This week former federal cabinet minister Jason Kenney announced not just his interest in leading the Alberta PC party, but his interest in uniting the right to defeat Rachel Notley’s NDP government.
That is a very tall order even for a high profile politician. The last time a highly touted federal Tory waltzed into Alberta expecting to be premier, it resulted in an NDP government – one that Kenney now seeks to defeat.
But that's where the comparisons end between Kenney and Jim Prentice. Kenney's plan isn't to merely capture the Tory leadership and defeat the Wildrose and NDP in the next election. His endgame is to create a new political party, the "Conservative Party of Alberta" as he muses, to bring the far rights and the moderate rights and every right-winger in between, under one political banner.
Bold? Certainly. Ambitious? Absolutely. Doable? The obstacles are numerous and daunting. Whatever one might think of Kenney or his plan, the fact remains that something must be done. If the right is to capture government in the next provincial election, status quo is not an option.
Kenney's plan might be somewhat radical, but it is not novel. Stephen Harper and Peter MacKay got it done in 2003 when they successfully merged the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative parties into the Conservative Party of Canada. Will Brian Jean be willing to give up his leadership of the Wildrose? Will staunch Tories be willing to give up on the party of Peter Lougheed? The answer to both those questions today is a resounding 'no.' Ask those same people when we're on the eve of the next provincial election three years from now and the answer just might change. If Kenney can build enough consensus for his plan, both Jean and the Tory establishment will have little choice but to join Kenney's new party, otherwise both risk taking the blame for another NDP victory.
Kenney will need to be methodical and exacting in his approach if he's to pull this off. Kenney is a political animal who's sometimes known for his brash vernacular and bullying manoeuvres. He'll have to turn doubters into believers, and he'll have to do that by keeping his rhetoric in check. Kenney may have his faults, but he's also known as a tireless, fearless campaigner – he won't be outworked or outgunned by anyone.
Until Kenney popped onto the scene, it looked rather bleak for the small 'c' conservative voters in this province. The Wildrose wants to join forces, but under their terms and under their leader. The PCs, of course, will have none of it. For the first time since the NDP took government, there's a slight chance that the stubborn politics of the right just might not matter. If the "Conservative Party of Alberta" train gains momentum, they'll have to jump on board, or risk getting run over.
