A pickup truck invokes power. You can tow house-sized travel trailers, livestock, other vehicles, and building materials. A truck portrays independence: you’re your own man—and yes, a truck is gendered. As the preponderance of advertising and country songs emphasizes, pickup trucks are semiotically a man’s vehicle, even though the gender balance in pickup truck ownership is approaching equality.
Jason Kenney chose a truck early in his rise to power in Alberta. In fact, it was a signature object from the start. Following the 2015 election victory of the New Democratic Party, led by Rachel Notley, against a conservative movement fractured into the Wildrose Party and the Progressive Conservative Party, there was general recognition among conservatives of the need to “unite the right” to effectively challenge Notley in the 2019 Alberta election. In August 2016, Jason Kenney took up the challenge and launched the “Unite Alberta Truck Tour,” visiting all eighty-seven Alberta constituencies over the following months in a blue Dodge 1500 pickup truck. Ultimately, he was successful—merging the PC and the Wildrose Party into the United Conservative Party.
