'Clearly a breakdown': Kenney condemns controversial essay, links firestorm to slow news week
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney condemned a controversial prize-winning essay that's been criticized for being sexist and racist during his provincewide radio call-in program, but also appeared to downplay the controversy it generated.
The topic was the first that host Wayne Nelson raised during Saturday's show on CHQR and CHED, and Kenney responded there was “clearly a breakdown” in how the judges assessed the essays, adding they “screwed up.”
Nelson had noted in the opening of the program that while summer is often slow for news, the past few weeks bucked that trend.
Kenney, when talking about the essay controversy moments later, said the fuss could be proof that “it wasn't a big news week.”
The essay urged women to forgo careers and focus on having children so the province doesn't have to bring in more foreigners, and it took third place in a government contest.
It was later pulled, along with the other two winners, from the government's website after criticism emerged on social media Monday.
“Clearly the essay was offensive, but maybe that is proof that it wasn't a big news week, Wayne, that in Alberta politics driven by Twitter, we've been talking about the third place (in) an essay contest no one's ever heard of,” Kenney said when Nelson referred to the controversy as a “firestorm.”
Kenney said he's waiting to hear a report on how the essays were assessed.
The contest was run through the legislative assembly office, which is headed by Speaker Nathan Cooper.
The judges of the contest, Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk, the United Conservative Party's associate minister for the Status of Women, and Jackie Lovely, the department's parliamentary secretary, have issued statements. Armstrong-Homeniuk said the essay never should have been chosen. Lovely apologized for her role in the contest.
Cooper's office, in a statement Tuesday, said the contest was conceived and administered by Armstrong-Homeniuk in her role as regional chair of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians group. It added that neither the Speaker's nor the legislative assembly office were involved in picking the essays “in any capacity.”
There have been calls for Armstrong-Homeniuk and Lovely to resign, and Nelson asked Kenney if they should step down.
“Apparently there's a group called the Commonwealth Women's Parliamentary Association. The first time I heard of it was last week,” Kenney responded.
“This is not the government. People in the Legislature have different associations and they do different projects. This is one they screwed up. They've admitted that, they've apologized and committed to ensure it doesn't happen again,” Kenney said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 13, 2022.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Video shows suspect setting Toronto-area barbershop on fire
Video of a suspect lighting a Richmond Hill barbershop on fire earlier this week has been released by police.
The kids from 'Mrs. Doubtfire' are all SUPER grown up now, and we're not OK
The adorable trio of child actors from the 1993 classic comedy 'Mrs. Doubtfire,' which starred the late and great Robin Williams, are all grown up and looking back on their seminal time together.
Canadian doctor concerned new weight-loss drug Wegovy may be used inappropriately
As Wegovy becomes available to Canadians starting Monday, a medical expert is cautioning patients wanting to use the drug to lose weight that no medication is a ''magic bullet,' and the new medication is meant particularly for people who meet certain criteria related to obesity and weight.
Police officer hit by driver of fleeing vehicle in Toronto
York Regional Police say they are continuing to search for a suspect in an auto theft investigation who was captured on video running over a police officer in Toronto last month.
TD worst-case scenario more likely after drug money laundering allegations: analyst
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.
Premier Legault reiterates that McGill pro-Palestinian camp must be dismantled
Quebec Premier François Legault reiterated that the pro-Palestinian encampment at McGill University must be dismantled while police remain 'on the lookout for new developments.'
A Chinese driver is praised for helping reduce casualties in a highway collapse that killed 48
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
'I have the will to live': N.B. woman needs double lung transplant
A New Brunswick woman suffering from sarcoidosis, a disease that limits your lung capacity, is in need of a double lung transplant.
Hulk Hogan, hurricanes and a blockbuster recording: A week in review of the Trump hush money trial
Crucial witnesses took the stand in the second week of testimony in Donald Trump's hush money trial, including a California lawyer who negotiated deals at the center of the case and a longtime adviser to the former president.