Shaun Newman Podcast - #297 - Brian Jean

Episode Date: August 3, 2022

Brian is from Fort McMurray AB. Before politics he spent over a decade as an active lawyer, he served as an federal MP from 2004-2014, was the leader of the Wildrose (official opposition) from 2015-17, the current MLA for Fort McMurray - Athabasca  and has put his name in for the UCP leadership race to become the next premiere of Alberta. Let me know what you think Text me 587-217-8500 Support here:⁠ https://www.patreon.com/ShaunNewmanPodcast⁠ Link for more info about August 8th https://www.facebook.com/ucpvermilionlloydminsterwainwright

This is Brian Pekford. This is Danielle Smith. This is Glenn Healy. Hey, everybody. This is Paul Brand. This is Dr. Peter McCullough. Hi, everyone. This is Jamie Saleh.

And welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the podcast, folks. Happy Wednesday. Hope everybody's having a great week. I know I got a little bit of a son. Burt myself, son of a gun. But I can't complain too much. I mean, anytime you're getting out,

the warm weather, family, friends, you've heard it here every single episode, pretty much. when the sun's shining, man, get out there and enjoy it because up here in the Great North winter, it just seems like it's too long these days. Anyways, that's a side note. Today's episode will finish off next week on Monday, August 8th. I'll be in Vermillion at the Vermilion Regional Center

helping with meet the candidates of, well, who's going to be the next premier? We got Daniel Smith, Travis Taves, Todd Lowen, And of course, today's guest, Brian Jean, all in the house that night. I'll be sitting down with them for the last hour and a little bit of a roundtable. I put the link into the Facebook page last week. So if you're looking to get a ticket or a spot or more info, all that can be found on the Facebook page. So I'll make sure I do that again today for Brian Jean's episode.

That way, if you're wondering more about Monday, August 8th, in Vermilion, when the leaders come in and they're going to meet and greet and all that good stuff that night. You can find out more information. But yours truly will be there looking forward to it. Before we get to now today's episode, of course, with Brian Jean, let's get today's episode sponsors, Blaine and Joey Stephan, guarding plumbing and heating, 2021 Lloyd Minster Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year, with a team of over 30 who thrive on solving your problems

and offering the best possible solutions with 24-hour emergency service. services available because, well, as I say, when the crap hits the fan, nobody's waiting until the morning. Everybody want it fixed ASAP and these guys can get it done for you. They also developed and manufactured the world's most efficient grain dryer right here in Lloyd Minster. So all you farmers with the harvest in the horizon, you might want to check this sucker out. Go to guardian plumbing.ca.

Where you can schedule your next appointment at any time and, of course, see all of their amazing products. Deer and Steer Butchery, the old Norman and Kathy James family built butcher shop on the north side of Highway 16 and Range Road 25. Well, back in the 1990s, it was used by local hunters around the area for custom cutting and wrapping. Fast forward to today. It's had a facelift, new owners, and they're up and ready to roll for business. So if you've got animals that need to be cut and wrapped, they can get that done for you. If you're looking for a bit of an experience of talking an awful lot about it with Barry,

I got to fall along with him and cut up a half and see how it's done. And it was a pretty enlightening experience, pretty cool. And I tell you what, the steak does taste better after your hands have been on it. Give them a call 780870-8700. Agland. Well, they go back. 1957, they started as a John Deere equipment dealer with a staff of six here in Lloyd Minster. As of today, 60 plus years of business with three locations now, Lloyd Minster, Vermilion, and St. Paul,

and a staff of over 130. They sell and service John Deere, Brandt, Brent, Bobcac, Dangman, and AA trailers. And if you need more info, just go to agland.com to check out their full inventory or give them a call 780875-4471 on the oldagland.com. You can get lost looking at, they got tons in. Just tons of different things, right? So go take a look and see what they're all about, aglan.ca. Jim Spanrath and the team over at Three Trees Tap and Kitchen. They got a new contest happening here in Lloydminster.

The Three Trees treasure hunt. Dining guests get an opportunity to unlock a treasure chest with a three-digit code. Each week, they add a new item until the treasure chest is open. The winner gets the whole thing. There will be coasters, gift cards, blankets, cups, and other swag going into the chest. One attempt per visit, and of course you must be 18 to play. And if you're going to go to Three Trees, make sure you do what I never seem to do. and if you're taking the special someone out for a night,

well, wait, as I record this, it's my anniversary, so to my lovely wife, happy anniversary, and if I was taking her out in Lloyd and I was going to Three Trays, I would never do this. I would never call them Book of Reservation, and then we'd show up, Jim, and it'd be packed, and I'd be like, well, sorry, hon, we've got to go somewhere else. So don't be like me.

Call, Book of Reservation, 780-874-7625. Gartner Management, their Lloyd-Mr. Mr. Base Company specializing in all types of rental properties, to help meet your needs, whether you're looking for a small office such as myself or you've got multiple employees. Wade can get you hooked up. Give him a call, 780808, 5025. And if you're heading into any of these businesses, make sure you let them know you heard about them from the podcast, right? Now on that tail of the tape, brought to you by Hancock Petroleum.

For the past 80 years, they've been an industry leader in bulk fuels, lubricants, methanol, and chemicals delivering to your farm, commercial or oilfield locations. For more information, visit them at Hancockpetroleum.com. C.A. From 2004 to 2014, he was an MP with the Federal Conservative Party. In 2015 to 2017, he was the leader of the Wild Rose official opposition here in Alberta. And since March 2022 of this year, he became an MLA with the UCP and is one of the candidates now running to be the next Premier of Alberta. I'm talking about Brian Jean. So buckle up. Here we go. This is Brian Jean. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Today I'm joined by

Brian Jean. So first off, sir, thanks for making some time in your, I'm sure, busy schedule for me. Well, my pleasure. It is a busy schedule. As most Albertsons are busy right now, trying to, you know, keep afloat with the high cost of living and everything else that's going on right now. Yeah, you're not kidding there. Things have really, you know, I've seen all over, you know, not only your Twitter, but just in general, you go for a drive. You see the price of, uh, gas right now and you're like, holy dinah, like where does this end? Yes, obviously I've been trying to draw attention to it for months because I want people to recognize what I would do as the premier of this province if I had the privilege and that is, of course,

to make everyday costs for consumers for Albertans lower than anywhere else in the country, which I think is what people are looking for right now in the high cost of inflation. Just people are still not fully employed as they need to be and, you know, things are for some families in Alberta looking very bleak. So I hope they recognize that to, you know, to join the UCP and by a membership, they can pick their next premier just in two months. So it's pretty, pretty unique opportunity. And that's why my communication is focused on, of course, what I would do as premier as

lowering costs for Alberts, which I think is very important. Well, you're the fourth I've had on. I had Daniel Smith first, then Todd Lowen, Travis Taves, and now yourself. And one of the things, you know, for me, I consider myself a political newbie. You know, we, we were talking before we started about our backgrounds and hockey and that type of thing. And certainly that's where this show in the very beginning started, you know, it, you know, chasing down some people like Rahm McLean and Don Cherry and that type of, you know, that all Canadians know all about. That's right. And then, you know, as COVID wouldn't relent in the lockdowns and everything else, it changed because I was like, we got to start talking about things that really, you know, matter.

And, you know, I go back. I'm a political newbie. I didn't follow much politics. But now starting to get to know some of the candidates and understanding, you know, as Jason Kenney stepped aside and now we're going to have a new premier. I really wanted certainly my area, my audience to have a better understanding of who the people are running, right? A debate is kind of what a debate is. I watched the debate Western Standard did. and I guess I go, I get you on, I want you to give everyone who's listening the opportunity to hear who Brian Jean is.

And then we'll get into some questions about different things. But honestly, Brian, I don't know much about you. I wasn't a Wild Rose person. I was out of the country while all that was going on when you were under Stephen Harper and the federal government. I certainly wasn't paying attention back then. Most people don't. Well, isn't that the truth here in Canada? So for the average person, I just kind of want to hear.

a little bit about Brian Jean, and we'll go from there. Well, I've lived all my life pretty much in Fort McMurray. I'm born to a rancher and a farmer that turned into serial entrepreneurs in business in Fort McMurray. And I grew up with my 10 brothers and sisters there, and I was the youngest. And so I learned how to fend for myself. Yeah. I learned how to fend for myself at the supper table, I'll tell you. But, you know, we worked in the family businesses, and that's how I grew up.

And then I went away to school at a place called Prairie in Three Hills. I went there for four years for high school. And then after that, went to Portland, Oregon, got a Bachelor of Science degree in business. And I was the only one in my family that actually pursued university. It wasn't a very common thing to do in Fort Monroe in those days. And then went back and, you know, operated some businesses in Fort Monroe for a period of time. And I saw that the future was bleak in the 80s in McMurray, for sure, with what was going on with the liberal government.

And went back to school and got a lot. degree, went to the U.C, got an MBA in finance. I found I liked education. I just ran out of money. I actually was pursuing a master's in environmental law. But you see, in high school, I was never a good student. I would have been happy with like a C average or a C minus average. I would have been a static. But I didn't learn to study until, you know, my second or third year of university. But then I really liked it. And I found that if you work hard at it, you get good at it. So then I went back to Fort McMurray and I practiced law for 10 years. And then, became a member of parliament in 2004 and worked under Stephen Harper and had quite a few roles there and they were amazing.

I had an incredible education there. Came back to Alberta to, you know, retire to Fort McMurray because that's my home, of course. And my son got sick in the UVA hospital and, you know, he was refused a couple of times. And then he ended up dying after, you know, I sat across from pretty much every day for five months and watched him as he was misdiagnosed and died. and found out later that he was, indeed, it was missed on a slide. And to this day, there's no accountability. So the person that did that probably doesn't even know. And of course, there's no ramifications for it because that's what will keep people to account.

So my passion was to go back in as a Wild Rose leader. And of course, you remember the floor crossing and all of that stuff and everybody abandoned it. And then I came in and I resurrected the party and it's very good, strong people that were still involved with it. And we went on to become the official opposition to get the most seats ever against Rachel Notley. And at the time, the PCs. And then, you know, my son died ultimately a couple of weeks before the debate that people sometimes refer to. And, of course, they want that person. I was pretty shell-shocked at the time, losing my 24-year-old son and literally my best friend.

And devastated our family. So I decided I'd come back and try to fix health care. And in the process, I realized there's so many other things that need fixing. So I did that. And you saw, of course, uniting the parties. I was the one that stepped down and resigned my position in order for Jason Kenney to be able to be in a position to win that and for the parties to come together.

It took a while to do that. It took a couple of years, actually, to talk about people, you know, I don't know if you remember, Sean, but I talked about my dancey shoes being on in Calgary and looking to have an opportunity to hug the PCs. And, you know, I was leading that charge to bring the parties together

because I thought it was the best thing for Albertans. And Jason Kenney won, I have to tell you, I had high hopes for him. I'd served with him for 10 years, and our policies were very well aligned. And then it was just, it seemed how he did things, just rubbed people the wrong way. And I left politics because my mom and my sister died

very shortly after that within the next year of me leaving politics. My sister had been sick for a while. My mom was my business partner. So I stepped back from politics, went back to Fort McMorory, took care of my family. I was the executor for my son, my sister and my mom all at the same time. So it was a lot of work and taking care of the businesses was a ton of work. So I stepped back and took care of my family. And at the same time, my wife was an airmanevac to Edmonton in order to give birth to our baby. She almost died from that instead of my baby. I know all too well. Our third, Casey, almost lost my wife. Emergency C-section, she was bleeding out. He came out limp and those are hard, very happy to have both of them, but those are hard moments to talk about

even as the years progressed by. You as a man, as a father, as a family member. Geez, in the last two minutes there, the amount of things you've went through in the last number of years has been an awful lot, Brian. You shouldn't hide away from the emotions. I know you don't want to be the strong guy who doesn't show that,

but I think it's human to show a little bit of emotion when you talk about that much going on in your personal life. It was kind of crazy. And, you know, Sean, I forgot about the, my house burning down and the flood. Man, it was, I feel sorry for the people in Portman Murray. You know, a lot of people still haven't recovered. That's why I want to get involved.

I want to bring in some insurance reforms, particularly in house insurance. I have a list. So I'm, one thing I've recognized is that politics matters. whether it's locked down, and I have to tell you, I'm ashamed to think that in Alberta we locked down pastors. Yeah.

Well, religion. Religion went the way the Dodo Bird. Well, even so, only for some people. Other people believe very strongly in their beliefs, and we have to respect that. That's why I put forward my theme of my campaign being autonomy for Albertans. And that doesn't mean, you know,

walls, it doesn't mean separation. It doesn't mean creating conflict or controversy or doing, you know, avoiding and ignoring the rule of law. What it means is working within the law to change the law. And I believe that we're on the precipice of a constitutional opportunity for Albertans. And in that opportunity, we need to push for more autonomy for Albertans within Canada, which means that we as individuals have whatever rights are available in PEI or Newfoundland or Quebec, we get them here. or Brian Jean-led government. And I will force that issue as much as I possibly can.

Ten years in Ottawa, working with the bloc and the liberals and the NDP, I can tell you that I know how to do that. And it's not by bluster. It's by making sure we follow Section 46 for the Constitution, making sure we follow the reference case and that was given to Quebec in the 90s for the yes-no vote and making sure we follow the rules

that have been laid down by the court, the Supreme Court, and the Constitution, which means the liberal elite and the Laurentian elite expecting that Quebec would use it someday. Instead, here's Alberta looking for an opportunity to renegotiate Confederation, and we have it, and we can do it. And the Supreme Court of Canada will let us do it. And I'm excited about that opportunity.

That's why I want to be premier, I think there's so much we can fix, whether it's the imbalance on political representation in the Senate or the House of Commons, whether it's the fact that we have no ability to send our goods and services over other provinces to the world, as is protected by the Constitution. We need to update our Constitution. We need to bring it into this century, and we need to make sure that we protect Alberta's rights as the number one issue.

As you can tell, I feel pretty strongly about it. Yeah, and I caught a word in there. I assume it's targeted towards the Alberta Sovereignty Act. I heard you talk about Daniel Smith's proposed things being, I think it was in the debate. I can't remember. I wrote it down and then I spaced on where it came from. but fiscal fairy tale. And I sit here and I'm just Joe Schmoe, so to speak.

So I hear that. You're not a Joe Schmoe. I go, interesting. Why? Why can it just be that quick? And I feel like a man based in law can tell us exactly why, or maybe not. I don't know. I just, when I heard you say it's a fiscal fairy tale, I go, interesting.

Because all the candidates that I've heard talk want more autonomy for Alberta. why can't be it but it's how you get it's but it's how you get it's just like jason kerry it's not his policies that i disagreed with it's how he implemented it how he set up his government how he chose people to hire from outside of alberta instead of hiring alberton's and know what albertans think um but you know i do find some parts of the sovereignty act proposal good and you know remember we had a whole bunch of proposals and now we actually have a piece of paper that reflects some of them and i will tell you, Sean, that what was proposed at debates and what I heard of debates is much different

than what's on paper. It's been softened down a lot. And that concerns me because what you say you should also do and you know, you're going to say you're going to do something. Let's see you do it. But the problems with the Sovereignty Act, and it's not all problems. In fact, I proposed under the autonomy, you know, personal autonomy in particular some opportunities for Albertans that I think we can do. But we have to do it right. If we do this wrong, it sets back for generations. And we can't let people say that we as Albertans don't want to do this. And that's why we had the referendum.

I came up with that idea of the referendum. Sean, I came up with the idea of the equalization study that was done by three economists from across the country when I was the leader of the Wild Rose Party. And that's because I've been on the same trajectory for a long time. I really want to fix the Constitution. I want to represent Albertans. And it's not through breaking laws.

Think about it this way, Sean. We're going to collect our own tax line. How's that going to go over with Revenue Canada? They can seize your money. in your bank account without even asking you, without even getting a court order with just sending a letter. And, you know, people maybe don't realize that, but Revenue Canada, if they send a letter to a credit union or ATB or to the Royal Bank of Canada, they're going to honor that. So if you think you can, you know, not remit GST or not remit income tax returns to revenue Canada, you're fooling

yourself because they're going to come after you, just like they're going to do with anybody else. I had one particular person, and it gets me a little upset when people talk about things that aren't real and not realistic and are against the rule of law. We exist on the rule of law and the respect for that, and it's very important to maintain that. We can't disobey some laws and obey other laws. We can't think that we can appoint court of Queens Bench Justices to the court to try murderers because nobody's going to obey those murders and where the murder is going to go to jail. They're federal institutions two years less of a day or more. as a federal institution. So, you know, they're all integrated situations.

And the Constitution specifically says, you know, the federal government appoints queens bent justices. And they're not going to give that away. Just like it says they have the right to control banking. They're not going to give that away. Just like it says they have the right to make decisions on the environment. These are all balances. And we need to get to the original document, the original contract under Section 46.

I said I would give legal notice immediately upon being hired as the people's premier. I would give legal notice the same day. and get that notice to the premiers and the prime minister letting them know under section 46 that we're invoking that section to have constitutional negotiations. And right now the beautiful part about it is all the other provinces are complaining about health transfers. They've joined us in the pipeline at the deal. They're moving forward in a number of ways saying we're not getting enough money to fund the things that Ottawa is making us fun. They're starving us with their own pet projects. This is the way to challenge and take out Justin Trudeau in the next election is by making.

sure we challenge them in every single province, challenges on whether it's health care, whether it's transfers, whether it's the opportunity to trade our services and products with the world. Each province has a different gripe with Ottawa. We have to stick together, change the Constitution, and have a new deal. If you had a problem with your spouse, you would sit down and try to negotiate, not just say, hey, I'm getting a divorce. You'd try to solve it. I would think most people would. I would hope so because we have a good thing in Canada. It's the best place in the world, but Albertans are not treated right. We're not treated fairly, and frankly, we need to change that.

And I think most Albertans recognize that. That's why we got 62%. And I think under a different Premier, we could have got much more than that. So day one, Brian Dean elected Premier, you're going to invoke Section 46 of the Constitution Act. Is that correct? Yes, sir. I'm going to send notice under that section. Has this ever been done before?

and two, if it hasn't, why hasn't it? What hasn't been done by this government or a premier here because I don't think they have passion and purpose? You know, you check my track record. I've been pushing this agenda forward for some period of time now. This is not new to me, but it was new when I, it was brand new when I got there. And I'm pushing this agenda because I believe this is the only way we can fix it.

I don't want any other job and any other privileges of being the premier of the people of Alberta. I don't want to go to Ottawa. I don't have a requirement or need for, another job outside of this final position that I wish to have because I want to bring in all those constitutional changes. And actually, I want to bring in the opportunity for Albertans to have rights right now under the Constitution, under the charter. We have rights only if government says we have rights. That's not a right. That's just a privilege at the behest and the decision making

of Justin Trudeau and Supreme Court justice. We need to entrench rights in a piece of legislation in Alberta that is supreme to other laws as much as it possibly can be. You know, when I mentioned I was bringing you on, it started a little bit of a Twitter banter between a multitude of people. But one of them was Darrell. He'd said, why do you think

you can get constitutional reform done? One. But the second part of that was another person came on and said, once the constitution is open, what prevents Canada for asking or taking more from Alberta than they already do? Your thoughts on that? Well, I'll answer the second question.

First, it's got to be on the basis of fairness. This is about independent partners that under Section 92 have specific rights. And then under Section 91, the federal government has specific rights in order to govern our country properly. It's no different than an agreement between a couple. Two people that say, you know, this is what we're going to do, whether it's a business agreement or a personal agreement. And they both have rights, equal rights, just like each province has equal rights. And each province in this particular case wants a different. of rules from Ottawa. It's been boiling under the surface for some period of time, not just in

Alberta, but in other provinces. But Sean, remember, answer to question one, constitutional changes do take place. Just this year, Saskatchewan had a constitutional change. They removed CP rail from their opportunity to be tax-free in Saskatchewan, oddly enough. There wasn't a great turmoil in relation to that constitutional change. It's being done by other provinces. It's just, you know, this particular change and this particular set of changes, we need to open up the Constitution in order to set up a whole bundle of things that we need to change. And I know the federal government doesn't want to do that. I know that some provinces might not want to do that. But the truth is, I think at this particular stage, we're in a unique opportunity to sit down with all the other

provinces and say, we need to change the balance of power in our resources, which under Section 92 are hours. And right now the court of appeal has agreed with us and all the other provinces have jumped onto that bandwagon and said, yes, we want to appeal that decision because it's an infringement on our rights. Now, sooner or later, people come to a point and they say, enough is enough. Sit down at the table. And that's where we are right now. We just need to sit down at the table. Is it going to be bad? What do you think that it's going to be Alberta against everybody? That's not going to happen. We all have the same issues. We have the health care issue that's taking 42% of our budget and it's out of control and it's not giving us outcomes right now at all that are up to what we should be getting

and certainly not on par with what other provinces are getting. We have an incredible workforce in the health care, our doctors, our nurses are fantastic, but they're not, they do not have the proper organization and they're got the wrong focus. We need to change that focus to make sure they respond. Every province is in the same position, just not as bad as we are in Alberta. Same as the justice system and the policing system and all of the other things that are a combination of both federal and provincial powers. And that's why the Supreme Court of Canada is there to make sure that the federal government stays on their side and the provincial government stays on their side.

And there is a balance. The constitutional change happens all the time. And by the way, Alberta has the same agreement with CPREL about not paying taxes here in Alberta. And that could be a constitutional change we could get tomorrow. So we can get constitutional change. We just have to be willing to do it. We're so afraid of getting a bad deal that we're not even prepared to go and try to pursue a fair deal. So we're just going to get angry and allow people to get angry.

And I will tell you, Sean, I have had people in my cross-country tour. I had two or three hundred people at one and a gentleman said, we're so angry, we're so angry. And I asked him, I took him down the scenario. I said, okay, well, what's next? What's next? He said, we're going to get our guns. Whoa, wait a second. You're going to get your guns?

Like, that's not. Like, people are not thinking about the next step. What's the next step on the Sovereignty Act? What's the next step when your bank seizes all your money and sends it to Ottawa and you can make your payments? What's the next step when a murderer is led off by the Supreme Court of Canada because they were tried by a court of defense justice that's not a legal justice under the Constitution? You know, I know people are angry. I don't blame them. I'm angry.

I'm in Fort McMurray. You want to see an infrastructure deficit or people suffering? Come on up to my home. I'll put you up. You won't believe people suffering there. flood, fire, NDP, it's been brutal. And then a government, quite frankly,

that it has failed on health care. Failed on health care. Our health care system is in shambles. And it needs emergency resuscitation right now. It needs somebody in there that's got some experience that can take the ball, look at the macro perspective of it, and get people empowered to work in the sector

and get results and outcomes and make sure that those outcomes actually follow patients. I mean, we are not, healthcare is turned to it, a money game and a political game and a employee game. It should not be any of that. It's not a game. It's people's lives.

We need to pay attention. People are angry. People want action, right? They want a plan on how do we get some of the, I don't know, the unity, the trust, things like that back, how they get some accountability for some of the things that have gone on in the past couple years. you know part of the health care crisis you go yeah and they let 1,500 people go in the middle of you know like some of this is like you can sit there and talk about but we still have to acknowledge like some of it is self-inflicted over and over and over again and so people are angry

they want somebody to come in and shake the nest but they want a silver bullet if I can say that Sean they want a silver bullet they want somebody to come in and shake the nest that that has a nest that's sort of that special silver bullet that kills the whirlwolf. It's not about that. There's a whole series of things we have to do practical, legal steps that have to be implemented now. And you have to understand what those things need to be. We also need to get our economy back in shape. Somebody needs to focus on our economy and get people working again, making sure that people have good jobs as inflation spirals out of control.

That's why I propose the 30 cents a leader off of gases, gas and diesel. That is, frankly, a royalty tax discount that I would make permanent for Albertans, that they would not pay royalties on gasoline and diesel, and I don't think they should. They own the product. Why would they pay it on the 380,000 barrels a day that we do here and that we consume here in Alberta? That's why I suggested the transmission and distribution cut of one-third just based on interest income because people in their homes are having problems making bills and making ends meet. It's pretty tough. They're making decisions whether they put gas in their vehicle or whether to put food on the table. And we're in Canada,

the best country in the world. We're in Alberta, the best place. in the world for sure. Like, why are we doing this? We have all the resources we need right now. We just need to get it to Tidewater. We have all the people power that we need to transform our economies and make them better for the future. And yet, you know, all of this red tape, all of these people in the way and all of these

people, frankly, plain politics like they did with COVID, it's unacceptable. These lockdowns have caused so much harm, so much harm to our economy, but to people's mental situation. You know, under Brian Jean government, I would tell you, I will never do the candy stuff. locked on, no lockdowns. They're not acceptable. And what, what took place, frankly, with, as I mentioned, with churches and doing that, it wasn't necessary. And it caused a lot of animosity and a lot of distrust. And I don't blame people for not trust in government. But remember, one person made those rules with the cabinet that either made those rules with him or ignored him and let him do

what he wanted to do. So either way, you know, we have to do things differently in the future. And that means we have to have people say no to the leader and make sure that the leader. And make sure that the leader is a question and that there's a team around that leader, not just one single person. That's why day two, Sean, I would unify the party. We get everybody together in the caucus, get the CAs together, get the presidents together, get us into the same room so we can have the discussion, get it off our backs, talk about what's in the past, is in the past, and move forward because we need to make sure the NDP don't win in the next election.

And that's what I'm planning to do doing. That's why I've suggested that I would make every leadership candidate, a cabinet minister, because I know that we need those people and their and their fans, their followers as part of our cabinet moving forward as a part of our team moving forward. So we can not just unite caucus, unite cabinet, unite the party, but we need to unite Albertans behind this party that they'd frankly almost lost trust in. I don't think they've lost trust yet, but they're looking, they're looking and they're saying, who can I get trust?

If Kenny didn't step aside, they lost trust. Absolutely. And I wish you would have done it a little bit, earlier, to be honest. Kenny steps aside, and now there's an opportunity for whoever comes out of this to pull it together before the election here in 2023. And it's kind of one of the things I was curious about. I watched the Western Standard debate and bring them up again.

And I feel like that's the interesting thing about the debate. You got a bunch of smart people up on stage. I don't think anybody can, you know, just. railroad any of the can. Yeah. And they all want what's, I believe, to be best for Alberta, and they all have their vision of what's happening. One of the hard things, though, you can see as everybody's standing up there is how are you going to get unity amongst, you know, you're going to win. One person's going to win. And then the next day, they're going to have to figure out, how do I get you all to come, follow me? How does Brian Jean do that? Is it just

by exactly what you said? That's going to be the way, bring them all in on day two, and try and get them to see your vision? No, no, that's not it at all because it's not just about my vision, it's about theirs. Good visions and good leaders work together to get a vision that everybody can agree to. And that's what we need to do. So we truly need that opportunity. But common purpose is the best thing to unite people and respect, making sure that they understand that they are part of the solution and focusing on the things that bring us together, not the things that tear us apart. That's what we need to do. And it will happen.

It's going to happen on whichever leader has that opportunity. I think I have the best opportunity to do that because of my experience. I will tell you that a couple of members of the Wild Rose Caucus were fairly interesting to deal with. And I never had any caucus members that were kicked out of caucus or quit caucus. We had one suspension, but that's it. So, you know, I was a leader that dealt with the Wild Rose Party going from two city MLAs that went back with us to 20. and then we grew our caucus to some degree after that. But we never had that kind of turmoil.

We kept it inside caucus. And that's what we need to do is make sure that whenever we have those discussions that are hot or discussions about where we're going to go in the future, we keep those discussions in caucus and do so as much as possible. Now there's political leadership. And frankly, as you mentioned, Sean, Jason Kenney had to go. And I unfortunately had to take a role in that. It was distasteful to say the least.

But in order for us to have the opportunity to beat the NDP next year, that had to happen. And I would say to you that I wish more people on the stage with me the other night would have been part of that because it would have made it a lot simpler to have that message communicated if more people would have been behind me. But I felt alone on that stage as far as, you know, Mr. Kenny. But as I say, I want to move forward. I don't want to move back. I think Mr. Kenney still has an opportunity with our future in Alberta. He's in Alberta and he needs to be able to be in a.

place that's best for Albertans. And I think if he stays as an elected official, we will find a position for him that is suitable to his skills, which are great. He is an amazing talker. And he would be a great salesperson for us in, for instance, the U.S. or otherwise. There's a position for everybody. Daniel Smith, I think she would make a great cabinet minister, as would Mr. Taves. I think that their roles would have to change somewhat. And I do think that Ms. Smith would be a very good person to have as a liaison dealing with affairs on pipelines and other issues that are aggressive, but you need to make sure that you act within the law and act within the international treaties and the other things that are out there that restrict us because if we don't, they're just

going to be set aside before we get them in the ground. That's the thing people miss. If you go about this the wrong way, not only do people of Alberta not have the opportunity to express themselves on the 62% amazing mandate we got from them in the, in the provincial, in the provincial referendum that went out in the municipal election. But we also have the opportunity to do so many other things on what we need to do if we can have that team with the proper quarterback. And the quarterback, I think, needs to have more experience than some of the people and make better decisions. And, you know, frankly, I do make good decisions.

I'm not the fancy talker. I'm not the great talker. I know that because, you know, frankly, I haven't been a politician all my life or a radio show host. and I get that. Some people are very gifted at talking. I'm gifted at making decisions and good decisions and empowering teams and bringing them together, and that's what my gift is. You mentioned you haven't been a politician all your life, but you've been a politician now going on.

It's closing in on two decades, certainly 2004, I believe, to 2014. And then, of course, the Wild Rose brief stint. And now back in again, I mean, it's not totally two decades, but you get the point. and I think you're better talking. Are you saying I'm old, Sean? Are you saying I'm old? I'm saying, I guess, what's one thing, you know, over your political career that you hang your hat on, that you're like, this is what I can get done if elected to Premier. Now, obviously, you haven't been a Premier before, but through your journey to where you are right now, is there one thing that you're like, you point back to and you're like, that, that's, that's what I did.

and that's a hallmark sign of Brian Jean. I don't think there's any one thing. Just like people are looking for that silver bullet, I don't think there is one. You can listen to people and you can say, oh, that sounds really good. That sounds awesome. But it's not realistic or it may not be realistic.

And it can't be done. And you think, well, let's do it otherwise. But there's no one thing. I would just say to you, Sean, that I did practice law for 10 years. So I have a lot of experience with litigation in the courts. And I know some people frown on that. But, you know, I had to struggle to get that law

degree and I had to struggle, I think, you know, two or three times more than other people did just to graduate from high school and university, et cetera. I think that one thing that does set me apart, I guess, maybe is the struggle that I've had on a continuous basis to do to do. And one of the things I have wanted to do is obviously be the leader of the province so I can bring in some great policy and empower a team to beat the NDP in the next election and then go on to have a transformation in our economy and our lives so we have more rights, but also have a better economy and we shine as an example to the rest of the world. But, you know, I do have a lot of business experience, small business experience especially, which puts me in a unique position.

I spent, you know, some time in rural Alberta living and also in Fort Monroe, which is sort of an urban rural divide. I have, as you mentioned, you know, almost 15 years of experience and both as a federal MP and as a provincial leader of the opposition and as an MLA. And, you know, I do think I have a wide birth of experience and a lot to offer to the people of Alberta. If there's They're so willing. I hope they are. But I do think all of the candidates do have a lot to offer. And that's why I haven't made that suggestion on cabinet.

And that's why I want to bring them into a situation where they can gain that experience and be part of a team that has a lot of experienced people that are Albertans, hired for serving Albertans. Do you think your time with the Wild Rose, you come in, you know, after the floor crossing, there's, you know, you get elected, there's like a two-month window. where you run for premier, you become official opposition again, do you think that experience won't mirror perfectly over to what's about to happen, but it's pretty freaking close. Like you're going to become, if elected,

you will actually become the premier for a very short stint, where your goal is, you know, obviously to win again. And some of the things you need to do there is kind of not totally, identical to the Wild Rose because obviously they weren't the, you know, the Premier. But disarray, you know, how do you trust all these different things in a short period of time? Yeah, it's very similar. All those people, the Wild Rose Party, I didn't know any of them, any of the MLAs when I went in there. So it's very similar now.

You're right, Sean. You know, I think the stability, the good decisions, showing Albertans they can trust us, making sure that we made balanced decisions. We took our time with them so that we didn't rush into things that we regretted. had to change our mind immediately afterwards. That's what I think the people of Alberta want. And it is very similar. You're right, it is.

And I'm the outsider coming in. I have some good policy ideas. I've spent the last few years getting, you know, things focused on in my own personal life. And I think I can do the same thing for the province of Alberta if I get that opportunity. So, yeah, it is very similar, Sean. And I know that, you know, some people frowned on me last time. But I think after all was said and done, we won the most seats we've ever won as the Wild Rose Party. We built up the team after that.

We held the team together, which shows the ability to manage a good team and to empower them. And I think that's what it's about bringing them together, not tearing them apart, focusing on the things that make us strong together and that Albertans want us to focus on. I mean, people do criticize me on Facebook and social media right now and say, oh, Brian, why are you doing this? Why are you saying that? Everyone. Yes, they do. And indeed, they do. Whenever I feel too good about myself, I go on to Twitter for five minutes and it takes me right down very quickly.

but, you know, I think I'm the right quarterback for the team. I think I'm the person that can make sure that other people are elevated to show Albertans that we have a lot of competence. I don't think it's about a one-person show. I think it's about bringing everybody together and making sure they feel they have a voice. And some people for some period of time have felt they haven't had a voice. I, for instance, don't understand how some people can stand on the stage and say, I'm all about unity.

And meanwhile, Todd Lohne and Drew Barnes have been kicked out of caucus and are still out of caucus. and they were wild rose members. Drew Barnes was a wild rose member when there was a floor crossing. He stayed there. He was the one who stayed there and showed backbone. And today he's outside of the caucus

out of no choice of his own. That's not unity. That's not trying to build teams and empower them. That's why I've reached out to Drew. I've reached out to Todd. I do so frequently because I want them to know that a Brian G-led government

would have a home for them in the UCP as long as the caucus agreed to it. I think if we did it under certain conditions, I think they'd agree to it tomorrow if they could meet. I've asked, I'm pretty sure I've asked this of every candidate. Let's say the opposite happens. Sean Newman becomes Premier. I mean, all jokes aside. That's a great opportunity, Sean. I'm looking forward to that. I like it. I've listened to your podcast. I think you'd be great. I just, I go whoever gets elected, but it isn't Brian Jean. Does Brian Gene stick on and become a useful member of that team?

Well, I sure hope so. I sure hope so. That would be my intent. It was my intent last time. I had things coming to my life, but the truth is the premier didn't talk to me for a couple of months after that weekend. And it became very clear with him and his team that they had no interest in Brian Jean sticking around. And I wanted to get out of his way because I had high hopes for the province of Alberta under Jason Kennedy led to get them just like you did. But yes, that's my intention.

For sure, I'm, you know, I've worked the last four or five years to try to get the estates in order to try to get my businesses in order so that I can do this on a full-time basis. So yes, I am committed to doing so. And I'm hoping the next leader, if it isn't me, I certainly hope it's me. But if it's not me, I hope they can find the opportunity to empower other members that were in the leadership debate. I haven't heard that from them yet. I hope they can unify the party afterwards and they'll do so by making sure those people feel part of the cabinet in caucus.

Well, the reason I bring it up is once again, I come back to watching the leadership debate. I see all these candidates and hearing them speak, I go, well, you got a team there, right? Like, here's a team that. needs to stick together if you're going to weather the storm of a new premier followed by an election. Unity is going to have to be one chunk of that. And that's going to be a very difficult thing considering only one person gets to become the top spot, the premier. So I think it's good for people to hear that no matter the outcome, everybody's in it for hopefully the right reasons of trying to make Alberta a better.

place and certainly pull ourselves out of some of the things that have happened over the last couple of years. The last couple of years have been difficult. Been brutal. It's unacceptable, to be honest. What's happened in Alberta is unacceptable. It would never happen again. I would say to you, Sean, that different leaders have different styles. Just if you look at Bill Gates, if you look at a lot of people around the world right now, the Pickens, others, they have different management styles and different business models that they follow. My business model and my management style is to empower people. And I would

commit to the people of Alberta that I would do exactly what I did with the Wild Rose Party. I would empower the people that were shadow ministers that were shadow cabinet ministers. And I would do so with the, the UCP as well. I would create a cabinet government, which is not what has been happening for some period of time now. And a cabinet government means more than just the premier makes decisions. In fact, the premier's job is just to get obstacles out of the way of people like Daniel Smith or Travis Taves or or Rebecca Schultz, or Rajan Sani, or Lila, here. All those people as cabinet ministers,

my job would be as premier to get obstacles out of their way so they could actually fulfill the mandate of the people of Alberta. One person is not smart enough to make all these decisions or to do all this work. We need to empower others so that they can be elevated and people can see how competent the UCP is. That's how we're going to gain the trust in the next election. And remember that UCP members, you take Lila here

and where she is on the political spectrum, she attracts people from that spectrum. And some people say, well, you know, I reject that kind of criticism. But the truth is, the truth is you can. You have to bring people in and you have to make sure the tent is large enough so that you attract everybody to it because they'll say the right words for people living in Edmonton and conservatives. They consider themselves conservatives living in Edmonton.

The same as, you know, Brian Jean will say the right words for rural Albertans and the people that matter and their rights matter in rural Alberta, whether farmers or ranchers or, you know, communities that feel that they don't have enough autonomy from Edmondson, from, you know, the people that tell them what to do. You know, one cool thing I should point out to the listener, because I didn't see anyone else do it. So I apologize in advance if any of the other candidates did do it. But after you became an official nominee, I saw you help others who were trying to get to the

signature level of a thousand. I thought that was pretty cool. I'm like, once again, my political savviness over my lifetime is very small. But usually in a race, others don't help others get to align so that they can compete off against one another. And I thought that was very, well, my hat's off to you for that, because that's kind of show by doing. and not many people will do that because, I mean, you know, I can get that you're like, no,

I need to get here and then I got to get there and you're constantly planning. And it's, I don't want to make this out that you help them right across the finish line, but to even lend your name to another candidate to say, hey, if you can help these people out, please do. I thought that was really cool from your end. You know, thanks, Sean. I appreciate that. And I was told by at least one candidate, I think two candidates that they would not

have got along across the finish line without the signatures that we provided off of our friends on social media. And I appreciate that to all the friends that helped them. And I think they see the big picture. And the big picture, of course, is that the more voices we have at the table during the debate, the more attraction we get from Albertans, the more opportunity we have for people to believe that we're a renewed party, that we're rejuvenated, that we're ready for prime time, to stay in prime time and to make sure that we make the right decisions for Albertans. So they want to feel that they have somebody at the table that expresses their type of conservatism. And that's what I want to make sure that we have, those voices there, so that we can

enlarge the tent and get more people involved and have good discussions. And frankly, I think it's important for people to recognize that the leader is not the person that gets the most votes. The leader will be chosen on the basis of for sure the most first votes, but also the most second and third votes. And we have to make sure that people recognize that as a team, we need a leader to lead that team, not somebody that's going to be constantly competitive. and people have seen it in their own job situation, that person that no matter what happens, we'll try to take you down,

we'll try to be negative to you and to try to get you to leave some way or the other or not be competent. Well, I don't think that's leadership. I think that's just poison. A toxic environment is not going to work out very well long term as an organization that has a $60 billion budget

and is trying to make Albertan's lives better freer, happier, and healthier. And that's what I'm all about. Yeah, it's one of the things that happened over the course of two years, I talk about this a lot on here is there was no talk amongst, no debates, no public, like letting people talk about what's going on and try and find solutions and whatever else. When you talk about adding people to the debate, it brings in different perspectives.

And that's a good thing. That's like a really, really good thing because we are a very complex province with a lot, you know, whether we're talking about rural urban to, you know, the farmer to the lawyer to the all these different things. And that's just small. Fort Mac to Lloyd Minster, there's different issues, obviously. There is. One size that's all does not fit. That's right. And to have different people talking, I just, once again, my hat's off to you because I don't know if I've seen that across.

the board in any, uh, uh, I could be wrong, but I haven't seen it yet. And I just think, man, I tell you what, leading by example is a really, um, everybody says it, but to actually, uh, do it is a difficult thing to do. So I thought that was really cool. And for the listener, if they hadn't seen it, I just thought, uh, for a couple seconds, a couple minutes probably to bring that. I thought, I was an infomercial there, Sean, that's right. Now, I got, I got, if I can say this, if I could say this, you know, the fire. The fire people, People talked about me, you know, I was not in in Fort memory when the fire happened. I drove back into the fire.

And people, you know, questioned me and asked why I did that. But again, I would just say to you that that's because of leadership style. I believe that I need to be at the front. I need to be in harm's way or in the battle, if you want to call it that, in order to understand what's taking place so that the people that I am there for understand they can rely and trust on me to provide them with clear communication on what's happening because so many of these things happen and people don't know what's going on. And these are people's homes and, you know, there was 80,000 people to left Fort McMurray,

just like the flood. I don't know if you were familiar with that, but the flood I stayed there during the flood, even though it was a mandatory voluntary evacuation, I wasn't going to let people knock down my door and take my rifles or that kind of thing. And I just, I was not going to be in that position. I made sure I stayed there. The flood came right. up to my windows. In fact, I got a little bit in my basement. And that was the floodwater. It wasn't

any other. But I did that because the people of Fort McMurray three years ago didn't understand what was happening to their homes, to their pets, to all of their, you know, things. And they needed to see that somebody was there watching things, communicating with them and fighting for them. I thought the city was trying to, the municipality of Wood Buffalo wasn't letting them back in their home for a week. And I got on social media and they changed their mind. Well, I got some questions from listeners. I got about 15 minutes with you left, and so I better get on to some of the things that other people wanted.

As I always say, they're smarter than I ever am, and I do appreciate everybody tuning in. So the first one I chuckle when you say fighting, because I've had Shane Getson on here. He was one of the first political interviews I had that gained a lot of praise, I guess, from conservatives. Of course, I chuckle because, someone wanted to know if there was actually in the disagreement between you and Shane,

if there was going to be an altercation or if that was just a bunch of, you know, selling papers. An absolute lie. I never said anything like that ever. We did have a discussion, but we were both laughing. I was for sure laughing. And the person that gave that to the media, you know, this was done in caucus. And caucus is supposed to be a secret. So you can't come out and, give details or else you get in big trouble, but the person that told the media there was not even anywhere close to the conversation. And if they would have been close to the conversation, they would have seen me laughing. They would have seen me chuckling.

Brian, Gene, a violent guy, not a chance. Not a chance at all. And what was reported in the newspaper was just an absolute fantasy and fallacy. It just did not happen at all that way. I'm not that person at all. And in fact, the exact opposite, I am not that person. So I found it to be, at first I thought it was extremely humorous and ridiculous. And the people in, you know, my constituency were laughing about it because they thought it was so ridiculous and humerus.

But nevertheless, you know, people want to sell newspapers and that's what they do. And people want to attack. People have said lots of things about me that aren't true, Sean. That's why I'm here trying to set the record straight on so many different issues. I'm not that person. I'm a leader that leads by example. And I know that I know the establishment doesn't want me. Okay.

I know that. They didn't want me federally because I spoke up for Alberta. They didn't want me provincially because I have different. ideas on what they have as to what Albertans want. You know what I want to deliver to Albertans? What they want. Not what I think they want, what they want. And they want freedom. They want happiness. They want healthcare. They want a justice system that you don't need to pay for to have. Albertans just want what is their right to have. And that is to have autonomy. And I'm going to provide it to them if I get that opportunity. Dustin would like to know,

how are you going to deal with the Canadian government when it comes to attacks on the oil and ag sectors. I mean, obviously here this week, this past week, you know, cuts on fertilizer for farmers and all these different things. I mean, I don't think I really need to go into the oil industry for you because we both know all the different things that have been going on there. Is there things as Premier you could do to ensure that those sectors, you know, that are so pivotal for everyone's life, not just the people running the companies or working the jobs? is there something you'd like to say for that? Absolutely.

First of all, as I mentioned, I was a litigator. I practiced law for 10 years. So I understand that. And I'm not going to have bureaucrats, legal bureaucrats, telling me that no, bureaucrats are famous for saying no. So, you know, the difference is that I'm going to be very aggressive in the litigation file, which has not been done up to now. I'm going to appeal the tanker ban on the West Coast.

I'm going to appeal every single opportunity we have, including fertilizer and the challenge to us. And we need to find where the difference is, between Section 91 and Section 92. That's why I'm invoking the Section 46 notice to the provinces and the other and the Prime Minister specifically. And listen, Sean, I am optimistic. That's why my voice has changed a little bit recently. And I'll tell you why.

For 10 years, I worked with Pierre Paulyev. We had the same. I was the PS of transport infrastructure and communities. He was the PS of issues management for the PM at the time. So we answered questions on Fridays. We worked together during the week on committees. and different things. And we met, of course, during caucus.

So I'm very familiar with Pierpoli. And that's why I stepped behind him and said, you know, he's the right guy for Albertans because I listened and I watched and I made sure that he was going to continue to represent his home province, which is, you know, he's from Calgary. And I'm so optimistic that him and I together will do amazing things for the people of Alberta. And that includes the opportunity to move through pipelines. That includes the opportunity to make sure that we have an open constitution and have

those discussions about future balance of power between Ottawa and the provinces. And so I'm very optimistic about that. And I would take every chance I could to move pipelines in every single direction because I think that the men and women in Fort McMurray that works so hard, so, so hard in 12-hour shifts, six on, six off. I don't even think many of the other leadership contestants know what's going on in Fort McMorrie. There is a ton of people that come through there that pay taxes in other provinces. And that's an opportunity.

and nobody's talking about that. We'll be talking about that soon. There's so many different opportunities that are available right now if you understand the entire province of Alberta and you're prepared to empower a team. And yes, I'm going to do everything I possibly can to make sure the men and women of Fort Monroe feel proud about what they do, just like the men and women of Calgary and Edmonton

and already across this great province, how they feel proud about what we're best at. And we are the best in the world at oil and gas exploration and refining, upgrading, and making sure that we get it to market. have to be better at getting the political game done. And unfortunately, we have Justin Trudeau, the guy down south that has caused us nothing but grief. And the person before that, which was, you know, frankly, we didn't get enough done as a conservative government. We're responsible for that. And I take blame for that. I will do better. I promise you.

Kurt wants to know your stance on ESG, environmental, social and governance policies for Alberta companies that are currently being pushed. It kind of ties into the, the, different energy comments we were just talking about, but being pushed by the World Economic Forum, what your thoughts on the world, you know, like that is a hot button thing right now, world economic forum. There are different ideas on, well, it just keeps going on, doesn't it? And I guess his thoughts are, what is Brian's thoughts on these things in particular? Well, I published a lot on this.

You know, if you go to my Facebook page, you'll find that there's a ton of stuff about the WEF and my rejection of their principles and how I find it repulsive, you know, some of the things that they're putting forward that people say, well, you know, it's just pretend, it's not real. Well, it is real. They're putting it down in writing

and there's serious politicians that are suggesting we go that path, including many from Mr. Trudeau's cabinet. So I'm very fearful of it, but if Brian Jean government would reject the WF, we'd make sure that companies like SNC at Lavalin, who currently operate in Alberta, and we're not allowed to do certain things in Quebec, that they're allowed to do in Alberta, we would make sure that they can't do them in Alberta.

It's called reciprocal enforcement legislation. How they treat us is how we're going to treat them. So if they don't allow us to do things, we're not going to allow them to do things. And we're going to play a little bit more hardball than we played up to now. And with the W.EF, you know, the city of Calgary, city of Edmonton, you know, enjoy your subscriptions while they last because you're not going to be allowed to do that kind of stuff anymore. We're just, there's no need for it. This kind of, this kind of ideology is unacceptable in Alberta and for Albertans and it moves Albertans the wrong way. It truly does. And it moves them to a place where we're going to rent things from people. Well, who are those people? They're not going to be Albertans. And so right away, they don't fit in my, my golf compartment. They're not part of it. And I don't serve

those other people. I serve Albertans. And I've said autonomy. Autonomy, personal autonomy means my body, my choice. I reject people that say otherwise. Autonomy, my financial autonomy, my job, financial autonomy. I own my own house. I'm going to make. sure that more Albertans own their own home, own car, have savings in their bank account, because the government shouldn't take the money. The government's flush right now. Let's be clear. It's flush.

But Albertans are hurting. That is wrong. It should be at the very most the other way around, but both should be flourishing right now. And also community autonomy, the opportunity, Sean, for whether you're a Christian, which I am, a born again Christian, you know, my community needs to be able to practice its beliefs in peace without interference from the government. Same as Sikhs, same as Buddhists, same as Hindu. Same as nonbelievers. Communities should have the opportunity to pursue their dreams, their priorities,

their values, not mine, theirs. And that's what I want to protect for them and more autonomy for Albertans within Canada. I mean, autonomy is a great message because it's true. It's what I feel. It's what I've always felt. It's what I think most Albertans feel that they want from their government, a government that fights for more rights for Albertans within Canada. That means if you have a right in P.E.I. Or if you have a right in Nova Scotia or you get unemployment insurance after four weeks in in Newfoundland because you're out of employed welder, but in Alberta, you have to wait, you know, 40 weeks to get it, which is very similar to what's happening now. Well, that's going to stop under a branching led government.

We get the same rights for an investor class that PEI has. We have the same rights for the unemployed as they do in PEI or Nova Scotian. And if they don't do it, we're going to have our own unemployment system. We're going to have our own pension system for sure. And we're going to move towards a policing model that makes sure we have enough police because we don't right now. Not in rural Alberta. we need to have enough police to make sure we have what Albertans want. It's not about ideology.

It's not about no RC&P or let's have a provincial police force. Sure, we should have more control over the destiny and what the police do for sure. But we need to offer autonomy, which means choice, choice for communities, whether it's a rural community that wants an RC&P detachment in that level of security or whether it's a city that wants to manage their own police force. We need to give them choice. And that's what autonomy is about keeping money in their pockets, letting Albertans make the decisions they want about their future.

So does that mean a little more power of a region to make decisions? Is that what I'm gathered? Instead of one size fits all, Lloyd Minster can figure out some things or, you know, I'll even do a couple of small areas. Kid Scotty or Vermilion, and you get the point. No different than Fort McMurray or Athabasca. You're also getting the point, right? Medicine hat.

One size does not fit all. One size does not fit all. Think of Lloyd Minster for a minute. You know, you're in two provinces. How do you say that what they do to down in Calgary fits you? Fort McMurray, we have a ton of transient workers, people that do not live in Alberta, do not pay taxes in Alberta, but use all of our infrastructure. There should be another opportunity there.

And we're coming forward with some pretty interesting policies. We've been waiting for a while because we want to make sure people make the decisions about policies and their premier based on those policies and the innovation of it. What I found in the past, Sean, is when I've come forward with these policies, so many times people flatter me with emulation. And I know that's a highest form of flattery, but right now I need people to see that these things, like the equalization study,

the equalization referendum, the idea of provincial police force, these ideas that, you know, we started in the years of the wild rose under my leadership. And I want to make sure those policies, like the gas tax policy, like royalty-free policy on gasoline, are going to do well.

And speaking of which, I know Lloyd Minster is going to be in a tough, spot and it's unfortunate, but in Alberta, we're going to have gasoline and diesel that's going to be 30 cents less a liter, Sean. And I know that the gasoline sellers, retailers in Saskatchewan are going to be upset about that. But we're going to have the least expensive gasoline diesel in Canada for sure, because that will decrease the cost of food, decrease the cost of appliances and furniture and going to work and seeing your family and going on vacation and everything else. People don't realize how important gas and diesel is. And that's why governments need to cut that and cut the cost to everyday

Albertans because that's the only way we're going to ride this inflation storm without a whole lot of pain. I went through a, I was a, you know, I did work for banks back in the 90s and there was a whole bunch of people in a ton of pain. And I don't want to see that happen ever again. I want to make sure that we don't have that issue. And that's what the government's there for, to make sure they can have a soft landing for people because no fault of their own interest rates are skyrocketing. And no fault of their own fuel prices are going crazy. And transmission costs from previous governments making bad decisions has saddled us with the highest power costs in Canada.

Sean, that's why I've proposed this fuel cost as well as because this 30 cents off because we're going to do exactly what Quebec is doing with their hydro. They pay the least expensive hydro bills in North America because the Quebec government makes hydro. And they supply it to the people. We're going to do the same thing with fuel. We make fuel. We take it out of the ground and we refine it and upgrade it. Albertans burn about 380,000 barrels a day, and we're going to make sure that that's royalty-free to Alberta.

So they pay less for their fuel, but the fuel we buy elsewhere, they still make that money and that profit because they should. It's theirs, just like all the natural resources are Albertans. We're going to take a different approach under Brian Ginglet, government that's going to be much more aggressive where we need to be and much more collaborative within Alberta, because we need to build that team and get that trust back. I feel like I've probably asked this like three or four times now, Brian, but that feels like a lot. like a lot of things you want to get done. What makes you believe you can get it all done? Because I've been doing this for a long time and I've got a plan. I've set it out.

You know, this is, I've been in politics now for 15 years and I understand federal politics, I think better than anybody else in the provincial scene right now by far. And I know what I need to do in order to get to where we, we as a province, need to go. And the only way we can do it is by the people themselves deciding us to get there. But a lot of people have different directions that they want to go. And sometimes they have populist directions or directions that they have an ideology. Well, my direction is driven by the people of Alberta.

And I make sure that I have good collaboration and discussions with them and focus on doing all of these things that we can do together. And we can do it. And there is so much that we've done, I would agree with you, Sean. But if we build a big enough team, if we empower those people that are within the team, and if we have the right quarterback, we can make sure the ball goes to the right people at the right place, to the right time. And we do the things that are right for Albertans.

And we will if they focus on getting involved. And that's what I'm, you know, it's unfortunate that only 2% of Albertans ever get involved in politics. You know, the next, this race, because it's a $10 fee to join the UCP, this race is going to have probably less than 80,000 people vote for the premier of our province. Not just for the leader of the party, but for the premier of the province, 80,000 people. Now, you think about some of the blocks that are out there right now, whether you're a separatist, whether you might have a particular ideology that does not reflect Albertans' opportunities or our desires. Well, those people may be getting involved. It's hard to say, but with only 80,000 people, we need to make sure that normal everyday Albertans that are very concerned about our future, their future,

because we've seen a government take control of their lives, unfortunately, they need to get involved. They need to go to brianjean.ca and buy a $10 membership and have their say, whether they vote for brianjean or not, The key is to make sure we have our say and to have our say on which of the seven candidates you want to be your premier because you have to trust somebody. And no matter what party you're in, you need to pick the person you actually will trust. Yeah. And for $10 up until, what is it, August 12th? August 12th is deadlock? Less than two weeks to go and go purchase.

Yeah. $10 membership up on your phone or your computer and just go to the website. 10 bucks. It's pretty darn cheap. Do I have you for a couple more minutes or are we hard pressed to be out? I realize we just bumped up on time. No, Sean. Go ahead. I just want to get through a couple more of the listeners just so I don't leave anyone off the table.

There is a few more questions that are on a little different. So I appreciate you giving me a few more minutes. Courtney had asked this coming fall. I think we all know we're going to go back into, you know, flu season. I don't think this is any, I don't think anybody's making some giant conspiracy leap to know that we're going to have flu season come upon us. She wants to know when you, when the next wave of COVID comes through, how will you handle it? Well, the first thing I would do is make sure Albertans know the truth. That means transparency.

That means holding H.S and other health providers to account for what they're saying and what they want to do. The first thing I'm not going to do is lock Albertans down. in the Kenny style lockdown. And that scenario is repulsive. It was not acceptable. The idea of Jailene Pastors, I never thought I would ever see that in Alberta. It would never happen under Brian Gene lead government. And the other thing that I found also repulsive was keeping Walmart open and shutting down small businesses.

I wouldn't do that either. In fact, I wouldn't do the opposite. But I certainly wouldn't shut down small businesses and sacrifice the month-to-month situation that they're in for the corporations. I think that is a terrible, terrible thing. And I think the government needs to really think about what they did and some of the help that they came forward with for small businesses in Alberta, frankly, wasn't enough for what they did. And I think there's going to be some discussion from some very lively discussion on that in the near future, because, you know, what the Alberta government did by shutting down these businesses was destroying careers and lives.

I've had Mike Kuzmiskis on here multiple times. He's the CEO of ICOR Labs. One of the that we were talking about in the middle of COVID was why there wasn't more focus on preventative treatment or just being very proactive. I mean, literally focus on health, you know, what you put in your body, mental health, you know, all these different things, physical, keeping your body moving, that type of thing. Is your, you've mentioned way way back at the start of this. about your dealings with the health care system and you know firsthand of some of the flaws of it. Would your idea be to privatize part of it and make it, you know, kind of a dual model, so to speak? Or, I mean, you mentioned you're a champion of the health care system and trying to encourage.

Not of the system of changing the system. Not at all. I've changed, changing the system. But it can't be destroyed. It can't be blowing up. Let's be honest, Sean. You can't do that. people are going to die if you do that. So people talking about blowing things up, it's just not helpful.

We need to work with the professionals and get it fixed. We can look at other models that are doing very well. Northern Europe has some good models. Germany has a great stay-at-home care model that we're not doing here. And you save 90% of the expenditures by keeping people at home longer and they want to be at home longer. So, you know, we need to look at those other opportunities. I don't want to blow it up. I want to work with the great doctors and nurses we have and make sure that they have the opportunity to fix the health care system.

How about net zero? Danny, Danny. And just before we get on to Danny, yes, I don't know there. Autonomy says medical autonomy means that you get to choose what you want to do for you. And I think that what we need to do is listen to our doctors and not punish our doctors for giving their opinions, which we pay for as a people of Alberta. Like it's ridiculous that these people are being stifled and suffocated on their communication when they are well learned professionals that understand the medical system and one size does not fit all. So medical autonomy, I'm into it. Preventative medicine, very much so. I'm under the care of a natural path right now and have been for the last three months. That's how I get away with four hours,

sleep a night and travel to province as much as I do and see as many people as I do because, and as afresh as I am, because I've got a whole bunch of natural supplements in me right now that are given to me by a trained professional and she understands what I need for my body and for my life and for my current life. And I think we should have more medical autonomy so that we can have experts allowed to make the decisions to inform us and then for us to make the decisions on how we get treated. And that means autonomy. That means freedom of the choice. Yeah. Well, just, since you pull me back there, one of the wildest things over the last couple of years has been this one size fits all that you're not allowed to debate anything. You know, you're not. You're

not allowed to have an opinion on anything. So let me understand this. You're allowed to get a doctor's note to kill yourself, but you can't take a proven ivermectin that's years and years of evidence. And, you know, like, I don't get it. I don't get it at all. Like, where are we? We've gone crazy in this province in this country.

We've gone crazy. No, this is the world. I mean, don't get me wrong. There was some countries like India, Mexico, in particular. that had kits with ivermectin in it um ivermectin isn't the silver you know like there was there was many what what was crazy was is we took it off the shelves we wouldn't allow doctors to prescribe it we wouldn't let pharmacies carry it so what ended up happening a run on horse ivermectin to which all the jokes and everything comes i mean that's where we got to in society uh you know what

before we get to danny i models will scroll up to karen that's funny karen anyways she wanted to know if you become premier, would you have a panel review the last couple years and see if there's people that need to be held accountable? Because one of the things that is really crazy is where we got to. That's what led us here. That's what this conversation is all about. You know, one day the pandemic's over. The next week, nope, we're going back in the lockdowns and all these different things. If you talk this way, you know, then you're going to be silenced. If you know, nobody's It's silenced me ever. I mean, that's why the establishment doesn't want me

because they think I'm going to, you know, follow the line that has been laid out by those elites. I'm not going to do that. So then would you, would you hold people accountable for the last couple of years? Would you do a deep dive into some of the things that have happened across the province? Absolutely, absolutely. But not only that, I would change the laws, all of the emergency laws, all the laws that touch on emergencies.

and I would make sure that they had a proportional expectation on response at the end of the day. So, in other words, if you shut people down for 24 hours, yes, you're going to have an inquest. If you restrict people from opening their business, yeah, you're going to have a judicial inquest. You're going to have a different level of inquest depending on the infringement on people's rights. And that means also that there will be people held accountable for that. Not only that, but there will be no cabinet secret documents. Right now there's a whole bunch of secret documents that a whole bunch of people, I mean the people that are currently running for leadership of the UCP and some others that had privy to this information.

If you're going to lock me down, you better have a good reason and you better tell me why. And I think that the first thing we do is put in legislation that if you're going to do a lockdown, all those documents immediately become public. Not only that, we have to set a system out that if there's going to be a health emergency, then HHS has to be there. Hinshaw has to be there every week answering questions for Albertans on national T.E. as to why they're doing what they're doing and what evidence they have to do it. Not just 15 minutes, not a press conference, but a three-hour question and answer period

in front of elected officials so you can hold them both accountable. If your elected MLA is not asking the right questions, fire them. If they're not answered, they will be. I promise you, under this type of amendment to legislation, they will be. They'll be asking the hard questions they get from constituents, and Henshaw and HHS will either be answering it. or they will be finding a new job because you need to have transparency if there's going to be this kind of infringement. There is nothing more important than our personal liberty. And to take that

away and the opportunity for our autonomy on our financial situation, autonomy on our personal bodies, forcing other people to take medication or couriercing them to do it is unacceptable and would never happen in a brine-led government ever. You know, we have to remember what people did. And yes, We have to get down to the nitty gritty of it, so it never happens again. And yes, the people held accountable, the people that did these things need to be held accountable. And if there was illegal activities done or there was infringements of rights, they will be punished accordingly, according to the law, as they should be, and held accountable by the people. I appreciate you clarifying all that because I think that, you know, I'm glad I didn't miss that question and we had a little extra time because I think that's one weighing heavy in a lot of people's minds. especially as, you know, the years dragged on.

And I know everybody's enjoying the summer months and certainly spending as much needed time outside with family and friends, et cetera, et cetera. But I think for a lot of people, it would be beneficial to have documents released, to have a deep dive in and make sure that nothing like this can happen again. With that being said, Danny wanted to know your thoughts on Net Zero. Can Alberta get to zero emissions? Do we want to? And will you push for this?

Yes, we can. I've talked to the industry professionals. They want to get to net zero because they're more impacted by the international flavor of the day than we are as lay persons as normal Albertans. So companies think they can get to net zero, but they also think they can get to net zero and possibly have an opportunity for us in the carbon sequestration. And that's an economic opportunity. And I'm hoping they can do that. I mean, Albertans and the scientists that support Albertans here in Alberta are amazing what they do with molecules and other things. We will find a solution to this. And I believe that if anybody can find an economic solution that benefits Albertans and the industry itself, it's going to be us right here. So am I going to force the

agenda? You know, folks, I'm not going to force anything that we don't have to do along these lines because we already do it better than anybody else. What we need to do is have an opportunity to export our technology to the world, not money, not people, but technology so that we can help the world come into line with what their expectation apparently is of us. But am I going to force that agenda? No, we can't force those types of things. I believe in using carrots, not sticks.

Sticks usually leave bruises and people remember bruises and broken bones. So use a carrot, help the industry get in line with the international community, but they're already there. They already know they have to do that in order to get what they want to do, which is to have the license to provide oil to the world. And that's what I want to do. Our natural gas and our oil opportunities are simply endless if we do this right. Lisa wants to know which modern day leadership figure do you look up to?

Who's someone that you followed their career, maybe worked with? Maybe it's across the pond, wherever you want to go. Who's someone you Brian Jean has looked up to and enjoys their, leadership style. You know, I've, I've looked up to a lot of conservative leaders, Stephen Harper in particular. You know, he comes to mind because of some of the things that were done, but some of the things that weren't done like the Senate, you know, I'm still disappointed in this day. Margaret Thatcher, I thought she was a great conservative. She was in a pretty tough pickle, but I love some of her traits and some of her, you know, conservative philosophies. I like that. I've also, you know, I go right across

across the spectrum. I love Mahatma Gandhi. I think he was a politician extraordinaire. He, you know, he actually did some, you know, he had some different lifestyle things in his life. I have read quite a bit on him, but overall he had a tremendous impact on the world and in particular his country. What I like is that politicians that actually say to their word, and you'll notice that I've never had to apologize for coming out with big slip ups and economic politics. And policies or policies for Albertans. I've got 25 different articles that I've had published that are on brinegine.ca over the last four years that talk about COVID, talk about the response,

I talk about opportunities in the economy and oil and gas. And what I want to do is transform the oil and gas industry. I don't want to lay off thousands and tens of thousands of workers. I want to transform it into the modern day that we know is coming. And it might mean we're moving away from combustion engines, but it certainly doesn't mean we're moving away from natural gas or oil anytime soon. So we have all those opportunities in front of us. And I think the multinational companies want the opportunity to come here and to invest in that future.

And I'm going to provide that to them so that we can have lots and lots of great Alberta jobs and great Alberta corporations that serve Albertans with what we want, which is good hospitals, good health care, good education for our kids, making sure that parents are always in charge of that education. And they have lots of choices in education. And that we lower the bills for Albertans and continue to make them the happiest, healthiest. most free and most prosperous people on the planet. And you know what? I can say that because I believe it. And also it is possible. We can be those people. Well, here's your final question then brought to you by Crudmaster. I'll let you get back to your day. I appreciate you giving me a few extra minutes. This is, this is he's words. If you're going to stand behind a cause that you think is right, then stand behind it absolutely. What's one thing Brian Jean stands behind?

Albertans being autonomous, making their own decisions for their lives and making sure that I can empower them to do that. And I'm going to do that. I'm going to be here in 30. 40 years, I hope. Maybe that's pretty optimistic. But if I am, I'm going to be walking down the streets in every city, every town in Alberta because I love Alberta and I love being all over Alberta. And I want to hear the words, Brian, you did a great job for us. Thank you so much for what you did. I don't want to hear anything else. So that's what I've focused on. I'm focused on giving Albertans the choice to make their priorities reality. It's all about that. I'm not the best talker in the world, Sean, but you'll find that I'm a great worker, a great decision maker,

a person that stands behind Albertans and doesn't change their mind one week off, one week gone. I'm not ideological except for the fact that I want to have a better quality of life for Albertans. Well, I appreciate you giving me a little extra time today, Brian. And as I say to everyone, yeah, I appreciate you throwing your hat in the ring. And I look forward to, you know, best of luck with you and the rest of the candidates. I certainly, a newbie, I've been following along very closely here in Alberta, as it's to me a very, I mean, I don't think it goes, you don't have to say much about it.

It's a very pivotal time for Albertan, and this election is going to be very interesting to watch them falling along. And I believe I'll get to meet you here very soon, but either way, appreciate you tossing your hat in the ring. And I look forward to, you know, best of luck and look forward to watching you guys and gals, you know, come duke it out, so to speak, over the next couple of months. Thanks, Sean. My privilege to be here. And thank you for your time as well and your listeners.