It’s the morning after the night before and I just have one question.

Who the hell is Richard Starke?

The six Progressive Conservatives wanting the party’s top job were up on stage this weekend to likely the biggest crowd they will face until this coming March’s leadership convention.

And who wowed the crowd?

Richard Starke, the member of the legislature from the Lloydminster area.

Over a breakfast coffee, Starke talks about many things, including his almost 30 years as a vet. He is no stranger to being in a barn in the middle of the night during calving season.

He sounds like a down-to-earth guy.

Starke is convinced the PCs can go it alone. He believes many Albertans will take another look at the PCs if the party can demonstrate “a very clear commitment to fiscal discipline.”

He is also painfully aware of the fact so much of what angered people about the PCs last year was bad behaviour.

He insists the PCs’ social policy must be “progressive and inclusive.”

“Alberta has changed. This is not the Alberta of even 20 years ago.”

Starke explains. He has a son living in Edmonton.

“His best friend, a wonderful young lady, is lesbian and she sits on the board of a shelter for homeless youth,” he says.

“She and I have had conversations. Upwards of 60% of those homeless youths are gay.

“You talk to this young lady. She’s an incredible gal. She has overcome some major, major obstacles in her life and I have tremendous affection for her. She’s spent a number of Christmas dinners with us.

“You gain an appreciation of the person and it’s the person who is first.”

Another of his son’s friends is transgender and “just a great person.”’

“I understand there are Albertans who hold very socially conservative values.

“I sit in church most Sundays with many, many folks who are very staunchly socially conservative. I absolutely respect their views. In terms of those views becoming a part of government policy or party policy it’s a non-starter.”

Up on stage Starke tagged Jason Kenney’s idea of creating one unified conservative party a “Frankenparty.”

It was the best line of the night.

Strake says making such a move is “creating a monster and putting a life into it. Then what have you got?”

The candidate doesn’t go along with what he sees is a strategy of defeating the NDP and then figuring out what to do.

“I’m sorry, that won’t work. We will have some serious issues to deal with starting in 2019. Whoever is the next premier, they are going to have a very difficult task ahead of them.”

Yes, such will be the NDP mess.

As for unity, Starke feels federal Conservatives, such as Kenney, “underestimate the degrees of division and animosity between the Wildrose and Progressive Conservative parties.”

He admits the PCs and Wildrose often agree but he’s not prepared to set aside where they disagree.

“The main difference is culture. The Wildrose is very much an American-style negative approach to things.

“Somebody once called them the Tea Party of the north.”

What does that mean?

“It’s a negativity. It’s an aggressiveness. It’s about the personal attacks. It’s about the tone,” says Starke.

Uniting the parties in a new party is “overly simplistic” in Starke’s mind.

He doesn’t think you make the case by just combining the votes of the two parties in the last election to predict what will happen in the next election.

He is not the first to point out the Saskatchewan party took three elections to bounce the Dippers.

The Conservative Party of Canada did not beat the Liberals in the following election.

Starke says the PCs have two years to show Albertans they’ve learned their lesson.

He is also very aware of Calgary’s plight.

“You look at the empty floors of parkades and empty floors in the downtown buildings.”

“You walk around downtown Calgary at three o’clock in the afternoon where the streets should be jammed and they just aren’t.”

He talks about the investment dollars sitting on the sidelines waiting for the NDP to go away.

Yes, the morning after the night before, a high-profile Kenney supporter says the PC leadership fight will quickly becoming a two-person race.

The question. So there’s Kenney. Who is the other person?

Richard Starke.

rbell@postmedia.com