Calgary lawyer to run for united Alberta party

Alberta’s two conservative parties have yet to complete a merger, but a third candidate now says he wants to unite the right.

Calgary lawyer Doug Schweitzer announced Thursday he plans to will seek the leadership of the new United Conservative Party if it is created after a vote in July.

The 38-year-old said NDP Premier Rachel Notley’s economic policies are making things worse for a provincial economy already knocked to the mat by low oil prices.

“I think Albertans want a plan,” Schweitzer said in an interview. “They want to know you’ve got a jobs plan but you also understand the social issues.”

He said voters want substance, not “oneline zingers on Twitter and ratcheting up the noise in a partisan way.”

Schweitzer has deep roots in conservative parties in two provinces. He ran Manitoba’s Progressive Conservative party almost a decade ago and helped steer the leadership campaign of former Alberta premier Jim Prentice in 2014.

It was thought he would be a candidate in Alberta’s latest PC leadership race. In the end, he did not run, but supported the plan by eventual winner Jason Kenney to unite the PCs and Brian Jean’s Wildrose party.

The two have since signed a deal in principle to merge, pending the approval of members from both parties in late July. After that, a leadership race is to be held and a winner picked Oct. 28.