It seemed a recipe for disaster. Take half a dozen Alberta government MLAs and an equal number of federal government MPs, place them in the same room, stir in the contentious issue of federal health-transfer payments to Alberta, close the door, let cook for two hours. And wait for something to boil over, if not outright explode.

When Edmonton-area Conservative politicians gathered for a special and unusual joint-caucus meeting on Friday morning at Government House, they weren't sure what to expect. Top of the agenda: Federal health transfers.

This is the issue that has Alberta Treasury Board president Lloyd Snelgrove accusing Ottawa of shortchanging the province by almost $1 billion a year -- and has federal cabinet minister Ted Menzies counter-accusing Snelgrove of "factual inaccuracies." The issue has generated so much friction between Alberta's provincial and federal politicians that you half expected Friday's meeting to burst into flames.

It didn't. The meeting was, by all accounts, cordial. "Unbelievably cordial," is how one source described the closed-door meeting afterwards.

That might be because those leading the rhetorical attacks weren't at the meeting. It might be because the meeting was co-chaired by the political fire extinguisher known as Edmonton MLA Dave Hancock who has a knack for stomping out brush fires through appeals to reason.

And it might be because the Alberta government knows there's absolutely nothing it can do about the transfer payments until 2014. That's when the current 10-year deal, signed between the provinces and Ottawa in 2004, expires.

The Alberta government can bluster and complain all it wants in public about the deal as a way to score political points against Ottawa -- but there are no political points to score with their federal cousins behind closed doors when no one is watching -- and when those federal cousins can make a reasonable argument that Alberta, as a wealthy province, is not being shortchanged compared with "have-not" provinces.

Rather than squabble, the two sides talked amicably about their differences over the transfer payments and Ottawa's push for a single securities regulator. They also talked in generalities about the mechanics of finding government money during times of restraint for infrastructure projects such as a new Walterdale Bridge and perhaps even a new arena in Edmonton.

Friday's meeting was all about improving communications between the two levels of government to help them better serve Edmontonians -- and thus, they hope, better serve themselves. The meeting wrapped up by discussing major issues that weren't on the official agenda: A federal election, a provincial election and the Wildrose Alliance.

A federal election could come in little over a month, a provincial election in little over a year. There's not much time or appetite to get into a continued joint-caucus fight.

Sources say the politicians agreed to help each other on the campaign trail, but that raised the awkward issue of the Wildrose Alliance -- something of a wedge issue between federal and provincial Conservatives.

It's probably more of an issue in Calgary where federal MPs such as Jason Kenney and Rob Anders have expressed support for the provincial Wildrose. But it's a problem in Edmonton, too, where some federal Conservative supporters say they'll campaign for the Wildrose against the provincial government. And then you have people such as Vitor Marciano, the executive director of the Wildrose, who not only is a federal Conservative but who was instrumental in helping MP Laurie Hawn win two federal elections in Edmonton. He'll be out campaigning for Hawn again the next federal election. And working to bring down the Alberta government the next provincial election.

Federal Conservatives helping the Wildrose Alliance campaign against the Alberta government. It's a growing problem for the provincial Conservatives and even if Friday's joint caucus meeting was cordial in Edmonton, a joint caucus meeting in Calgary last July was less so. Sources say friction between federal and provincial Conservatives over the Wildrose Alliance reduced what was supposed to be a daylong meeting to a working lunch -- and Premier Ed Stelmach never made an appearance.

Alberta Conservative officials and government spokespeople are doing their best to downplay the Wildrose threat but it is the elephant in the room, whether that room is on the second floor of Government House or at the Fantasyland Hotel where Stelmach made a speech on Friday morning to the Provincial Agricultural Service Board.

"There are some out there suggesting that we are knowingly and purposely taking away rights of landowners," said Stelmach who stopped short of mentioning the Wildrose Alliance by name, but we all knew who he meant. Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith has run an effective campaign against the government's power-line, right-of-way legislation as a threat to people's property rights. Stelmach has been forced onto the defensive and is considering rewriting the recently passed laws. "We're looking at every piece to make sure we clarify any, any way that anyone could misinterpret any clause of the legislation."

It is a remarkable turn of events, the four-member Wildrose caucus shaking up a 67-member government. The tail is wagging the dog.

That may be another reason why Friday's joint-Conservative meeting was so cordial. Provincial Tories need help. They realize they are much less popular these days than federal Conservatives -- and they could use all the help they can get from their federal cousins to win another provincial election victory.

gthomson@edmontonjournal.com