Post by Yaw on Dec 6, 2003 23:53:28 GMT -5
With the vote today, it appears that the Progressive Conservative Party and Canadian Alliance Party will be merging...at least tentatively. Several PC members are very unhappy with the vote and have indicated a challenge of the results and/or the fact that the party could merge is forthcoming. Story copied in below for posterity.
Tories vote to merge with Alliance
OTTAWA (CP) - Conservatives have turned the page on a decade of electoral disharmony, with the Tories and the Canadian Alliance agreeing to an historic merger to end the vote-splitting that has crippled both parties.
Progressive Conservative delegates voted 90 per cent Saturday to drop the `Progressive' tag and create a new Conservative Party of Canada with their more staunchly right-wing rivals.
That came a day after Alliance members voted 96 per cent in favour of the merger.
The parties will unite for the federal election expected this spring and give the governing Liberals their first real challenge in a decade, Tory Leader Peter MacKay predicted.
"With this overwhelming vote, we have just become Paul Martin's worst nightmare," a jubilant MacKay said.
"Finally, after 10 years, the Liberal Party of Canada will be facing a united, strong conservative family in the next federal general election."
He pumped his fists, exchanged high-fives and jumped on to his chair to wave at the crowd as the results were announced in a hotel ballroom.
But the new conservative marriage could have a very short honeymoon. There were already rumblings of fresh dissent Saturday, with one high-profile Tory hinting at a possible court challenge and another refusing to enter the new conservative tent.
MP Joe Clark, a former prime minister, announced he will not sit as a member of the new party in the House of Commons. Similar announcements were expected from other Tories.
Former Tory cabinet minister Sinclair Stevens said he will announce details Monday of a plan to block the merger - but would not say whether that includes a legal challenge.
Clark called the union an act of "political suicide" in an emotional appeal before votes were cast. He urged Tories not to turn their backs on the poor, on gays and lesbians, on visible minorities and social moderates who have largely shunned the Alliance.
"This proposal (to merge) is to turn away from those very Canadians who elect governments in Canada," Clark said at a meeting in Calgary.
"To retreat to a very narrow base, to stop being a progressive force in Canada - that step backward would guarantee the election of Liberal governments for a decade to come.
"I pray we will not approve this political suicide."
Alliance Leader Stephen Harper sought to allay fears that the party will be intolerant.
"The new Conservative Party of Canada will be a principled, moderate, national movement for change," he said in a news release.
"It will be a strong and united political home for all conservatives and provide Canadians with a real alternative to the tired old Chrétien-Martin government."
Some Tories complained the vote was fixed to exaggerate support for the pro-merger side and help it reach the required two-thirds majority.
In each riding, a vote of 50 per cent plus one at last week's delegate-selection meetings automatically guaranteed a full slate of pro-merger delegates for Saturday's convention.
The so-called virtual convention was held simultaneously in 26 cities, with 2,234 delegates approving the merger and just 247 voting against.
Opponents of the merger denounced it as opportunism and an abdication of the progressive ideals of a Tory party that gave Canadians the Bill of Rights under Diefenbaker and open immigration policies.
But supporters of the union defended it as an act of political pragmatism faithful to the party's long history of coalition-building since the days of John A. Macdonald.
They noted that since the days since Canada's first prime minister there have been Conservatives, Liberal-Conservatives, Independent-Conservatives, and since the latest merger in 1942, Progressive Conservatives.
This latest incarnation gives them a chance of taking power for the first time since 1993, proponents of the union said.
"We're going to put the last 10 years in the wilderness behind us today," said former finance minister Michael Wilson at a meeting in Toronto.
"We can now put together a great coalition - a great coalition like our past leaders Macdonald, Borden, Diefenbaker and Mulroney. . . . Vote `Yes' and we're going to win again!"
Still, many delegates were concerned that Conservatives will shift too far to the right and make the party unattractive to the vast majority of Canadian voters.
MacKay addressed those concerns by pleading with moderates to stick with the new party and help shape its policy over the next several months.
The merger process will move full-steam ahead starting Monday, with a mountain of work remaining as the parties prepare for the election.
A 12-member joint council will begin planning for a leadership convention, for combining riding associations, and mapping out details for how the parties will work together when Parliament resumes sitting in January.
An interim leader will be selected and the new party already has a leadership convention scheduled for March 19-21.
The Alliance holds 63 seats in the Commons, while the Tories have 15.
MacKay will meet Monday with his MPs - some of whom are skeptical or downright hostile to the merger. He is also expected to meet with Harper.
Harper is currently considered the front-runner for the leadership even if he has not yet officially declared he will run.
Many Tories desperately want one of their own to win the leadership, fearing that the selection of an ex-Alliance member would hurt the new party in eastern Canada.
MacKay hinted strongly Saturday about wanting to seek the leadership.
"This (merger result) is certainly one in the plus column and one in the win column for my decision in whether to seek the leadership or not," he said, adding that he would announce a decision this month.
"I'm feeling some wind in the sails."
Many Conservatives had been hoping New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord or former Ontario Premier Mike Harris would run, but both have ruled out a leadership bid.
Harris has long backed merger and Lord came out Saturday in full support. But he also urged the party to remain socially moderate.
"I'm saying `Yes' to a modern, open and dynamic party that will offer Canadians a new choice from coast to coast," he said before voting in favour.
"And I say `Yes' to putting an end to Liberal majority governments."
That string began in 1993, when the Liberals swept to their first of three successive electoral triumphs.
Vote-splitting began in Conservative ranks after former prime minister Brian Mulroney's coast-to-coast coalition began crumbling during the bitter constitutional debates of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Western-based staunch conservatives abandoned the Tories to throw their support behind the upstart Reform party, while Quebec nationalists flocked to the Bloc Quebecois.
Several subsequent attempts at reuniting the parties have met with spectacular failure, including the process that led to the creation of the Alliance.
Members had attempted to merge the Reform party and the Tories for the 2000 election but the vast majority of Conservatives never came onside.
The ideological gulf between the Alliance and the more socially progressive Tories was always a major sticking point.
Another impediment to the merger was the fear the Tories would be gobbled up by the more powerful Alliance machine. Many Tory skeptics feel that's exactly what has happened.
OTTAWA (CP) - Conservatives have turned the page on a decade of electoral disharmony, with the Tories and the Canadian Alliance agreeing to an historic merger to end the vote-splitting that has crippled both parties.
Progressive Conservative delegates voted 90 per cent Saturday to drop the `Progressive' tag and create a new Conservative Party of Canada with their more staunchly right-wing rivals.
That came a day after Alliance members voted 96 per cent in favour of the merger.
The parties will unite for the federal election expected this spring and give the governing Liberals their first real challenge in a decade, Tory Leader Peter MacKay predicted.
"With this overwhelming vote, we have just become Paul Martin's worst nightmare," a jubilant MacKay said.
"Finally, after 10 years, the Liberal Party of Canada will be facing a united, strong conservative family in the next federal general election."
He pumped his fists, exchanged high-fives and jumped on to his chair to wave at the crowd as the results were announced in a hotel ballroom.
But the new conservative marriage could have a very short honeymoon. There were already rumblings of fresh dissent Saturday, with one high-profile Tory hinting at a possible court challenge and another refusing to enter the new conservative tent.
MP Joe Clark, a former prime minister, announced he will not sit as a member of the new party in the House of Commons. Similar announcements were expected from other Tories.
Former Tory cabinet minister Sinclair Stevens said he will announce details Monday of a plan to block the merger - but would not say whether that includes a legal challenge.
Clark called the union an act of "political suicide" in an emotional appeal before votes were cast. He urged Tories not to turn their backs on the poor, on gays and lesbians, on visible minorities and social moderates who have largely shunned the Alliance.
"This proposal (to merge) is to turn away from those very Canadians who elect governments in Canada," Clark said at a meeting in Calgary.
"To retreat to a very narrow base, to stop being a progressive force in Canada - that step backward would guarantee the election of Liberal governments for a decade to come.
"I pray we will not approve this political suicide."
Alliance Leader Stephen Harper sought to allay fears that the party will be intolerant.
"The new Conservative Party of Canada will be a principled, moderate, national movement for change," he said in a news release.
"It will be a strong and united political home for all conservatives and provide Canadians with a real alternative to the tired old Chrétien-Martin government."
Some Tories complained the vote was fixed to exaggerate support for the pro-merger side and help it reach the required two-thirds majority.
In each riding, a vote of 50 per cent plus one at last week's delegate-selection meetings automatically guaranteed a full slate of pro-merger delegates for Saturday's convention.
The so-called virtual convention was held simultaneously in 26 cities, with 2,234 delegates approving the merger and just 247 voting against.
Opponents of the merger denounced it as opportunism and an abdication of the progressive ideals of a Tory party that gave Canadians the Bill of Rights under Diefenbaker and open immigration policies.
But supporters of the union defended it as an act of political pragmatism faithful to the party's long history of coalition-building since the days of John A. Macdonald.
They noted that since the days since Canada's first prime minister there have been Conservatives, Liberal-Conservatives, Independent-Conservatives, and since the latest merger in 1942, Progressive Conservatives.
This latest incarnation gives them a chance of taking power for the first time since 1993, proponents of the union said.
"We're going to put the last 10 years in the wilderness behind us today," said former finance minister Michael Wilson at a meeting in Toronto.
"We can now put together a great coalition - a great coalition like our past leaders Macdonald, Borden, Diefenbaker and Mulroney. . . . Vote `Yes' and we're going to win again!"
Still, many delegates were concerned that Conservatives will shift too far to the right and make the party unattractive to the vast majority of Canadian voters.
MacKay addressed those concerns by pleading with moderates to stick with the new party and help shape its policy over the next several months.
The merger process will move full-steam ahead starting Monday, with a mountain of work remaining as the parties prepare for the election.
A 12-member joint council will begin planning for a leadership convention, for combining riding associations, and mapping out details for how the parties will work together when Parliament resumes sitting in January.
An interim leader will be selected and the new party already has a leadership convention scheduled for March 19-21.
The Alliance holds 63 seats in the Commons, while the Tories have 15.
MacKay will meet Monday with his MPs - some of whom are skeptical or downright hostile to the merger. He is also expected to meet with Harper.
Harper is currently considered the front-runner for the leadership even if he has not yet officially declared he will run.
Many Tories desperately want one of their own to win the leadership, fearing that the selection of an ex-Alliance member would hurt the new party in eastern Canada.
MacKay hinted strongly Saturday about wanting to seek the leadership.
"This (merger result) is certainly one in the plus column and one in the win column for my decision in whether to seek the leadership or not," he said, adding that he would announce a decision this month.
"I'm feeling some wind in the sails."
Many Conservatives had been hoping New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord or former Ontario Premier Mike Harris would run, but both have ruled out a leadership bid.
Harris has long backed merger and Lord came out Saturday in full support. But he also urged the party to remain socially moderate.
"I'm saying `Yes' to a modern, open and dynamic party that will offer Canadians a new choice from coast to coast," he said before voting in favour.
"And I say `Yes' to putting an end to Liberal majority governments."
That string began in 1993, when the Liberals swept to their first of three successive electoral triumphs.
Vote-splitting began in Conservative ranks after former prime minister Brian Mulroney's coast-to-coast coalition began crumbling during the bitter constitutional debates of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Western-based staunch conservatives abandoned the Tories to throw their support behind the upstart Reform party, while Quebec nationalists flocked to the Bloc Quebecois.
Several subsequent attempts at reuniting the parties have met with spectacular failure, including the process that led to the creation of the Alliance.
Members had attempted to merge the Reform party and the Tories for the 2000 election but the vast majority of Conservatives never came onside.
The ideological gulf between the Alliance and the more socially progressive Tories was always a major sticking point.
Another impediment to the merger was the fear the Tories would be gobbled up by the more powerful Alliance machine. Many Tory skeptics feel that's exactly what has happened.
