Political right announces historic merger (Canada)

cbc ^ | 10-16-03

[hotpotato]

OTTAWA — Leaders of the Progressive Conservatives and the Canadian Alliance will announce Thursday morning that an agreement in principle has been reached to merge the two parties.

Saint John MP Elsie Wayne, one of four New Brunswick Tory MPs, says the Canadian Alliance has in essence agreed to rejoin the Conservatives. Wayne intitially opposed the merger, but says the terms of this deal are too attractive to turn down.

"They have agreed to everything, including how to choose a leader, in which every one of our ridings would be treated equally," she said.

"Let's not look at it as 'us versus the Tories' in what's coming together. It's 'us getting together with the Tories in one party,' making sure we work together," said Alliance leader Stephen Harper Wednesday, who was on his way to Ottawa from a Calgary airport.

"Clearly negotiations have reached a point where we may have something in principle to give Canadians a choice in the next election, not the one after that, or the one after that," said Tory leader Peter MacKay.

If the agreement succeeds, it will reunite conservatives 16 years after separating over regional differences.

The right-wing parties would be united under the name The Conservative Party. The two parties will be given until Dec. 12 to ratify the deal.

After months of negotiations, the parties overcame a major stumbling block – how to choose a new leader. Tories have won concessions from the Alliance on the leadership question, getting agreement on a method that gives each riding association equal say in the election. The Tories used it in 1998 when they chose Joe Clark.

A vote would be held on March 21 to select the leader.

The merger needs to be ratified by both parties' caucuses, executives and by general memberships. This could challenge the Conservatives, since such a change would need to be approved by two-thirds of the members.

Potential leadership candidates include former Ontario Premier Mike Harris and two former Tory leadership candidates, Scott Brison and Jim Prentice .

Tom Long, who ran for the Alliance leadership in 2000, and was an advisor to Harris, says with a merger deal at hand, both sides will have to bury the hatchet.

"There's a lot of common ground. We've just spent the last 10 to 15 years focusing a microscope on everything we disagree on."

Rick Anderson, the Reform Party's campaign director and a key architect of the unite the right movement which led to the Canadian Alliance, said the new party's focus will have to remain on western Canada.

"I think it would be foolish for the Alliance to walk away from a strong western base. That's not to say it doesn't need to continue expanding in other parts of the country."

[Great Dane]

I am a very happy camper. :-}