For Alberta premiers it is the pilgrimage: The business trip to the United States.

Premiers have been doing it for the past 50 years, all with cap-in-hand and all pretty much singing the same slogan: “Alberta is open for business.”

Now it’s Jason Kenney’s turn. This week he travelled to New York where he spoke with business reporters, made a speech to a conservative think tank, the Manhattan Institute, and had closed-door meetings with what his office vaguely described as “investors, fund managers and business leaders.”