United Conservative Party

It was established in July 2017 as a merger between the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta and the Wildrose Party. When established, the UCP immediately formed the Official Opposition in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The UCP won a majority mandate in the 2019 Alberta general election to form the government of Alberta. The party won a renewed majority mandate in the 2023 Alberta general election under the leadership of Danielle Smith.

United Conservative Party
Active provincial party
Abbreviation	UCP
Leader	Danielle Smith
President	Rob Smith
Executive Director	Dustin van Vugt
Founded	July 31, 2017
Merger of	Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta, Wildrose Political Association
Headquarters	203-2915 21 Street NE Calgary, Alberta T2E 7T1
Membership (2022)	123,915
Ideology	Conservatism (Canadian) Fiscal conservatism Economic liberalism Factions: Social conservatism Right-wing populism Alberta autonomism
Political position	Centre-right to right-wing
Seats in Legislature	48 / 87
Website
unitedconservative.ca
Politics of Alberta Political parties Elections

In July 2017, the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta and the Wildrose Party merged to form the United Conservative Party under the leadership of Jason Kenney, a former cabinet member in the Stephen Harper government. Kenney had won the 2017 Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta leadership election on a platform of uniting the two parties.

When the Alberta New Democratic Party's (NDP) won the 2015 Alberta general election, it ended an uninterrupted period in which the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta had won provincial elections since 1971, under Premiers Peter Lougheed, Don Getty, Ralph Klein, Ed Stelmach, Alison Redford, Dave Hancock and Jim Prentice. No other government had served for that long at the provincial or federal level in Canadian history.

The Wildrose Party had formed in 2008 as a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada with the merger of the Alberta Alliance Party and the unregistered Wildrose Party of Alberta. Its members largely consisted of dissatisfied former Progressive Conservative supporters. Three of the first five Wildrose MLAs were defectors originally elected as Progressive Conservatives.^: 244

Danielle Smith, who served as leader of the Wildrose Party from October 2009 until December 2014, made an unsuccessful attempt to merge the Wildrose and the PC party by resigning from the Wildrose and crossing the floor to join the governing Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta caucus under then Premier Jim Prentice, along with eight other Wildrose MLAs. The remaining Wildrose Party refused to consider the request by Smith to dissolve their party. Then Wildrose President David Yager said at the time "This is not a merger in any way. It is capitulation." When the NDP won in 2015 an Edmonton Sun article blamed the mass Wildrose defections for the loss. In the wake of the historical loss, uniting the Wildrose and PC parties became a major issue. In July 2016, federal MP and former minister Jason Kenney announced that he would seek the PC leadership on a platform of seeking a merger with the Wildrose.

At the Wildrose AGM held in Red Deer on October 28, 2016, Brian Jean, then Wildrose Leader of the Opposition, cautioned the caucus against merging just before the 2017 elections; he said the PC party, was "confused about its values" and rife with "instability."

On December 15, 2016, a rift occurred in the Wildrose party when MLA Derek Fildebrandt openly supported a merger with the PCs. Fildebrandt, who was the first Wildrose MLA to break with Jean, said that Albertans wanted "a single conservative option to face against the NDP in the next election."

Kenney was elected PC leader on March 18, 2017 on a platform of uniting the two parties—"Uniting the Right". Negotiations between Jean and Kenney were successful; the merger agreement was released on May 18, 2017. The results of the July 22, 2017 internal votes on the merger agreement held by both parties supported the merger with 95% of Wildrose and PC members voting in favour.

The second-place PC leadership candidate and MLA for Vermilion-Lloydminster, Richard Starke, announced on July 24 that he would not join the UCP, and will sit in the legislature as an Independent PC MLA. At least 10 directors of the PC Party resigned after Kenney became leader, with some former Tories working to build a centrist alternative to both the United Conservatives and the NDP before the next provincial election.

A joint meeting of the PC and Wildrose caucuses was held on July 24, 2017, to elect Nathan Cooper, Wildrose MLA for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills, as interim leader—and hence Leader of the Opposition-- over Prasad Panda, Wildrose MLA for Calgary-Foothills, and Richard Gotfried, who at the time was PC MLA for Calgary-Fish Creek. As well, members of both caucuses approached the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta and asked to be recognized as the United Conservative caucus.

Kenney and Jean selected six individuals each to sit on the interim executive board of the new party. Ed Ammar was elected as first chair of the party on July 24, 2017. Cooper also appointed two MLAs to the board as non-voting members. The new party was registered with Elections Alberta as of July 31, 2017.

Although it was generally understood that the PC and Wildrose merged to form the UCP, Alberta electoral law at the time did not permit parties to formally merge or transfer assets between each other. Thus, the PC and Wildrose legally continued to exist, while the UCP was legally reckoned as a newly created party. As a result, on July 24, 2017–the day the new UCP formally came into existence–Cooper and the UCP's interim leadership team formally assumed the leaderships of both the PC and Wildrose parties as well. Also on that date, all members in good standing of the PCs and Wildrose became members of the UCP, with all but a few members withdrawing their memberships in the merging parties. The PCs and Wildrose withdrew from any meaningful public presence, thus de facto dissolving them although they continued to exist on paper.

To maintain their registration and assets, both the PCs and Wildrose ran one paper candidate each in Edmonton-Strathcona (an NDP safe seat held at that time by NDP leader Rachel Notley). On February 7, 2020, after the UCP government passed legislation allowing parties to legally merge, Elections Alberta formally approved the merger of the PCs and Wildrose into the UCP, allowing the UCP to merge the legacy parties' assets and formally wind up their affairs.

Calgary-South East MLA Rick Fraser, a former PC member, left the caucus on September 21, 2017, to sit as an Independent due to his dissatisfaction with the party's leadership contest and the emphasis put by candidates on spending cuts and austerity.

The leadership election held on October 28, 2017 resulted in former PC leader Jason Kenney defeating former Wildrose leader Brian Jean and Doug Schweitzer, a former aide to Jim Prentice, to become UCP leader. Kenney won more than 60% of the vote on the first ballot. Kenney successfully contested a by-election in Calgary-Lougheed on December 14, 2017, after incumbent MLA Dave Rodney resigned in order to give Kenney an opportunity to enter the Alberta legislature.

The UCP won the 2019 provincial election with a large majority, mainly on the strength of a near-sweep of Calgary (where it won all but three seats) and rural Alberta (where it won all but one seat).

Under the Premiership of Jason Kenney, their first cabinet of the 30th Alberta Legislature was sworn in by lieutenant governor of Alberta, Lois Mitchell, on April 30, 2019.

Jason Kenney resigned as UCP leader on May 18, 2022 after getting 51.4% support in a leadership review vote. The 2022 United Conservative Party leadership election was held and was won by Danielle Smith.

The UCP under Premier Danielle Smith was re-elected to government in the 2023 Alberta general election with a reduced majority. They lost their one seat in Edmonton to the NDP. The election campaign had been close and one of the fiercest in Alberta's history.

The UCP broke provincial records by pulling in $10.4 million in 2023, ending the election year with over $1 million in the bank, while the opposition NDP was $624,000 in debt.

The UCP has been described by media outlets as centre-right to right-wing.

The party held its founding convention to set its official policies on May 5, 2018.

The UCP adopted an aggressive pro-fossil fuel stance supported by the establishment of what was commonly referred to as the "War Room" backed by a budget of $30 million using a private corporation structure that is not subject to FOIP. The pro-fossil fuel stance is also supported by a strong opposition to green energy transition which they view as an "ideological scheme". The Canadian Energy Centre was launched in December 2019 with an annual budget of CA$30 million.

The UCP attempted to restructure the Alberta Healthcare system by passing Bill 21, and then using this bill to support tearing up the Master Agreement with the Alberta Medical Association and imposing major fee structure changes.

The UCP under Danielle Smith government passed its Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act on December 8, 2022.

2017 leadership race RCMP investigation

On March 16, 2019, it came to light that during the UCP leadership election campaign Jason Kenney's leadership campaign collaborated with fellow candidate Jeff Callaway's campaign to undermine the leadership campaign of former Wildrose party leader Brian Jean. A document prepared by Callaway's communication's manager describes how Kenney's campaign provided communications support as well as planned regular strategic direction throughout Callaway's campaign. The Alberta Elections Commissioner levied more than $200,000 in fines relating to the kamikaze campaign prior to the Elections Commissioner's termination by the UCP government and conclusion of open investigations.

The RCMP concluded their investigation into the 2017 UCP leadership race on March 8, 2024 and announced they found no evidence of wrongdoing.