UCP members face deadline
LEADERSHIP HOPEFUL BRIAN JEAN IN CITY TO ENCOURAGE REGISTRATION
He’s well ahead in the public polls, with nearly half of the Albertans surveyed saying they want Brian Jean to lead the new United Conservative Party.
But unless Albertans buy a party membership, Jean warned here Monday, they’ll have no say in selecting the province’s premier-in-waiting.
So far, he reported, only 35,000 to 40,000 Albertans are eligible to make that decision.
“There are just 10 days left,” he said midway through a round of meetings in Lethbridge and area.
Paid-up members of the newly merged party — Wildrose and Progressive Conservatives — will elect their leader on Oct. 28. But membership sales end sooner.
Jean, formerly an MP in Stephen Harper’s Conservative government, was guarded when asked what he had to offer Albertans that his opponents — primarily former Harper cabinet minister Jason Kenney — could not.
As a lawyer and a Fort McMurray businessman, Jean said, he brings more real-life experience to the table than a career politician.
“I’m a real Albertan, I stayed here and raised my family here,” he said. “I’ve gained a lot of experience in a lot of ways.”
But he learns more by talking with business people, seniors and ordinary Albertans, he noted.
“The seniors know what’s happening. They know history repeats itself.”
Albertans should focus more on renewable resources like agriculture, Jean said. The province should also be more supportive of business, he added.
As premier, he told reporters, he would lower the provincial income tax on big business to 10 per cent, as well as cutting the tax on small business to a nominal one per cent.
A government he led would also reduce the number of regulations governing the business sector, he said — though not in the areas of health and safety.
It would also fight Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s plan to reduce the pressure on middle-income Canadians by removing some tax-avoiding loopholes available to the nation’s higher-income groups, he said. It’s been criticized for its potential impact on farm families and professionals.
“We know (Premier) Rachel Notley won’t do that.”
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