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Kenney took the stage to loud applause in Red Deer behind a lectern emblazoned with the slogan “A Fair Deal Now,” with Canadian and Albertan flags beside him.

Central to Kenney’s pitch as leader of the United Conservative Party and as premier of Alberta has been drawing from Quebec’s playbook to get more power provincially, wresting it away from Ottawa.

In his speech, Kenney went through the troubled times in Alberta, arguing the major economic crisis in the province right now can’t simply be blamed on lower oil prices, or shale booms in North Dakota or other global factors. Rather, he lambasted the Liberal government’s “record of assaults” on Alberta, such as over-regulation and its ambivalence about the province’s oil and gas economy, which have driven investment out of the province, seeking more hospitable jurisdictions such as the U.S.

“It’s not about prices, it’s about policy,” Kenney declared.

He pointed to the effect of the downturn on the people of the province: the exploding opioid crisis, rising crime and violence, rampant bankruptcies, and the increase in the rate of suicide as hopelessness spreads.

“The human cost of all of this is very real,” Kenney said. “This literally is for many people a life and death question.”

Kenney said Alberta is well on its way to becoming “the most responsible barrel of oil produced in the world.”

“We will be the most desirable last barrel available to global energy markets,” Kenney said.