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Renewal takes an odd form |
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Written by editor
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Sunday, 28 June 2009 |
A new grassroots organization is trying to support democratic renewal by turning the three voices of the Alberta Liberals, New Democrats and Greens into a singular united front.
While it seems counterintuitive that democratic renewal can occur by reducing diversity on the political landscape, the Democratic Renewal Project says such an electoral alliance would give Albertans “serious contenders” for challenging Conservatives who’ve enjoyed power for four decades. At the very least, the group says, Alberta’s legislature would enjoy “fairer political representation.”
With just two New Democrats and nine Liberals, there are so many Conservative MLAs in the legislature some Tories have to sit across the floor from each other.
The spark for this latest effort to unite the left-of-centre parties is the upcoming byelection in Calgary-Glenmore, a seat vacated by former deputy premier Ron Stevens, who left politics to serve as a judge.
The Greens have said they won’t be running a candidate in that byelection (no date has been set.) The Conservative candidate will be Calgary Ald. Diane Colley-Urquhart, and the Liberals have selected a Calgary psychiatrist, Avalon Roberts, to carry the red banner.
So far, the NDP has been reluctant to engage in this or earlier attempts to forge a union.
The president of the Calgary chapter of the Democratic Renewal Project says he’s still hoping the New Democrats will have a change of heart. In a news release last week, Phil Elder said a close race in the Calgary byelection might change some minds about the potential of an alliance, and already some New Democrats themselves have voiced support for the group, despite there being no official approval from the party leadership.
“We believe that opposition co-operation and strategic voting is the only realistic strategy for breaking the 40-year Tory gridlock,” Elder said.
He described the organization as nonpartisan, willing to support the strongest candidates in each riding, whether Liberal, NDP or Green.
The group is also looking to disgruntled Conservatives for support.
Also jockeying for voters who feel the PCs have lost their small-c conservative ways, is the Wildrose Alliance, whose first and former leader, Paul Hinman, has announced he’ll run in the Calgary byelection. Hinman had been a one-term MLA for the Cardston-Taber-Warner riding, a seat won back by Conservative Broyce Jacobs.
Hinman stepped down as leader, sparking a leadership race that has the potential to breathe new life into a party that itself is the result of a merger between the Wildrose and the old Alliance Party.
With the possibility of this fledgling party growing into a legitimate home for Alberta’s disgruntled conservatives, the Democratic Renewal Project has rightly spotted an opportunity on the horizon to capitalize on the faint hope the nearly 60 per cent of eligible voters who didn’t bother casting ballots in the last provincial election can be lured back to action.
Getting there by having parties agree not to run candidates in some ridings is a symptom of a broken system, a weak opposition and a disengaged public.
But after 40 years of one-party rule, these reformists believe the end justifies the means.
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