Alberta NDP finance critic compares Kenney to Stalin

Last week, Kenney move to combine both the Electoral Commissioner’s Office with the province’s Chief Electoral Office. This was a hotly contested decision, however, as the Electoral Commissioner was levying over $200,000 worth of fines towards Kenney’s UCP.

Speaking in Alberta’s Legislative Assembly, Phillips called Jason Kenney’s tactics “a strong man maneuver … we wouldn’t want in a democracy to be apart of a party that was referred to as a strong man maneuver.”

Phillips went on to say that she “knew that many of the members have deplored strong men in other parts of the world. We were at the Holodomor memorial today, and we have deplored some of the actions that we have seen in Hong Kong … we have deplored the invasion of Turkey into northern Syria … I don’t think anyone wants to be associated with that language.”

For some context, Phillips was comparing Kenney’s move to disband the office of the electoral commissioner (a body established by the previous NDP government) with Stalin’s Massacre of the Ukrainians and other modern and deplorable global incidents.

In the past, Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley wore a wristwatch with strongman Che Guevera on it.