UCP KNIVES COME OUT FOR KENNEY

That was a sad little cabinet shuffle, a few moments of eerie calm amid the political chaos surrounding Premier Jason Kenney.

Tyler Shandro goes to Labour and Immigration, Jason Copping to Shandro's bedraggled Health Department. The switch did nothing to slow down the internal rebellion against the premier.

They're coming into the open now. Former cabinet minister Leela Aheer told me Tuesday: “This is a failure of leadership from the premier. The only thing that should have happened today is that the premier says he had failed and is stepping down. We need to heal our province right now and that requires people who have failed in their leadership to step down and admit their mistakes.”

Moving out Shandro, Aheer concludes bitterly, “is an absolutely despicable move to try to save himself, to shift the blame.”

Kenney says Shandro offered his resignation and he accepted because it's “time for a new start, a fresh set of eyes” in the health job.

The premier several times said opposition to his leadership comes from people who don't like vaccination or health measures against COVID-19.

But the opposition has spread well beyond those people, to all sides of Kenney's party and caucus.

Aheer is an enthusiastic supporter of vaccination. Calgary MLA Richard Gotfried, who voiced his displeasure last week, is also from the compliant side.

Aheer, the MLA for Chestermere-strathmore, was kicked out of cabinet in July after she said the premier should apologize for lounging on the Sky Palace balcony with Shandro and other ministers.

This wave of opposition to Kenney stems mainly from the epic error of declaring Alberta “Open for Summer,” then standing by while the virus spread, and finally imposing another round of quickly planned measures last week.

The delays have crashed the health system. Twenty-nine people died Monday. Alberta is begging Ottawa and other provinces for help.

“We in the party hit the end of the line last Wednesday,” says Joel Mullan, policy vice-president of Kenney's UCP.

Mullan, the first party executive to publicly abandon Kenney, sent me the text of a blistering criticism he published Tuesday.

“Until last week I was one of Jason Kenney's most vocal supporters,” Mullan wrote. “I campaigned for him in both leadership races and the unity vote.

“In light of the choices he has made last week I can no longer support him, and indeed believe he must resign.

“His communications have been disastrous, his planning in the pandemic without vision or flexibility … time and again he seems to be unwilling to plan for more than one possibility with the virus … He has chosen to paint himself into a corner on several occasions where the only way out is to make himself a liar.”

Mullan comes from the “freedom” side of the opposition that believes Kenney is imposing tyranny.

Neither wing of his party or the increasingly dysfunctional caucus is happy with him.

Kenney paints a picture of himself soldiering on against the virus, apart from politics. The public doesn't want a leadership war at a time like this, he says.

“Our entire team needs to be focused on one thing and one thing only right now.” Anything else would be “a self-indulgent political sideshow.”

Nonetheless, the sideshow moves into a caucus meeting Wednesday, where Kenney may be directly challenged by MLAS demanding his resignation.

One senior member at least plans to do that to his face.