A merger of the Wildrose and the Progressive Conservative Parties (PCs) to create a new right-wing challenge to the ruling NDP may have the support of the majority of Albertans, according to a recent poll.
The Mainstreet Research survey shows that 54 per cent of respondents support a merger.
The poll found that 72 per cent of PC supporters and 65 per cent of Wildrose supporters would like to see a united right.
Both Wildrose leader Brian Jean and PC leadership race front-runner Jason Kenney have said they would support a merger of some kind if their respective party members were in support.
"If our members approve a unity agreement with the PC Party, I am prepared to stand down as leader of the Wildrose and to seek the leadership of our single, principled, conservative party in a race to be conducted this summer," said Jean.
The idea of a unite-the-right merger has been the talk of Alberta politics circles ever since both parties were defeated by the NDP in the last provincial vote.
Yet a merger of the two parties - either into a wholly new party as Kenney has suggested, or unification of parties with the Wildrose as the legal mechanism as Jean has suggested - won't be without possible pitfalls.
Wildrose members in particular should be asking themselves whether a merger with a party that it fought tooth-and-nail against for many years is worth the risk.
According to the recent poll Wildrose is the most popular party in the province right now, well ahead of both the ruling NDP and the third place PCs.
The question today is whether Wildrose members are prepared to merge with the PCs at a time when Wildrose is in a realistic position to win the next provincial election as a stand-alone party.
The next provincial election is a little more than two years away. Is now the time for Wildrose to run the risk of a major political gamble that puts everything on the table?
- Singleton is the Mountain View Gazette editor
