If the COVID-19 pandemic had never occurred, it’s likely Jason Kenney would still be premier of Alberta.

With Kenney in charge, there would be no coddling of separatists, no easing of referendum rules to please them, no primal fear of a party split in the premier’s office, no refusal to condemn independence as a crazy delusion.

The Alberta government would stand firm for Canada. He’d be fierce about it, no waffling.

Although Premier Danielle Smith continues to profess her desire for sovereignty within a united Canada, she never says a critical word about separatism.

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In 2022, government COVID measures split Kenney’s UCP caucus and turned party members against him. Out he went, in a typical Alberta explosion of rural wrath.

To the end, Kenney called out his tormentors. He could have courted them and kept his job. But he fought on principle and lost.

Kenney may no longer have power, but the former premier still owns a very big voice.

Kenney is suddenly everywhere doing interviews, most recently in a National Post video with host Rob Breakenridge.

In a typical X post, Kenney told his 293,000 followers: “Hilarious!

“The bootlickers leading Alberta separatism desperately want to become the 51st state, but no one in Washington above the level of intern will meet with them.

“Also clear that the State Department has now slammed the door in their face because they realize that these guys have neither credibility nor a mandate.”

Kenney was citing an excellent U.S. story from NBC News, which said the State Department will hold no more meetings with separatists, while confirming that earlier sessions were at a junior level.

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The separatist leaders keep trying to engage with the U.S. while claiming they’re just seeking support for independence, not joining as the 51st state.

This is a dangerous game, not just because it tempts an expansionist president.

The separatists are acting illegitimately, outside the legal channel to plead for independence outlined in the Clarity Act — first a referendum on a question approved by Parliament, then extensive negotiations with Ottawa and other provinces.

The separatist question, of course, hasn’t been submitted to Ottawa for approval. The premier wouldn’t dare.

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Kenney, who is a director on the board of Postmedia Network, says a full referendum campaign would “tear this province apart.”

He told Breakenridge: “My level of concern is very high . . . I think there is a good — a very good — chance they will hit the thresholds to get a referendum.

“A months-long debate over whether we will be Canadians or not is going to rupture marriages and communities and businesses and everything.”

He cited recent polls showing huge numbers of Albertans would leave the province.

“I see the separatists’ usual suspects are laughing at that. I don’t think it’s a laughing matter.

If only 10 per of people cent left the province, he said, “Guess what happens?

“Real estate values plummet, and most people’s life savings are tied up in the value of their home.

“This is not theoretical, it’s not alarmism, it’s history. It’s a fact.

“It happened in Quebec between roughly 1976 and 1982. They lost a quarter of the value of their real estate market, and it took them decades to recover.”

Kenney believes the separation question still hanging over Quebec causes enormous damage to the province and its economy.

He speaks often and fiercely to a big audience.

His massive X following, for one thing, dwarfs the account of the key separatists.

The Alberta Prosperity Project has 17,000 followers. Jeffrey Rath, their most ferocious proponent, has only 23,000.

That’s peanuts in the social media world.

There are other social media battlegrounds, of course, but the dismal X count is a sign that the separatists aren’t as powerful as they pretend.

Their vicious, personal counterattacks on Kenney certainly show he’s hitting a nerve.

Unfortunately, he’s not fighting this battle as premier.

Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald.

X and Bluesky: @DonBraid

© Calgary Herald