Key Influencer - Brian Jean - UCP Candidate for Fort McMurray - Lac La Biche

Brian Jean first entered political life when he was elected to the House of Commons in 2004 in the riding of Athabasca. He also represented the riding of Fort McMurray – Athabasca from 2006 to 2014 when he resigned his federal seat. In February of 2015 he announced he would seek the leadership of the Wildrose Party which he was ultimately successful. In the 2015 provincial election Jean was elected to the Legislature to represent Fort McMurray – Conklin and became the Leader of the Opposition. Jean resigned as leader of the Wildrose to run for the leadership of the newly created United Conservative Party which he ultimately lost to Jason Kenney.

Jean is now running in the provincial by-election in the riding of Fort McMurray – Lac La Biche which was left vacant following UCP MLA Laila Goodridge winning a federal seat in the most recent federal election. Jean is campaigning on a platform to unseat current leader of the UCP, Jason Kenney.

Brian Jean has been very outspoken against Premier Kenney over the past year or so and is using his opposition as a primary driver for his reason to get back into provincial politics. He is amassing a following in not only the voting public, but it is rumored in the UCP caucus as well. With intentions of overthrowing the current Leader it will be interesting to see his role as a member of the Caucus if he is elected on March 15th.

Many are wondering if he will be able to challenge Kenney for the Leadership of the Party and if he would be successful in an eventual leadership race if Kenney decides to resign. There is some skepticism of whether or not he could pull off a win in a leadership race when he has failed in the past. All we can say for sure is that the space of time between the by-election and the leadership review on April 9th will make for some very interesting political theater.