MLA-elect Brian Jean stopped by the Alberta Legislature Thursday and said he was elected “to renew the UCP Party and get people out on April 9.”.April 9 is the special general meeting in Red Deer where members will vote on Premier Jason Kenney’s leadership..“I am actually providing people with hope for the future for the UCP. They see that the renewal, the rejuvenation, that we’re going through right now, right on the ground, at the grassroots level, is so important,” said Jean..Jean handily won the Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche byelection on Monday with 63.6% of the unofficial popular vote. Jean said the win was a “clear mandate from the people” and told Kenney outright “the UCP cannot win unless you’re gone.”.While Jean won’t be officially sworn in as MLA for three weeks, Speaker Nathan Cooper introduced him in the legislature Thursday. The introduction was met with warm applause from both sides of the house. Premier Jason Kenney and Environment Minister Jason Nixon were noticeably absent..A handful of UCP MLAs gave Jean a standing ovation, including Chestermere-Strathmore MLA Leela Aheer, Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul MLA David Hanson, Calgary-Fish Creek Richard Gotfried, Calgary-East MLA Peter Singh, and Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo MLA Tany Yao..Jean told reporters in the rotunda “it’s great to be back and doing the people’s business.”.When questioned whether he had talked to Kenney since his win, Jean said “I got a tweet the other day. I haven’t talked to him in years.”.Jean was referring to this tweet, which the premier sent out long after Jean had been confirmed as the winner..The Western Standard asked Jean about allegations of corruption in UCP brass and how he would address such a problem if he became leader. “Corruption is never accepted in any form, in any government, for any political party that I’m involved with ever.”.“I will not tolerate any form of corruption.”.He also talked openly about his “mandate” from the people..“I think you can see by the results that they trust me. They know I’m here for their business…but they’re not just electing me to represent them. They are also electing me to renew the UCP party to get people out on April 9.”.He also took credit for a purported 10,000 new UCP memberships since he announced he would be seeking the UCP nomination..The Western Standard asked NDP Leader Rachel Notley if her and Jean were friends following Jean’s recent comments that Kenney should have invited Notley to the cabinet table during COVID-19..“When I was Premier and the Fort McMurray wildfire happened, we put a lot of effort into ensuring that the leader of the opposition of the day, Brian Jean, was kept informed about what was going on, and had access to public officials. Unfortunately, when the COVID emergency started, Jason Kenney decided to take a much more combative and also secretive approach and he cut off that access. So you know, I think that would be a good thing to do,” Notley said..“But in terms of the whole allegations of the UCP are talking about, listen if I have an alliance with Brian Jean, apparently I have an alliance with Justin Trudeau, apparently the great uniter in this legislature is me.”.Jean won’t be officially sworn in as MLA until April 5, four days before Kenney’s leadership review in Red Deer..Amber Gosselin is a reporter with the Western Standard..agosselin@westernstandardonline.com
MLA-elect Brian Jean stopped by the Alberta Legislature Thursday and said he was elected “to renew the UCP Party and get people out on April 9.”.April 9 is the special general meeting in Red Deer where members will vote on Premier Jason Kenney’s leadership..“I am actually providing people with hope for the future for the UCP. They see that the renewal, the rejuvenation, that we’re going through right now, right on the ground, at the grassroots level, is so important,” said Jean..Jean handily won the Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche byelection on Monday with 63.6% of the unofficial popular vote. Jean said the win was a “clear mandate from the people” and told Kenney outright “the UCP cannot win unless you’re gone.”.While Jean won’t be officially sworn in as MLA for three weeks, Speaker Nathan Cooper introduced him in the legislature Thursday. The introduction was met with warm applause from both sides of the house. Premier Jason Kenney and Environment Minister Jason Nixon were noticeably absent..A handful of UCP MLAs gave Jean a standing ovation, including Chestermere-Strathmore MLA Leela Aheer, Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul MLA David Hanson, Calgary-Fish Creek Richard Gotfried, Calgary-East MLA Peter Singh, and Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo MLA Tany Yao..Jean told reporters in the rotunda “it’s great to be back and doing the people’s business.”.When questioned whether he had talked to Kenney since his win, Jean said “I got a tweet the other day. I haven’t talked to him in years.”.Jean was referring to this tweet, which the premier sent out long after Jean had been confirmed as the winner..The Western Standard asked Jean about allegations of corruption in UCP brass and how he would address such a problem if he became leader. “Corruption is never accepted in any form, in any government, for any political party that I’m involved with ever.”.“I will not tolerate any form of corruption.”.He also talked openly about his “mandate” from the people..“I think you can see by the results that they trust me. They know I’m here for their business…but they’re not just electing me to represent them. They are also electing me to renew the UCP party to get people out on April 9.”.He also took credit for a purported 10,000 new UCP memberships since he announced he would be seeking the UCP nomination..The Western Standard asked NDP Leader Rachel Notley if her and Jean were friends following Jean’s recent comments that Kenney should have invited Notley to the cabinet table during COVID-19..“When I was Premier and the Fort McMurray wildfire happened, we put a lot of effort into ensuring that the leader of the opposition of the day, Brian Jean, was kept informed about what was going on, and had access to public officials. Unfortunately, when the COVID emergency started, Jason Kenney decided to take a much more combative and also secretive approach and he cut off that access. So you know, I think that would be a good thing to do,” Notley said..“But in terms of the whole allegations of the UCP are talking about, listen if I have an alliance with Brian Jean, apparently I have an alliance with Justin Trudeau, apparently the great uniter in this legislature is me.”.Jean won’t be officially sworn in as MLA until April 5, four days before Kenney’s leadership review in Red Deer..Amber Gosselin is a reporter with the Western Standard..agosselin@westernstandardonline.com
