Kenney condemns controversial essay, but links firestorm to slow news week

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has condemned a controversial award-winning essay that has been criticized for being sexist and racist during his province-wide radio show, but also appeared to downplay the controversy it has sparked.

The topic was the first that host Wayne Nelson brought up during Saturday’s show on CHQR and CHED, with Kenney responding that there was “clearly a breakdown” in the way the judges evaluated the essays, adding that “they screwed up.” .

Nelson had pointed out in the show’s opening that while the summer is usually slow for news, the last few weeks have bucked that trend.

Kenney, speaking about the essay controversy moments later, said the uproar could be evidence that “it wasn’t a great news week.”

The essay urged women to give up their careers and focus on having children so the province doesn’t have to bring in more foreigners, and came third in a government contest.

It was later removed, along with the other two winners, from the government website after criticism surfaced on social media on Monday.

“Clearly the essay was offensive, but maybe that’s proof that it wasn’t a great week of news, Wayne, that in Twitter-driven Alberta politics, we’ve been talking about third place (in) a contest of essays that no one has ever achieved. heard,” Kenney said when Nelson referred to the controversy as a “firestorm.”

Kenney said he is waiting to hear a report on how the trials were evaluated.

The contest was conducted through the office of the legislature, which is headed by Speaker Nathan Cooper.

The judges of the contest, Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk, Assistant Minister for the Status of Women of the United Conservative Party, and Jackie Lovely, Parliamentary Secretary of the department, have issued statements. Armstrong-Homeniuk said the essay should never have been chosen. Lovely apologized for her role in the contest.

Cooper’s office, in a statement Tuesday, said the contest was conceived and managed by Armstrong-Homeniuk in her role as regional chair of the group of Commonwealth women parliamentarians. She added that neither the Speaker nor the office of the legislature participated in the selection of the essays “in any capacity.”

There have been calls for Armstrong-Homeniuk and Lovely to step down, and Nelson asked Kenney if they should step down.

“Apparently there is a group called the Commonwealth Women’s Parliamentary Association. The first time I heard it was last week,” Kenney replied.

“This is not the government. People in the Legislature have different associations and do different projects. This is one they screwed up. They admitted it, apologized and are committed to making sure it doesn’t happen again,” Kenney said.

This report from The Canadian Press was first published on August 13, 2022.

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