The whole truth? NDP's anti-Kenney campaign both clever and desperate

It is a campaign both clever and timely but one that also has more than a whiff of desperation.

The NDP has unveiled a website aimed at undermining the credibility of United Conservative Party leader Jason Kenney.

The site has a title that manages to sound simultaneously innocuous and threatening: "The truth about Jason Kenney."

Of course, this "truth" does not look at the things Kenney has done right in his career with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and as a cabinet minister in the federal Conservative government. Or his remarkable ability to build the UCP.

The website is filled with examples of things Kenney got wrong. They come with breathless all-caps headlines such as, "JASON KENNEY LED A CRUEL AND DEHUMANIZING CAMPAIGN AGAINST LGBTQ CANADIANS" and "JASON KENNEY HAS SPENT HIS ENTIRE CAREER TRYING TO RESTRICT ACCESS TO ABORTION AND ROLL BACK WOMEN'S RIGHTS."

There is nothing subtle about this website.

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There is also nothing particularly new here. Many of these examples are already public knowledge. Kenney was a firm opponent against same-sex marriage and as a devout Roman Catholic is still personally opposed to abortion.

Aimed at the undecided voters

If you don't like Kenney, it's a handy one-stop-shopping reference for dinner conversation examples of why you don't like Kenney. For those who like Kenney,especially on economic issues, it won't make a difference.

But the NDP is going after the undecidedsthose who have heard of Kenney's socially conservative past and want to learn more.

The website doesn'tjust stick to Kenney's record, though, but extrapolates to the future.

"We know that past behaviour is the best predictor of future behaviour," says the site. "When it comes to a woman's right to choose, Kenney's past behaviour tells a very clear story."

And this warning: "Thanks to Jason Kenney, a woman's right to choose is in sudden and real peril in Alberta."

That's a stretch. If Kenney was to win the 2019 election, the fastest way to lose the 2023 election would be to muck around with women's access to abortion (by defunding or underfunding the procedure, for example).

Kenney has said repeatedly he won't be meddling with that and insists his views on same-sex marriage have evolved along with society's.

Yes, but the questions still hang there.

Kenney's meteoric rise to the cusp of power has anti-abortion groups rejoicing, hoping he will meddle in access to abortions and his objections to same-sex marriage weren'tpassive like many people's, but overtly aggressive.

The NDP is hoping Kenney's past actions and words make people nervous.

But by going so aggressively against Kenney in such a personal way, the NDP is in danger of alienating people, too.

Another truth

Kenneydidn't have much to say about the websitewhen he held a news conference Thursday because the site hadn't yet been made public. The conference was on his ideas for "democratic reform."

But he quickly grew irritated with a reporter's question that did not deal with fixed election dates and recall legislation.

The reporter wanted to deal with the social media uproar over Kenney's recent comments suggesting he'd reduce wages for "people with modest levels of human capital."

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The NDP has angrily accused him of targeting the disabled for wage discrimination.

Kenney explained he meant people with lower levels of education and training. But he lit into the reporter for raising the issue in the first place: "I'm surprised I'm being asked about the daily outrage on the Alberta legislature Twitter feed."

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Later, when answering another topic he didn't like, he shot back with a reference to conspiracy theories on the assassination of President Kennedy: "Am I going to be asked tomorrow if I was really on the grassy knoll?"

This is not an isolated example. Kenney tends to snap at media questions he doesn't like.

He should get used to it. If the public opinion polls hold true, he will be Alberta's next premier.

As such, he'll be under the news media's microscope.

He needs a thicker skin. Right now his skin is so thin it's a wonder his internal organs don't fall out.

That's a truth about Jason Kenney not on the NDP website.