EDMONTON – Jason Kenney is in the United States sending tweets about his office; not Alberta’s premier Jason Kenney, but a man who shares the same name and is renovating his kitchen.
“Someone said I had to do something about my closet and I was conveniently changing the hardware in my home’s closet, so I said, ‘I’m working on my closet,'” said Jason Kenney, who lives in Virginia.
American Jason Kenney describes himself as an addict to news, politics and social media, but thanks to his name, he is now also linked to Alberta politics
“I’m not as enlightened as I probably could be, but I’ve come a long way.”
He became more enlightened due to the international travel scandal involving MLAs and UCP employees, as more Albertans mistakenly sent furious tweets to Jason Kenney’s Twitter account in Virginia, rather than Premier Jason Kenney’s account.
“There are stereotypes that Canadians are all polite, apologetic and peaceful, which is largely true, but man, when you get into politics it can be just as controversial and hot as here,” says Kenney.
But instead of fueling the flames, Kenney tries to amuse himself with his wrong identity.
“Maybe it will make some people step back and calm down a little,” he says. “Because I was able to be a good sportsman about it, because the people I got involved with also practiced it.”
And Kenney, who has had his Twitter account @jasonkenney since 2007, says he has no plans to go back and change his name on social media.
“If I changed, no one else would drag me into Canadian politics,” he said. “I would be lost in the desert.”
