Hero or Villain: Understanding Jason Kenney

A CULTURE OF DEFIANCE: History of the Reform-Conservative Party of Canada

In an attempt to figure out Jason Kenney, who is an anomaly to say the least; I thought I'd go back to the beginning and work my way up, rather than the other way round. There's not a lot of information about his past, but I think there's enough.

So this is the start of what will eventually be edited into at least one chapter of my e-book.

The Early Years

What we know is that he was born May 30, 1968 in Oakville, Ontario, and from there moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba. At the age of six, his father accepted a position as President of Athol Murray College of Notre Dame, in the small community of Wilmox, Saskatchewan. The schools' founder, Pere Athol Murray, had passed away the year before, and the school's finances were in a shambles.

However, Mr. Kenney was able to raise enough funds to save the school and turned it into a highly respected academic institution.

"He was always an impressive man ... [former colleague] Ryan said. "When he walked in a room, everyone knew he was there. He had an aura about him. When he took over, Notre Dame was a struggling enterprise. He got it back on its feet."(1)

He also developed an excellent athletics program that included a competitive junior hockey team, that churned out the likes of Wendell Clark, Curtis Joseph and Brind'Amour. Highly respected Mr. Kenney passed away in April of this year. (1)

Despite how I feel about Jason Kenney's actions, he does have an excellent work ethic, and he obviously came by that naturally.

Jason's mother Lynn is still living, as are two brothers; Martin Jr*. and David.

Kenney attended his father's school, which according to their literature: is a "... safe, rural environment ... a unique setting for personal growth with minimal distractions." Perhaps it were those "minimal distractions" that account for his narrow minded views today, though I suspect it was his post-secondary education that had more of an impact.

St. Ignatius Institute

After graduating from Athol Murray, Jason Kenney headed to San Francisco, where he enrolled in the humanities program at St. Ignatius Insitute. According to author Trevor Harrison, it was "where he came under the influence of some of America's leading neoconservative theorists." (2)

Indeed the college was a hotbead for neoconservative ideals at the time, and was described as a "... lightning rod of controversy ... [the] traditionalist approach itself provoked controversy. Some members of the university criticized what one scholar called a "parti pris" approach to education with a narrow Catholic — mostly papal — perspective and their chaplain, Fr. Cornelius M. Buckley was criticized for fostering "...a cult-like following".**

Next: Educating Jason Kenney: St. Ignatius Institute

Footnotes:

*Martin may have run in the provincial election in 1991, for the riding of Qu’Appelle-Lumsden, finishing third to NDP Suzanne Murray (Suzanne Murray NDP 4907, Dawn Garner Lib 2827, Martin Kenney PC 2426)

**Wikipedia

Sources:

1. Former Athol Murray College of Notre Dame president Martin Kenney dies at 78, By IAN HAMILTON, Leader-Post, April 14, 2010

2. Requiem for a Lightweight: Stockwell Day and Image Politics, By Trevor Harrison, Black Rose Books, 2002, ISBN: 1-55164-206-9, Pg. 47

The American Enterprise Institute and Canada's Neoconservatism/Religious Right

A CULTURE OF DEFIANCE: History of the Reform-Conservative Party of Canada

The American Enterprise Institute is one of a myriad of think tanks that have become part of the infrastructure of the neoconservative/Religious Right movement.

One of the oldest, it was established in 1943, as a spokesperson for big business. Ronald Reagan once stated:

"The American Enterprise Institute stands at the center of a revolution in ideas of which I, too, have been a part. AEI's remarkably distinguished body of work is testimony to the triumph of the think tank. For today the most important American scholarship comes out of our think tanks – and none has been more influential than the American Enterprise Institute." (1)

However, the fortunes of the AEI have fluctuated depending on who was in power, enjoying their greatest success under the Bush administration. George Bush pulled 20 staffers from AEI, including David Frum, the person who organized the Winds of Change, dedicated to uniting the right, and is now a voice in our own neoconservative government.

Frum was recently fired from the AEI for speaking out against the Republican Party, clearing showing just how "non-partisan" the group is. (2)

But AEI's ties to Canada go back further than Frum. They even influenced the Saskatchewan government of Grant Devine:

The new right's attack on the welfare state included a moral component contributed by the new Christian right, which claims to find sanction for private enterprise economics in the Bible. A good example of this approach comes from Michael Novak of the American Enterprise Institute: "I advise intelligent, ambitious, and morally serious young Christians and Jews to awaken to the growing dangers of statism. They will better save their souls and serve the
cause of the Kingdom of God all around the world by restoring the liberty and power of the private sector than by working for the state."' The private sector
would not only make you rich, it would save your soul.

Believing as it does that the Bible endorses individual self-reliance, the new right asserts that the solution to society's problems — whether economic or social — is fundamentally moral. (3)

Michael Novak has also spoken at the Fraser Institute and according to Lloyd Mackey has influenced the thinking of Stephen Harper. (4)

Those belonging to the group definitely represent the far-right, including Dick Cheney, his wife Lynn Cheney, William Kristol and Richard Perle.

But what's important and something we need to take note of in Canada is that recently the AEI has begun to attack NGOs.

In June 2003, AEI and another right-wing group, the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, launched a new website NGOWatch.org/NGOwatch.org
to expose the funding, operations and agendas of international NGOs, and particularly their alleged efforts to constrain U.S. freedom of action in international affairs and influence the behavior of corporations abroad. AEI states that "The extraordinary growth of advocacy NGOs in liberal democracies has the potential to undermine the sovereignty of constitutional democracies, as well as the effectiveness of credible NGOs." Ralph Nader responds with "What they are condemning, with vague, ironic regulatory nostrums proposed against dissenting citizen groups, is democracy itself." (1)

According to Muzzle Watch: "However, a more straightforward description of their ideological bias comes from liberal Jewish thinker Leonard Fein who says: "NGO Monitor, is an organization that believes that the best way to defend Israel is to condemn anyone who criticizes it." (5)

Next: Jason Kenney and the NGO Monitor on a Rampage to Destroy Humanitarian Organizations

Sources:

1. The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, By Source Watch

2. American Enterprise Institute: Now With 100% Less Frum, Around the Sphere, March 26, 2010

3. Privatizing a Province: The New Right in Saskatchewan, By: James M. Pitsula and Ken Rasmussen, New Star Books, 1990, ISBN: 0-921586-10-8, Pg. 7

4. The Pilgramage of Stephen Harper, By: Lloyd Mackey, ECW Press, 2005, ISBN: 10-1-55022-713-0 , Pg. 94 and 209

5. NGO Monitor: attacking New Israel Fund, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International, By Rob Lipton with Cecilie Surasky, Muzzle Watch, June 25, 2007