Deal
to unite Alliance and Tories said to be imminent; party leaders to meet
(Alliance-Tories)
Source:
The Canadian Press
Oct
15, 2003 13:48
-
----
OTTAWA
(CP) _ Merger talks between the Conservatives and the Canadian
Alliance have made a death-bed recovery and a historic deal is imminent,
sources said Wednesday.
Alliance
Leader Stephen Harper cancelled a town hall meeting in Calgary and was
flying back to Ottawa on Wednesday to hold last-minute negotiations with
Tory Leader Peter MacKay, even as lawyers looked at the fine print of a
proposed agreement.
The
Conservative caucus held a conference call Wednesday at which members were
told a tentative deal had been reached, said a Tory source. There were
voices of dissent, but when the Conservative Senators were taken into
account, more than 80 per cent of caucus agreed with the merger.
The
breakthrough in deadlocked negotiations appears to have come as a result
of tremendous pressure from a range of interests, including five
provincial Tory premiers and two former Conservative prime ministers,
sources said.
Conservative
and Alliance MPs have also been inundated with demands that the last
hurdles be overcome.
The
key sticking point in the talks has been how to select a new leader.
Sources
say the Alliance has agreed to Tory demands that ridings across Canada be
given equal weight in choosing the next leader of a merged entity
called
the Conservative Party of Canada.
Any
merger proposal still faces a number of logistical hurdles, particularly
time constraints. Both party executives and memberships at large will have
to be canvassed before a joint leadership contest can take place. A party
platform would then have to designed in time for a general election
anticipated as early as next April.
``It's
going to be an interesting day,'' Loyola Hearn, the Tory House leader and
one of six emissaries who tried to negotiate a merger, said
Wednesday
``I
think our leaders are working hard to make sure this thing materializes''
The
fact that lawyers have been called in to vet the agreement is of ``high
significance,'' said a Tory source, and indicates a deal is imminent.
A
merged party would represent a remarkable breakthrough following weeks of
public acrimony during which negotiations appeared to be at a standstill
over what were described as ``philosophical differences.''
The
deal-breaker set Tory brokerage politics against the Alliance philosophy
of grassroots populism. The party of Confederation was concerned it would
be swamped by the more organized, concentrated Alliance membership in
Western Canada.
A
group of six emissaries that included such Tory luminaries as former
deputy prime minister Don Mazankowski and former Ontario premier Bill
Davis disbanded without bridging the gap.
Harper
and MacKay finally met face-to-face late last week but reported that,
despite an amicable conversation, no headway had been made on the
intractable issue of leadership selection.
MacKay
began eulogizing the merger talks and saying a deal might not be
achievable until after the next federal election. The Alliance responded
by leaking a Harper memo that accused the Tories of negotiating in bad
faith.
But
sources said momentum for a deal _ both in the public and among the large
sea of past and present organizers for both parties _ continued to push
the party leaders together.
MacKay
and Harper talked for about an hour by phone Tuesday, when lawyers were
notified, and agreed to hold further talks Wednesday.
