If there is one thing the Alberta Progressive Conservatives and Wildrose Party can agree on, it's the importance of grassroots.
The merge of the two provincial parties is a plan of action in tackling the current NDP government in the next election.
Before that can happen, the newly merged and named United Conservative Party of Alberta needs to decide on policies both sides of the merger can agree on.
Saturday, July 22 will be remembered as the day where 95 per cent of members in the PC and Wildrose parties agreed it was time for change, and although not everyone understood why, they knew that a merger was their best chance at defeating the NDP.
“At first, I wasn't sure about it, because I'm a strong Progressive Conservative member, but I do believe the Conservatives in Alberta should unite instead of splitting the vote,” said former Bonnyville-Cold Lake MLA Genia Leskiw.
From 2008 to 2015, Leskiw represented the area as a Conservative MLA.
Now, Scott Cyr has taken over the role, but under the Wildrose Party.
Although Leskiw is in favour of the merger, she is uncomfortable with the term “Unite the Right.”
“I don't like when they use the term Unite the Right, because it's not really uniting the right, it's uniting the conservatives of Alberta,” she explained.
She had a change of heart about the two parties amalgamating because she believes there was no other option.
“I don't think we could handle another term with the NDP government. What has happened to our province in the last two-years has been devastating… the PC party and the Wildrose Party have more things in common than they do different. I think that if we all believe in fiscal management, having Albertans work, and promoting our energy sector, our agricultural sector, and our forest sector, then the conservatives need to work together to defeat the NDPs and to get Alberta back on track,” Leskiw said.
Cyr agreed that in order for the now United Conservative Party to win, they needed to do something big, and the 95 per cent support shows that the two parties were on the right track.
“I think they were waiting for hope, and this new party is what they had been waiting for,” said Cyr. “It (the vote) says that we want to go back to an Alberta advantage where we have a strong economy and strong families.”
Although the two parties differ in many ways, there are also areas where there are similarities.
For example, both Leskiw and Cyr agreed that one of the united party's focuses should be on cutting down debt, creating jobs for Albertans, building pipelines, and giving a voice to the grassroot constituents.
“I definitely think we need to get our debt under control. I know there are a lot of things we want and need, but unfortunately we can't get them all at once. We also need to start prioritizing between what is a need and what is a want,” noted Leskiw.
Cyr said that regardless of the other 28 MLAs within the party, he will ensure that his constituents' voices are heard loud and clear.
”For those that are concerned about the amalgamation, what we did is we took the best parts of both parties and put them together… I think that in the end, we're going to have a lot of happy constituents and something they can put their support behind.”
For Leskiw, it has always been her goal to remind urban MLAs that it's rural Alberta who supports their ridings through the resources that come right from the grassroots communities.
“Like I used to tell my Calgary MLAs, ‘they may have the big towers, but we have the oil in our backyard.' The prosperity of the province definitely is in the backyards of rural Albertans. We do have the resources, and I think sometimes we forget that the rural people are the ones who are working on those resources. We sometimes don't benefit from having those resources in our own backyard,” she said.
For members, this is a confusing time. However, they can sleep easy knowing their memberships will carry on.
If a resident has a membership to one of the two parties, it will transfer over to the united party. If a resident has two memberships, one for each party, then the one that has the longest expiration date carries over.
Moving forward, the party will start working on constitution, and will have a vote for the leader of the party on Oct. 28. Only a handful of people have put their name forward, including Fort McMurray-Conklin MLA and former Wildrose leader Brian Jean.
Cyr has decided not to join in the running, but is happy with the direction the party is headed so far.
“(Albertans) are looking to us for leadership, and what I think we need to be doing is focusing on the positives for Alberta, rather than what's tearing us down.”
