One time, I made a political volunteer cry
People are really attached to organizations they invest in -- political parties are no different.
That headline is my best clickbait ever — but it also totally happened.
When I started following politics, I loved everything about the theatre aspect; there were scandals, intrigue, villains, and heroes. That’s how I started — there was no altruism, no desire to make the province a better place — just a sincere desire to understand more about this topic I’d fallen head over heels for.
In 2017, I had bought an observer ticket for Alberta’s Progressive Conservative leadership convention (back then, you could observe for $100). I had only become a member to follow along with the race and through that, also attended my first Delegate Selection Meeting. It was a bitterly cold night in February an hour away from where I lived, but at least when someone says “Delegate Selection Meeting” or “delegated convention”, I know what they’re talking about.
So, there I am, at a convention where I know absolutely no one. It quickly dawned on me that this would not be much fun unless I started talking to people, so, that’s what I did. One of the first people I recognized from Twitter (as it was once called) was Progress Alberta’s Duncan Kinney. He also had swag, which I’d been collecting off the tables already.
Duncan had buttons that said “I (heart) the P in PC Alberta”, as well as a 5x7 card announcing the date, time, and place, for the PC’s “wake”. I met some other folks as well from all three leadership contender’s camps, and some future MLAs, and had an absolutely marvelous time talking about all things politics. I was in poli-nerd heaven.
Hours later, while still having a most lovely time, I asked one of Starke’s volunteers if they had anything planned for the next night. She didn’t seem sure what I was referring to, so I pulled my “wake” invite out of my purse and showed her.
And she burst into tears.
I was mortified. I felt like the biggest ass.
In the moments, hours, and days after, I realized that this “thing” that I was just following along for the ride really meant something to people. I’ve learned since that it’s more than a place of like-minds — these people become a family together; bonding in their successes and failures. And one of the leadership candidates was holding a knife to its throat and just waiting for the signal to slice through its jugular right in front of them.
Alberta’s provincial parties have had a rough few years
The demise of the progressive conservative party pushed a lot of people out. A few of them ended up in my little space, the Alberta Party. I saw some familiar faces from the PC convention and was thrilled — but it wasn’t seen by everyone as “good” movement.
The Alberta Party has been around for a few years before I found it and it had been nurtured by those who were just as invested in its future as some of those PCs had been in their old party. They did not all share my enthusiasm about the influx of new members. Things might change. Other people might be trying to take over and do things differently. Or, worse, lead the AP down the same road where the PCs had recently crashed and burned.
In the meantime, things were heating up over at the Alberta Liberal Party where they were launching a leadership race themselves. Two candidates put their names forward for the candidacy; one who wanted to try and build the party and another who wanted to start merger talks with the Alberta Party. I joined in and started volunteering on my first campaign.
The rebuild candidate won and the party went back to doing what they were doing.
That summer, the PCs and Wildrose voted to merge and another leadership race was underway. The PC’s tried to show that it was truly a “united” party with their “New Blue” candidate, the former Wildrose leader, former PC leader, and a '“stalking horse candidate” to do the dirty work of burning bridges for the Wildrose. A few more PCs saw that Kenney was going to succeed in taking that race as well and handed in their membership cards. I’m certain some went to the ABNDP, and I know some went to the Alberta Party. Some got out of the life altogether.
Not done with 2017, the Alberta Party ended up launching its own leadership race. In the run for leadership was a former PC MLA, a former PC cabinet minister, and a dedicated federal Liberal.
I watched this race play out from the Leadership Election Committee, because of course that’s where I was by the end of the year.
Amidst all of this upheaval, I decided that party politics, while still one of my favourite topics, was not something I wanted to pour my heart and soul into. I still attend events, and I still enjoy the conventions, but I much prefer the role of observer.
Now, it’s the ABNDP’s turn
Anyone who’s followed me from there to here knows I’ve been vocal about my displeasure with the fact that the conservatives can point to the federal NDP with one finger and the ABNDP with another. I’ve also noticed they’re recently given up on the distinction between the two, which is smart political communications.
Despite the fact that they’re not the same parties, the federal NDP does not control the provincial parties, and Singh’s preferred path to victory appears to begin and end with wiping his feet on Alberta; they share a name, and they share memberships. It’s annoying as an Albertan, and it’s incredibly frustrating as a political observer with a keen interest in strategic communications — mostly because it’s not something the ABNDP has to keep taking hits over. At this point, it’s a choice.
Though I do know a few people who have switched over to the ABNDP and are all-in, I don’t get the feeling that ABNDP support is as strong or as loyal as they would like it to be. They’re certainly not in dynasty territory. While I do believe that it’s good for a government to know they can be replaced, I also know that Alberta’s political climate used to be considered the most stable and that is no longer the case.
While the ABNDP has increased their support steadily since 2012, they missed out on a few thousand votes in Calgary that could have made a difference. Usually, I’d chalk that up to just one election but voter turnout dropped seven points from 2019 and that suggests to me that if the UCP had a more trustworthy leader, those voters would have come back — to the UCP.
That tells me the ABNDP has more much more work to do.
The ABNDP had great leadership in Rachel Notley and little has changed in the party mechanism since they first formed govt. They have still made great strides without changing anything at all — but they haven’t won again. Maybe that will change all on its own. Maybe it needs to be changed.
Now, with leadership hopefuls Rakhi Pancholi and Kathleen Ganley willing to move towards severing what little relationship the federal and provincial parties have by removing shared memberships, some “pre-2015” members are digging in their heels. One even suggested the old guard will make sure a proposal to sever shared memberships never makes it to a vote.
At the end of the day, Rachel Notley gave up her leadership to try and move the party forward. The old guard may want to look at ways they can do the same.
I joined the ABNDP with some reluctance because of these exact reasons. And I won’t vote for a new leader that doesn’t recognize the need for severing ties. That’s the only way they’ll have any chance of forming government in Alberta and displacing the lunatic Smith. If a leadership candidate is more interested in purity than forming government, then I’m not sure why the party under their leadership would continue to exist.