On Dec. 17 Premier Jim Prentice and former Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith announced the “unification of Alberta’s conservative parties” as nine Wildrose MLAs, including Chestermere–Rocky View MLA Bruce McAllister, Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills MLA Bruce Rowe and Smith, crossed the floor to join the Progressive Conservatives (PC). The controversial floor crossing left many county residents upset including representatives from both Rowe and McAllister’s former Wildrose Constituency Associations (CA).
“I have a real distrust of what is all going on,” Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills CA President Pratt said. “It’s a sad day for democracy when a leader of a party crosses the floor.”
“One of the key parts for our board and pretty much everybody in Chestermere-Rocky View thought that it was a surprise,” said Patrick Bergen with Chestermere-Rocky View CA. “There was no consultation.”
Rowe and McAllister wouldn’t comment to Rocky View Weekly on their decisions to cross the floor.
The Wildrose suffered a landslide loss in October when the PC won all four seats in the Calgary byelection. In November, three Wildrose MLAs quit the party to sit either as Independent or PC.
In the unification agreement the PCs will be adopting several policies and principles agreed upon with the Wildrose crossover MLAs. The reason behind the reunification agreement appears to be Premier Jim Prentice.
“When I became Wildrose leader more than five years ago, I did so with one singular objective in mind: to return to government the conservative values and principles that I had spent my life defending,” Smith said in the release. “Under Premier Prentice’s strong leadership, I believe we can work together to lead Alberta with a renewed focus on the values and principles that we share.”
The mass floor crossing will leave the Wildrose as a shell of its former self. Prior to the unification the Party held 14 seats to the PC’s 63.
In a press conference on Dec. 17 Smith said she would work to encourage the Wildrose to accept a reunification proposal that would join the two parties. However, that same day the Wildrose released a statement in which the Party “unanimously rejected the reunification proposal.”
“The Wildrose Party remains a strong independent organization with over 22,000 members, dozens of Constituency Associations, hundreds of volunteers, and thousands of donors,” the Party said in the statement.
The release also stated the Wildrose have begun the process of finding a new Party leader, and that the presidency of the party had been transferred from David Yager, who will assume the position of vice president fundraising, to former Wildrose president and vice president fundraising Jeff Callaway.
The Wildrose will remain the Official Opposition, with only five members holding seats.
“The Wildrose Party has been down to the point where they had nobody in the legislature,” Pratt said. “We came back to that point where we had 17 members sitting across the from the PCs.”
He said the move by the nine who crossed was an insult to how he and all Wildrose supporters voted.
“I don’t think people respect this decision,” Bergen said. “One of the key things we lose is an effective opposition, which is a plus for Prentice.”
Following the floor crossing a online petition calling for Smith to resign her position and run in a byelection began at recalldanielle.ca. It was unknown as of press time how many had signed the petition.
When asked if they would vote for Rowe or McAllister again, both men said they’d “never vote for the PCs.”
“I think the very worst thing that can happen out of this is apathy,” Bergen said. “Albertans are smart, they see what’s going on.”
