One of the three individuals vying for Wildrose leadership made a pit stop in Bonnyville on March 7 to assure local residents there was still “a lot of life and even more fight left” in a party broken by the crossing of 9 MLAs, including longtime leader Danielle Smith, to the provincial PCs earlier this year.
Fort McMurray native Brian Jean considers himself a normal, everyday, hard-working Albertan. After spending ten years representing his local constituency as a Member of Parliament from 2004 until early 2014, Jean took a step back and started to focus on what he described as a “severe mismanagement” of affairs in Alberta.
Months later and the former parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities has set his sights on marching the Wildrose into a new era. An era he hopes will eventually lead to the downfall of the provincial PCs, and more specifically the downfall of current Premier Jim Prentice.
“I am very worried about the state of affairs in this province,” Jean told members of the public earlier this month. “In 2007, this province had a rainy day fund of $17 billion. That money is now gone. Not only is it gone, but another $12 billion is gone.”
He added, “Every single week $200 million is being borrowed by the provincial government, that's over $1.5 billion since Jan. 1 of this year. It's unacceptable and it has to stop.”
While Jean admits he is “deeply troubled” by the provincial financial situation, he feels the state of the Alberta health care system is even more concerning.
“Bad management of health care is absolutely the number one issue in this province right now,” Jean told the Nouvelle following the meet and greet. “It's the number one spender in the province right now, taking up 47 percent of the budget annually. It is absolutely out of control.”
While Jean believes that spending needs to be reduced, he wants to see it done without directly affecting provincial health care patients, which in turn relates to no front line worker cuts.
“Every time there's a cutback in spending, it's the front line workers who are cut first. That needs to stop. We can't afford to cut our doctors. We can't afford to cut our nurses. We need to look at (addressing AHS mis-spending) without it affecting our health care patients.”
Following his speech, Jean went on to address local concerns over post-secondary education, seniors, the energy sector and terrorism, before endorsing local Wildrose candidate Scott Cyr, stating the Cold Lake native would make a “great MLA” should locals choose to elect him in what is largely expected to be a spring election.
“It's people like Scott that make me run so hard and aggressively for leadership, because I know that with Scott we'll have a great team,” Jean said. “I'm hoping the people in this riding will come out and support him, because he is an excellent candidate who would be an excellent addition to the Wildrose team.”
He added, “Without electing a strong opposition, we won't be able to stop (the sitting government) from taking our money and wasting it. We need a strong opposition and Scott is one of those individuals who can hold the PCs to account and stop them from taking our money.”
When quizzed on why he would be the best man to represent the Wildrose party moving forward, Jean's retort was simple.
“I think I'm the right person quite simply because I have a deep-burning passion for this,” Jean said. “For many, politics is just a game, but not for me. Politics is a very important business, a business that Albertans want us to be good at. It's a business Albertans need us to be excellent at. I'm very, very passionate about Albertans and Alberta as a whole. I believe I have the expertise, education and Alberta work-ethic needed (to turn this ship around).”
Jean will face stiff competition from fellow leadership candidates; former Strathcona County Mayor Linda Osinchuk and Cypress – Medicine Hat MLA Drew Barnes. Barnes will be in Bonnyville on Friday (March 20) for a similar meet and greet with locals at the Senior Drop-In Centre at 7 p.m.
Should he be successful in his bid though, Jean said his first priority would be to take the money out of politics.
“We need to stop cronyism in this province. We took the money out of politics at a federal level and it's working very, very well. My first act as leader would be to bring in an accountability act whereby we would cap (how much money people could donate) during elections. I don't want to see companies, corporations, organizations or unions buying elections anymore.”
He added, “The most important thing I have to do is persuade good Albertans that the Wildrose party can be trusted. I believe Albertans are looking for somebody, looking for a party that can represent them truthfully, honestly and to the best of their ability.
Anything that lasts for 43 years and has absolute power to do whatever they want is not going to be effective or efficient. I promise, if Albertans elect me as leader of the Wildrose, I will be the person to lead our team. I can be the person to bring about the change this province so desperately needs.”
The vote for Wildrose leadership will be conducted by a telephone ballot in a 12-day period from March 16 to March 28. For more information visit www.wildrose.ca
