Foothills MP John Barlow is glad to see the overwhelming support for the merger of the Wildrose and PC parties.

He says it was a hard learned lesson at the federal level from the old days of the Conservatives and the Reform Party.

"We had hoped people had learned this lesson from the federal experience, with the Reform, Canadian Alliance and the PC Party there. All that accomplished in the long run was that we had a Liberal government in Ottawa for 13 years."

Barlow says it also has an upside for him when it comes to the next Provincial election.

He says traditionally Federal and Provincial Conservatives tend to lend each other support during elections, but because of the split between the Wildrose and PC parties, Barlow really couldn't come out and help one over the other when it came to campaigning in the 2015 Provincial election.

He says this time, with just one conservative candidate in each of the five Provincial ridings, within his one Federal riding, he can lend his support to them all.

Barlow says he'd heard from a lot of constituents over the last year or so, once unification talks really took off, about their desire to see one United Conservative Party in Alberta.