ALBERTA ELECTION FORT MCMURRAY
Brian Gann is back in the Alberta legislature after claiming victory in the by-election. The man who has been criticizing Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s job took a big step toward that ultimate goal Tuesday night, winning a secondary election while carrying a United Conservative Party flag. Former Wildrose Party leader Brian Jean won by riding Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche, receiving nearly 60 percent of the vote. ‘I ran to the message that Jason Kinney needed to be replaced, that he needed to leave. Tonight people spoke at Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche wanting him to leave. They agree with me,’ Jean said during his victory party Tuesday night.
Gann has been calling for Kenny’s resignation for months, insisting that the prime minister in his first term would lose to the opposition National Democratic Party in a general election scheduled for May 2023. “To unify, we need him to go. He’s a great talker but bad at making decisions,” Jane said. The Fort McMurray-based attorney and business manager mobilized people to vote against Kenny in a leadership review on April 9, even refusing roadside assistance from the UCP MLA in favor of the case. “This whole single election is really weird. You don’t usually see all the candidates opposing the incumbent government. You don’t usually see the prime minister’s party candidate running openly against the prime minister. ‘This is a strange world,’ commented Duane Pratt, a professor of political science at Mount Royal University, adding that Jean’s win was not surprising given his local popularity. “The residents of Fort McMurray really love Brian Jane and would be happy to represent him. It remains to be seen if he can do that for the rest of the county.’ Jan, a former MP and MP for the Libyan Liberation Movement, defeated National Democratic Party (NDP) candidate Ariana Mancini on Tuesday.
It was also second to Jean in the 2015 county elections. Mancini received nearly 17 percent of the vote the second time around. In a statement, Mancini thanked her team for their efforts and promised residents “to never stop striving for better outcomes for my community.” Wildrose Independence Party leader Paul Hinman was third with nearly 11 percent. But, Pratt said, ‘Let’s see how they respond in person.’ He described it as unlikely that both men would be in the caucus of the United Communist Party after Kenya’s April 9 leadership show in Red Deer.
‘If Kenny wins the leadership review, I think he will take steps to remove Brian Gann from the caucus. And if Kenny doesn’t win the review, he may step down, then Brian Jane will be alone in the caucus. So, there is still a lot of drama in Alberta politics to come.’ However, he said, the party itself – divided over the best approach to the COVID-19 pandemic – faces an identity problem that goes beyond the leader’s issue. “It used to be that what tied the KKE together was hostility and hatred for the NDP and Rachel Notley and the realization that they had to come together to remove her from power. Now, they seem united — or at least enough of them united — on removing Jason Kenny. Well, Do that. Then where do you go?” he asked.
“They may be united in removing the incumbent leader, but they are certainly not united in how to move forward, and that is the challenge of this party. There are huge divisions within the party. Geographically, there are huge issues. Ideologically. And these are the things they have to sort out themselves. Or They do not arrange themselves. “The challenge for them is that the National Party is united.” The by-election was triggered when Lily Goodridge of the UCP MLA party resigned to run for a federal seat. On March 15, 2022, former Wildrose Party leader Brian Jean re-rided Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche, receiving nearly 60 percent of the vote under United Conservative party.
