Unite The Right - 1997 - 2000: The United Alternative / Canadian Alliance

2000: The United Alternative / Canadian Alliance

After the second Liberal win in 1997, it became increasingly obvious that having two right-of-centre parties was splitting the vote and ensuring further Liberal majorities. Reform leader Manning was criticized by some members in his own party and by Western media for not "broadening the popular base of Reform." Manning had originally suggested that the Reform Party was meant to be a new party, a third way as a populist alternative that could replace the complacent Liberals and Tories as a new national movement, but this hope was clearly not materializing beyond the Manitoba-Ontario border. There was some hope for cooperation from the PCs when Charest stepped down as leader in 1998. Several credible political figures, including Manitoba Tory cabinet minister Brian Pallister, Major-General Lewis MacKenzie, former Reform MP Stephen Harper, and the retiring PC Party president Michael Fortier were all encouraged to run as Unite the Right candidates by both sides of the conservative divide in the 1998 Progressive Conservative leadership convention. But the two candidates on the final ballot, Prairie anti- free-trade activist David Orchard and former Prime Minister Joe Clark, were both opposed to merger. Clark was re-elected leader of the PC Party and insisted that the only way to unite the right would be for Reformers to join the Tories under the "big tent" of the PC Party.

Reformers were convinced that a union would have to involve the creation of a new party, as opposed to one party being enveloped by the other. Therefore the Reform Party launched a number of efforts to convince like-minded Tories to join with them in creating a new united right-of-centre movement for Canada regardless of the agenda of the PC leadership. A secondary goal of the movement was to at least have the current parties agree not to run two right-of-centre candidates in the same ridings in the next federal election. A series of informal conferences and mini-conventions were staged under the auspices of Manning and the Reform Party on the benefits of a "United Alternative."

While the United Alternative movement was focused on creating a broader coalition for conservative voters, it had to compete with social conservatives who wanted the Reform Party to shift further to the right, as opposed to the moderate centre and Red Toryism. These members believed that the Reform Party could become a political opposite to the New Democratic Party by only running candidates in the West. In times of minority, the NDP has influenced left-leaning tendencies in the Liberal Party's social policies. Many Reformers argued that the Reform Party could influence the Progressive Conservative Party's social policies in a similar manner by forcing the PCs to adopt more right-wing solutions in order to obtain support from Western Reform MPs in future minority PC governments.

In 1998, under the auspices of 1993 Reform Party candidate and ardent social conservative Craig Chandler, a controversial "Unite the Right" conference was held in Toronto, Ontario. The conference attracted a great deal of negative media attention for not just including MPs and delegates from the Reform and Progressive Conservative parties, but also leadership officials from the right-wing social conservative Christian Heritage Party, Social Credit Party, the Confederation of Regions Party, Family Coalition Party of Ontario and delegates from the far-right Freedom Party of Ontario. After this conference, polls were conducted that suggested that many Progressive Conservative supporters would rather vote Liberal than vote for a new merged Reform/PC political entity.

The efforts to create a United Alternative did not sit well with the leadership of the Progressive Conservatives. The PC Party eventually passed an amendment to the party's constitution stating that the party had to run a candidate in every federal riding in the next election. Having been rebuffed by Tory leader Joe Clark, Manning urged the Reform Party membership to "Think Big" and eventually a real "United Right" effort was launched. In early 2000, the Reform Party held two national conventions in Ottawa that culminated in its demise and the creation of the "Canadian Conservative Reform Alliance Party", or CCRAP. After some embarrassment due to the oversight of the unfortunate acronym, the name was changed to the "Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance", more commonly known as the Canadian Alliance.

Not all Reformers were in favour of the creation of a new right-wing political party. Some Reformers were actually populists who did not necessarily aspire to right-wing solutions for government in Canada. Led by Reform MPs Darrel Stinson and Myron Thompson, a protest movement was launched known as "Grassroots United Against Reform's Demise" or GUARD. The movement sent letters and e-mails to party members and officials urging them to not vote in favour of a new party.

Ultimately, Manning's bid to create a new party was successful, although the personal consequences for his initiative would be high. The Canadian Alliance leadership race was expected to be a pro forma contest in which Manning's leadership would be easily reconfirmed. However, the race quickly became a contest. Many CA members felt that a new party needed a new leader. Eventually Manning's bid for the CA leadership was defeated by Alberta Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) and Provincial Treasurer Stockwell Day. While the party was seen by some as a happy union of former Reformers and Blue Tory PCs who were disaffected with Joe Clark's Red Tory leadership, the Canadian Alliance was still seen by many as merely the Reform Party in new clothes. Furthermore, many Reformers became disaffected with the CA due to Manning's ouster as the movement's leader.