I’ve done a couple of swings through Southern Alberta over the past two weeks. Off to the Calgary Stampede. Off to the mountain parks. Off to ranching country to find out why my beef is costing me so much this summer.

And all anyone wants to talk about are two things: Will the Wildrose and Tories vote to unite this coming weekend? Why has Wildrose Leader Brian Jean suddenly become Mr. Soft-in-the-Middle?

First question first: Yes, members of the both the Tories and Wildrose will vote this Saturday to unite their parties.

Among Progressive Conservatives, it’s a done deal. Less so with Wildrose. Yet in the end the two parties will become one.

The bar for approval is lower among the PCs. Just half of card-carrying members who vote need to agree to merger.

It’s tougher for Wildrose, because they need a full 75 per cent of their active, voting members to sign off. In a party with its share of anti-establishment contrarians, proudly unconventional thinkers and just plain cranks, finding a quarter of the membership to say ‘no,’ wouldn’t be impossible.

Still, Wildrose sold nearly 20,000 new memberships before its deadline, and those 20,000 (about half of total party membership) come mostly from two groups – Jason Kenney Tories and disgruntled former members.

The disgruntled Wildrosers are mostly people who got fed up following the mass defection of then-leader Danielle Smith and most of her caucus to the Tories in 2014.

Now, though, with a united right-of-centre having a much better chance of driving the NDP out of office, these fed-up former Wildrosers finally have a reason to return.

Also, since neither Wildrose nor the Tories has a rule against people taking out memberships in both parties and voting in both referendums, there appear to be thousands of pro-unity Tories who have taken out Wildrose memberships in hopes of helping their new BFFs get over the 75 per cent hump.

What does not appear to have happened is that NDP supporters have not taken out Wildrose memberships in large numbers to prevent the merger.

About a month ago there was a rumour going around that unions and other friends of the government were pushing their supporters to buy Wildrose memberships and vote against the merger. Because of Wildrose’s 75 per cent rule, just a few thousand “no” voters could derail the unity plan, and a divided right offers the Notley government just about its only hope of getting re-elected in 2019.

However, at least three people with knowledge of the Wildrose membership list claim they do not see any evidence of this stealth “no” campaign becoming reality.

So, long story short, both the Wildrose and Tories should vote comfortably this coming weekend to get together.

Which leaves the only other question I’ve heard from dozens of people (including three Wildrose MLAs!): What’s wrong with Brian Jean?

Last week my colleague Rick Bell reported that Jean’s new theme is “gone are the days when hard-right governments are going to be successful in Alberta.” Albertans, according to Jean, “want a common-sense, middle-of-the-road government” that will get the NDP’s budget deficit down “with as little pain as possible.”

Jean thinks he can cut a lot of fat from government without laying off many public-sector workers.

Huh!? Since salaries are well over half of provincial operating expenses, that’s simply impossible.

What Jean is selling sounds like Nouvelle Redfordism or NDP-lite.

This is a man who until very recently made speeches from a podium that carried a banner reading “Right People. Right Ideas.”

And the right didn’t mean “correct.”

If this is a tactic to win support in the post-merger leadership race, I think Jean is making a huge blunder.