Tomb

In the aftermath of the Alberta Liberal Party’s crushing defeat in the March election, a Calgary MLA is thinking about seeking the Liberal leadership if current leader Kevin Taft steps down. “I’m considering taking a run at it,” says Dave Taylor, one of nine Liberal MLAs in the province. “I’m thinking pretty hard about it — if he decides to step aside.”

Taft, who’s led the party since 2004, has indicated that he’ll decide by summertime whether or not he’ll step down as leader of the Official Opposition. Until then, he’ll lead his shrunken caucus during the spring session of the legislature, which begins April 14. “His decision to do that brings us some real stability at this point,” says Taylor, a former radio host who was first elected in Calgary-Currie in 2004. Taylor beat his Conservative challenger and fellow broadcaster Arthur Kent by almost 900 votes in March.

If Taft decides to stay in the top job, he’ll face a leadership review at the party’s annual general meeting in September. “Then the membership at large will decide what happens,” says Taylor. (Fast Forward couldn’t reach Taft for this story, as he’s on vacation before the spring session begins.)

Prior to the March election, the Liberals held 16 of the legislature’s 83 seats. The Liberals had expected to make a significant breakthrough, but instead, the party lost a net total of seven seats. In Calgary, the party lost one seat but gained two, boosting the number of Calgary Liberal MLAs from four to five.

Kent Hehr, a rookie MLA who won the Calgary-Buffalo seat from the Conservatives, says the election losses weren’t Taft’s fault, as the party “had the best policies that I think we’ve ever had as a party.” However, Hehr says the upcoming months will be “an exciting time of renewal” for the party. “Dave would make a fine leader,” he says. “There’s probably some other people who are going to run, and we hope to have a spirited contest.”

Calgary-Varsity MLA Harry Chase says a leadership change isn’t foremost on his mind. “Dave is a very capable individual, and we have a number of capable individuals within the caucus as well,” he says. “But the way I look at it, it’s Kevin’s choice…. It remains to be seen what Kevin’s intentions are.”

Taylor says there’s “no question” that the party has to go through a period of renewal after the Liberals’ dismal election results. “I think we have to own that, because I don’t believe in blaming the voter for voting the wrong way,” he says. “I think if voters don’t vote your way, it’s because of something that you did or failed to do. We failed to engage them for whatever reason.”

The 2008 election marked the Liberal party’s 23rd consecutive loss, a fact that has many both inside and outside the party questioning the Liberals’ relevance. “The Liberal Party has to go through a major renewal process, and a really transformative process,” says Chima Nkemdirim, a party member who ran Hehr’s campaign. Part of that transformation, says Nkemdirim, should involve a name change. “I don’t believe that the Liberals can win an election as long as they’re going with the ‘Alberta Liberal Party.’ I think there needs to be a rebranding.”

Numerous times during the election campaign, Premier Ed Stelmach linked the Alberta Liberals with the federal Liberals, even though the two parties are completely independent of each other. A name change for the Liberals has been suggested many times before the March election, but never caught on with party brass who defended the Liberal brand.

“Usually, what it’s come back to in the past has been that most Alberta Liberals are very proud of their brand and their name, and end up going back to the reality that we are the oldest party in the province,” says Kieran Leblanc, the Liberals’ executive director. “Is it the name, or is it that we need to educate people that it’s OK to vote Alberta Liberal?”

However, Leblanc acknowledges that “there is a problem” with the Liberal brand in the province. “The association between our party name and the federal party name is not a positive for us in Alberta,” she says.

Both Chase and Liberal MLA David Swann respond the same way when asked separately about whether the party should change its name or even consider disbanding and starting a new party: everything has to be on the table, they say.

“A number of people that I know are gradually exploring that in their communities,” says Swann. He says the Liberal party needs to focus on getting through the spring session, and then “come to grips” with its direction. “The more important issue here isn’t the Alberta Liberal Party. The more important issue is where is Alberta going, and how are we going to create a more humane and sustainable province?”

Taylor believes there’s “traction” in the Liberal brand, and isn’t too concerned about changing the party’s name. “If I could put together a Top 10 list of things we need to look at in the renewal process, I wouldn’t want the issue of name change to appear any higher than, say, seventh or eighth on the list,” he says. If the party considers changing its name too soon, Taylor says, “we could come to the conclusion… that it would be the right move to change the name, and not be any further ahead than we were because we haven’t addressed the more fundamental issues.”

Instead, Taylor says the party should focus on connecting with Albertans and learning from the election. “We have to figure out how to make a connection, build relationships and build trust with the voters of Alberta,” says Taylor. “And as we do that, we need to keep a very open mind.”