Committee has 4 to 6 weeks to craft unite-the-right framework
Michelle Bellefontaine | CBC News | Posted: March 24, 2017 10:21 PM | Last Updated: March 24, 2017
Wildrose and PC MLAs among 10 members on committee
A group set up to discuss how to unite Alberta conservatives under a single party has four to six weeks to report back to the Wildrose and Progressive Conservative parties.
The unity discussion group was announced after Wildrose Leader Brian Jean and PC Leader Jason Kenney met in Edmonton Monday.
Kenney won the PC leadership Saturday after capturing 75 per cent of the votes cast by delegates. He ran on a platform of uniting Wildrose and PC members under a single party by the 2019 election.
The discussion group is the first step in the process in creating an agreement that will need approval from members of both parties.
The 10 people on the group are split evenly between representatives from the Wildrose and PC parties.
They include Wildrose MLAs Pat Stier and Jason Nixon and former interim PC Leader Ric McIver.
The members are:
Wildrose:
- James Cole, treasurer of the Wildrose Party and chartered financial analyst
- Arthur Hamilton, lawyer and expert in election legislation and laws governing political parties
- Jason Nixon, MLA for Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre
- Pat Stier, MLA Livingstone-Macleod
- Brandon Swertz, vice-president of fundraising for the Wildrose Party and oil and gas executive
Progressive Conservatives:
- Zoe Addington, director of policy and government relations at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and deputy chief of staff and director of policy under former premier Jim Prentice
- Bridget Hennigar, chartered accountant, former managing partner for Meyers, Norris, Penny, an accountancy firm
- Ric McIver, MLA for Calgary-Hays
- Devinder Purewal, lawyer, president of Edmonton-Mill Creek Progressive Conservative Association
- Tyler Shandro, lawyer, south finance chairman on the PCAA board and president of the Calgary-West PC Association