The Mount Royal University political science professor and commentator on politics Duane Bratt discusses the new collection he co-edited (with Richard Sutherland and David Taras) Blue Storm: The Rise and Fall of Jason Kenney (University of Calgary Press, 2023), with Joseph Planta.

Blue Storm: The Rise and Fall of Jason Kenney edited by Duane Bratt, Richard Sutherland and David Taras (University of Calgary Press, 2023). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Blue Storm

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.

Duane Bratt joins me again. The academic and oft-cited political commentator has co-edited a new collection of scholarly articles, Blue Storm: The Rise and Fall of Jason Kenney. With his colleagues Richard Sutherland, and the late David Taras, this collection features analysis and insights from other academics, as well as former journalists as to what’s happened in the four years since Rachel Notley’s NDP government was defeated and Jason Kenney and the United Conservative Party formed Alberta’s government. The pieces are highly readable despite being written by academics. One gets a sense reading this book of Kenney’s leadership skills (or lack thereof) in managing his caucus, his party’s policies on oil and gas, healthcare, and education, as well as the challenges he faced that led to his ouster. The COVID pandemic is an undercurrent throughout the book, even in essays that don’t specifically mention it, as it drives the agenda for the government from early 2020 onward to today, where Danielle Smith has succeeded Kenney, and will lead the UCP into an election later this year. Duane Bratt is a political science professor in the Department of Economics, Justice and Policy Studies at Mount Royal University in Calgary, where he joined me from one week ago. He is the co-editor of Orange Chinook: Politics in the New Alberta, which he was on this program with back in 2019. @duanebratt is the Twitter handle. This new book is published by University of Calgary Press. Please welcome back to the Planta: On the Line program, Duane Bratt; Professor Bratt, good morning.

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