Reviving The PC Name: Hueglin Launches Progressive Canadians

The Progressive Canadians is a reaction to that merger, and the subsequent leadership victory last week of former Alliance chief Stephen Harper, Hueglin said. "What this is is a resurrection, a continuation of what was extinguished on a Sunday, a day of infamy, Dec. 7," Hueglin said. "It is to have this party there, so that if the other one falls apart, we're there." Hueglin and a small group of disgruntled former Tories successfully registered their new political entity with Elections Canada. Now the PCs are seeking 50 candidates to carry the standard in the next federal election and make them eligible for all rights and privileges under the Elections Act. "There are many people who do not have a party at this point that they feel comfortable voting for," he said. Hueglin resisted the merger of his old party with the Canadian Alliance. He vowed - like other diehard Tories - to have nothing to do with the new party. But he did vote in the local Conservative party's nomination meeting earlier this month, something he said had more to do with his friendship with Conservative candidate Rob Nicholson than support for the new party. For his part, Nicholson said he wasn't sure what kind of impact the new group would have. "I don't know much about them," Nicholson said. "People who supported the old Progressive Conservative or the old Canadian Alliance parties know who to vote for," he said. Hueglin and the Progressive Canadians - about 300 across Canada - created the new entity "to contest the middle" against the Liberal party, Hueglin said. "If the Liberals tar this new party as being Reform III, as right wing as the NDP is left wing, then there is nothing in the centre to contest the Liberals," said Hueglin. "That's why our aim is to become a registered party at the end of the election, so there will be on the books a centrist, moderate party." Hueglin claims about a dozen people across the country - most in southwestern Ontario - have expressed an interest in being candidates. Putting PC Party on ballots seems to have the potential to confuse voters who won't make the distinction between the old Progressive Conservatives and the new Progressive Canadians. "It might. In the opinion of the chief electoral officer, it's OK," Hueglin said. - With files from the Canadian Press