What's in a name: Uniting the left in Alberta

I wonder what enabled Ed Stelmach and the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta to crush their opposition so effectively yesterday? Voter turnout was at a record low and leading up to election day a huge percentage of voters were undecided. Was it that Progressive Conservative voters came out and voted for their party out of fear of change? I would have suspected that everyone who voted Alberta Liberal in '04 would have done the same in '08 - but they didn't since Taft's party lost over 10,000 votes. Similarly, the Alberta New Democratic Party lost over 9,000 votes.

James over at The Progressive Right has a great article on the Alberta Liberals changing their brand - an idea that I support.

But I can hear the faithful RCI readers now, "But you said you would have voted for the PC party?" Yes, I would have! But that's only because of the lack of an effective opposition and viable alternative to the governing Progressive Conservatives. Could the Alberta PCs be better? Of course they could! Will they reform themselves, I'm not sure they will under Stelmach. Maybe under Dinning, but not "Steady" Eddy.

Maybe the Alberta Liberals and Alberta New Democrats ought to take a look at their neighbours to the left and right of them and unite the left (which must, ironically, end up at the center of the political spectrum if they'll grab any disgruntled PC votes).

The BC Liberals had to re-brand themselves and move to the right if they had any chance of defeating the BC New Democratic government. They had often paired up with Social Credit party and eventually under Campbell's leadership incorporated many conservatives into their fold.

Likewise in Saskatchewan, it took a new party from the remnants of the Saskatchewan Progressive Conservatives (even though the Sask PC Party still exists on the fringes) and disgruntled Liberals to form the Saskatchewan Party which now governs The Land of Living Skies.

Should the Alberta Liberals and Alberta New Democrats merge to create a new party, The Alberta Democratic Party (my creative logo to the left) and re-brand themselves as an alternative to the PCs they might have more success at the polls.

Of course, I have already alluded to this "unite the left" proposal when the Alberta Alliance and Wildrose Party merged to create the politically unsuccessful Wildrose Alliance. I saw the Alliance/Wildrose merger as being the right move but with the wrong parties.

No one can blame yesterday's election outcome on anyone other than the opposition which didn't have the policy necessary to reach Albertans.

Albertans are not sheep. They're very independent thinkers and they're not going to throw their vote to another party just for the hell of it. Albertans are calculating and inherently conservative creatures who are resistant to change. But that does not make them stupid or ignorant. They voted for Stelmach because Taft and Mason didn't make a good enough argument to vote for change.

Both parties need new leaders, and I'll charge that they almost need to become new parties focused on centrist policies.

Albertans do not want a completely new party, what they would vote for is a party with a different name with PC policies. Which puts the center-left in a sticky situation because they would essentially be promoting the same political economy just with a governing party with different colours. However, once a new, center-united party is elected, progressive social policies that are being neglected by the PCs (not everything about the Stelmach government, even for their supporters like myself, is all flowers and sausages) can be introduced and implemented.

That's what might be necessary for "change" in Alberta, and I think that even Progressive Conservative voters would agree that new blood, even in the government, is needed to keep their province a national leader.