EDMONTON — Alberta's Wildrose opposition caucus says Conservative MP Jason Kenney is welcome to come home to unite the right, but says party leader Brian Jean is in charge and isn't going anywhere.
In a statement the caucus doesn't mention Kenney by name, but says anyone who wants to unite conservatives will be given — quote — "a significant role" in the next Wildrose government.
But it also notes that Jean is popular in the polls, has years of political experience in Ottawa and that the party has the funds to take on Premier Rachel Notley's NDP in the next election in 2019.
Kenney is considered a contender to become the next leader of the federal Conservative party, but has said he hasn't ruled out running in Alberta to unite the right-centre Progressive Conservatives and Wildrose parties.
The Progressive Conservatives, who ran Alberta for four decades before losing to the NDP in 2015, are now looking for a new permanent leader, with the winner being declared no later than spring of 2017.
But the PCs say when it comes to uniting the right, the party rank and file make the decisions and that the days of — quote — "top-down decision-making are over."
