Intra-Party Federalism and the Impact of the Provincial Parties on 'Uniting the Right'

Abstract

This article examines the role played by the Ontar- io and Alberta Progressive Conservative Parties in the movement to ‘unite the Right’ in Canada in the late 1990s and early 2000s. This movement sought to unify the Re- form/Canadian Alliance and the federal Progressive Con- servative party, who all suffered from frequent electoral losses as a result of vote-splitting on the right of the political spectrum. This movement resulted in the creation of the Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. The ‘unite the right’ movement was greatly aided by the power and influence of provincial Progressive Conservative parties, especially in Ontario and Alberta. The paper explores the various strate- gic and pragmatic concerns of the provincial wings, and details the balancing of ideology, partisanship, and electoral success.