Brian Jean – once upon a time the leader of Alberta’s Wildrose Party Opposition and more recently twice an unsuccessful candidate to lead the United Conservative Party (UCP) – seems to be as energized as that famous battery-powered bunny these days.
The UCP MLA for Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche appears to be campaigning hard on behalf of Premier Danielle Smith, about whom he once complained that he had to clean up the mess she left behind as Wildrose leader in December 2014.
That was when she infamously tripped across the floor of the Legislature with eight of her Opposition MLAs in tow to take the hand of premier Jim Prentice and join his Progressive Conservative government. As veteran Alberta political watchers will recall, that move was not just unprecedented, it was controversial to say the least.
Last fall, as Jean raced Smith to lead the UCP, he told the Calgary Herald, “The turmoil she left was incredible, and the best predictor of the future is the record of the past.” (Emphasis added.)
Well, nobody’s going to fault him now for that diagnosis.
You’d have to say that Jean – sporting a new beard that’s a little too grizzled to look hipsterish, which is possible but not easy at 60 – is campaigning almost as hard as he did earlier last year when he won his current seat in a by-election on the novel political platform of getting rid of the sitting premier, Jason Kenney, and replacing him in the province’s top political job.
Back in 2017, Jean squared off against Kenney to lead the UCP. Kenney may not have beaten Jean fair and square, but he beat him convincingly in 2018.
Thereafter, Jean fell off the radar for a spell, as he has from time to time in his political career, which began in 2004 when he was elected as the Member of Parliament for Athabasca. The riding then included the oilsands town of Fort McMurray, where Jean spent his formative years as the scion of an influential business family.
Jean had grown bored with federal politics and quit in 2014, not long after he had been discovered whiling away the interminable hours in the nation’s capital devising crossword puzzles and mailing them out to his hapless constituents in Canada’s carbon capital. By then the riding had been renamed, but it was pretty much the same real estate.
He rediscovered his zest for politics in February 2015, after Smith’s shocking floor crossing, when it looked as if the five remaining shellshocked members of the party’s caucus in the Legislature didn’t know what to do next. Jean announced he’d seek the unwanted leadership and got it on March 28.
That’s when he, in his own words, had to clean up Smith’s mess.
But if he thought he also had a chance to sashay right into the Premier’s Office in 2015, he had a surprise coming – along with almost everybody else in Alberta. That list would have included Rachel Notley, presumably, who nevertheless led her New Democratic Party (NDP) to a convincing majority victory on May 5 that year.
It could have been worse from Jean’s perspective. He won his own new seat, Fort McMurray-Conklin, and emerged with a caucus of 21 members. He plugged along as Opposition leader until the merger of the Progressive Conservatives, by then led by Kenney, with the Wildrosers in 2017.
After he was beaten by Kenney, a savvy former federal cabinet minister and ruthless campaigner, Jean lost interest in politics again, resigning his seat in the Legislature in March 2018.
This lasted until Kenney’s popularity began to slip and, sensing opportunity, Jean was inspired to begin his 2022 campaign to unseat the man who had defeated him in 2017 and replace him.
Alas for Jean, it was the unlikely Danielle Smith who eventually emerged as the winner of the race to replace Kenney, narrowly beating the UCP finance minister, Travis Toews. Jean finished a disappointing third.
Smith made up a portfolio for Jean, and declared him to be the Minister of Jobs, Economy and Northern Development, which also included some of the duties of the labour portfolio – presumably on the reasonable grounds it makes sense to keep your friends close and potential ambitious enemies closer.
So now is about the time that one would have expected Jean to get bored again, start creating crossword puzzles again, or maybe decide to spend more time with his bride of seven years, a former staffer in his Parliamentary office in Ottawa, and their young daughter.
Instead, suddenly, he would appear to have become a positive dynamo of electoral enthusiasm.
The most likely explanation, of course, is just the thrill of the contest, and team spirit.
But could it be that Jean sniffs something in the air – an unexpected breeze, perhaps, on a hot spring day – signifying more change in the United Conservative Party?
Who knows what will happen Monday? Even the pollsters can’t seem to agree!
But if by some unexpected turn of fate, the UCP happened to be looking for a new leader soon, Brian Jean would be right there, thinking, Third time’s the charm!
Support rabble today!
We’re so glad you stopped by! Thanks for consuming rabble content this year.
rabble.ca is 100% reader and donor funded, so as an avid reader of our content, we hope you will consider gifting rabble with a donation during our summer fundraiser today.
Whether it be a one-time donation or a small monthly contribution, your support is critical to keep rabble writers producing the work you’ve come to rely on as a part of a healthy media diet.
Become a rabble rouser — donate to rabble.ca today.
Nick Seebruch, editor
