Kenney calls for conservative unity during Red Deer town hall

Alberta Progressive Conservative Party leader Jason Kenney spoke to a receptive crowd at the Radisson Hotel in Red Deer last night, where he called for unity among conservatives in order to oust the NDP government.

In his speech, Kenney took aim at the current government’s fiscal, economic, environmental and social policies, saying the NDP is trying to “change who we are” as a province.

He blamed vote-splitting for the result of the 2015 election.

Both PC and Wildrose Party members will be voting in respective referendums on July 22, on whether to merge under the United Conservative Party.

Seventy-five percent of Wildrose members must vote ‘Yes’ to ratify the agreement, while the PC Party requires a simple majority.

Kenney was joined on stage by fellow PC MLA Richard Gotfried as well as Wildrose Party’s whip Jason Nixon and house leader Nathan Cooper. All voiced support for conservative unity.

“I think it was an important message … having the Wildrose senior leadership up on the stage, I think helped to drive home the point that we are already uniting,” Kenney said.

In May, Kenney and Wildrose leader Brian Jean announced they had a deal in principle for both right-of-centre parties to merge as the United Conservative Party.

The deal is a legal framework, the mechanics of how such a merger would occur under election law in Alberta. Matters such as the new party’s constitution, policy positions, candidate nominations, would be decided by members, said Nixon, who was one of those negotiating the agreement.

“Our responsibility was … ensure that membership of both our parties can drive the bus forward when it comes to policy, constitution, electing their candidates, electing their next leader. So that framework was not for us to determine those details. That’s for our membership,” Nixon said.

The agreement states that a new leader would be elected on Oct. 28.

The politicians also fielded questions from the audience of more than 100, including how the finances of each party would be handled. The UCP agreement states the assets and liabilities of the PC and Wildrose parties would be kept separate.