Wexit – Freedom Conservative Party merger revives the Wildrose Party as new independence party

The old Wildrose Party’s name has just been reclaimed by the Alberta independence movement parties to be the brand they will merge underneath. 

The Freedom Conservative Party (FCP) and Wexit Alberta will be likely combined after a vote of each parties membership on the merger and will be renamed the Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta.

FCP’s President, Bill Jones, and Wexit’s leader Peter Downing just this morning signed the agreement to merge subject to a vote later on in the summer.

The National Telegraph interviewed Peter Downing for more details on the merger.

Downing explained where the whole process of where the merger is currently at, saying, “Basically, it’s the agreement in principle that is done. The ratification vote is July 29, so the FCP can give 90 days notice to all their members before the vote,” 

Currently, voting is planned to be conducted online, and Downing assured that “It is just the ratification right now that needs to be done,” before the merger is official.

When asked whether or not the merger was going to change anything major about the way each party had previously operated, Downing said, “Well our political ideology is exactly the same, so it’s a good fit. Really, the only thing that’s going to change is going to bring more stability to the Alberta separatist movement.”

Downing elaborated on the issue that the two parties being separate had caused in the past, with confusion over what the differences between the two party’s ideologies were.

Downing explained that, “it is very clear that we’re both conservative-libertarian independence Parties, and you know, one of the questions about the [FCP] is exactly what their ideology is.” even though Downing confirms that ideological differences were extremely minor to.

One of the most interesting questions raised by the merger since it was announced this morning has been surrounding the use of the old Wildrose Party name. The original Wildrose party was absorbed into the United Conservative Party back in 2017 and has not legally existed since 2019. 

Downing stated that the Wildrose name was chosen because, “The Wildrose was the roughest, toughest opposition party in Alberta’s history, and was doing fantastic, it had 22 MLAs after the 2015 provincial election.”

Downing continued making the comparison that, “It’s sort of like we’re the Winnipeg Jets of politics, the fans never went away and now we’ve got our home team to cheer for again.”

When asked if the provincial party merger would change anything about the federal Wexit Party Downing made it clear that this will not at all affect anything federally, and is purely a merger and rebranding for the Alberta parties.

It isn’t known how big of an impact the merger of the two Alberta separatist parties will have on Alberta politics, but if the reaction to the announcement of the Wildrose Independence Party of Alberta is anything to go off of, the party may end up being a major player in provincial affairs.