Nothing has Changed for Wildrose

It was standing room only at a crowded town hall at the Strathmore Legion planned by the local MLA Derek Fildebrandt. "How many of you are PC members?" He asked.  One lone gentleman raised his hand.  The topic of this meeting was uniting the Conservative vote and it would probably help if other conservatives would attend.  Sometimes though, an echo chamber is all you need.

"I have a lot of respect for Conservatives in the PC Party" he said.  "There are some very good members who are strong Conservatives but the PC Party was hijacked by a faction of liberals who are scared they're going to have to go back to the liberal party."  The crowd chuckled so this might have been a joke.  He told a story about  walking to the legislature with Sandra Jansen and said she asked him if there would be room for liberal-minded people in a united conservative party.  He beat about the bush and told the crowd that any person who is for free enterprise is welcome in a united conservative party.

The people who attended were overwhelmingly in agreement that the conservatives should unite (with the exception of the aforementioned PC member).  Recall that this town hall took place in a rural riding, most of which, across the province, are stark conservative ridings and currently represented by a Wildrose MLA.  In these areas, they see the issue for what it is; the cities are more liberal than they are and their party won't form government without the cities.  Why do they want a united conservative party?  Because they don't have to give anything up.

The PC party has had success in the cities as well as the rural areas.  You don't get 44 years of one-party rule without assistance from the largest cities in the province.  To rural Wildrose supporters, there's only one way to win government; remove the progressive conservative faction.  When this was brought up by an audience member, Fildebrandt referred to the federal vote.  "More than 60% of voters chose the Conservative party federally".  Some, though, say that people vote for different things at different levels of government.

Does a united conservative party have a chance to beat out the NDP in 2019?   Of course they do, but progressive conservatives are still thinking about what this means for them.  They didn't support the Wildrose in the last election and some have no intention of supporting them in the next one.

Do the Wildrose want to take over the PC party?  Certainly.  Remove the vote split, one and one equals two and all that.  Looking at both sides of the debate, it's definitely not a worry for the Wildrose supporters; they're strong and they're united.  For them, nothing has changed.