Wildrose Leader Brian Jean set the stage Thursday for a head-to-head battle with Jason Kenney in a bid to lead a new, united, right-wing party in Alberta.



In a video message posted online to supporters, Jean said if his party members approve a unity agreement with Progressive Conservatives, he will stand down as leader of the Wildrose and seek leadership of a united conservative party this summer.



In the video, he doesn’t name former MP Jason Kenney — who gatecrashed Alberta’s politics scene last year with a plan to win Progressive Conservative leadership and start a new conservative party with the Wildrose — but says if PC members “select a dance partner that we’ve been looking for,” his party should move forward to merge conservatives into a single brand.



Kenney thanked Jean Thursday for putting to bed any doubts on where the Wildrose leader stands on the question of unity.



Jean hasn’t been shy about wanting conservatives to work together, but voicing the wish to fight under a single banner is a distinct change in tone.



After October’s Wildrose convention in Red Deer, he told Postmedia he was “100 per cent open to whatever my members want,” but said he wasn’t going to interfere with the PC leadership race.



“Once they decide what they stand for, it’s going to be much easier to see us move forward together, if that’s what the members want,” he said at the time.



The question of a merged conservative force has divided the PC leadership race.



Of the four candidates, only Kenney supports the idea, though on Thursday fellow leadership hopeful Richard Starke acknowledged conservatives have to work together to stamp out vote splitting.



Hours before Jean's video was posted, Starke proposed his own plan to media, arguing for a coalition-like agreement between PC and Wildrose.



Calling it a “necessary adjustment” to his campaign, the Vermilion-Lloydminster MLA said his idea was a reaction to Albertans who see Kenney’s unity plan as the only way to defeat the NDP in the next election.



Starke thinks Kenney's proposal is far too risky and will leave conservatives scrambling to get a new party organized before the 2019 election.



Under Alberta election laws, cash and assets can’t be transferred from one party to another, so a new party would also be starting from scratch financially.



Starke said Thursday he hadn’t spoken with anyone in the Wildrose Party about his idea.



He didn’t want it to smack of the kind of backroom deal that caused trouble in Alberta politics in the past but was confident Wildrosers would get on board — a prospect that, after Jean’s announcement, seems unlikely.



Jean’s support for unification comes with caveats.



He wants Wildrose’s legal framework to be the foundation of a consolidated conservative party, and said members must decide its name.



He also listed a raft of shared visions for the new party: Individual freedoms, fiscal responsibility, religious and civil liberty, equality of opportunity, welcoming to Albertans of all backgrounds and a focus on the grassroots.



“Our party must never be a home for cronies who want to use government and politics for their own personal gain,” he said, taking a jab at the former PC administration.



“In the last election, Albertans soundly rejected those who put personal ambition ahead of principles.”



Jean said while he’s confident Wildrose would defeat the NDP on its own in the next election, uniting conservatives under a single banner will best serve future generations.



But he made no bones about the fact he wants to lead the party and has his sights set on the premier's chair.



Jean and Kenney both returned to the province from Ottawa after stints as MPs, although Jean's two years of Widlrose leadership has rewarded him with solid popularity ratings in the polls.



Kenney said he hopes Jean will run for leadership of the party, but wouldn't wade into the potential battle with his former federal Conservative colleague, pointing out he still has to win the PC leadership vote on March 18.



While he has been publicly claiming victory at scores of delegate selection meetings, when it boils down to it, delegates can vote for whichever candidate they choose.



If he does emerge victorious in March, Kenney said he's looking forward to sitting down with Jean and the Wildrose caucus to work out an agreement in principle for the new party.



Jean didn't comment Thursday, instead letting his video do the talking.

egraney@postmedia.com

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