Article content continued

He was asking for Liberals to sit out races in four ridings they’ve won in recent contests: Edmonton-Gold Bar, Edmonton-McClung, Calgary-Currie, and Calgary-Elbow, as well as Wildrose leader-turned-Tory Danielle Smith’s Highwood seat.

It would be the second time in as many months that Liberal brass have rejected unity with the Alberta Party, which has never elected an MLA but has drawn away much of the Liberals’ organizational heft in recent years. Last month after MLA Raj Sherman resigned as Liberal leader, party directors rejected Edmonton-Centre MLA Laurie Blakeman’s proposal to serve as interim party chief with a mandate to avoid election competition with Clark’s party and ultimately merge.

Directors instead chose David Swann, a former Liberal leader and the only opposition MLA running again in Calgary.

He said Monday members of both parties need more time to iron out an agreement and build trust after competing for years.

Swann has pitched greater co-operation with other centre-left parties in the past — and still believes there is a need to explore a potential pact — but he doesn’t want to rush into the decision.

“After the election, when there aren’t committed candidates, there isn’t already dedicated funding, there isn’t already a particular plan in place to move things forward, it will be much easier,” he said.

The Liberals and Wildrose will be going into a spring election without a permanent leader. Alberta Party has also been caught off guard and unready by a Prentice election call earlier than spring 2016 — the date in fixed election law — and won’t field a full crop of 87 candidates.