Thread by @KevinCTV

We're a few minutes away from hearing from Premier Kenney, Justice Minister Madu and MLAs Yao and Rosin.

Kenney will be talking about an equalization referendum, but he'll also be asked about the Sky Palace pics and other recent comments. Follow along!

calgary.ctvnews.ca/mla-resigns-as…

And we've started. Kenney begins by calling out the federal government for actions he says don't serve Alberta's interests, including "surrendering to Obama's veto of Keystone XL."

"While the experts and pundits often mock the very idea of trying to change equalization, Albertans do not," Kenney says. He says on the campaign trail in 2019, equalization was one of the major concerns he heard about from voters.

Here's the referendum question, which will be put to voters in the fall:

"Should section 36(2) of the Constitution Act, 1982—Parliament and the government of Canada’s commitment to the principle of making equalization payments—be removed from the Constitution?"

The Premier will present a motion to ask this question in the Legislature this afternoon.

"Another promise made, and another promise kept," Premier Kenney says.

Tany Yao is up now, saying the feds have supported companies from eastern Canada, like SNC-Lavalin, but not Alberta.

He says there's "no investment in Alberta"

He does not mention the fact that Ottawa bought the Trans Mountain pipeline extension project.

"Equalization encourages socialist practices," says Miranda Rosin.

Premier Kenney is back now. He says Alberta will move to Stage 2 of the reopening plan on Thursday.

He says 163 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded yesterday. That's the lowest total in many, many months.

Kenney says vaccination bookings are slowing down, and 115,000 more people need to sign up and get vaccinated this week to move to Stage 3 on June 28th.

Kenney says he tries to follow the rules, but has broken them many times (by standing too close to people). He says he's sure every Albertan has also done this.

Kenney says some of the chairs on the Sky Palace patio were more than two meters apart, and some weren't. He says the chairs have been measured since the pictures surfaced.

"It's clear some of us were not distanced the whole night," he says.

He's apologizing.

"I just won't be doing any social gatherings until we get to Stage 3," Kenney says.

The day the scandal broke, Kenney said he did nothing wrong and he would attend another gathering that night.

Q: You said you did nothing wrong. Why would anyone believe your apology is sincere?

A: I thought it was better to meet outdoors than indoors. "We should have been more careful," Kenney says.

Q: One minister also wanted you to apologize for your cancel culture comments. What do you think now about changing some place names from Grandin, Macdonald, etc...?

A: Kenney won't apologize for those comments. He says his comments about cancel culture "continue to be true."

Q: How can you expect Albertans to follow the rules if the Premier and Health Minister can't?

A: Actually, Minister Shandro and Kenney were two meters apart, Kenney says.

He's now describing how he often stands too close to people, but tries to take steps backwards.

Q: If it was a meeting, is it normal for you to have a bottle of whisky?

A: Kenney says it was given to him for his 30th Birthday.

He isn't answering the main question.

(I'm confused?)

Q: You spent a week telling Albertans you did nothing wrong. @DeanBennettCP accuses the premier of gaslighting. He says Kenney isn't apologizing because it's wrong, he's apologizing because his cabinet is mad. True?

A: Kenney just says he regrets the mistake.

Q from @DeanBennettCP: "If you'll gaslight us on this, what else will you gaslight us on?"

A: Kenney says once again he thought they didn't break any rules. He maintains they almost always followed the rules , except apparently, when the pictures were taken.

Q: What actually happens if Albertans vote to change the constitution?

A: Alberta would have to ask Ottawa to ratify the constitution.

"We should not expect that a yes vote is going to unilaterally change equalization," Kenney says.

Q: Brian Jean is calling on you to resign. What's his end game?

A: That's nothing new, Kenney says, adding that Jean has been criticizing the premier for two years.

And we're done. Premier Kenney took questions from four reporters today.