Moving Forward On Uniting The Right

The process to unite the Wildrose and the Conservatives into one party to take on the NDP in the province is a good thing, according to the President of the Wildrose Constituency.

But Bill Toews thinks that's not the only way the right could come to power again in Alberta.  "I think it would be healthy, but I don't think it's critical in the sense that that's the only way the right could ever win.  I think the Wildrose is gaining enough momentum that they could win on their own."

With both parties moving forward on bringing the two together, eventually there will likely be a showdown between Wildrose Leader Brian Jean and new Conservative Leader Jason Kenney in a leadership race for the new party.  Toew is fairly certain who would win that race.

"I think Brian would win that.  I'm just guessing on what I'm hearing.  I think it would be hard for those two to run against each other because they like each other too much.  They work well together.  Regardless of who wins, the other would be a strong supporter of the winner."

On Friday, the two parties announced that a unity discussion group had been formed and tasked by the leaders to develop a single unity framework, along with a timeline for the group to report back to the members of both parties in four to six weeks.  Toews says Jean and Kenney have an aggressive timeline.

"I believe Jason Kenney and Brian Jean both want this done quickly."  Toews thinks a new party will be formed before the end of the year and that it's important to make plans for taking on the NDP well before the next election.  As for what needs to happen at the constituency level before the merger, Toews says not much.

"Anything that would need to happen at the constituency level would come from the negotiating teams that the PCs and Wildrose have put together.  When the Canadian Alliance merged with the federal Progressive Conservative party the negotiating teams in Ottawa set the process in motion,  I was on the local Canadian Alliance constituency board and they said there's an Alliance board in Airdrie and a PC board in Cochrane, you guys get together and form one group and get a working relationship going.  I'm assuming something like that will happen again."