Trevor Howell

Alberta Liberal Leader Dr. David Swann has struggled to capitalize on voter dissatisfaction.

It’s been a bumpy road for the Alberta Liberals this past year. Although the party has put its financial house in order and occasionally embarrassed the government, it has lost a high-profile MLA, could lose another this fall and has barely gained any traction in the polls.

With that in mind, Liberals are gathering in Edmonton this weekend for their annual general meeting to hash out party policies and introduce some sweeping, about-face proposals, including backing private health-care services and joining forces with other political parties. Until now, the Liberals have slammed private health care, but as former Liberal Donn Lovett sees it, the party had better make some radical changes — or else get left far behind.

Lovett, a longtime Liberal who tore up his membership card last fall, says the Liberals have a small window of opportunity to seize the political centre — if they start talking about what matters to Albertans.

“They better come out of this convention with some messages that reflect the mood of the majority of Albertans, which is a centrist message,” he says. “The Tories are busy protecting their right flank against the Wildrose and not giving a rat’s ass about the left because it’s ineffectual and insignificant. The voter knows what the voter wants; just figure it out.”

What Albertans want, says Liberal Leader Dr. David Swann, is job creation, an efficient health-care system and a government that effectively spends taxpayer dollars. “Albertans are paying as much as anywhere for government services, but we don’t have a government that is monitoring and evaluating what they’re doing in their government services to improve the efficiencies and effectiveness,” he says.

Leading up to the AGM, the party released its Clean Government Initiative — a 12-step directive calling for more government transparency and extending the powers of the auditor general, as well as establishing fixed election dates, whistleblower legislation and campaign-donation limits.

“The amount of money that is going into campaigns is unacceptable and distorts the democratic process,” says Swann, who is advocating for individual campaign donation limits to be capped at $5,000 per year and a ban on all corporate and union donations. Current legislation allows maximum contributions of up to $15,000 per year and $30,000 in an election year.

Liberal members will also debate the delivery of health-care services — a hot-button topic after several private health-care facilities filed for bankruptcy in recent weeks. Last month, Alberta Health Services stepped in to pay receivership fees in order to stop the closure of the Health Resources Centre, which performed one-third of hip and knee replacement surgeries in Calgary. Meanwhile, two assisted-living facilities in Red Deer recently filed for bankruptcy.

“There are some people in our group that feel the health-care system is broken and that the solution might be limited private delivery of services — that’ll be a very interesting debate,” says Swann. While he’s open to hearing arguments in favour of the proposal, Swann says he hasn’t seen any evidence that privatizing medical services will be helpful. “It has yet to prove itself as being able to provide consistent quality and access,” he says. “It’s a great concern of mine and has been for years.”

The Liberals seem to be an orphan party wallowing in an ideological vacuum somewhere in the political centre, says Bruce Foster, chair of policy studies at Mount Royal University. “The Liberals are in a real godawful spot,” he says. “They’re caught between ideological positions and it’s going to be tough for them to carve out who they are in a way that appeals to voters.”

With the Tories and Wildrose Alliance firmly entrenched on the right and the NDP on the left, the Liberals are struggling to distinguish themselves as bonafide contenders, says Foster. Much of the party’s woes land at the feet of Swann’s leadership, he says. “It’s critical to have a dynamic leader that’s able to articulate its platform, policies and take on the governing party and the other opposition parties,” he says. “So far, Swann has not been able to do that, so that casts the party even further into obscurity.”

Ted Woynillowicz, chair of the Calgary chapter of Friends of Medicare, says while he doesn’t support privatizing health care services, the issue needs to be debated. “I’m glad that it’s coming forward because Albertans are in favour of an adult debate on the issue,” he says. “Let’s put the cards on the table and see where people stand on the issue.”

Also on the agenda is a motion calling for the Liberal party to work with other parties. While some argue an arrangement between centre-left parties is vital in a province dominated by conservative parties, others contend the issue should be abandoned unless the NDP are onboard. And the latter, says Rachel Notley, NDP MLA for Edmonton-Strathcona, isn’t likely.

“The NDP and the Liberals are not the same parties and they stand for fundamentally different things,” she says, noting NDP members have soundly rejected the idea twice since Alberta’s 2008 election. “They’re wrong when they assume a New Democrat will vote Liberal or that a Liberal will vote New Democrat.”

Members proposing the semi-merger say the two parties are on the brink of irrelevancy unless they co-operate. “For many voters, the real battle is between the Conservatives and the Wildrose and those are the only two parties they are giving consideration to,” says Alvin Finkle, a longtime NDP supporter. “They’re not even thinking, ‘Would I want to give my vote to the Liberals or the NDP?’ because those parties are seen as losers.”

Although Finkle believes the NDP has the two most effective opposition MLAs, he also realizes the NDP is saddled with a $500,000 debt, is stalled in the polls, and isn’t signing up new members. “Some people have accused us of wanting to reduce choice and promoting a merger, but I don’t agree,” he says. “What we’re saying is right now there isn’t a choice and voters recognize that because the majority of potential voters in the province refuse to vote.”