UNITY WON’T BE EASY
Despite Kenney’s leadership win, uniting Alberta’s right will be fraught with challenges
Alberta’s political landscape changed forever Saturday.
For decades, Progressive Conservative politicians came and went in Alberta, but the party remained in charge, a political empire unmatched in Canadian history.
On the weekend, Jason Kenney secured the leadership of the Tories on a promise to bring about the party’s end, pledging to unite Alberta conservatives into a single force.
There are countless steps to be worked out: the technicalities of wrapping up a party, how to start a new one or merge with Wildrose, who’s going to lead this new conservative movement and what it will be called, and what happens on the floor of the Legislative Assembly.
For now, though, Kenney will be extending his hand to many — in thanks to supporters, to Wildrose Leader Brian Jean, the PC party board, and conservatives staunchly opposed to his plan.
A NEW WORLD ORDER FOR PARTY FAITHFUL
For longtime Alberta Tories who embrace the word “progressive” in the party’s name, this is the morning after a big night out: heads are aching, there are hazy memories of better times past and everyone’s feeling a little bit queasy about where their party is headed.
For many insiders who consider themselves PC to the bone, it’s a matter of wait and see; perhaps, despite their misgivings, Kenney will turn out to be a uniting force who does indeed embrace all ends of the conservative spectrum.
Others favour doing all they can to block a unity motion, or are looking to throw their weight behind the Alberta Party or Liberals to give Albertans a powerful centrist option on the 2019 election ballot.
Then there’s the option of a new party altogether.
For longtime Tory campaigner Donal O’Beirne, the work involved — coupled with an apparent lack of appetite among voters — makes that an unpalatable option. After years of leadership races and getting decimated in the 2015 provincial election, many Progressive Conservatives are just too tired to go down that road.
But former PC MLA Thomas Lukaszuk doesn’t rule it out. He says there’s not a room in the province large enough to accommodate the distance between Kenney’s social conservatism and his own progressive views. In the wake of a Kenney victory, he says, there must be a centrist choice. And if that means a new party, then so be it.
STICK AROUND, KENNEY SAYS
For his part, Kenney is adamant the new party will be a big ol’ tent, ready and willing to take in anyone who considers themselves a freemarket conservative.
He has never liked the term “Unite the Right.” It’s too prescriptive for his vision.
He says progressives who want to shape the new party should stick around and propose policies — something O’Beirne thinks some might be willing to do, if it means saving the party they served for so long.
O’Beirne will give it a chance only if he doesn’t see the gap between the socially conservative Kenney and his own personal values — particularly on divisive issues like LGBTQ and women’s rights — develop into a gaping chasm.
If that happens, he says, he’s out. The problem is many at the progressive end of the spectrum consider Kenney too socially conservative for their liking, but Kenney bristles at that.
Jabbing the table with one finger, he says his voting record in Ottawa aligned with Conservative Party of Canada policies or, at the very least, with the voting of other Alberta Conservative MPs.
STEAMROLLING THE RACE
The PC leadership race didn’t delve much into policy; the unity question and its implications dwarfed everything else.
Some of the PC old guard resented Kenney trundling in busloads of young people — with the promise of pizza and a meeting with former prime minister Stephen Harper — who took over the party’s youth wing.
There was a feeling Kenney was launching a hostile takeover, but the newly minted leader disagrees.
His campaign expected to sell more memberships, he says, and he doesn’t accept that former Wildrosers flooded PC lists to win delegate selections.
When it came time to vote, only two other candidates remained — Vermilion-Lloydminster MLA Richard Starke and Calgary lawyer Byron Nelson.
There’s no question Kenney’s campaign had already steamrolled the race.
It brought Ottawa organization and strategy to Alberta, picking up longtime conservatives who knew the lay of the land and knew who would support the unity plan and convince others to do the same.
Kenney’s recruits paid attention to fiddly, detailed organization in every riding, and the team used multiple phone callouts to get names on lists and, more importantly, bodies to delegate selection meetings.
But his campaign also took some flak for its tactics, particularly when it looked to well-known political enforcers like Alan Hallman, who ended up banned from the party earlier this year and was charged with assault over an incident at the weekend convention.
WHERE TO NEXT?
Kenney sold the vision of a new conservative force effectively enough to win roughly 75 per cent of the delegate votes, but the work isn’t even close to starting.
There’s no mechanism in the PC constitution to do what Kenney is proposing, so it must be amended — and each party member must be able to vote on that amendment.
Wildrose too must craft a merger-type policy — or a motion to wrap up the party altogether with the view to joining a new conservative force — and vote on it. Jean has already proposed absorbing PC members into his party so as not to lose the Wildrose’s milliondollar war chest.
Then there will need to be policies written and voted on and a name chosen. It can’t be too close to another party’s title, and will need ultimate approval from Alberta’s chief electoral officer, Glen Resler.
The PC party will also have to figure out what to do with its assets, and on the floor of the house, MLAs will have to cross the floor to a new party if and when it forms.
Any who choose to remain will, if their party is wrapped up, become independents.
It’s going to be a long, winding and complex path to unity.
There’s no mechanism in the PC constitution to do what Kenney is proposing, so it must be amended.