'This is my party': Jean insists UCP will be crushed by NDP unless Kenney is gone

Brian Jean preps for return to politics Four years after losing the UCP leadership race, Brian Jean is returning to politics with the same goal he had in 2017, to unite the right.

EDMONTON — A man who lost the 2015 Alberta election to Rachel Notley now thinks he's the leader to beat her in 2023.

As Wildrose leader in 2015, Brian Jean won 21 seats to Notley's 54.

In 2019, Jason Kenney won 63 with the UCP, leaving Notley's NDP with just 24.

Now Jean wants a rematch with the former NDP premier, because he's convinced Kenney will lose to her the next time Albertans vote — and it won't even be close.

"I don't think that Jason Kenney is going to leave, at this stage it doesn't seem, unless there's a little bit more pressure on him," Jean said in a Wednesday interview with CTV News Calgary.

"If he doesn't leave we are going to have an NDP majority."

The UCP has trailed the NDP in a series of polls since last November, and several prominent conservatives have publicly criticized Kenney, including some of his MLAs.

"The UCP will not be in competition. It won't be competitive in the next election. That's very concerning to me," Jean predicted.

First Jean will have to pass a vetting process to get into the UCP nomination race, Kenney has said.

Then he'll have to win a vote of party members in Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche, in what Jean said will likely be a tough battle against "Kenney loyalists" that don't want him back.

Then Jean would have to win a general byelection to replace MLA Laila Goodridge, who stepped down after being elected to parliament.

Then it may come down to a leadership dispute between Kenney and Jean, with the premier facing a leadership review in April in Edmonton.

'QUESTIONS ABOUT HIS RELIABILITY'

Kenney has already started to paint Jean as an unreliable opportunist, given Jean has been linked to other parties and twice resigned before the end of his term.

"I'm sure the local members will have some questions about his reliability given that he did not complete his term as a member of parliament, he did not complete his term as an MLA," Kenney said.

"In 2019, he was openly calling people about becoming leader of the Freedom Conservative Party…and then a few weeks ago he said that he was interested in starting and leading a centrist party."

But on Wednesday, Jean insisted he's focused on the UCP.

"This is my party. This party belongs to a lot of Albertans that sacrificed a lot to make this party happen. It doesn't belong to Jason Kenney, it doesn't belong to Brian Jean, it belongs to all Albertans that want to be a part of it," he said.

Jean revealed that he already has the support of several conservative MLAs, although he wouldn't name names or say how many.

"I'm not going to get into numbers, I think you can tell from social media that some UCP MLAs have put comments on there…There's a lot of support for me," Jean said with a smile.

Jean also repeated his allegation that he left the UCP in 2018 because Kenney wanted him out, although he acknowledged that the now-premier did speak to him the day after the 2017 leadership vote.

"Very briefly, I told him at the time that I wanted to focus on my constituents," Jean said, confirming a conversation that Kenney told reporters about on Tuesday.

Kenney said he offered Jean a "senior role" in his party, but he declined.

Jean didn't get into that but repeated his original statement that after that weekend they didn't have any conversations at all until he resigned months later.

"I knew clearly that I was not welcome and he wanted me to leave, and so I did leave," Jean insisted.

Dates for the UCP nomination vote and the Fort McMurray-Lac la Biche byelection have not been announced.