Unite the Right (Canada)
The Reform Party came into being in 1987, due in part to opposition to Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservative government that ruled Canada from 1984 to 1993.
A significant number of Western Canadians had strongly disliked what they perceived as the Mulroney government's pro-Quebec approach and rampant use of patronage.
Both Reform and the PC Party received many votes, but because of the first past the post (FPTP) system, this was not enough to win more than a handful of Ontario's approximately 103 seats.
At the same time, the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, who some suggested were kindred spirits in policy and direction to Reform and Blue Tory PCs, had formed a provincial government under Premier Mike Harris.
Leadership and MPs from both sides of the division also opposed a merger out of concerns that both parties were distinct political entities and not part of a larger conservative movement.
But the two candidates on the final ballot, Prairie anti- free-trade activist David Orchard and former Prime Minister Joe Clark, were both opposed to a merger.
Therefore, the Reform Party launched a number of efforts to convince like-minded PCs to join with them in creating a new united right-of-centre movement for Canada regardless of the agenda of the PC leadership.
In 1998, under the auspices of 1993 Reform Party candidate and ardent social conservative Craig Chandler, a controversial "Unite the Right" conference was held in Toronto, Ontario.
Having been rebuffed by PC leader Joe Clark, Manning urged the Reform Party membership to "Think Big" and eventually a real "United Right" effort was launched.
Eventually Manning's bid for the CA leadership was defeated by Alberta Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) and Provincial Treasurer Stockwell Day.
After a below-expectations result in the 2000 election and the failure of the CA to reduce Joe Clark's PCs to independent status, a year of factional in-fighting began in 2001 over Stockwell Day's troubled leadership of the Canadian Alliance.
Several controversies surrounding Day's personality, statements, and actions led to a number of disaffected CA officials and MPs, including party stalwarts Deborah Grey and Chuck Strahl, to formally break with the Alliance caucus.
The thirteen MPs sat as the Democratic Representative Caucus (DRC) and eventually decided to affiliate themselves with the PCs, sitting as one group in the House of Commons and holding joint meetings.
The DRC also launched its own website and began setting up "Democratic Reform Party" constituency associations in anticipation of a snap election.
After the near collapse of the Canadian Alliance and the rise in defections to the DRC, it appeared that the right in Canada would remain fractious and fragmented into the foreseeable future.
Many journalists and media analysts were convinced that the Right would totally melt down in a future election with so many conflicting factions competing for the same voter base.
Many political pundits were convinced that with no credible national alternative, the Liberals would easily cruise to a fourth straight majority victory in a future 2004 election.
In April 2002, Stockwell Day was replaced as leader of the Canadian Alliance by Stephen Harper, one of the original "Class of '88" founders of the Reform Party.
Unlike Clark, MacKay supported open discussions on the concepts of a united party, but promised that, on his watch, no full-fledged union would take place.
Shortly after becoming leader, MacKay signalled his openness to broad "talks" with the Canadian Alliance with regard to creating more unity on the right.
Polls showed both the beleaguered PC and Alliance parties losing a large number of seats in the next election to a Martin-led Liberal team across Canada if an amenable solution was not found.
Both leaders insisted that the union was not about egos, and was really about making an enormous contribution to protecting tangible democratic freedoms and political choice in Canada.
In early December, 95.9% of the CA membership approved the union, and 90.4% of the PC Party delegates also endorsed the initiative in a national convention.
But even at their highest level of support the Conservatives were still some percentage points off the combined total of the two separate right-wing parties that had run in the last election.
United in one right-leaning party, individuals who would vote either Liberal or Conservative federally have joined at different occasions to stop the left-leaning NDP.
BC United leader Kevin Falcon claimed that the decision was necessary to prevent vote-splitting that would ultimately benefit the governing New Democratic Party.
