Alberta conservatives gather in Calgary to pick leader to challenge NDP

Alberta new United Conservatives will pick a new leader today.

Three candidates — Jason Kenney, Brian Jean and Doug Schweitzer — are vying for the prize.

About 62,000 party members have been voting on a preferential electronic ballot over the last three days.

The winner takes over a 27-member official opposition caucus in the legislature.

The party will now hold a founding convention to craft policy.

The United Conservative Party was created in July when Kenney's Progressive Conservatives and Jean's Wildrose voted to join forces to try to defeat Premier Rachel Notley's NDP.

All three candidates have said win or lose, they will stay with the party to move it forward.

Of the three, only Jean is a member of the legislature, representing the constituency of Fort McMurray-Conklin.

Kenney is a former federal Conservative cabinet minister and Schweitzer is a longtime conservative strategist.

Notley by law must call an election in the spring of 2019.