Town hall tour opens with Jean in Calgary
‘On Your Side’ meeting held at Acadia centre
Wildrose leader Brian Jean’s series of town hall meetings across Alberta made its stop in Calgary on Thursday evening, as his party hopes to drum up support over the summer.
With Calgary’s stop taking place at the Acadia Community Centre, Jean says the tour, dubbed “On Your Side,” is about getting a response from communities on how they can be better served by the Wildrose party.
“We’re going around Alberta and finding out what Albertans want us to do for the next election,” said Jean, mentioning that he is prepared for the possibility of an early election call as well.
“We’re setting out priorities and a vision that we have, but as well, we’re gathering information … we’ve been seeking as much information and input as we can.”
A large component of Jean’s tour involves questionnaires to give supporters a chance to voice where they’d like to see the party moving in the future. For now, he is reiterating that Albertans are not approving the NDP government’s “draconian” economic policies.
The Calgary stop on the tour happened to take place on same day of the announcement that the tobacco-gate controversy, involving former Progressive Conservative Premier Alison Redford in 2013, will be reinvestigated over possibilities of conflict of interest. The controversy is over Redford’s PC government awarding a lucrative law contract to Redford’s ex-husband.
“We’re going to have to wait and see (what comes out of the investigation), but I certainly think it reminds Albertans of a legacy of PC management that is, frankly, something that I don’t think I’d be very proud of.”
Wild rose has been showing strong in the polls earlier in the year, although Jason Kenney’s bid for PC leadership is raising questions over the need to “Unite The Right.”
We’re setting out priorities and a vision that we have, but as well … we’ve been seeking as much information and input as we can.