Crossing the floor? That'll be $100,000... The new leader of Alberta's Wildrose Party, Brian Jean, wants elected members of his party to have to pay a steep fee if they choose to join other parties before the end of their terms.
Crossing the floor? That'll be $100,000...
The new leader of Alberta's Wildrose Party, Brian Jean, wants elected members of his party to have to pay a steep fee if they choose to join other parties before the end of their terms.
Jean was declared party leader on Saturday, taking the place of Danielle Smith, who led a mass defection of Wildrose MLAs to the other side of the Legislature last year, leaving the Wildrose caucus at just five members.
Following his leadership victory, Jean told the POST the $100,000 penalty won't apply if members want to become independent politicians, but otherwise it'll be levied to keep MLAs from damaging the party and undermining the democratic process, he says.
"We're done with floor-crossing," he said, adding that having an effective, stable opposition is one of the cornerstones of a democratic political system.
He says Albertans need to have choices, but the element of choice is ruined when politicians can simply go to sit across the room with another party.
The Official Opposition party took a hit when Smith and eight other Wildrose MLAs joined the governing Progressive Conservatives in late 2014. Lac La Biche-St. Paul-Two Hills MLA Shayne Saskiw was one of those who stayed put.
Jean says that, with a provincial election looming, the government is preparing to finish what it started when Smith defected.
"We have an election coming that we don't want," he said. "They've decided to go ahead and try to destroy what little opposition we have left."
Jean is now leading what he sees as the only truly conservative-minded party this province has left, because the PC party grouped itself with other left-wing political entities when it introduced this year's budget.
The budget, announced last week, includes a variety of new taxes and fee increases to boost revenues in the face of low oil prices.
"Every NDPer in the province is going to be ecstatic," Jean said. "There's only one conservative party in Alberta-the Wildrose Party."
Jean announced on Monday that he would be running to represent the Fort McMurray-Conklin constituency in the next provincial election. A date for the election hasn't been set yet.
The Fort McMurray-Conklin riding's current representative is Don Scott, Minister of Innovation and Advanced Education.
Jean served as MP for Fort McMurray, Athabasca, Lac La Biche and other communities in northeastern Alberta for nearly 10 years before resigning his seat in Parliament in 2014.
