Reboot Alberta

Thursday, February 03, 2011

Alberta Party Becomes a Political Punching Bag

There is a new and nasty reaction to the rise of the Alberta Party from sources in the traditional political parties.  The rumour mills, media quotes and online chatter is full of anger and angst aimed at  the Alberta Party as some upstart new kid on the block that needs to be put in its place.  It is as if our new found validation as a viable political option in the eyes of the media and others was our fault and not theirs.

The Alberta Party is now a target by some saddened practitioners of the politics-as-usual  We in the Alberta Party are being punched way above our weight these days. But beating on us will not change the reality that Alberta citizens have rejected the old-style Alberta political culture.  The tired and untrue political spin cycles just remind citizens why they avoid politics and see voting a pointless.  It shows why we don't get our best and brightest people participating in public service and politics.  They rightly conclude "Who needs this grief?"

Speaking of grieving, the soul searching of the NDP and Liberals and progressive in PC party has begun in earnest, especially with the recent resignations of Stelmach and Swann. The core partisans in these parties are grieving.  They were in the denial stage of "this can't be happening" as they saw the infighting result in the loss of two good men as party leaders - within a week.  That makes the continuation of the denial stage pretty pointless.  There are some who are well into the anger stage now of "why me...this is not fair."  If you look at the comment thread on this Daveberta post you can see the anger stage playing out in real time. 

If the grieving continues we will see some examples of the bargaining stage emerge in the progressive wing of the PC Party.  That will start to happen when they see who actually steps up to run for the PC leadership from the progressive side.  There will be desperate bargains struck about who gets the nod as the preferred progressive candidate.  There will be concerns of  will he or she be strong enough to beat Ted Morton.  If the preferred progressive is not strong enough to win expect more progressives to drift into the Alberta Party.  Expect a wave of progressives to to the Alberta Party from the PCs  if there is a purge of their ranks as a result of a Morton leadership victory.

On the Liberal side we have seen many rank and file members already make the value trade-off decision and have joined the Alberta Party.  Liberal MLA Laurie Blakeman's recent media comments about considering running for the leadership of either the Liberals or the Alberta Party is an example of a bargaining stage of grief.  This ambivalence is totally understandable and this kind of decision making process is not easy.  It is much more than just keeping political options open.  It about being authentically open to new ways of thinking about politics.  It is about trading past loyalties for the potential for new hope when everything is uncertain.

Some partisans will just go into the depression stage now or after the PC and Liberal leaderships have been decided.  They will likely respond by withdrawing from political life and politics all together concluding "what is the point any more." Other partisans, displeased with the leadership decision of their party, will emerge out of all this looking for new hope and a new home.  They will go through the final Acceptance stage of grieving.  They will come to realize that Alberta has changed and they must change too.  Perhaps the Alberta Party will be their new hope and their new home - but only time will tell.

I went through this kind of political soul searching and grieving in my own decision making process to leave the PCs.  I realized, through my involvement with  Reboot Alberta, that Alberta had fundamentally changed from what I had assumed was the political truth of the times. We found through research that Albertans were losing their sense of pride in the province but their personal commitment to making Alberta better was still extraordinarily strong.  The research results we so strong that it was obvious that something was about to change dramatically in Alberta politics.  Who knew how, where, what and when that change would happen - but it is happening now.

 The research uncovered the fundamental values Albertans wanted to see from political parties before they would grant their consent to be governed.  Those values are integrity, honesty, accountability, transparency, fiscal and personal responsibility and environmental stewardship.  Albertans also felt these values were seriously lacking in the current political culture. My sense from the Reboot Alberta experience and research was that something new and different was needed in the Alberta political landscape.  The politics as usual approach could not respond to the longing and yearning for a more caring, compassionate and responsible political culture.

The Alberta Party idea emerged from the first Reboot Alberta gathering.  In time I came to see and accept that the Alberta Party was the best chance to do politics differently in our province.  I have become active and have not been disappointed nor have I second guessed my decision. In fact I have been delighted with my new political home.  I trust other moderates and progressives will eventually find their way to the Alberta Party using their own paths and processes.  Check out the Alberta party website, stay tuned to its progress and see if it aligns with your values and aspirations for a better Alberta..  When you decide you want to become part of the co-creation of the next Alberta you should come join us.




10 comments:

  1. Personally, I'm still unclear as to what the Alberta Party is offering that is so new and exciting - perhaps someone could explain it to me over a coffee or two.

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  2. The reason the Alberta Party is everyone's punching bag is because it is centrist. Meaning your fighting a battle on two fronts: left and right. Basically the party has no idealogical "home team" making them everyone's easy target. Get used to it because once the party gets successful it will only intensify.

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  3. I think DJ Kelly's comment, above, touched on the real problem with Alberta's politics. Why do we even care about what side of center a party is on? Probably because each of these parties is set on using the same sorry electoral and legislative system that has caused problems for decades. One member elected (probably by less than half of his/her constituents) per riding - basically disregarding the majority of said constituents' voices/opinions.

    Even parties that will be allowing MLAs to vote individually don't change this, especially when said MLA can vote against the party and platform (which is why most people voted for the party) and/or also against what their constituents are telling them based on what that individual (the MLA) thinks is best for the riding. That is, except when it comes to stuff that's important - like the budget (with respect to the Alberta Party), which will influence all other legislation enacted over the course of the year.

    Nothing changes with anything that is being offered by any of these parties at this time. Except for the promise of recall legislation from the WRA - and even that isn't enough to correct the issues that are faced as a result of an inadequate electoral system.

    Every one of these parties should be offering electoral reform as the basis of their platforms. Once the Government has been elected reforming the process shouldn't be a huge problem despite the Constitution Act, based on Section 1 of the Charter of Rights & Freedoms.

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  4. Anonymous3:05 pm

    The reason the Alberta Party is everyone's punching bag is because of the meaningless & contradictory rhetoric. Example:
    Rhetoric: We don't believe in left of right political spectrum
    Action: We're a centre party

    Rhetoric: Let's do politics differently
    Action: First MLA goes back on written & verbal promise for by-election

    Rhetoric: We welcome all ideas!
    Action: But if you disagree with us on Twitter we will attack you

    Everyone wants to see Alberta continuously improve through innovation of ideas and all parties try to foster it. It's the hollier than thou attitude displayed by Alberta Party members that put the target symbol on the Party itself.

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  5. Anonymous6:10 pm

    The problem with the left and right is that think the centre doesn't stand for anything. Or that we compromise on everything, instead of standing for anything. That is so simple and not true. Centrists are the majority of Canadians and don't have to see everything through ideology. Think about. Harper will not have a majority becasue he's an ideologue. Even Kim Campbell, Mulroney and Joe Clark have alluded to this

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  6. Anonymous is as anonymous does!

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  7. Make the AP a serious contender3:48 pm

    @Ken,

    What you need Ken is some high level defections to the AP. You need Gar Mar, you need Jim Dinning and dare I say it, you may have guys like Dr. Raj Sherman even cross the floor into the AP.

    Ken, you need to get these three centrist moderates that are likeable, all heavy weights in Calgary and Edmonton, then you will pose a seriously huge threat to the PC's and the Wildrose combined.

    If you can get those three to come, I guarantee you, you will bleed more than half the PC party away, at least the progressives and merge the remaining Liberals, lo and behold, almost overnight the AP will become a heavy weight contenter, a seriously new and viable option that All Albertans are dying to have.

    You will have a party that will represent most Albertans and what most of them want. You will still have a weak opposition on the left and a weak WRA and PC to the right.

    If the AP has any vision, this can be done NOW, not two elections from now, which is almost an eternity.

    Just think about what I said. Gary Mar, Jim Dinning and Raj Sherman, all great progressives and good fiscal points of view to offer, they will add huge weight and unity to the party and all of this will work, unless, you still have a loyalty to the PC brand, do you? I hope not.

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  8. Chances of those three joining AP any time soon: Dr. Raj, fair to good. Jim Dithers and Garrey Marlebois, slim 'n' none (and Slim's been sick).

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  9. Anonymous3:03 pm

    I don't consider either Gary Mar or Jim Dinning to be "centrists," which, by my definition would mean they are politicians who stand up for average Albertans.

    Rather, I see them as high profile players in a right wing party of elite interests who've stood by while their party (and what is the party made up of but people such as themselves?) pushed for private health care, diminished education and social funding, degraded Albertans' birthright royalties from the fossil fuel industry, and virtually ignored the environment and Alberta's dire water situation.

    There's nothing moderate about any of that, no matter how reasonable or mild-mannered they might appear in their outward personalities.

    If the Alberta Party desires to be at the vanguard of the opposition or take power, I suggest it needs to further define and greatly enlarge its current nebulous policies and that it work with the other progressive parties to ensure they don't cancel out each other in winnable ridings in order to help a progressive movement catch the attention of voters, old and new.

    Further to that, I believe the Alberta Party needs to take a stance on supporting Proportional Representation. Even Graham Thomson's latest article in the Edmonton Journal decries our first-past-the-post voting system as being one that "never allows the underdog parties to win." To my mind, no progressive party worth its salt supports FPTP, and without collaboration of all centre-left parties to have PR enacted, the AP will always and ever remain one of those "underdogs."

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  10. Anonymous8:34 pm

    Expect a major boost to the Wildrose Alliance if anyone but Morton wins the leadership.

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