STAY CONNECTED: Have the stories that matter most delivered every night to your email inbox. Subscribe to our daily local news wrap.
REBUTTAL

NDP’s Notley responds to Premier Kenney’s ‘fair deal panel’ announcement

Nov 11, 2019 | 9:33 AM

The leader of Alberta’s NDP opposition responded Sunday to Premier Jason Kenney’s announcement in Red Deer yesterday in which he outlined the details of what a fair deal for Alberta should look like.

Former Premier Rachel Notley said in a statement that Kenney’s remarks are dangerous and intentionally stoke the fires of western alienation.

“He did not campaign on any of these issues,” Notley writes. “Instead of getting to work on the priorities of Albertans; getting the pipeline built, growing our economy, and creating jobs, he is exploiting the real frustrations of everyday Albertans by sowing the seeds of separation with tired ideas from decades ago. Alberta is part of Canada, and Jason Kenney needs to accept that.”

Notley also claimed Kenney has never talked to Albertans about putting their pensions in jeopardy.

“This Premier needs to cut the theatrics and get back to the job of getting Albertans back to work,” she concluded.

On Saturday from Red Deer’s Cambridge Hotel, the premier gave a speech to the conservative Manning Centre in which he rejected separatist arguments, according to The Canadian Press.

Kenney explained that a fair deal for Alberta should advance the province’s economic interests, including the construction of pipelines.

“It’s expressed most devastatingly in an increase in the rate of Albertans who have taken their own lives over the past five years. The per capita rate of suicide in Alberta is 50 per cent higher than it is in Ontario,” Kenney said, adding that economic woes are also contributing to a wave of rural crime and opioid addiction.

(with files from The Canadian Press)