Editing Canadian Alliance (section)

=== Foundation ===
In 2000, following the second of the two United Alternative conventions, the party voted to form a new party, the "Canadian Conservative Reform Alliance".<ref>{{Cite web |title=2000 Canadian Alliance Founding Convention |url=https://www.cpac.ca/articles/conventions/2000-canadian-alliance |access-date=2024-06-25 |website=www.cpac.ca |language=en}}</ref> After the convention, the Reform Party applied to change its name, short name, and logo; this application was granted by the [[Chief Electoral Officer of Canada]], retroactive to March 27, 2000. As of that date, what used to be the Reform Party of Canada was used as a vehicle to adopt the new name, and re-registered as the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance.<ref name="ChiefElectoralOfficerDecision">{{cite web |website=Elections Canada |url=https://elections.ca/content.aspx?section=med&document=decision&dir=pre&lang=e |date=2000-04-02 |accessdate=2021-12-10 |title=Reform Party Application}}</ref><ref name="Mahoney-GlobeAndMail">{{cite news |author=Jill Mahoney |newspaper=The Globe and Mail |quote=Chief Electoral Officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley decided in favour of a request by former Reform leader Preston Manning to change the Reform Party's name to Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance. |date=2000-04-03 |page=A4 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1124995129    |title=Tories vow court action over new party's title   |id={{ProQuest|1124995129}} }}</ref> The newly named party's platform was a mixture of the PC and Reform platforms. However, former Reform members dominated the new party — with few exceptions, the Reform caucus in the Commons essentially became the Alliance caucus. [[Brian Mulroney]] called the party "Reform in pantyhose",<ref>{{Cite news |date=2000-06-10 |title=Mulroney lashes Alliance |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/mulroney-lashes-alliance/article1040443/ |access-date=2025-01-05 |work=The Globe and Mail |language=en-CA}}</ref> and some opponents referred to the party as the "Reform Alliance" to enforce this perception.

Media covering the convention quickly pointed out that if one added the word "Party" to the end of the party's name, the resulting initials were "CCRAP"<ref name="crap">[http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/conservativeparty/ In Depth: Conservative Party] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110730033124/http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/conservativeparty/ |date=July 30, 2011 }}</ref><ref name="crap2">{{cite web|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-party-changes-embarrassing-acronym-1.240933 |title=New party changes embarrassing acronym |publisher=Cbc.ca |date=February 2, 2000 |access-date=April 28, 2017}}</ref> (humorously pronounced "see-[[wikt:Special:Search/crap|crap]]" or just "crap") even though it didn't actually have the word ''party'' in its name. One day later, the party changed its official name to the "Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance".<ref name="crap" /> However, it was almost always called simply "the Canadian Alliance" (which was accepted on first reference in most media outlets) or "the Alliance". However, the "CCRAP" nickname was still used by its opponents. [[Deborah Grey]], the deputy leader of Reform, was chosen as the new party's interim leader, becoming the first female [[Leader of the Official Opposition (Canada)|leader of the Opposition]] in Canadian history. Subsequently, at the new party's first [[leadership convention]], Manning was defeated by [[Stockwell Day]], [[List of Alberta provincial ministers#Minister of Finance|treasurer (finance minister)]] of [[Alberta]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=CBC News |title=New Day for Canadian Alliance |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-day-for-canadian-alliance-1.248371}}</ref>  One Progressive Conservative senator, [[Gerry St. Germain]], joined the new party in October 2000, becoming the Alliance's first (and, ultimately, only) member of the Senate.<ref>{{Cite news |last=O'Neil |first=Peter |date=October 29, 2012 |title=B.C. Senator Gerry St. Germain bids emotional farewell to upper chamber |url=https://vancouversun.com/news/national/bc-senator-gerry-st-germain-bids-emotional-farewell-to-upper-chamber |access-date=January 4, 2025 |work=[[Vancouver Sun]]}}</ref>