Aspiring Liberal leaders bring baggage from PCs
The Alberta Liberals will have a new leader in three weeks, and both candidates are hoping it’s a bright new beginning for a party cast to the political sidelines.
Yet the leadership race has large- ly flown under the radar, luring only about 200 Albertans to buy a membership.
Just two candidates are jockeying to win — David Khan and Kerry Cundal. Both are articulate lawyers in their early 40s, who are convinced most Albertans naturally agree with the party’s philosophies but don’t identify as Liberal.
Both also bring Progressive Conservative baggage to the race.
Cundal, a former federal Liberal candidate, made a recent foray into the PC leadership race, trying unsuccessfully to secure a delegate position in a bid to stop eventual winner Jason Kenney.
Khan signed up as a Tory back in the 2006 leadership race and says it was Alberta’s 40-year, one-party rule that forced his hand.
“The only way politically engaged Albertans could vote for our premier was to get involved in that party because as soon as you were leader of the party, you were premier,” he says.
Interim leader David Swann gives an emphatic “no” when asked if the end of the Liberals is nigh.
To him, the current race is a renewal process that parties must go through from time to time.
Indeed, talk to most folks at various candidate events and you’ll hear a unique blend of resignation and stubbornness.
They seem to be at peace with the Alberta Liberals’ current status as the fourth-place party, but are determined to see it rise once again in a province where the NDP is governing and conservatives are still working to hammer out a unity agreement.
Khan and Cundal both eye the political centre, but that’s where they part ways.
Cundal is open to working with other parties, whether it’s in the form of a coalition, candidate agreements or a joint policy convention, and is happy to fan the flames of a united centre movement.
With the widening gap between Alberta’s left and right, she says, there’s a political urgency in doing so.
Running for leader of a political party might seem the ultimate partisan act, but Cundal doesn’t like political boxes; she’s convinced there is a path to an agreement if people peel off labels and assess ideas on their merit.
Khan, on the other hand, is steadfast in his commitment to rebuilding the Liberal brand in Alberta.
He isn’t approaching the race with a view to joining with other parties, and doesn’t think Cundal’s plans for the Liberals are transparent, worrying “too much screwing around with mergers” was what shot the Liberals to the bottom of the pile to begin with.
In response, Cundal says she’s not coming in with a concrete plan and is open to all ideas from members.
Party president Karen Sevcik says the race has been without incident but for a couple of minor complaints and says Swann will stay on in the legislature after the results are known June 4.
May 15 is the membership deadline to cast a vote.