SAME NEW POLITICS
The upheaval in Alberta’s political landscape only proves the adage: the more things change, the more they stay the same. So much has changed in the last two or three years. In short, we saw the bombshell election of the NDP, the disappearance of the Wildrose party and the even more shocking demise of the dynastic Progressive Conservatives after members of the two rival camps voted to forge their brands into the new United Conservative Party.
The loss of the big PC tent, and the resulting departure of many of its eponymous progressives from the new right-wing party, appeared to polarize Alberta politics into a version of the U.S. two-party system with the NDP on the left, the UCP on the right and a diminished centre occupied by the Liberal and Alberta parties — considered also-rans in the current scheme of things.
Albertans faced a stark choice in the next provincial election between two vastly different choices on opposite ends of the political spectrum.
But the growing migration of progressive Tories to the Alberta Party is changing the game yet again. In particular, Calgary-South East MLA Rick Fraser and former Edmonton mayor and one-time health minister Stephen Mandel announced this week that they are running for the leadership of the Alberta Party. Adding their familiar faces and interesting voices to the race may help turn the underdog party into a household name and, more important, a credible electoral alternative for middleof-the-road voters.
Fraser, who left the UCP to sit as an Independent two months after the party was formed, said he was motivated by a desire to give Albertans a better type of politics than what’s seen in the polarized conflict between the NDP government and the UCP.
Mandel, too, addressed the perception that Alberta’s political scene had taken on an usor-them tone lately. “As leader of the Alberta Party, we will move forward and be both fiscally and socially responsible — it doesn’t have to be one or the other,” he said Wednesday.
Although some observers accuse former Tories of hijacking the Alberta Party in much the same way that Wildrosers commandeered the PCs, it’s clear the Alberta Party needed to adapt. If the goal is to grow the party, that growth must certainly entail pulling in people who once belonged to other parties.
If the makeover of the Alberta Party succeeds, it could fill out our political spectrum with a broader range of viable alternatives, and that’s a win for all Albertans.