thrust of it,” he said. “I revere the institution of Parliament.”
Just handed this resignation letter to Mr. Speaker.
— Jason Kenney (@jkenney) September 20, 2016
No going back now. #UniteAlberta pic.twitter.com/y0eELZFFCw