It’s standing room only in a Calgary convention centre when Ontario Premier Doug Ford rushes in from stage right to be ushered onto the platform by United Conservative Party leader Jason Kenney with a high-five and a hearty backslap before the two thrust their clasped hands skyward and the crowd cheers.The anti-carbon-tax rally in fall of 2018 was perhaps the peak of what, once upon a time, was dubbed the “bromance” of Ford and Kenney, when they marched arm in arm against the Liberals in defence of provincial jurisdiction and the imposition of a federal carbon tax.Back then, the newly elected populist leader of Ontario and the former federal politician who’d gone west to champion Alberta — Kenney would become premier in April 2019 — were the vanguard of a cross-provincial conservative movement going full tilt against Justin Trudeau in Ottawa ahead of last year’s federal vote. But as reality sets in after that election, times are a-changing.“It looked for a while like one of those hot spring flings. They were very, very close and couldn’t leave each other’s company,” said conservative columnist and commentator Tim Powers.“But now it looks like summer, fall and winter have set in.”After Andrew Scheer and the Conservative party failed to take down Trudeau, who won a minority government in October, political analysts say Ford and Kenney now must focus on the problems at home and look at working with the federal government. The realities of running a province are creeping in, Powers said. That means the close political alliance may be starting to take a back seat to the demands of two very different jurisdictions that have their own problems to deal with.“Both of them are not as high in the polls as they once were. They’ve been in office a little longer than they once were ... Being cuddly cosy and kissy maybe isn’t the best strategy for the moment.” Part of it, he a ...
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