Kenney when asked about schools changing their names and statues being torn down said, “If we go full-force into cancel culture, then we’re cancelling most, if not all of, our history.”
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney was asked what he thinks about Alberta schools changing their names to distance themselves from the Fathers of Confederation, after which they are named. Kenney took the opportunity to slam cancel culture and defend Canadian leaders of the past. Kenney also bashed the media for only attacking Conservative prime ministers and not Liberal ones with even spottier pasts.
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View on XWhen asked about his thoughts on the Calgary Board of Education changing the name of Langevin School to Riverside School to remove the name of Hector-Louis Langevin, a Father of Confederation Kenney said, "I'm not aware of the decisions they've made let me look into that."
Kenney then took the opportunity to defend Sir. John A. Macdonald, Canada's first Prime Minister. "As his authoritative contemporary biographer Richard Gwyn said, ‘No Macdonald, no Canada.’ I think Canada is worth celebrating. I think Canada is a great historical achievement. It is a country that people all around the world seek to join as new Canadians." Kenney also mentioned how he co-sponsored a bill as a sitting MP to recognize Macdonald by instituting Sir John A. Macdonald day.
Kenney said Canada "is an imperfect country, but it is still a great country. Just as John A. Macdonald was an imperfect man, but was still a great leader," he continued. "If we want to get into cancelling every figure in our history who took positions on issues at the time that we now judge harshly, and rightly in historical retrospective, but if that's the new standard, then I think almost the entire founding leadership of our country gets cancelled."
Kenney then turned the question around on the reporter asking why the same standard wasn't applied to leftist politicians. Using the example of Tommy Douglas, former Alberta premier and NDP leader, "Tommy Douglas, who recommended the use of eugenics to sterilize the weak as he said, … the Famous Five heroes of Canadian feminism, and the fight for equality for women. Some of them were advocates of eugenics that we would now regard as deplorable. So if we go full force into cancelled culture, then we're canceling most, if not all of our history."
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