Canada: key Conservative says party risks takeover by far-right 'lunatics'

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Canada: key Conservative says party risks takeover by far-right ‘lunatics’

Jason Kenney warns a far-right element could seize control in the coming weeks as United Conservatives hold leadership review

Leyland Cecco in Toronto
Fri 25 Mar 2022 19.45 GMT

Alberta’s premier has called fellow Conservatives “lunatics” who are “trying to take over the asylum” as a populist mutiny in his party foreshadows a bitter fight for the future of Canada’s Conservative movement.

In a leaked recording of a meeting with caucus staff on Tuesday, Premier Jason Kenney warned a far-right element – skeptical of coronavirus measures and wedded to conspiracy theories – could seize control of the party in the coming weeks as the United Conservatives hold a leadership review.

“I will not let this mainstream conservative party become an agent for extreme, hateful, intolerant, bigoted and crazy views. Sorry to be so blunt with you but you need to understand what the stakes are here,” he said, before alluding to the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory with a warning that “people who think I am involved in a global conspiracy to traffic children” would show up to vote for his removal.

The comments underscore both Kenney’s sagging poll numbers and the degree to which an energized faction of the United Conservatives threaten his leadership.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/25/canada-alberta-premier-jason-kenney-conservatives-warning

[yorkster]

1. Glad Trudeau's party

joined with the Lib Dems. Now he can be premier til 2025 and the combined parties are stronger against the Conservatives. Wish that Labour in UK would align with other parties against the Tories and get rid of Boris Johnson.
The right everywhere is getting more extreme each day.

[Bev54]

2. Kenny is part of the RW lunatics

[tanyev]

3. By the time "mainstream" conservatives start saying stuff like that,

it’s already happened.