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The last leader of the former Wildrose Party, Brian Jean, is returning to Alberta provincial politics.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Jean said he&#8217;s filed with Elections Alberta to run as the United Conservative Party (UCP) candidate in the upcoming Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche byelection, which hasn&#8217;t been called yet.
The provincial riding, roughly 436 km north of Edmonton, became vacant after Conservative MP Laila Goodridge resigned to run in the Sept. 21 federal election.
“You spoke and I listened,” Jean said in his post. “Something must be done or (Alberta NDP Leader) Rachel Notley will win the next election with an overwhelming majority. That will be bad for Alberta.”
In 2004, Jean ran successfully for the Conservative Party of Canada, where he remained as MP until his resignation in 2014. He returned to Alberta, where he won the leadership of the Wildrose Party in 2015. Two months later, he was elected in the provincial riding of Fort McMurray-Conklin, which was renamed Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche in 2017.
Jean resigned from provincial politics in 2018 after the Wildrose Party merged with the Progressive Conservative Party to form the UCP in 2017. He then ran unsuccessfully against Jason Kenney for leadership of the UCP. Kenney would go on to become Alberta&#8217;s premier after the UCP beat the NDP in the 2019 general election.
Jean has been a harsh critic of Kenney, especially for his mishandling of the pandemic. In June, Jean urged Kenney to resign.
“So, premier, before it&#8217;s too late, do the right thing and step down, for the good of the party we created and the good of Alberta,” Jean said.
Kenney will face a leadership review in April. The UCP’s annual general meeting was originally scheduled for next fall, but was moved up because of party members&#8217; growing dissatisfaction with Kenney.
The review could spark a leadership race before Albertans head to the polls in 2023.
Jean was unavailable for comment.
Jean&#8217;s nomination campaign is focused on removing Kenney as leader, says Duane Bratt, a political science professor at Mount Royal University, but Kenney has to approve Jean’s nomination papers before the latter can run as an official UCP candidate in the byelection.
“Typically, if a member of your caucus calls for the leader to resign, either the leader resigns or you remove them from caucus,” Bratt said.
“He’s putting Kenney in a very difficult box for what’s supposed to be a grassroots party. If Jean wins the nomination and Kenney doesn’t sign his papers, what does that say about his leadership?”
Bratt said if Kenney doesn’t approve Jean’s nomination, it could fracture the UCP into two parties again.
In May, the UCP removed MLAs Todd Loewen and Drew Barnes from caucus for allegedly undermining the Kenney government. Loewen and Barnes are both former members of the Wildrose Party.
With the two already out of the UCP, a new party could form with Jean as leader, Bratt said.
&#8220;Most people like Brian Jean,&#8221; he said. &#8220;He handled the Fort McMurray (wildfires in 2016) quite well. There was sympathy for him losing his house. He was respectful and co-operated with Rachel Notley in dealing with the Fort McMurray fires.
&#8220;But there&#8217;s a reason Jean lost (the leadership race),&#8221; Bratt added. &#8220;There&#8217;s a reason that, when (he and Kenney) were in Ottawa, (Kenney) was a senior cabinet minister and (Jean) was a backbencher. He lacks those skills Kenney has, but Kenney is incredibly wounded right now.&#8221;
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Former Wildrose leader Brian Jean returns to Alberta politics