Monday, August 3, 2009

Jason Kenney — Next Conservative Party Leader?

Interesting article by Jennifer Ditchburn:
But who might replace Stephen Harper once he leaves is the stuff of constant speculation behind the scenes -- and the chatter is getting louder about one rising star in particular: Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.
...
The 41-year-old workaholic has attracted attention for taking a pain-in-the-butt portfolio like immigration and making it seem like a tier-one department.

"What I like about Jason is he's working very hard, and he's earning people's respect, I think, by doing a lot of things very well," said one caucus colleague.

"And what is a leader? A person who can do a lot of things very well."
Actually, I like the idea. Jason, an MP since 1997, one of the founders of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, a pro-life, pro-family, pro-freedom MP who doesn't afraid to publicly express his views, sure outweighs Diane Finley who's only been in Parliament since 2004 and, so far, appears to be just "one out of many" in Stephen Harper's cabinet. Not to mention Peter MacKay, Jim Flaherty, John Baird (Red Tories? - no thanks) and Lisa Raitt (who the heck is Lisa Raitt?) So, if there's a leadership contest and Jason Kenney is running - he's got my vote.

Most of the voters on the CTV website, however have different view; according to the online poll results, Peter MacKay is the undisputed winner with 61% of the vote, while Jason Kenney ended up distant second, with only 14%. But then - not everyone who voted in this poll is a Conservative.

And let's not forget - Stephen Harper is not likely to step down any time soon. By the time he does - things will have changed so many times that most of today's speculations might just become irrelevant.

No comments: