Brian Jean vows to keep Alberta NDP government accountable

The incoming leader of Alberta's Official Opposition says his party's job will be to stand up for conservative ideas as it holds the new NDP government accountable.

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Brian Jean led the Wildrose Party to quadruple the number of seats in the legislature it held before Tuesday's election.

He commended Alberta voters for breaking "a 44-year-old habit."

"That's not an easy thing to do," he added.

But Jean predicted an NDP government will be bad for Alberta's energy-focused economy.

"It is somewhat disturbing, but I'm hoping that we can work with Rachel and make sure that she understands the ramifications of some of the left-leaning policies that the NDP espouse across the country," he said.

"We will represent conservative-minded voters and work hard to earn their trust and make sure that four years from now there's a different outlook at the end of the election."

Pipeline worries

Jean says he is particularly worried about the NDP's policy stance regarding pipeline projects.

"Rachel (Notley) has been clear that she's not going to pursue the Northern Gateway or the Keystone pipeline," he said. "So I don't know where our oil's going to go."

Jean says if it were to happen that members of the vastly-shrunken PC caucus wanted join the Wildrose Party, Jean says they would not be allowed to cross the floor mid-term.

"I would say no. I've already been clear with this. I don't change my mind. That's not what politicians should do. They should say what they're going to do and then do it," he said.

"We're happy to let them sit as an independent and at the next election we can talk about whether or not they want to sit with the Wildrose."

"We believe the NDP are going to be bad in relation to tax increases, and how they manage the economy hopefully is not how other provinces have done it."

"We're hoping that Premier Notley and the NDP work with us to clean up and reform government. That's a number one priority for the first 30 days."