The inside scoop on Wildrose-PC merger group — kind of

The team tasked with taking the first step toward uniting conservatives in Alberta is expected to report back by the first week of May.

The “discussion groups” were asked to create a framework for unity, which will then go to the members of both the Wildrose and Progressive Conservative parties to be ratified and approved.

A news release, sent from both parties Friday, said the group has been asked to report back in four to six weeks.

The Wildrose team includes MLA Jason Nixon, lawyer Arthur Hamilton, former candidate James Cole, MLA Pat Stier and party fundraiser M. Brandon Swertz.

Hamilton, a longtime lawyer for the federal Conservative party, wrote a cheque to Senator Mike Duffy to cover his legal fees for negotiating a $90,000 repayment for inappropriate expenses.

Hamilton also represented the party in the robocalls investigation, in which a junior Conservative staffer was sentenced to nine months in jail for misleading voters about the location of polling stations.

Four of the five team members were selected through a “democratic process” in the Wildrose caucus and executive committee, Wildrose Leader Brian Jean said.

The Progressive Conservative team comprises former interim leader Ric McIver, accountant Bridget Hennigar, lawyer Devinder Purewal and lawyer Tyler Shandro.

The party’s news release listed Zoe Addington — who was deputy chief of staff for former premier Jim Prentice — as one of the team members. A representative from the chamber later said Addington believed her name was on the list by accident and she will not be part of the discussions. As of Friday evening, the PCs had not put forward a replacement.

“I will be reaching out to Progressive Conservative boards and grassroots members to seek their input on the mandate for this team of representatives,” PC Leader Jason Kenney said in the release.

The discussion groups must iron out differences between the two parties. Jean is pro-unity, but wants the merger to happen under his party’s framework. He has argued consolidation will have to move quicker than it would under Kenney’s plan.

A document by five Alberta lawyers, released Monday, saw no legal impediment to a merger between the Wildrose and PC parties. The group, called the Alberta Conservative Consolidation Committee, said the parties could amalgamate as registered societies, which they say would allow them to keep and combine their financial assets.