After a visit from PC leadership hopeful Jason Kenney to St. Paul on Jan. 28, and following Wildrose leader Brian Jean’s announcement that he was open to uniting the right, the St. Paul Journal asked how readers felt about the idea.
The majority of respondents to last week’s poll said they believed a merger was necessary, but _ are against the idea.
Some who don’t want a merger say that there’s not enough time, that the complexities and financial ramifications of dissolving two parties and uniting will drag on, leaving not enough time to campaign in a 2019 election. But if the will is there from the grassroots and there is enough common policy and vision to unite those on the right side of the political spectrum, time should not be an impediment. A new united conservative party may also be in a better position to fundraise and fill the election war-chest.
The question should be for supporters of either of these parties, is it realistic that their party can form government?
Jean, wisely, has left it up to his membership to decide, as grassroots-decision making has been one of his party’s core ideas. He and his party know how backroom wheeling and dealing damaged both the Wildrose and PC brands in the lead-up to the 2015 election.
As for the PCs, Kenney seems to have all the momentum in the PC leadership race, and he is intent on taking apart the party to merge it with the Wildrose. Former leadership candidates like Stephen Khan and Sandra Jansen say their hope of reviving and energizing the party as a centrist, big-tent option has collapsed.
Related to this issue is the fact that electoral boundaries will be changing, given the province’s population growth in urban areas. If the boundary commission adds more urban seats at the expense of rural Alberta, and if the two parties’ merger means a shift further right, then is it possible for a new united right party to win government? Would they have enough broad support both in the rural and urban ridings? These are the questions PCs and Wildrose members must decide and decide quickly if the unite the right movement is to succeed.
