New Liberals: Alberta Liberals Convention recap
As I left the Alberta Liberal Party convention yesterday I was exhausted. Between doing a panel on social media, attending almost 24 hours of straight training and politics, and then being at the Bruce Payne suite until 3 am in the morning with a bunch of young Liberals yacking it up about what needed to change by the end of Sunday (where we voted for gargantuan change) I was stretched to exhaustion. But I kept on going. I skipped breakfast to be on the debate floor, and the party president felt such excitement he stayed up with me until the early morning and then pushed through breakfast and lunch to talk politics and reform. After getting home that night at 6 pm I collapsed on my bed and slept for 14 hours straight.
Media scan
- “What we did this weekend in Alberta,” with Corey Hogan
- [Updated] “Real Renewal,” with Dan Arnold at CalgaryGrit
- JASON FEKETE gives his piece.
- Edmonton Journal recap with Karen Kleiss (who, I believe, wrote the most balanced article on the convention. It’s very pleasant reading good journalism.)
- Graham Thomson writes on the seismic changes to both the party and province
- Calgary Herald: “Liberals welcome all Albertans to help select new leader”
- Don Braid, being his regularly and expected anti-Liberal self
- Postmedia: “Alberta Liberal leadership candidates promise grassroots rebuilding”
- Edmonton Sun summarizes leadership changes
- Another article by Karen Kleiss, but on cooperation
When looking at the articles that have come out in the last few days on the convention I see two trends that they’ve missed: one, the overwhelming strength of focus and passion of this liberal revolution in the party that just so happens to be led by the youngest party leaders and presidents in Canada and two, a direct call to all Albertans to participate in a time of cynicism and anger.
On the first, we have party president Eric Ambtman, executive director Corey Hogan, and a sizable portion of the convention attendees as young people. I counted eight or nine tables where I didn’t see a single grey hair. Young professionals, students, young entrepreneurs, and young activists were in the room and wanted something not new but something that brought them to the center. It’s not about just young people, though. Having young people attend and give input is all fine and good, but there’s something deeper here that is alway missed by politicos and partisans. Reason number one for this is that the more experienced liberals wanted change, too, but didn’t quite know what it was just yet. I think it was a desire for something more out of politics and to reach out, shared by both experienced and new, which came from the newer people who have joined and have taken on leadership roles in the last few years. It’s not about age, it’s something bigger. It’s a deeper revitalization, spread across any one grouping but everyone.
It’s the way that new liberals engage. Rather than being there to vote just with leadership contestants, with party partisans of decades of experience, or being tied to any particular factional groupings these young people took a step back and asked: ‘what do I need to be able to achieve the things needed to lead this party?’ Full stop. It’s about their leadership. It’s not about being recognized or having envelope stuffers. It’s not just about volunteering or getting a letter of recommendation for law school, or finding connections, or attaining influence. This question for myself and most of the youth in the room is the reaching out not for power but to reach out and lead. And they wanted the tools to do so.
It’s the thought that they wanted to lead now and so could entrench the party in Alberta so when these young men and women are going to run in five or six years times they can form government. If the election happens this fall these new liberals will push Alberta Liberals to heights only touched before in the early nineties, as both candidates and leaders, to form government now.
This feeling was infectious, too. The new liberal phenomena didn’t just stay with the portion of the new liberals that entered into the convention floor on Saturday morning. It spread and spread quickly. At the end of Sunday it was thoroughly spread to almost all the Liberals in the room. I think the old guard shaved off ten years by the end of the general meeting on the Sunday and the passion they gave exemplified their rebounded energies. The changes to the leadership rules and the weighted one member one vote (W-OMOV) all needed 75% or more to pass–the willfulness for change sprung out of the voices of those with experience in the party and the recent new comers. By the end of the debates and the animated voices from all the tables in the conference center the party stood united. All of them passed, with some passing almost unanimously.
It took a moment to take stock of just what exactly happened after the last resolution passed. We, as a party, stated overwhelmingly to open up our nominations and leadership races to the public, while at the same time opening ourselves up to places we haven’t been active in years. You, dear reader, can sign up as a registered supporter and vote for your Liberal candidate in your constituency and for the Liberal leader you want to lead this province. More than 95% each time, the Liberals said they wanted Albertans involved in their nomination races and in their leadership races. With 77% Liberals said they wanted every constituency to be inside the Liberal tent.
And with almost unanimous desire those Liberals wanted it now. Initially the resolutions on opening the leadership and nomination races were to be brought in 2013. Graham Thomson already had his article written in advance saying how the Liberals wanted to change and show their change, but just not right now. He now had to completely rewrite his article. He, and many others, didn’t think we’d do it. A lot of people didn’t. They thought we’d give lip service and nothing more. Many of the party’s stalwarts were also of the opinion that these changes weren’t going to happen. Dave Hastings, perpetual volunteers and a pillar of the party in Calgary, didn’t think we’d do it. Hugh MacDonald, leadership candidate, found his time more worthy in Edmonton at an education rally than on the convention floor.
But we still did it. A set of liberals walked in and shared their vision, the thirst for change by the party stalwart was strong, and leadership was provided by caucus, the party, the grassroots, and the new liberals. We set aside the sacred cows, lifted ourselves up, and stared into the heart of what we needed to do.
We need to fight the cynicism in Albertan politics. It isn’t just picking between the old Progressive Conservatives or the Progressive Conservatives with a flower in their name, and the indistinguishable character of each. It isn’t about absolutes or partisan politics. It isn’t even about the party anymore. It isn’t about staying on the sidelines and letting things go on as they have been.
We need to include everyone. That 60% that don’t vote–they’ll join in if they can. The barriers to being a Liberal supporter is nothing now aside from the desire for leadership and a willingness to say ‘yes, I want to have an impact.’ We’ve opened ourselves and now we need to reach out and talk to every Albertan to welcome them in. But we can’t (and we haven’t) just said we’ll ‘welcome’ them: they’re a full participant in who and what we are. Every Albertan should look at our leadership contestants and every Albertan should look at our candidates… and choose with us.
I don’t see a separation between the party and Albertans. What we’ve done this weekend is say, to every Albertan, is not just to join us but become a part of us. I wrote a few weeks about building the Liberal iceberg. Here with the Alberta Liberals I, and many other people, have that chance. This is the time for renewal, to be building, and to touch the heart of every Albertan, to build up from Alberta, out from the Liberals, and across this province.
In the end we need to take heart with what the party and the new liberalism that has sprouted here. Last year, when I wrote about the convention in Edmonton, I spoke about the ‘haters’ of the Alberta Liberals. These are portions of the media, the executives of other parties, NDP-leaning bloggers like Climenhaga, and hardcore partisans that wont be able to be brought in. We can’t convert most of the already converted and we really shouldn’t try. It’s your neighbor, your boss, your active community association folks, and the people that care, but just not about politics, that are the people we need to target and include. It’s those Greens who jumped to the Alberta Party (or just stayed home), then jumped back to the Vision 2012 group, and then are now in limbo that we can bring in too.
There are some people who are currently haters that I’d love to bring onside, though. I’d like David Climenhaga to support the Liberals but he has taken a position that would require us to show more proof of our willingness to include him and more proof of our successes at including others–it will take at least one election cycle to prove to him that he’s both welcome and can be an active participant. Don Braid could be at least pleasant with us again. Old Liberal staffer Dave Cournoyer at daveberta.ca, with his tireless energy aiming to better Alberta and spread political discourse into the hands of regular Albertans, should also be brought back into the fold. He, too, requires proof.
And that proof will need to be provided. In the words of Chretien: a proof is a proof. It’s not just words now or just a constitution. Although these two things do give direction the only way to go now is forward and upwards. The only way we can go now that we’ve tossed aside barriers and sacred cows is to touch every Albertan and get to everyone so that not only can we build the best team in Alberta to win in the next election but create such an amalgamation of Albertans (our ‘iceberg’) that the Alberta Liberals will forever enmeshed with Albertans and their values. So lets show them.
Leaked Attack Ad: Education
So two people have passed me CDs with attack ads. I now have, in my possession, three attack ads blasting the Progressive Conservatives and then the Wildrose-. They’re well written, short, and made to be shared.
What I really like about this set of ads is that not only do they attack the Progressive Conservative but it knocks the Wildrose while adding the failures of the PCs to the Wildrose. It’s wonderful political maneuvering.
I really like this particular ad because it builds on a rising media storyline and that gives it a sizable amount of credibility. While this particular ad targets Stelmach, and is outdated because of it, it still hits at a core point on the PC agenda–defunding schools. Just this week school boards in Edmonton have had their funding threatened, school staff have been cut (while the province announces money for new schools), and the school board there opted to follow through with a strategy of anti-sprawl strategy of school placement. This adds onto the weakening of school boards in general, the PCs denying them funding and support while also subverting their ability to control their resources. And then the ad hammers in the point of right-wing incompetence while taking fire at the Wildrose Alliance and particularly their leader’s past pronouncements.
This is a good ad. It’s truly a shame it’s out of date, however–with Stelmach leaving and the Progressive Conservatives having their leadership race any attacks on Stelmach wont have much, if any, effect on him. It might even help a lot of PCers who are involved in the different leadership camps right now as a jumping board to separate themselves from past PC (and current Wildrose) policies.
Building the Iceberg — New Liberals, Clear Grits, and Phoenixes
Almost two weeks ago I wrote a blog post about the challenges that face the Liberal Party of Canada. It received a small bit of media attention and more. In particular, I wrote about building the party outside of it (or, in fact, ‘behind’ it), where I used an iceberg metaphor to show how the 90% of the Liberal Party, behind the names, riding associations, and candidates, should be built up. From this post (and others) many Liberals across the country have buckled down, put their thinking hats on, and have begun the process to build the proverbial ‘iceberg’–the activism, the training, and the leadership building that makes a party possible.
These are people in the party that have said to themselves that change–while possible at the top–doesn’t necessarily has to be so. These are groups that have come into being not from the Ottawa-Toronto area–movements that are coming from across the country from all walks of life, from both new and old Liberals.
I’ve been impressed with how these groups have grown (one facebook group has spurted to almost 500 members–all active, engaged folks involved with their constituencies) and the leadership shown by its many, many leaders. And the greatest thing is that these groups aren’t underneath the thumb of the party’s executives or big wigs–it’s all the membership pushing these groups.
If I’ve missed any please comment below.
Name: New Liberal
Website: http://www.NewLiberal.ca
This website is dedicated to aggregating numerous blog posts, articles, and ideas about building up the Liberal Party of Canada, along with provincial parties. It was set up by Corey Hogan (director of the Alberta Liberal Party) and is being pushed by a lot of Alberta Liberals. Of particular note is how it’s set up: that it’s encouraging people to get into their constituency associations, their provincial territorial associations, and building that local strength in the party.
It calls for grabbing 20 of your buddies and getting involved locally, eventually building a “movement within a movement” to push the party in a new direction. It’s grassroots politics at its most basic level and the group serves as an idea posting board for bloggers, writers, and activists to spread their message. I’ve been featured on it, too.
Name: Clear Grits
Website: (Facebook) http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_200463776655579
In homage of the Clear Grits of the 19th century, this group of party stalwarts have joined together over social media. The Clear Grits were called that then because of their tenacity and determination, and the term actually alludes to the type of grit (‘sand’) used in bricklaying. It’s also a name used by a bunch of angry farmers in the prairies who were angry with the government and organized. I can’t think of a better name for a reform movement than the Clear Grits.
They share links, ideas, events, and meet ups on their facebook page. A lot of young liberals are involved in this group, like Youth Prime Minister Max Naylor of the Canadian Youth Assembly (disclaimer: I use to be one of his ministers).
Name: Liberal Party of Canada Phoenix Project
Website: http://www.liberalphoenix.ca
This group of Liberals have made it their focus to build up and train the skills of those involved in activism at all levels of government. I really like this group of Liberal reformers because they’ve chosen a direction and kept it limited in its scope: and it fills a rather important niche in rebuilding the party.
My training in all things political have come from a few hours at random conferences that I’ve attended–and mostly these have to do with light skimming of techniques and a heavy dose of electoral rules/regulations. The real election training I’ve received have been through a full semester course with Dr. Thomas Flanagan at the University of Calgary for campaigning in Canadian elections and then a Leadership Institute weekend training seminar put on by Craig Chandler (yes, that Craig Chandler). Note that these fellows are on the Conservative side of the political divide–and for good reason: from my research and searching only the Conservatives deem it necessary to train their activists beyond just conventions.
I’ve asked about Liberal Universities (events for election training) when I’ve attended Liberal Party of Canada in Alberta meetings–and each time they say it’s up to the election readiness chair to put it in motion. That elections readiness chair, by the way, stops working at his or her duties after an election and another is reappointed as little as six months away from the next election. That isn’t sustainable and nor is it smart. I look forward to the Phoenix Liberals pushing hard in their training of the next generation of Liberal partisans because the party right now is more than incompetent in this area.
I actually have met the guy who put the website up–Ray Larson–who is also the president of the Saanich Gulf-Islands Liberal association.
Name: Liberals Rebuilding the Liberal Party
Website: (Facebook) http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_146023798799822
This is another social media-based group of people sharing ideas, policies, training, and articles. This group has, in the last few weeks, jumped from little under a hundred Liberals to over five-hundred–a clear statement of Liberals wanting to build up their party. Sadly this is a closed forum for discussion and requires that you apply to join. In a way this is a good thing, seeing that it focusing both the discussion and eliminates possible bad eggs from pulling the group’s focus away from rebuilding the party.
