After governing for more than four decades and suffering a crushing electoral defeat in May 2015, Alberta’s Progressive Conservative party is at a crossroads. The party is having a hard time fundraising, its leadership contest has created deep divisions and it’s not exactly clear the brand will even exist when the next election is called.
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Despite all of these challenges, the party’s placeholder leader feels there is momentum behind the movement and Albertans shouldn’t be counting them out.
“People will grab me in a public place by the lapel and they’ll say, ‘you better be ready for the next election so we can vote for you,'” Interim PC leader Ric McIver told Global News during a year-end interview.
“They’re expressing support and anger all in the same sentence. It’s really interesting.”
An Insights West poll found the party is tied with the NDP at 27 per cent support provincially, trailing the Wildrose Party by seven points.
In the spring, a poll conducted for Global News by Ipsos pegged PC support at 32 per cent support among decided voters, six points up on the Wildrose and 11 points higher than the New Democrats.
“Albertans are shopping for another government already.”
What the party looks like by 2019 is still up in the air
Progressive Conservatives are in the process of selecting who will lead the party into the next election. Four candidates are vying for the top job. There are former provincial cabinet ministers Richard Starke and Stephen Kahn, Calgary businessman Byron Nelson and former federal cabinet minister Jason Kenney.
Starke, Kahn and Nelson are running on renewal campaigns, while Kenney has based his campaign on collapsing the party and merging it with the Wildrose to form one united conservative party.
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“There is always more than one path, there’s always more than one choice,” said McIver, who is not publicly supporting any of the candidates.
“I’m just happy that everybody is up front about it and then members of our party can make a choice based on what their candidate says.”
But the race has been divisive.
Both Donna Kennedy-Glans and Sandra Jansen dropped out early. Kennedy-Glans said she left because politics in Alberta is polarizing with limited opportunity for a centrist voice, while Jansen said she left because of the harassment she faced during a PC policy convention in Red Deer that also hosted a leadership forum.
READ MORE: Sandra Jansen withdraws from Alberta PC leadership race citing ‘hostile takeover’
Just days after dropping out of the race, Jansen crossed the floor from the PC party to the governing New Democrats, stating the PCs were unwelcoming to moderate women.
“It is what it is. I don’t have any regrets,” said McIver, who was criticized for not reaching out to Jansen in the days following her dropping out of the race.
As for the assertions that there isn’t room for moderate women in the conservative movement, McIver pointed to interim federal leader Rona Ambrose and PC party president Katherine O’Neill as proof there is.
“Women have a lot of responsible decision-making positions within our party and always have and I expect, always will.”
McIver concerned about toxic nature that has taken over political discourse
That doesn’t mean McIver isn’t concerned about where the tone of debate seems to be headed – not just in Alberta, but around the world.
“It’s not acceptable… nobody benefits from it and I’m not happy about it.”
Jansen now has a security detail after being the target of even more violent and often sexist comments. Premier Rachel Notley has been the targets of similar comments.
READ MORE: Alberta MLA Sandra Jansen given security detail after threats
McIver feels a couple of things are at play here. In Alberta, he believes the discontent with the NDP government was born because people were voting against the PCs in the last election, not for the New Democrats.
He also believes this discourse is a worldwide problem that needs to be addressed and it starts with political leaders.
“We will hammer the government on every policy we disagree with and we will not be gentle with it, but we will not sink to personal attacks.”
There are policies from NDP government McIver feels need to be hammered
One of the policies McIver feels Albertans are most upset about is the carbon tax set to take effect in the New Year.
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The NDP has launched a multi-million dollar ad campaign touting the plan and has shifted the speaking notes of ministers to call it a made-in-Alberta plan, as opposed to one imposed by Ottawa.
“Frankly, I think the premier and her cabinet are learning just how unpopular this is and what a bad policy it is,” McIver said.
“Consequently, they’re trying to deflect the blame to Ottawa.”
The federal Liberal government is moving to impose a price on carbon across the country, reaching $50 per tonne of carbon dioxide emissions by 2022. The Alberta plan initially called for a $30 price by then, but the premier has since signed on to the higher ceiling.
READ MORE: Provinces will have to accept Liberal carbon tax, say experts
The move has angered Conservatives both federally and provincially and Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall refused to sign on. McIver believes Alberta should be following Saskatchewan’s lead.
“They should fight it like Brad Wall is.”
The NDP government argues the climate leadership plan – that not only includes a price on carbon but an emissions cap for the oilsands and the accelerated phase-out of coal power – lead to the approval of two pipelines.
After the Liberal government gave the green light to the Kinder Morgan Trans-Mountain expansion and the Enbridge Line 3 replacement, Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr called Alberta’s climate plan the building blocks of the approvals.
READ MORE: Calgary, Alberta oilpatch applaud Trudeau pipeline approvals
McIver doesn’t believe that argument holds any water.
“Brad Wall in Saskatchewan gets just as much benefit from the pipeline as Alberta does, some could argue more on the one that goes through the States (Line 3) and he continues to rail against the carbon tax and the federal government.”
Next few months pivotal for future of PC party
Progressive Conservatives will select a new permanent leader for the party at a convention in Calgary in March. The winner will either work to renew the party as it currently stands or move to tear it down and create an entirely new one.
Whoever PC members choose, McIver is confident the party is rebuilding and on the right path.
“We will be a contender in the next election, which means we’ve come a long way since May 5th last year.”