Brian Jean’s vision would require Alberta’s Progressive Conservatives to dissolve their once-mighty party and join Wildrose activists with whom they’ve had a decade of bitter relations.JASON FRANSON/The Canadian Press
Wildrose Leader Brian Jean says he is willing to give up his job but not his party in order to unite Alberta's right wing.
On Friday in an interview with The Globe and Mail, Mr. Jean laid out his plan to create a single party on Alberta's right that he says would dominate politics in the province for generations to come.
But his vision would require Alberta's Progressive Conservatives to dissolve their once-mighty party and join Wildrose activists with whom they've had a decade of bitter relations. Mr. Jean's biggest concessions would be to rename the Wildrose and step down so he could reseek the leadership – a race he says he would win.
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Mr. Jean wants the PCs to wind up their party and join the Wildrose, assuming his members agree to absorb their conservative rivals, this summer and work under a single banner in the legislature by the time it resumes sitting in October.
"This option, by far, was the best option and the one that best protects the rights of members of both parties, but also makes sure that the NDP can't take advantage of a risky situation by calling another election at an inopportune moment for the conservative movement in Alberta," Mr. Jean said.
"We need this done right now, if we don't have a new leader by the end of the summer it'll be too late."
Mr. Jean's proposal runs counter to one being pitched PC leadership candidate Jason Kenney and moves at a much quicker pace.
Mr. Kenney's plan does not call for a leadership contest until the winter of 2017/18 and unlike Mr. Jean's plan, it calls for the elimination of both parties, with the creation of a brand-new unified one.
The former federal Conservative cabinet minister would then launch a leadership race.
Mr. Kenney, in a statement distributed by his spokesman, said unification will not work unless both parties dissolve. "Since launching our … campaign, I have said members of either party are unlikely to accept adopting the legal foundation of the other party, and so the best vehicle is likely the creation of a new party," Mr. Kenney's statement said.
Unification negotiations, he said, are likely to fail if preconditions are part of the deal.
Two politicians are challenging Mr. Kenney for the PCs' top spot and a third opponent dropped out of the race Thursday night. Mr. Kenney is the apparent front-runner and the only candidate pitching a unification deal. If PC members reject Mr. Kenney, they are essentially rejecting unification with the more right-leaning Wildrose.
Mr. Kenney, unlike Mr. Jean, is not a member of Alberta's legislature.
Mr. Jean's proposal needs approval from the PCs before he can present it to his own membership. If the PCs approve his idea this spring, Wildrose members would vote on it in late June, including any modifications brought forward by the Tories, Mr. Jean said.
PC members would be invited to the Wildrose meeting and given limited voting rights. If all goes according to plan, about a week after that meeting, both the Wildrose and PC members would be united under a renamed Wildrose and thrust into a leadership contest. The Wildrose legal framework would remain in place.
"I certainly don't think the members would agree to dissolving the Wildrose Party, but the biggest issue I think from a practical perspective is that if we decide to go about it the way Mr. Kenney has suggested, it creates a six-to-eight-month window where there won't be fundraising.
"It'll create disarray in the parties and confusion. We can't take the chance on that."
The Wildrose already has the rights to the Alberta Conservative Party and the Conservative Party of Alberta names, Mr. Jean said. Both would be put forward to members to choose from.
Meanwhile, Richard Starke, one of the candidates running for the PC leadership, said on Thursday that the party should co-operate with the Wildrose in order to defeat the NDP in the next election.
He offered few specifics, but said co-operation could include the two parties agreeing not to campaign against each other in certain ridings in 2019 or forming a coalition.
Sources said Mr. Jean had floated similar co-operation proposals to his caucus but his MLAs sharply rebuked the ideas.
Justin Giovannetti
Carrie Tait