Organizers of the movement to create a single strong conservative opposition to the governing Liberals last week insisted the movement is gaining force across the country.
They warned the leadership of both Progressive Conservative and Reform parties not to stand in the way.
“Regardless of what the leadership of existing parties say, the grassroots are speaking,” Ontario Conservative cabinet minister Tony Clement told a Jan. 7 news conference. “There is a movement afoot in Canada … . They want to create an alternative to the Liberals.”
The United Alternative convention, first proposed by Reform leader Preston Manning and organized by a committee of Reform and Tory members with a sprinkling of Saskatchewan Party and British Columbia Liberal representatives, is scheduled for Ottawa Feb. 19-21.
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An expected 1,500 delegates are to consider four options: unite within one existing party; merge the existing parties; co-operate locally to field just one candidate against the Liberals in each constituency; or create a new party.
Clement said the only recommendation from the steering committee is that the status quo, with two conservative parties splitting the right-wing vote, is not an option. In 1997, it produced a majority Liberal government that received little more than 38 percent of the popular vote.
“We’ve got a dead-end here in Canadian politics,” he said.
In contrast to Manning’s push to set up a new party, recently elected PC leader Joe Clark has ridiculed the United Alternative effort, dismissing it as a Reform recruiting drive.
He says the answer is for anti-Liberal Canadians to gather under the PC party.
Beyond Reform, the strongest support for the United Alternative has come from Alberta and Ontario provincial Conservative parties.
There is some Manitoba Tory support and a smattering of federal Conservatives have said they will ignore Clark’s opposition and attend the convention.
Former Quebec Parti QuŽbecois minister Rodrigue Biron is a member of the steering committee.
