Brian Jean

Brian Jean MLA
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche
Incumbent
Assumed office March 16, 2022
Preceded by	Laila Goodridge
Leader of the Opposition in Alberta
In office May 5, 2015 – July 24, 2017
Premier	Rachel Notley
Preceded by	Heather Forsyth
Succeeded by	Nathan Cooper
Leader of the Wildrose Party
In office March 28, 2015 – July 24, 2017
Preceded by	Heather Forsyth (interim)
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Fort McMurray-Conklin
In office May 5, 2015 – March 5, 2018
Preceded by	Don Scott
Succeeded by	Laila Goodridge
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities
In office February 7, 2006 – May 24, 2011
Minister	Lawrence Cannon John Baird Chuck Strahl Denis Lebel
Preceded by	Charles Hubbard
Succeeded by	Pierre Poilievre
Member of Parliament for Fort McMurray—Athabasca (Athabasca; 2004–2006)
In office June 28, 2004 – January 17, 2014
Preceded by	David Chatters
Succeeded by	David Yurdiga
Personal details
Born	Brian Michael Jean (1963-02-03) February 3, 1963 (age 59) Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
Political party	United Conservative Party
Other political affiliations	Conservative (federal) Wildrose (provincial; until 2017)
Spouse(s)	Kimberley Michelutti ​ ​ (m. 2016)​
Residence(s)	Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada
Alma mater	Warner Pacific College Bond University University of Calgary
Occupation	Politician lawyer
Website	brianjean.ca

Brian Michael Jean MLA (born February 3, 1963) is a Canadian politician who has served as the member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche since March 16, 2022. He was leader of the Opposition and the last leader of the Wildrose Party from 2015 to 2017 before its merger into the United Conservative Party (UCP). Jean was a member of Parliament (MP) with the Conservative Party from 2004 to 2014 before entering provincial politics.

Jean worked as a lawyer in Fort McMurray for 11 years before he was elected to Parliament, where he represented Athabasca from 2004 to 2006 and Fort McMurray—Athabasca from 2006 to 2014, when he resigned from the House of Commons. He returned to political life in February 2015 when he announced that he would seek the leadership of the Wildrose Party. He was elected party leader on March 28, 2015. In the 2015 provincial election, Jean was elected in the provincial riding of Fort McMurray-Conklin and became the leader of the Opposition as the Wildrose Party formed the Official Opposition to the governing Alberta New Democratic Party (NDP). Jean ceased to lead the Wildrose Party merged with the Progressive Conservatives (PCs) to become the United Conservative Party in 2017 and ran to be leader of the new party, losing to Jason Kenney. He resigned his seat in the Alberta legislature on March 5, 2018.

Background[]

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Jean was born in Kelowna, British Columbia, and moved to Fort McMurray, Alberta in 1967 when he was four years old.

Jean has a Bachelor of Science degree from Warner Pacific College in Portland, Oregon, and Master of Business Administration and Bachelor of Laws degrees from Bond University in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. He also attended the law school at the University of Calgary, where he received qualification to be admitted to the Law Society of Alberta. This allowed him to practice law for 11 years in Fort McMurray prior to his political career.

Jean has worked as a farmhand, a printer's assistant, a businessperson, a lawyer, and an inspirational speaker. In his community, Jean served as the chairman of the Children's Health Foundation in Northern Alberta, chair of the Alberta Summer Games, president of the Fort McMurray Downtown Business Association, and director of the Fort McMurray Chamber of Commerce.

Political career[]

Member of Parliament[]

Jean was first elected to the House of Commons as a Conservative Party of Canada candidate in the riding of Athabasca in 2004, sitting in the Official Opposition to Paul Martin's Liberal government. He was re-elected in the renamed riding of Fort McMurray—Athabasca in 2006, when the Conservatives formed government under Stephen Harper. In February 2006, Jean was appointed as the parliamentary secretary to minister of transport, infrastructure and communities, Lawrence Cannon. Jean was re-elected again in 2008 and 2011. After the 2011 election, he declined reappointment as parliamentary secretary in order to focus on his constituency needs. In the House of Commons, Jean served on the Finance, Justice, and Industry Committees.^{[citation needed]}

On January 10, 2014, Jean announced that he would be resigning his seat on January 17, 2014, to return to private life in Fort McMurray.^[1][2]

Leader of the Wildrose Party[]

The Wildrose Party was in disarray in late 2014 after eleven MLAs, including leader Danielle Smith, crossed the floor to the ruling Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta. A leadership election was organized to choose a new leader and Jean was encouraged to run. Jean entered the race on February 25, 2015.^[3] He and was elected party leader on March 28, 2015, with 55 per cent of the vote, defeating Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Drew Barnes and former Strathcona County mayor Linda Osinchuk.^[4]

The 2015 Alberta election was held on May 5, 2015, less than two months after Jean became Wildrose leader. The party retained its standing as Official Opposition in the legislature, growing its caucus from 17 in 2012, and 5 at dissolution, to 21. For the first time in Alberta history, the NDP formed government, with Rachel Notley becoming the premier of Alberta. This marked the end of 43 years of government by the Progressive Conservatives.^[5][6]

On August 30, 2016, Jean, responding to questions about the need for more seniors housing in the city he represents, told an audience he has been "beating this drum" for more than a decade. "I will continue to beat it, I promise," Jean said. "But it's against the law to beat Rachel Notley." He quickly apologized for what he later characterized as an "inappropriate attempt" at humour.^[7]

Merger with PCs into UCP[]

Jean's former federal caucus colleague Jason Kenney became Progressive Conservative leader after winning that party's leadership election in early 2017. Kenney's platform called for uniting the Progressive Conservative and Wildrose parties to form a united right-of-centre alliance. On March 20, 2017, Jean met with Kenney to begin unity discussions.^[8]

On May 18, 2017, Jean and Kenney announced that their two parties had come to a merger agreement and on July 22, 2017, the merger was passed with 95 per cent support from both the PCs and the Wildrose. The merger agreement formed the United Conservative Party, a leadership election occurred on October 28, 2017, in which Jean was defeated by Kenney,^[9] and a founding convention to be held in 2018.^[10]

Jean announced his resignation from the legislature on March 5, 2018, saying he wished to spend more time with his family and rebuild his house which had been destroyed in the 2016 Fort McMurray Wildfire.^[11]

Return to politics[]

On November 3, 2021, Jean announced that he would seek the UCP nomination for an upcoming by-election in Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche, and won this nomination contest on December 12 against Joshua Gogo, with 68 per cent of the vote.^[12][13] Jean won the March 15, 2022 by-election, having openly campaigned in favour of removing Kenney from the leadership of the UCP.^[14]

Electoral record[]

Provincial[]

Alberta provincial by-election, 15 March 2022: Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United Conservative	Brian Jean	3,714	63.6%	-2.73
	New Democratic	Ariana Mancini	1,081	18.5%	-6.01
	Wildrose Independence	Paul Hinman	628	10.8%	–
	Alberta Party	Michelle Landsiedel	98	1.7%	-4.08
	Liberal	Abdulhakim Hussein	211	3.6%	–
	Independent	Brian Deheer	56	1.0%	–
	Alberta Independence	Steven Mellott	24	0.4%	-1.43
	Alberta Advantage Party	Marilyn Burns	25	0.4%	–
Total valid votes			5,837
Total rejected ballots			0
Turnout			24.27%
Eligible voters			24,048

v t 2015 Alberta general election: Fort McMurray-Conklin
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Wildrose	Brian Jean	2,950	43.85	+3.70
	New Democratic	Ariana Mancini	2,071	30.79	+22.86
	Progressive Conservative	Don Scott	1,502	22.33	−26.62
	Liberal	Melinda Hollis	204	3.03	+0.06
Total valid votes			6,727	99.10	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			61	0.90	+0.07
Turnout			6,788	44.45	+8.15
Eligible electors			15,272
	Wildrose gain from Progressive Conservative		Swing		+15.16
Source(s) Elections Alberta. "Election Results - Fort McMurray-Conklin". Retrieved December 27, 2021.

Federal[]

Athabasca district (in Alberta)

2011 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Brian Jean	21,988	71.84	+4.72	$68,113
	New Democratic	Berend Wilting	4,053	13.24	+0.33	$24
	Liberal	Karen Young	3,230	10.55	-0.05	$20,825
	Green	Jule Asterisk	1,374	4.49	-1.88	$2,734
Total valid votes/Expense limit			30,605	100.00
Total rejected ballots			144	0.47	+0.13
Turnout			30,749	40.75	+5
Eligible voters			75,456	–	–

2008 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Brian Jean	17,160	67.12	+2.67	$48,046
	New Democratic	Mark Voyageur	3,300	12.91	-1.58	$1,853
	Liberal	John Webb	2,710	10.60	-4.17	$5,459
	Green	Dylan Richards	1,628	6.37	+1.47
	Independent	Shawn Reimer	350	1.37	–	$666
	First Peoples National	John Malcolm	233	0.91	-0.47
	Christian Heritage	Jacob Strydhorst	186	0.73	–	$733
Total valid votes/Expense limit			25,567	100.00	$101,823
Total rejected ballots			86	0.34	+0.03
Turnout			25,653	36	-12

2006 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Brian Jean	20,342	64.45	+4.16	$59,027
	Liberal	Mel H. Buffalo	4,663	14.77	-9.28	$3,333
	New Democratic	Roland Lefort	4,573	14.49	+4.03	$19,091
	Green	Ian Hopfe	1,547	4.90	-0.28	$8
	First Peoples National	John Malcolm	437	1.38	–
Total valid votes			31,549	100.00
Total rejected ballots			97	0.31	-0.06
Turnout			31,646	48.32	+0.47

2004 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Brian Jean	17,942	60.3	-6.40	$84,096
	Liberal	Doug Faulkner	7,158	24.05	-4.35	$52,713
	New Democratic	Robert Cree	3,115	10.46	+7.94	$4,942
	Green	Ian Hopfe	1,542	5.18	+4.18	$112
Total valid votes			29,757	100.00
Total rejected ballots			112	0.37	+0.07
Turnout			29,869	47.85	-8.43

References[]

External links[]

• Brian Jean – Parliament of Canada biography