United Conservative Party

Background

The Wildrose Party largely consisted of former PC supporters dissatisfied with the longstanding PC government for various reasons. Three of the first five Wildrose MLAs were defecters originally elected as Progressive Conservatives.

A notable but unsuccessful attempt to collapse the Wildrose into the PC party occurred in November and December 2014 when two Wildrose MLAs joined the PCs. Weeks later, the then Wildrose Party and Official Opposition leader Danielle Smith led most of the rest of her caucus to cross the floor and join the then governing PC Party lead by Jim Prentice. The remaining Wildrose Party refused to consider the request by Smith to dissolve their party. Then Wildrose President David Yager said at the time "This is not a merger in any way. It is capitulation."^[5]

Many columnists blamed the mass 2014 floor crossings for the surprise election of the NDP in May 2015 as they defeated the longest serving provincial government in Canada.^[6] Following the election, uniting the Wildrose and PC parties became a major issue. In July 2016 Jason Kenney announced that he would seek the PC leadership on a platform of uniting into a new party with the Wildrose.

Wildrose leader Brian Jean largely rejected calls for a merger with the PCs, and on October 28, 2016, told Wildrose members at the party's AGM "In the months ahead, let's not put the future of our province at risk waiting for the PC party to figure out what they do or don't believe in."^[7] On December 15, 2016, Jean continued to reject proposals for a merger and stated that he would present an alternative plan, "It has to be something palatable to both sets of members", said Jean. "And I think that our plan is, quite frankly, much more palatable to both sets of members."^[8]

On the same day, Derek Fildebrandt came out as the first Wildrose MLA to openly support a merger with the PC Party after the NDP’s election when he told a radio station, "Frankly, I've heard enough. I think that people are pretty clear. They want a single conservative option to face against the NDP in the next election."^[9]

Merger negotiations

Negotiations by PC Party leader Jason Kenney and Wildrose leader Brian Jean began shortly after Kenney was elected PC leader on March 18, 2017 on a platform of uniting the two parties. Negotiations were successful and the text of the merger agreement was released on May 18, 2017. Internal votes on the merger agreement were held by both parties on July 22, 2017.^[10][11] The stated plan if the merger was approved was a United Conservative Party leadership election in October 2017 and a founding convention of the party in early 2018.^[12]

42,617 Wildrose members were eligible to vote on July 22, 2017. There was a 57 per cent turnout with 23,466 voters (95%) in favour of the agreement and 1,132 (5%) against, clearing the 75% threshold required by the party's constitution. The Progressive Conservative membership also approved the agreement by a margin of 95% to 5%. With a turnout of 55% of eligible members, 25,692 PC members voted yes and 1,344 voted no, with 24 spoiled ballots; the PC party's constitution required a simple majority of its membership to approve the merger.^[13][14]

Despite the overwhelming vote for a merger, some Wildrosers declined to join the united party with a group of constituency association presidents meeting later in July to discuss forming a new party. Similarly, at least 10 directors of the PC Party resigned since Jason Kenney became leader, with some former Tories working to build a centrist alternative to both the United Conservatives and the NDP before the next provincial election.^[13] The second-place PC leadership candidate and MLA for Vermilion-Lloydminster, Richard Starke, announced on July 24 that he would not join the UCP, and will sit in the legislature as an Independent PC MLA.^[15]

Aftermath

A joint meeting of the PC and Wildrose caucuses was held on July 24, 2017, to elect Nathan Cooper, Wildrose MLA for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills, as interim leader—and hence Leader of the Opposition--^[16] over Prasad Panda, Wildrose MLA for Calgary-Foothills, and Richard Gotfried, PC MLA for Calgary-Fish Creek.^[17] As well, members of both caucuses approached the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and ask to be recognized as the United Conservative caucus.^[14]

Kenney and Jean selected six individuals each to sit on the interim executive board of the new party. Ed Ammar was elected as first chair of the party on July 24, 2017. The interim UCP leader also appointed two MLAs to the board as non-voting members. The new party was registered with Elections Alberta as of July 31, 2017.^[17]

Calgary-South East MLA Rick Fraser left the caucus on September 21, 2017, to sit as an Independent due to his dissatisfaction with the party's leadership contest and the emphasis put by candidates on spending cuts and austerity.^[18]

The leadership election held on October 28, 2017 resulted in Jason Kenney defeating former Wildrose leader Brian Jean and Doug Schweitzer, a former aide to Jim Prentice, to become UCP leader. Kenney won more than 60% of the vote on the first ballot.^[19] Kenney successfully contested a by-election in Calgary-Lougheed on December 14, 2017, after incumbent MLA Dave Rodney resigned in order to give Kenney an opportunity to enter the Alberta legislature.^[20]