Jason Thomas Kenney was born on May 30,1968 and is a Canadian former politician who served as the 18th premier of Alberta from 2019 until 2022 and the leader of the United Conservative Party from 2017 until 2022.
78 Facts About Jason Kenney
2.
Jason Kenney served as the member of the Legislative Assembly for Calgary-Lougheed from 2017 until 2022.
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Jason Kenney studied philosophy at the University of San Francisco, but returned to Canada without completing his degree.
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Jason Kenney was elected to the House of Commons in the 1997 federal election for the Reform Party.
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Jason Kenney held the post of minister for citizenship, immigration and multiculturalism from October 2008 to July 2013, when he became minister of employment and social development and minister for multiculturalism.
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Jason Kenney was considered a potential party leader following the defeat of the Conservative government in October 2015 and resignation of Harper as leader.
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In July 2016, Jason Kenney announced his intention to run for the leadership of the Alberta PCs in that party's 2017 leadership election.
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Jason Kenney was elected party leader on March 18,2017, on a platform of merging with the Wildrose Party.
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Jason Kenney came under criticism for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic from members within the UCP and the general public, triggering a leadership review in May 2022.
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Jason Thomas Kenney was born on May 30,1968, in Oakville, Ontario, the son of Lynne and Robert Martin Kenney.
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Jason Kenney's father was a teacher at Appleby College and was of Irish heritage.
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Jason Kenney's grandfather was jazz musician and big band leader Mart Jason Kenney.
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Jason Kenney attended the Athol Murray College of Notre Dame in Wilcox, Saskatchewan, a private Catholic high school of which his father was president.
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Jason Kenney studied philosophy at the University of San Francisco, a Jesuit university in San Francisco, California, but failed to complete his coursework.
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Jason Kenney was "very involved in the young Liberals" as a young man, and in 1988 was executive assistant to Ralph Goodale, the leader of the provincial party at the time.
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Not long after, in 1989, Jason Kenney was hired as the first executive director of the Alberta Taxpayers Association, which advocated for fiscal responsibility.
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In 1990, Jason Kenney was named president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, a self-described taxpayer's advocacy group that scrutinizes governmental expenditure from a conservative perspective.
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Jason Kenney was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in 1997, at the age of 29.
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Jason Kenney was elected as a member of the Reform Party of Canada, which later became the Canadian Alliance.
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Jason Kenney was a member of a group of Reform Party MPs that were known as the Snack Pack due to their habit of eating greasy food and ridiculing the ruling Liberals.
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Jason Kenney supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq and suggested that the Chretien government's refusal to support the war would damage Canada's relationship with the United States.
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Jason Kenney was a member of the Canada Tibet Committee and hosted the Dalai Lama in 2010.
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On January 4,2007, Jason Kenney was sworn in as the secretary of state for multiculturalism and Canadian identity and as a Privy Councillor.
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In early 2008, Jason Kenney posted an announcement on his website, declaring that the Canadian government recognized the flag of the Republic of Vietnam as the symbol of the Vietnamese-Canadian community.
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That same month, Jason Kenney launched the Community Historical Recognition Program, which established $13.5 million CAD in funding over five years for commemorative projects by ethno-cultural communities that had been subject to discriminatory Canadian immigration and wartime policies.
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In 2008, Jason Kenney became Minister of Citizenship and Immigration in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's cabinet shuffle of October 30, while retaining responsibility for multiculturalism, which he had been given in 2007.
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On June 26,2010, Jason Kenney announced changes to the Skilled Worker Immigration Program.
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Jason Kenney said that his reform of the immigration point system fixed problems with the previous immigration system.
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Jason Kenney said the new system was more efficient in accepting migrants who could make the best contributions to the Canadian economy.
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In 2011, Jason Kenney imposed a ban on niqab face veils for those taking the oath of citizenship.
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On July 19,2011, Jason Kenney announced that the government intended to revoke the citizenship of 1,800 people it believes obtained their status through fraudulent means.
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In January 2009, Jason Kenney made public statements critical of US soldiers seeking asylum in Canada who were facing punishment for their refusal to participate in the Iraq War.
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Jason Kenney believed that Kimberly Rivera, an American soldier seeking refuge, was not a legitimate refugee.
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In 2012, Jason Kenney took steps in 2012 to find and combat marriage fraud.
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Jason Kenney's efforts were primarily focused on marriages in which one party was a Canadian citizen and the other, an immigrant, was using marriage to facilitate their entry into Canada, at which point they would leave their sponsor's home and declare the marriage to be a lie.
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Jason Kenney implemented a "conditional" permanent residency status, to ensure that a spouse or partner had to live as husband and wife for a minimum of two years with their Canadian sponsor, or else they would have their status revoked.
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Galloway pursued the matter in the Canadian court system, where it was revealed that Jason Kenney's office had emailed the CBSA on the matter.
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The Globe and Mail later pointed out that, while Jason Kenney was quick to refuse Galloway entry into Canada, his department gave entry to controversial politician Geert Wilders, who compared Islam to fascism and campaigned to ban the Quran from the Netherlands.
39.
In 2010, Jason Kenney introduced Discover Canada, a new citizenship guide for prospective citizens.
40.
The Canadian Press reported that Jason Kenney blocked information about same-sex marriage from the Citizenship and Immigration study guide for immigrants applying for citizenship, although a sentence was included in a 2011 revision.
41.
Jason Kenney took steps to restore full citizenship status to the "Lost Canadians", Canadian nationals who had "fallen through the cracks".
42.
Jason Kenney says the Lost Canadians group should not be politicizing their plight, but they should be making a "solid application and a strong case".
43.
On March 29,2010, Jason Kenney announced an overhaul of the Canadian refugee system.
44.
Jason Kenney promised that Canada would resettle more refugees from 2011 to 2012 than in previous years.
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In January 2014, Jason Kenney reached an agreement with all provincial and territorial counterparts, except Quebec, to implement the Canada Job Grant, which aimed to train unemployed workers who did not qualify for unemployment insurance over a period of four years.
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Later that month, Jason Kenney defended the Canadian airstrike campaign against ISIS being extended into Syria, claiming that, among the coalition air forces, only Canada and the United States had aircraft capable of using precision guided munitions.
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Jason Kenney was long considered a likely candidate to succeed Stephen Harper as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, and had been mentioned as a prospective candidate and presumed frontrunner in the next leadership election to be held in 2017.
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Jason Kenney's name was mentioned as a prospective leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta who could potentially unite the rival Progressive Conservative and Wildrose parties.
49.
On July 6,2016, Jason Kenney announced that he would be seeking the leadership of the Alberta PC Party, citing his desire to unite Alberta's two major centre-right parties.
50.
Jason Kenney re-affirmed his pledge to unite the party with the rival Wildrose Party.
51.
Jason Kenney was elected as the first full-time leader of the party, defeating former Wildrose leader Brian Jean and lawyer Doug Schweitzer.
52.
Jason Kenney was elected as MLA on December 14, and sworn in as Leader of the Opposition on January 29,2018.
53.
Documents obtained by The Star confirm that Jason Kenney's campaign controlled major aspects of Callaway's campaign, including the providing of strategic plans, attack ads, speeches, and talking points intended to discredit Jean.
54.
Davies said that Jason Kenney had attended a meeting at Callaway's house in July 2017, where the "kamikaze campaign" was discussed, and that Jason Kenney had firsthand knowledge of this strategy.
55.
Premier Jason Kenney established a one-year, $2.5 million Public Inquiry into Anti-Alberta Energy Campaigns and a Calgary-based $30 million 'war room' to "fight misinformation related to oil and gas".
56.
The lawsuit alleged that, in public statements and in social media posts, Jason Kenney deliberately distorted the results of a public inquiry led by Calgary forensic accountant Steve Allan investigating the possibility that the groups accepted American money to spread misinformation about the environmental impacts of oil sands development in Alberta.
57.
Jason Kenney stated that Government MLAs were permitted to dissent over COVID-19 health restrictions but breaking health rules or encouraging others to do so would result in their expulsion from the Government Caucus.
58.
The letter states that the boards believed that they did not believe Jason Kenney had the moral authority or trustworthiness to lead this party into the next election or to continue to deliver on important conservative priorities and that for the sake of a strong and free Alberta and for the well-being of the conservative movement in this province, the boards ask that Jason Kenney do the proper thing and resign.
59.
On May 13,2021, MLA Todd Loewen stepped down from his role as UCP caucus chair and called on Jason Kenney to resign, citing "persistent issues of dysfunction within the government" and claiming that "the Premier chooses not listen to caucus".
60.
Jason Kenney then announced on the same evening his intention to resign as premier of Alberta and leader of the UCP, citing the clearly divisive nature of his leadership and a need for party unity.
61.
Jason Kenney subsequently confirmed that he would not be candidate in the leadership election to succeed himself.
62.
On November 29,2022, Jason Kenney resigned as MLA for Calgary-Lougheed, with immediate effect.
63.
On February 1,2023, Jason Kenney announced that he had started a new job as senior advisor for the law firm, Bennett Jones.
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Jason Kenney has been a social conservative in his political career, voting in favor of abortion restrictions and against same-sex marriage.
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Jason Kenney voted in favour of abortion restrictions and received an endorsement from the socially conservative lobbyist group Campaign Life Coalition.
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In 2012, Jason Kenney was one of ten Cabinet ministers who voted in favour of a motion to study when life begins.
67.
In 2016, Jason Kenney supported the removal of "traditional definition of marriage" from the conservative party policy book.
68.
Jason Kenney was criticized by the provincial NDP, some LGBTQ activists, and some journalists for saying in a Postmedia interview that parents generally have a right to know if their child has joined a Gay-Straight Alliance, unless it would be contrary to the best interests of the child in the circumstances.
69.
In November 2018, Jason Kenney faced pressure to expel an outspoken member of the United Conservative Party who compared the gay pride flag to the flag of Nazi Germany.
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Jason Kenney was referring to his role in organizing a petition to repeal the city ordinance that extended recognition rights of heterosexual couples to same-sex couples.
71.
Jason Kenney was widely recognized for his central role in reaching out to ethnic minority voters in 2011, leading to the Conservative Party's successful election campaign, and the Conservative parliamentary majority that resulted.
72.
Jason Kenney publicly acknowledged that his ongoing strategy of promoting conservative values and policies in government so as to capture the support of ethnic communities was in the works beginning years prior to Stephen Harper first winning government in 2006.
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Jason Kenney suggested that Harper was one of the first people he consulted with on the ethnic outreach strategy, when the latter was still an opposition Canadian Alliance MP.
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Jason Kenney publicly apologized for the mailing error, citing a staffer's inexperience for the mistake.
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Jason Kenney has never been married and has no children.
76.
Jason Kenney received the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002, and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.
77.
In 2014, Jason Kenney received the UN Watch Moral Courage Award for speaking out on behalf of those who had been victimized by international tyranny.
78.
Also in 2014, Jason Kenney was awarded the inaugural Benjamin Disraeli Prize by Policy Exchange, a centre-right UK think tank, in recognition of the successful outreach to Canada's ethnic and cultural communities.