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“I’m not upset at all,” said Jean afterwards. “I think this is great, this is a great step forward for Alberta and a great step forward for the conservative movement.”

You think rodeo cowboys are brave for facing rampaging farm stock?

Try keeping a smile on your face while your friends — one of them being the former prime minister — do their best to turn you into a political gelding on a public stage while everybody watches.

On Monday, I asked Jean in a phone interview if he had any warning at all that his old boss Harper was about to support Kenney.

After a four-second pause, Jean said, “No, I did not, I was not aware.” But he refused to wallow in pity or recriminations. “I’m going to continue to focus on the priorities of the residents I serve and the people of Fort McMurray. No matter what anybody else does, I’m going to keep my eye on the job I was hired for.”

You’ve got to feel at least a pang of sympathy for Jean, no matter your political persuasion.

He’s doing his best to personify courage as Hemingway defined it: grace under pressure.

“I am a Wildrose member,” he said. “I don’t play silly political games.”

I asked him if he thinks Kenney is playing silly political games.

There was no pause this time. “I’m not going to comment on that,” replied Jean, which, of course, is a comment in itself.

Jean is in a quandary. He doesn’t want to alienate supporters of a unite-the-right movement intrigued by Kenney’s pitch, but he certainly doesn’t want to surrender the Wildrose and his leadership without a fight — especially when Kenney still has a complex eight-month-long fight of his own to take over control of the PC party in the face of fierce opposition from party members such as MLA Sandra Jansen.