STAY STRONG, BUT DISTINCT
It is not surprising that the latest Mainstreet poll found that Albertans are not enthusiastic about some of their provincial political parties merging. They registered that sentiment loudly and clearly on May 5, when they resoundingly rejected the Tories, along with every one of the former Wildrose MLAs who crossed the floor last year.
The backlash that arose last December when former Wildrose leader Danielle Smith led the mass floor crossing — along with the news that former premier Jim Prentice had been conniving behind the scenes since his inception to abet those defections — should have been signal enough as to Albertans’ feelings.
New Wildrose Leader Brian Jean has wisely said that his party will not consider merging with the PCs, who have been reduced to a pale shadow of their former glory. That is as it should be. The Wildrose originated because Albertans wanted a right wing alternative to the Tories. Everybody singing from the same songbook under one big tent was never what Albertans had in mind.
The Mainstreet poll showed 43 per cent of Albertans are against a PC- Wildrose merger, and of those, 27 per cent are strongly against it.
Nor should there be any talk of the Liberals merging with the Alberta Party — something 34 per cent of those polled say they oppose. ( Almost equal numbers were either supportive or undecided). David Swann may be the last Liberal left standing, but to use a business analogy, if market forces ( in this case, the voters) decree that the provincial Liberal party should die out, so be it. It feels like the party has been on life- support for years. Not that this scenario is a good one, of course. The more parties Alberta has, the more choice voters have in the next election.
Rather than talk mergers, each party should now be reflecting on how it can regroup and rebuild. Four years remain until the next election, and that is plenty of time to work toward becoming a force to be reckoned with at the polls. That means developing and fine- tuning platforms with policies offering substance, policies which stand out and ensure that each party differs from the others.
Cloning is not an option, but rebirth is. The work will involve lining up top- notch candidates — a lesson the ruling NDP has learned quickly, much to its chagrin and recent embarrassment.
Certainly, the PCs have a tremendous amount of work ahead of them, including the selection of a new leader capable of wooing disillusioned and disgruntled voters back to the fold.
Merging is for vehicles on Deerfoot Trail. Separate, but strong, is the way forward for Alberta’s political parties.