Tory MLAs warily endorse unity as voting begins
Two PC MLAs vow to fight for moderate conservative principles within UCP
Some Progressive Conservative MLAs are ready to give unity with the Wildrose a chance, even as they caution the proposed United Conservative Party can’t move too far to the right.
Tory leader Jason Kenney said earlier this week he didn’t know if all the MLAs in the eight-man PC caucus would move to the new UCP if the unity deal is ratified by PC and Wildrose members on Saturday.
While five Tory MLAs have vocally backed uniting with the Wildrose, the position of other caucus members has been less certain.
However, one of those MLAs, Grande Prairie-Wapiti’s Wayne Drysdale, said this week he will vote for the unity agreement and he expects it to be approved.
But Drysdale noted even as he’s prepared to sit as a UCP MLA, he will be watching to see what direction the new party takes as it is defined through its leadership contest and policy development.
“My values and principles haven’t changed ... and I don’t want the province to be governed by an extremist party,” he said.
“I’ll get nervous if I think this new UC party is going to the extreme right. I’m not saying it is, but I need to see for myself.”
Drysdale said he’s made his feelings clear to Kenney, the former federal cabinet minister who won the PC leadership in March on a platform of unifying the PCs and Wildrose.
“The way I put it with him is that he’s our leader and I respect that and I will follow him, but I said, ‘I won’t follow you over a cliff,’” said Drysdale, who endorsed Vermilion-Lloydminster MLA Richard Starke in the Tory leadership race.
Calgary-South East MLA Rick Fraser, who stayed neutral in the leadership contest, acknowledged he originally found the notion of unifying with the Wildrose “hard to swallow” but has since warmed to the idea and will vote for the agreement.
“I’m certainly willing to give it a try,” he said this week. “I have an open mind and hopefully my voice is respected at that table in terms of how I think we should move forward.”
But Fraser said Albertans need to stay involved with the UCP, both to ensure it elects a leader committed to building a big-tent party and that it develops “moderate conservative or modern conservative ideals that have sustainable politics behind them, and sustainable policies.”
He said the new party needs to include all stripes of conservatives, and adopting “hard-right” policies would be counterproductive.
While some are wary of a potential sharp-right slant, others involved in the unity issue are warning of a watered-down conservatism within the new party.
Wildrose MLA Derek Fildebrandt, a proponent of the unity deal who is contemplating a leadership run for the new party, has been swinging hard against what he calls “vanilla conservatism.”
In a fundraising email distributed through the controversial right-wing website The Rebel, Fildebrandt said he’s concerned the new party “won’t be conservative at all.”
“If we don’t take immediate steps, it could be just another warmed over Alison Redford-style party of Red Tories,” he said in reference to the former PC premier.
A spokesman for Fildebrandt’s United Liberty organization said later Thursday that the email — which misspelled the MLA’s name — had gone out without being vetted by Fildebrandt. Philip Schuman said the email’s “tone” was not reflective of Fildebrandt’s efforts around unity.
Kenney, meanwhile, reiterated Thursday he has always advocated for a broad, open party and it will be up to the members to decide what the UCP stands for.
“The rule in a democratic party is that you should always have your say but you may not always get your way,” he told reporters after casting his ballot in favour of unity.
“A big-tent party means there must be tolerance for a diversity of opinion.”
With Fraser and Drysdale saying they are on board to serve as UCP MLAs, that leaves Starke as the question mark in the PC caucus.
Starke, who lost to Kenney in the PC leadership race, could not be reached for comment Thursday.
But he recently said he continued to have significant concerns about the unity agreement and would make his plans known after the vote.
My values and principles haven’t changed ... and I don’t want the province to be governed by an extremist party.