The 1997 federal election convinced Manning and others that the continued vote splitting between Reform and the Progressive Conservatives needed to be addressed if Canada was to ever get a conservative oriented federal government. At the May 1998 Reform Convention in London, Ontario, Manning therefore proposed an effort to create a United Alternative to the Liberals and a process for exploring the possibility of bringing Reform and the Progressive Conservatives together. A resolution endorsing the United Alternative proposal was then debated and passed by a vote of 91 percent in favour.