FREDERICTON - New Brunswick Progressive Conservatives gather in Fredericton this weekend to begin the process of planning for a leadership convention and gear up for the next provincial election.
While that election isn't until 2010, Jeannot Volpe, the party's interim leader, said Friday that members must begin getting ready now.
"Let's look at it as a game plan ... this is a four-year match, so each year we have to grow over the year before,'' he said.
"This is what we'll be asking of our members at the annual meeting -- to help us to build back the base to make sure that in 2010 we're ready to take back government.''
The Conservatives were defeated in the 2006 provincial election, and former leader Bernard Lord left soon after to work in the private sector.
The party lost Lord's Moncton East riding in a byelection and have since seen two of their members cross the floor to join the Liberals. The current standing in the legislature are 32 Liberals and 23 Conservatives.
Volpe maintains the party is still in good shape.
"It's not like coming in with a party of four or five MLAs,'' he said.
"There are some areas where we need to rebuild and regroup but we really believe the potential for us to go back into government in 2010 would be a really good incentive for a lot of those people out there to be ready to run for us.''
As for the party leadership, the caucus has sent a recommendation to the party's executive seeking a leadership convention in the fall of 2008.
Volpe said that will give the next leader time to prepare for an election in 2010.
He made it clear he will not seek the leadership.
So far no candidates have come forward.
The provincial New Democrats chose Roger Duguay as their new leader last weekend. Next week, the governing Liberals hold their convention in Edmundston and are expected to begin outlining their plans for governing the province over the remainder of their current mandate.
