Khan vows to rebuild Alberta Liberals

David Khan had been the Alberta Liberal Party leader for less than 24 hours when he dropped by the legislature Monday in Edmonton.

He hadn’t slept much since his Sunday afternoon victory in Calgary, he told the Journal, and still isn’t quite sure what he’ll do to balance his new gig and his job as a lawyer.

Like six Alberta Liberal leaders before him — more than any other Albertan party — Khan comes to leadership without a seat in the legislature.

There’s somewhat of a tradition here of people becoming party leaders without being a sitting MLA.

According to the Alberta Legislative Library, it has happened 22 times since 1935.

That year, William Aberhart was elected Alberta Social Credit Party leader on April 4 and voted into the house seven months later.

Most recently, Jason Kenney was elected Progressive Conservative leader without a seat.

Like Kenney, Khan will be overseeing leadership of his party from outside the legislative building; lone Alberta Liberal MLA David Swann said Monday he won’t be stepping down.

Tory caucus leader Ric McIver, who was his party’s interim leader for close to two years, said Monday working under the dome without the PC boss has “actually been pretty pleasant.”

In fact, he labelled his party as the best-performing this session and last.

“(Kenney) has been very good at not micromanaging, and letting us do what I think he has faith we can do,” McIver said.

Swann too has been appointed caucus leader, though his job will be a little easier than McIver’s, who was left to wrangle seven caucus mates.

Also like Kenney, Khan will likely be travelling the province in the coming months, selling his party’s values.

But where Khan is looking to improve the Liberal party’s messaging and communication of its middle-ground, centrist values, Kenney is focused on drumming up support for the United Conservative Party plan.

Khan, though, is committed to rebuilding the party he was elected to lead.

“Re-energizing all 87 constituencies, fundraising, bringing good candidates on board — there’s a lot of work I have to do,” Khan said.