Parties united in historic vote

Alberta Conservatives can be proud

‘Enjoy your temporary jobs.”

That was Brian Jean’s instant slam at the NDP after his Wildrose Party voted 95 per cent to merge with the Progressive Conservatives into a new entity, the United Conservative Party.

Two hours later, the PCs announced their own unity landslide, with the identical majority, 95 per cent.

Some people might find the number too creepily coincidental to be legitimate. They shouldn’t be diverted. The twin votes reflect a massive consensus to end the internecine conservative warfare that helped the NDP win the 2015 election.

At the Wildrose event in Red Deer, the enthusiasm was loud and genuine. I haven’t seen Alberta conservatives of any stripe so ecstatic since the PCs thought Jim Prentice would rescue them from their own history.

It is a stunning achievement to unite two defeated parties so quickly. A year ago, when Kenney began his quixotic run for the PC leadership, hardly anybody thought it was remotely possible. Conservatives deserve their celebration today.

But beating the NDP won’t be so easy, as Jean and Kenney surely know.

The shape of the new UCP will mean everything. It can’t just be a vehicle for running over the NDP. It has to be something that transports Albertans to a better place.

Will it be right wing, centrist, crackpot, sane, or some mush of all those elements? Can it be credible, sensible, modern, and, most of all, tolerant and welcoming?

The smartest strategists of this victory know that both old brands are damaged. The PC rap for arrogant entitlement lingers on.

A whiff of extremism still trails behind Wildrose, despite Jean’s constant effort to deodorize the party’s shaky record on gay rights and other social issues.

As speakers like Wildrose MLA Derek Fildebrandt said at the Red Deer event, the UCP is an opportunity to shed these taints while creating something new and different.

But Fildebrandt himself showed how rough the road to that goal could be. Two hours before the Wildrose vote was announced, he told me he will never support Jean as leader, no matter who is or isn’t in the race.

My tweet about that spread through the room like a stink bomb. Bad form, some said, to inject divisiveness on a day when the movement seems united.

But Fildebrandt was at least being honest. He wants what he calls Liberty conservatism. On Monday, he’ll be sitting in a legislature room with progressive PC MLAs like Richard Starke and Rick Fraser, for the first meeting of the joint party caucus.

If they feel swamped by the Wildrose right wing, they could leave this imperfect union. Today’s enthusiasm for the UCP is no guarantee of long-term stability.

That Monday meeting will be historic. Never before in this province have people elected under two party banners suddenly declared themselves members of a new one.

These 30 MLAs (22 Wildrosers and eight PCs) will elect an interim UCP leader from among three candidates: Nathan Cooper, the Wildrose house leader; Calgary Wildrose MLA Prasad Panda; and Calgary PC Richard Gotfried.

Already on Saturday, the politicians were tripping over the oddity of their new creation. Kenney first introduced a pair of MLAs as Wildrosers and then said, oh no, “you’re UCP MLAs now.”

Actually, that won’t be official until Alberta’s Electoral Office registers the new party, which should happen within a few days.

Jean said that’s the moment when he will resign as Wildrose leader and the party will cease to exist.

Sarah Hoffman, the NDP deputy premier, immediately branded Wildrose members as hypocritical for joining the PC party they so often scorched for the very same thing.

Kenney, in turn, said the NDP will be in an “absolute panic” and will “stop at nothing” to discredit the new party. “The more extreme they become, the less Albertans will listen.”

Conservatives now embark on the campaign for the UCP leadership, to be decided Oct. 28.

Jean looks energized. Kenney is propelled by his loathing for the NDP. Calgarian Doug Schweitzer has declared, and there will be more candidates.

If the new party can survive that without flying apart, it may just roll on to beat the NDP.