Jason Kenney Dropped A Will Smith & Chris Rock Meme In His Calls To Scrap The Carbon Tax

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney dropped a meme of actor Will Smith appearing to hit the comedian Chris Rock as part of a series of tweets calling for the federal government to scrap the carbon tax.

Kenney shared the meme of the incident, which took place at the Oscars on Sunday night. The photo shows Smith, labelled "reality," appearing to hit Rock, labelled "green energy policies."

Twitter users had some thoughts on Kenney's use of the meme to convey his point.

"Somebody got some poor Twitter advice today!" one user replied.

"Had to double-check if this was real Kenney. I'm shocked that a minister would find this amusing," another user said.

"The number of bad decisions that had to be made for this to be created and tweeted by this account is staggering," another added. "Yet here it is."

Some users opted to flip the meme back to talk about the impact of climate change and the upcoming leadership review Kenney is facing.

Kenney also shared a joint letter with Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to temporarily suspend the federal carbon tax due to "skyrocketing energy costs" across Canada.

The premiers talked about the impact of Russia's attack on Ukraine, as well as the pandemic and inflation levels that have "placed considerable financial stress on families and businesses."

"While we all recognize the importance of addressing climate change, the current exigent circumstances [...] mean that now is not the time to be further increasing energy costs for Canadians," the letter reads.

"We are therefore calling on your government to temporarily suspend the federal carbon tax, to provide the relief that Canadians need and deserve."

Earlier this month, Alberta announced it would scrap the fuel tax starting on April 1 to combat record-high gas prices, which will save Albertans 13 cents a litre at the pump.

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.