The Liberal Party of Alberta has long been a troubled institution.
Many Albertans have seldom wanted for a stronger provincial Liberal party, for many reasons. To some, the provincial Liberals carry some of the blame and shame for Pierre Trudeau's National Energy Policy of the 1980s. It's not, by any means, a rational notion. The two parties share a name, but that's where a good deal of the similarity ends.
It's a shame the Liberal Party of Alberta has been so marginalized, because the province sorely needs it. This author firmly believes this, even as a conservative writer.
The simple reason Alberta needs the Liberal Party is this: every democracy needs strong alternatives in order to be truly democratic.
Under the leadership of Dr Raj Sherman -- himself a Tory castaway -- there may finally be hope that they can grow into precisely that alternative.
Sherman's number one issue as Alberta Liberal leader will be the same as those who preceded him: health care.
"When I entered politics, my issue was fixing health care," Sherman declared. "Now, after having been in government for three years I realize the problem is the government. It's the decision-making process that's sick."
But the biggest job for Sherman will be healing a sick Liberal party. Since the 1990s, the Alberta Liberals have essentially been a party who rarely seem to know who they are. They have wavered between the staunch fiscal conservatism of Lawrence Decore to the philosopical mushiness of David Swann and nearly everywhere in between.
At all times the Alberta Liberal Party has carried with it a sense of being disgruntled that has not been dispelled by the ascension of Dr Sherman to the party leadership. That's not a solid keystone on which to build the foundation of a perpetually rebuilding political party.
In the case of Dr Sherman, the desperate need to rebuild should seem obvious. Even in a laudible open leadership race in which any Albertan who cared to vote was allowed to, a mere 4,684 votes was enough to elect him on the first ballot.
Only 8,640 Albertans cared to vote for the Liberal leader at all. Those numbers should be very disquieting for any Liberal in the province of Alberta.
Alberta needs an alternative to the governing Progressive Conservatives that can challenge them philosophically and politically. The Progressive Conservatives need it as well, although they may not always recognize this.
In short, Alberta needs a strong Liberal Party. Dr Raj Sherman will have his work cut out for him building one.
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