Alberta’s two main conservative parties voted overwhelmingly to unite and form the United Conservative Party.
First, the Wildrose Party announced they voted 95 per cent in favour of merging, and two hours later, Progressive Conservative leader Jason Kenney announced his party reached the same figure.
Wildrose polls opened at 8 a.m. in-person and over the phone, and party members voted overwhelmingly to surpass the 75 per cent threshold needed to merge with the Alberta PCs.
.@BrianJeanWRP enters to raucous applause. This could be his last speech as @TeamWildrose leader #AbPoli #AbLeg pic.twitter.com/EAZDbuBZgH
— Jeremy Thompson (@JThompsonCTV) July 22, 2017
“What a day for Alberta! What a day for conservatives and what a day for Wildrose members!” Wildrose Leader Brian Jean shouted at the start of his speech. “I said from the very beginning that members needed to make this decision for our party, and today, they said yes! Yes, to a brighter future, yes to building on all that we’ve accomplished as Wildrose and yes to saving Albertans from the NDP.”
The creation of the United Conservative Party became official after Kenney announced his party’s results in Calgary. The conservatives needed more than half of the votes to approve the merger.
.@jkenney says Alberans have decided to put the province before any political party. Wildrose and PC parties will merge. #abpoli #ableg #UCP pic.twitter.com/gE1P2xAew3
— Kamil Karamali (@KamilKaramali) July 23, 2017
“Many critics scoffed – they said it couldn't be done,” Kenney said. “Some said there wasn't enough time – others said we could end up with five parties instead of one.”
The two parties will meet in Edmonton Monday to choose an interim leader.
The leadership race for the new party already has three participants: Jean and Kenney have said they’ll run, and Calgary lawyer Doug Schweitzer is already campaigning.
The election is set to take place October 28.
The United Conservative Party’s goal is to be ready for the next provincial election set in early 2019.
“The incompetency in this province is about to come to an end,” Bernard Hancock, also known as Bernard the Roughneck, said. “This is the ball that starts rolling. In 2019, it's going to be time to retake this province, I couldn't be happier, man, I'm over the moon.”
Until then, the NDP government will continue to govern the province.
“We’re going to keep on keeping on,” Alberta Deputy Premier Sarah Hoffman said.
With files from Jeremy Thompson, Kamil Karamali and The Canadian Press
