It’s big day for those who lean to the right on the political spectrum in Alberta.
Alberta’s Progressive Conservative Party is holding their Unity Vote, beginning today, which will determine if the PC’s and Wildrose will merge to become the United Conservative Party.
Grande Prairie-Wapiti MLA and member of Alberta’s PC Party, Wayne Drysdale, is confident the vote will go through and that things will move quickly after that.
“Both caucuses, the Wildrose and PC, will have to meet and appoint an interim leader and a whip, house leader and all that stuff. I’m thinking it will happen Monday,” Drysdale explained.
Drysdale says the process of next steps, if the vote were to be denied, hasn’t really crossed his mind.
“I would guess we will just go back to our two parties if the vote doesn’t go through. I mean, the members will speak and that’s what I’ve said all along – the members should get to decide this.”
Both the Wildrose and PC’s need 75 per cent of their party members to vote yes to merge. There’s approximately 50,000 eligible PC voters and 40,000 Wildrose members.
One thing Drysdale is unsure about is what the new party will look like moving forward, should the referendum be approved.
“I wasn’t a supporter of Mr. Kenney last winter, I supported Richard Starke. But that doesn’t mean I don’t support the Unity Vote. Then the whole question is ‘what’s the new party look like and what’s it stand for?’. So, that’s all to be established yet,” he said. “My principles and values and morals haven’t changed, and they never will change.”
PC polls will remain open until Saturday. The Wildrose Party will have their referendum vote on Saturday as well. Both parties will make results available that night.
Drysdale confirmed he would not seek leadership of the United Conservative Party, if the referendum is voted in favour of uniting the right in Alberta.
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