Wildrose Leader Brian Jean continues his tour of the province this week.
On Sunday, June 18, 2017, Alberta’s Leader of the Official Opposition made a stop in Fairview, first to check out the morning flight of the newly-restored CANSO airplane. While Jean was there, he also took the time to hear what concerns were currently on the mind of residents.
“I was excited to have people come up and introduce themselves,” Jean told the Trending 55 Newsroom. “We had chats about the economy. Some people were also concerns about some of the businesses that shut down within the region, especially in the retail and service business.”
Wildrose Leader Brian Jean listens intently as he hears concerns from party members in Fairview. (Photo/Peace River Broadcasting)
Afterward, the Fort McMurray-area MLA stopped at the Dunvegan Inn and Suites to attend a round-table with party members.
“I saw this as an opportunity to talk to people to find out what was on the ground in this area,” he continued. “This is a unity campaign, and I was there to answer questions on this file.”
Jean says people were excited about the 75 percent threshold the proposal to merge the Wildrose and the Progressive Conservatives (PC) into the new United Conservative Party (UCP).
“At the airshow, I had people come up to me to say that they were going to buy a membership in order to vote in favour of the proposed merger,” said Jean. “As well, about 20 percent of the people who attended the roundtable also renewed or purchased a membership within the Wildrose party.”
Another one of the issues discussed during the round table was health care, especially when it comes to the senior population.
“About a million new seniors every year in Canada,” he said. “This is an issue that’s been coming for some time, and our governments have been negligent in the provision of aging-in-place facilities, long-term facilities, and making sure that health care is used as health care.”
Jean says they want to make sure that we can encourage our seniors can stay home as long as they can.
“Usually, it’s what the seniors want in the first place,” he added. “The cost of health care for seniors to stay in their home is a lot less than when they are admitted into a hospital.”
He says a lot more facilities are still needed to help take care of our seniors.
“These are the people who helped build this great country,” said Jean. “I’ve heard horrendous examples of how our seniors were treated at the homes here in Alberta. I feel we need to get control of our health care, and also invest more on preventative medicine, as well as in analysis and diagnosis, instead of just simply care.”
Jean says accountability is also key when it comes to our politicians.
“My dad said quite a few times that politicians are a lot like fish,” Jean continued. “He said if they stay on the counter too long, they begin to stink a lot and need to be thrown out. I think that happens frequently in the province, and I hope I get to leave voluntarily one day before that happens to me. But until then, there’s still a lot of work to do.”
Jean says with this unity agreement with the PCs, they will be able to give Albertans back control of the political process, and give the final say to the voters who helped build the province.
“I love Alberta, and I do plan to live in this province for the rest of my life,” he said. “I’ve owned and operated several businesses throughout western Alberta, and also had the opportunity to be lawyer, as well as a federal MP, each for 10 years.”
Assuming the unity agreement passes, Jean reaffirmed that he is running for the leadership for the UCP.
“I think I have a wide breadth of experience to perform this job,” said Jean. “I’m a practical common sense person who’s lived in Fort McMurray all my life, and will work for the best interest of Albertans as I always have going forward.”
Anyone who wants to vote on whether or not to unite the two parties has until July 8, 2017 to do so. The vote to ratify the agreement will be taking place on June 22.
– Posted by BET
