Coming from different origins – one harkening back to Confederation and another a modern day grassroots Western voice – the Progressive Conservative Party and Alliance Party of Canada have proposed a historic merger. The process was long in the making with copious debate, compromise and contention.
What are the finer details of this merger? What made the final days of negotiation finally culminate in an agreement? How might this proposed merger impact on the political landscape of Canada? These questions – and other issues – will be discussed by a man who has stood near the center of this history-making, and still evolving controversy. The merger is set to be ratified by the membership of both parties by December 2003, and will be followed by a leadership race in March, 2004.
Speaker: Ray Speaker is one of the Alliance emissaries, former Member of Parliament, former Member of the Alberta legislature and a founding member of the Reform Party of Canada. Appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2001, Ray recently received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Lethbridge.