If the hallmarks of good political leadership were uniting people across the political spectrum, drafting sound legislation to benefit those people, and responsible fiscal management, then surely Alberta's United Conservative Party (UCP) is one of the worst political parties in Canadian history. Founded in 2017 by Jason Kenney, a prominent cabinet minister and rising star in Stephen Harper's federal government, the UCP brought together Alberta's conservatives under a single roof—from centre-right moderates to far-right, conspiratorial crackpots who would find common cause with American MAGA Republicans. This ideological blend, like bitumen and water, would later prove to be Kenney's ultimate downfall.

Anger and Angst: Jason Kenney's Legacy and Alberta's Right is a compendium of essays, masterfully compiled and edited by Professors Trevor Harrison and Ricardo Acuña, written by some of Alberta's most distinguished economic, political, and social scholars—people who Kenney himself would call "commie professors." It documents Kenney's rise as a young, homophobic, conservative activist to eventually serve as a loyal minister in Harper's government, to his founding and leadership of the UCP (a story that includes a kamikaze candidate and an ongoing RCMP investigation), his partial term as Alberta premier, and his dramatic political demise brought about by internal party conflict.

It also documents his highly divisive, hyper-partisan, neoliberal leadership style during his time as premier. Under his leadership, the UCP launched a war with the provincial healthcare system just as COVID arrived in Alberta. They ruthlessly gutted the post-secondary education sector to transform it into a blunt instrument of the state to serve at the pleasure of the oil and gas industry. They revised the provincial elementary school curriculum to reflect their own narrow political, religious, and racial values. They stripped away rights to protest against government policies, and established a so-called 'war room,' The Canadian Energy Centre—essentially a provincially funded Twitter troll with an annual budget of $30 million—to publicly discredit anyone critical of government policies. They removed a moratorium against coal mining in the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, in place since the 1970s, which local ranchers depended upon to protect their livestock from toxic selenium in their drinking water. And just as experts were advising the Kenney government to impose social restrictions to prevent the provincial healthcare system from collapsing under the demands of COVID, Kenney refused and declared the "Best Summer Ever!" A decision that effectively alienated more than half the province. Later, when COVID overwhelmed the provincial capacity and the Canadian military was called in for support, he imposed restrictions—including a vaccine passport that he refused to call a vaccine passport. A decision that effectively alienated the rest.

Kenney stepped down after only receiving 51.4% support in a UCP leadership challenge, which paved the way for Danielle Smith to take over the role of premier, after taking 52.6% of the popular vote in a provincial election. Smith is a former oil lobbyist and hard-right ideologue who has already made clear that her mandate as premier is focused squarely on supporting the oil and gas industry—damn the torpedoes!—even if that means invoking her first piece of legislation, Bill 1, The Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act and engaging in perpetual conflict with the Government of Canada. So much for legacy.

This is an excellent book if you're interested in a thorough, thoughtful, and well-researched snapshot of Alberta as it was up to, during, and after Jason Kenney's tenure as UCP leader. If you're interested in the never-boring, high-drama, power politics of UCP governance, you should read this book. Each author is a top expert in their field; you're sure to learn something. Or, maybe you're not an Albertan, but you live in a province that you think is governed by incompetent fools. Read this book. It'll make you feel better.