The UCP government, under Premier Jason Kenney, later passed legislation allowing parties to merge, clearing the way for the PCs to formally dissolve on February 7, 2020.

The party was marginalized after the UFA was able to negotiate the province's control of its resources from Ottawa, denying the Tories their major policy plank.

In March 1965, Peter Lougheed became leader of the party, and began transforming it into a political force by combining fiscal conservatism with a modernist, urban outlook.

Social Credit had been very popular in urban areas for decades—indeed, long-serving Premier Ernest Manning represented an Edmonton riding.

Albertans, particularly those associated with the booming oil industry, began to turn to the young and dynamic Lougheed Tories.

Over the next four years, Lougheed saw his small caucus grow to 10 members as a result of two by-election wins—one of which was Manning's old Edmonton seat—and two floor-crossings.

Due to the first past the post system, this gave Lougheed a strong majority government, with 49 of the 75 seats in the legislature.

He won a second term in resounding fashion in 1975, reducing the opposition to six MLAs (four Socreds, one New Democrat and one independent) in total.

In power, the Progressive Conservatives fought a long battle with the federal government over control of Alberta's natural resources (particularly oil).

Klein moved the party sharply to the right, and under his watch the Alberta Tories were one of the most (if not the most) right-wing provincial governments in Canada.

In 2001, Klein led the PCs to their biggest majority since the Lougheed era, reducing the opposition to only nine MLAs (seven Liberals, two NDP) in total.

It was viewed as unlikely that a centrist or left-leaning opposition party (the Liberals and NDP, respectively) would be in a serious position to challenge the Conservatives for power in the 2004 general election.

This has led many pundits to conclude that although the Alliance gained less than ten percent of the popular vote in 2004, it was potentially in a position to launch a more serious challenge to the Tories in the future.

On April 4, 2006, after receiving a 55% vote of support from his party, Klein issued a press release expressing his intent to retire.

The first round of voting on November 25 eliminated all but three candidates - Jim Dinning, Ted Morton and Ed Stelmach.

Stelmach would go on to stun pundits and even his own supporters when he led the Tories to an increased majority in the 2008 general election, winning 72 of 83 seats.

The Liberals were nonetheless reduced to nine seats and the NDP two, and with the Tories re-taking Cardston-Taber-Warner from the renamed Wildrose Alliance in a close race.

[14] "Under Premier Prentice’s strong leadership, I believe we can work together to lead Alberta with a renewed focus on the values and principles that we share."

On September 6, 2014, former federal Conservative cabinet minister Jim Prentice was elected leader on the first ballot with more than 76% of the vote.

The Alberta New Democratic Party, led by Rachel Notley, rebounded from fourth place in the legislature to a strong majority government.

With the result beyond doubt, Prentice immediately announced his resignation as party leader, disclaimed his election to a full term in his Calgary riding, and retired from politics.

Of the 42,617 Wildrose members eligible to vote on July 22, 2017, there was a 57 per cent turnout with 23,466 voters (95%) in favour of the agreement and 1,132 (5%) against, clearing the 75% threshold required by the party's constitution.

In that role, they withdrew both organizations from any meaningful public presence, thus effectively dissolving them although they continued to exist on paper.

(Notwithstanding this, after he refused to join the UCP caucus, Richard Starke continued to be designated a PC member of the legislature until the 2019 election.)

Both of these nominal candidates appeared on the ballot in Edmonton-Strathcona, the riding held by incumbent Premier Notley and considered among the NDP's safest seats.

On February 7, 2020, the merger was formally approved by Elections Alberta, allowing the party to officially merge into the UCP and dissolve.