Is the Wildrose Party about to implode?

[Goober]

Is the Wildrose Party about to implode? Crossing the floor to the Conservatives?
Appears to be a number of leaks today of a merger within the WR Caucus.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/busi...+vows+fight+backroom+deal/10647660/story.html

The president of the Wildrose Party is standing firm against a push by members of the party caucus — including Leader Danielle Smith — to merge the party with the governing Progressive Conservatives, calling it a “capitulation.”

In an e-mail sent today to members of the executive committee obtained by the Herald, president David Yager slams what he calls a “backroom deal” made by some MLAs.

“This is not a merger in any way. It is capitulation. It is floor crossing. If (it) were a merger, or anything that resembles a merger, I in my capacity as president would have heard something from somebody in the PC party,” he wrote.

In his e-mail, Yager said he had “begged/pleaded/written/insulted” Smith not to move forward with the plan.

“While I understand how she could believe that the investment she has put into Wildrose versus what has been returned has been pretty lopsided, I have told her repeatedly that of all her career options, crossing the floor to join the PCs is the worst,” he wrote.

Smith has not returned multiple messages left by the Herald.

News emerged Monday night that some Wildrose MLAs have been pushing for the Opposition caucus to cross the floor en masse to the PC government, with moves toward an official party merger to follow.

Caucus members are expected to meet today to make a decision on the issue.

Wildrose vice-president of fundraising Jeff Callaway said Monday night that house leader Rob Anderson and whip Shayne Saskiw are leaders in the push to bring the parties together.

 

[Goober]

If the Wildrose defection destroys Alberta’s opposition, Prentice has cemented himself as a generational premier | National Post

After only four months at the helm of the Progressive Conservatives, Jim Prentice may have neutered the only effective opposition party Alberta has seen in 43 years.

No confirmation came on Tuesday, but multiple sources predicted as many as half of the 14 remaining Wildrose Party MLAs could defect to the long-ruling PCs on Wednesday, including leader Danielle Smith and noted lieutenant Rob Anderson.

Even if no one crosses the floor, Ms. Smith’s ability to continue to lead the upstart opposition is in grave doubt as reports abound that the PCs have offered terms for a merger.

Such a move, if adopted, would be unprecedented in Canadian history: political analysts could find no corollary, that of a sitting opposition effectively conceding to a governing party. As Alberta PCs have been in power longer than any other sitting government ever, no historical anecdote easily compares to it.

Live: Tories meet as fate of the Wildrose hangs in the balance

EDMONTON - One by one, cryptic and secretive Tory MLAs filed into Edmonton’s Government House Wednesday for a meeting that could profoundly change Alberta’s political culture for a generation.

Heads down as they moved through a horde of frozen reporters, every Progressive Conservative sang from the same songbook, declining to comment on the rumoured collapse of Alberta’s official opposition Wildrose and the unprecedented consolidation of power in an almighty Tory juggernaut.

Premier Jim Prentice and his cabinet met at 9 a.m. Wednesday, and the Tory caucus joined them at 10 a.m. Together they will decide whether to accept into caucus a group Wildrose members who want to defect, en masse, from the sitting opposition party.

Some, including Wildrose leader Danielle Smith, are reportedly in the running for a seat at the cabinet table.

It is believed to be the first time in Canadian history that a sitting opposition has capitulated to a governing party. The consequences for democracy in Alberta will be profound.

 

[captain morgan]

Wildrose Party will survive, but Daniel Smith and possibly the rest of the other defectors may not make the next election regardless of what Party they are with

 

[skookumchuck]

Keep in mind that the strong religeous faction of the Wildrose makes it difficult for moderates to stay with them.

 

[Cannuck]

Keep in mind that the strong religeous faction of the Wildrose makes it difficult for moderates to stay with them.

The same can be said for the federal conservatives. Given the fiscal management both parties have given Canadians, they should both change their names. The Feds can change to the Social Conservative Party and the Alberta Conservatives can call themselves the Alberta Liberals. It may not gain them any votes but at least it will be honest.

 

[captain morgan]

Keep in mind that the strong religeous faction of the Wildrose makes it difficult for moderates to stay with them.

I'm not familiar with any religious bent that the WRP has marketed it;s policy towards (or otherwise directly appeals to)

 

[Goober]

Wildrose Party will survive, but Daniel Smith and possibly the rest of the other defectors may not make the next election regardless of what Party they are with

This decision split the party.
Alberta's Wildrose party backtracks on equal rights statement - The Globe and Mail

Alberta’s Wildrose party members have backtracked on a definitive statement on equal rights for all — one year after they passed it overwhelmingly to remove the stain of being anti-gay bigots.

Party members voted 148-109 against adopting as policy a statement approved last year that affirmed the rights for everyone regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, and other differences.

What cost them before was this.

And the Leader did not handle it properly. That caused many to think it would be a socially Conservative Govt. And Redford rode that to power.
People flocked from the Libs and NDP to the Cons.

Reading Children's Books: We might be living in Saudi Arabia soon because Alberta is oil country gone back to the past --with its Wildrose Alliance anti-gay candidates

 

[MHz]

'We' (meaning I'm not a member) prefer to call it 'fermenting new ideas that will knock your socks off', and then your wallet.

 

[Goober]

Wildrose waits as floor-crossing goes to vote by Alberta Tories - Edmonton - CBC News
News coming soon


9 crossing

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmon...sing-goes-to-vote-by-alberta-tories-1.2876412

 

[MHz]

This would save time, musical chairs Alberta style.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_cQuBSo_jk

 

[eh1eh]

The Wild Rose Hip Tea Party.

 

[B00Mer]

OK what is this hogwash?? Wild Rose about to implode.

Goober why don't you lead the party... oh never mind, they already have a Liberal Party in Alberta.

Time the Wild Rose get radical, Alberta should have the same statehood as Quebec, a "country within a country."

First order of business, Open Carry Gun Laws.. (watch everyone start driving nice)

 

[Goober]

OK what is this hogwash?? Wild Rose about to implode.

Goober why don't you lead the party... oh never mind, they already have a Liberal Party in Alberta.

Time the Wild Rose get radical, Alberta should have the same statehood as Quebec, a "country within a country."

First order of business, Open Carry Gun Laws.. (watch everyone start driving nice)

Try and keep up eh.
Prentice has a ton of credibility. If Harper had stepped aside he would have won the leadership easily.

Now we shall see cuts in Govt spending to begin with.
How Preston Manning convinced Wildrose MLAs to join mass defection | National Post

According to a source close to his campaign, Mr. Prentice’s true Conservative credentials were a boon: this had the “happy coincidence of undercutting the Wildrose, of course.”

“OK, this is stuff that Jim believes in anyway. He wins the leadership, gets into the legislature, starts enacting this stuff. We were joking, laughing, [saying] what’s the Wildrose going to do?”

At the time, the source said, the plan was for Mr. Prentice to win a majority government in 2016 on a right-wing platform, thus eliminating Wildrose’s raison d’etre.

In May, just as Mr. Prentice was announcing his decision to run for the leadership, Ms. Smith announced a merger had already been proposed — a claim vociferously denied by Mr. Prentice’s team.

What PC supporters could not have predicted was the strategic door that opened to them several months later, when Mr. Prentice and his new cabinet ministers swept four open seats in an Oct. 27 byelection.