Jean starts campaigning, calling NDP ‘secretive and dishonest’
Brian Jean formally announced Monday he’s running for the leadership of the new United Conservative Party.
Speaking at a Rocky View County golf course, Jean repeatedly criticized Premier Rachel Notley’s New Democratic Party in harsh tones.
“They’ve broken promises. Misled Albertans. They are secretive and dishonest. They treat every one of us who does not agree with them with increasing disdain and arrogance. They’ve allowed the Trudeau Liberals to write off Alberta,” said Jean, who stepped down Monday morning as leader of the Wildrose party.
In front of a banner with the slogan he’ll be using during the campaign — “Here for Albertans!” — Jean offered few specifics about what he’d do if elected leader. He spent much of the speech attacking the NDP, at one point claiming they’re embarrassed about certain aspects of Alberta’s history.
“Our shared history of drilling oil and stampeding fundamentally embarrasses the NDP and we’ve heard it from them,” Jean said.
“We can and we must do better and together we can. Let me be clear, I can tell you this much: I will never apologize for our industries, for Alberta, for Albertans or for our province.”
Jean made no secret of the fact he’d run for the leadership of the new party. The MLA for Fort Mc- Murray-Conklin was quick out of the gate in the race to lead the party since Saturday’s overwhelming votes by members of the Wildrose and the Progressive Conservative parties to form a combined conservative party.
On July 13, Jean surprised many in his party when he told Postmedia “most Albertans want a common-sense, middle-of-the-road government.”
During his speech Monday, Jean did not explicitly echo that appeal. When asked in a subsequent press conference whether he stood behind those comments, Jean would only say he “rejects labels.”
True to the right-leaning roots of Wildrose, he offered a few choice pronouncements regarding the problems with big government and issues with violent crime, which he says is “on the rise in every single corner of the province.”
He also promised to immediately eliminate the provincial carbon tax if elected.
Also throwing his hat in the ring for the leadership of the United Conservative Party is Calgary lawyer Doug Schweitzer, who got into the race before the unification votes, trying to appeal to more moderate voters.
Jason Kenney, the leader of the Progressive Conservative party, is widely expected to join the race this week. He’s holding a “special event” at the Metropolitan Conference Centre in Calgary Saturday afternoon. Jean used a similar euphemism in the run-up to Monday’s announcement.
Derek Fildebrandt has also been flirting with entering the race but has yet to provide an indication of when he’ll be announcing anything one way or the other.