Political parties evolve with the times, this applies to party platforms, fundraising techniques, and, for the Wildrose Party at least, it applies to their bozo eruptions.

The far right wing of the Wildrose appears to have shifted from “lake of fire” social conservatives to the internet trolls of the manosphere. This week, one of those trolls found themselves in the position of Communications Director of the U of C’s Wildrose on Campus club. After blasting the club’s mailing list with an e-mail containing the words “Feminism is Cancer,” the individual in question is once again a common student.

The club has apologized and the party has distanced itself from the words. The episode is destined to become a footnote in the history of the Wildrose’s emergence, and subsequent decline as a political force in this province. These types of embarrassing outbursts reveal something about the party and raise questions about the future that will make some Wildrose members uncomfortable.

However you feel about the party’s ideology, it’s claim of being a grassroots party largely holds up. Ordinary members have shaped the party, or movement as it’s sometimes called, more than any other political party in Alberta. Former leader Danielle Smith will no doubt agree, her attempts to shape the party into a more electable and pragmatic political machine failed miserably, eventually causing her to jump ship to the PCs.

Last week’s controversy is an example of the price the Wildrose pays for this grassroots influence. Creating an atmosphere of member empowerment certainly has its benefits, member enthusiasm being the most obvious. But it also has drawbacks, particularly when that enthusiasm boils over in the form of overheated rhetoric that hurts the party with the broader electorate.

With Alberta’s conservative movement at a crossroads the question of what will happen to its grassroots element arises. If the two conservative parties do not merge the Wildrose may well carry on as it has. If they do merge however, things will turn out very differently.

If Jason Kenney is the next leader of Alberta’s conservative movement, you can bet “Feminism is Cancer” moments will all but disappear. One of Canada’s most prominent conservatives did not give up a chance at the federal Conservative leadership to have his bid for premier sunk by a college kid looking to be provocative.

Remember that this is Stephen Harper’s protégé we are talking about. Harper was famous for his control-freak, almost authoritarian approach to running his party and government. As a member of Harper’s inner circle Kenney was one of the few with an unobstructed view of the discipline exerted on ministers, MPs and the party as a whole. In government for nearly a decade, he also witnessed the strategy’s ruthless effectiveness.

As a result, this year could mark the end of Alberta’s experiment with grassroots conservatism. A party where everyone from shadow cabinet members to backbenchers to ordinary members are empowered to mould the party is incompatible with building the top down efficient, and above all, electable political machine Kenney seems intent on building.

The challenge for Kenney is to get Wildrose members to voluntarily give up their movement’s grassroots character by electing him to lead a united conservative party. His most obvious ploy so far has been signing a “grassroots guarantee,” promising that any party merger would have to be approved by members.

Kenney needs the Wildrose’s grassroots conservatives for now, but if becomes leader they will mutate from a constituency to be wooed into a hazard to be managed. Whether Kenney will be as successful as Harper at doing this is another question.

At the moment, the future of Alberta’s experiment with grassroots conservatism is still up to Wildrose members. This stops being true as soon as Kenney becomes leader of a united conservative party. If the experiment does come to an end, it will be its own members who sound the death knell.