Brian Jean has reminded United Conservative Party (UCP) members to vote in Premier Jason Kenney’s April 9 confidence vote..In a Brian Jean Campaign e-mail on Tuesday, Jean said “#RenewtheUCP and return it to what it was meant to be. A trusted and united party committed to listening to Albertans and putting their needs first.”.Jean was previously the leader of the Wildrose Party. He lost to Kenney in a leadership election after the Wildrose merged with the Progressive Conservatives into the UCP. Jean resigned his seat in 2018 and was replaced by Laila Goodridge, who vacated the seat last fall to run for the Conservative Party of Canada..Jean has not been shy about how he thinks UCP members should vote..Jean encouraged his supporters to show up at the April 9 special general meeting at the Red Deer Cambridge Hotel & Conference Centre to vote. “We will provide more detail on how to do this later. We will help with transportation and busing and shuttling people.”.He also said financial and logistical assistance may be available to UCP members looking to get down to the vote..Last spring, an MLA spoke up at a closed-door UCP caucus meeting to remind Kenney the people who attended an anti-lockdown rodeo in Bowden were the “base” of the UCP’s support..“If they are our base, I want a new base,” Kenney said, according to three MLAs who spoke to the Western Standard on the condition of anonymity..Advanced polls opened Tuesday for the March 15 by-election in Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche byelection in which Jean is the UCP candidate. Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta Leader Paul Hinman is also in the running..Amber Gosselin is a Western Standard reporter..agosselin@westernstandardonline.com
