I usually don’t write about politics and this post is not about my political views. When the Alberta Party announced that it will consult people through The Big Listen starting on March 1, that got my attention.
Presently, there are no details on the website how the party will do this except through a grassroots campaign and kitchen table discussions. And I’m sure with social media playing a big role.
It’s great that the Alberta Party wants to reach out to the populace with face-to-face meetings. But what will really happen with the information that it gathers?
I’m not trying to be cynical but we’ve seen this process before, especially with the former Reform Party. Preston Manning began this party, please correct me if I’m wrong, with a kitchen table discussion and grassroots intentions. But where is the Reform Party and its principles and beliefs now? Folded into a national Conservative Party and I don’t see any grassroots playing a role there.
The party has great intentions of listening to Albertans who haven’t seen a change in government since 1971, before I was born. But how will it translate Albertans’ concerns that it hears through The Big Listen into reality?
If the Alberta Party is elected as the next government, it will face the same problems as all politcal parties. How to balance the budget with all of our provinces’ needs and wants while trying to satisfy many different views and keeping to its party principles.
Will it also eventually follow the footsteps of the Reform Party – evolve into an idea of grassroots that was sustainable for a period of time until an opportunity to merge platforms so it can win an election?
I’ve been watching this political movement in Alberta from the sidelines and admit that I don’t have hands-on experience. I do hope that the Alberta Party defies the history of many Canadian political parties and doesn’t compromise its principles to gain political power.
The Big Listen presents an opportunity and a challenge for Albertans. They must set aside what they have seen happen in provincial and Canadian politics in the past and trust that they will really be heard after March1.
Good luck to the Alberta Party. I’ll be watch how you will use communication and community engagement to succeed with Albertans and overcome what other parties have failed to do in the past – stick to principles during the political process.
Read about the Alberta Party and The Big Listen from other bloggers:
hopefully, these will be interesting times politically in Alberta. There does need to be another voice in the Leg… my hope is for a more centrist party… and not the wildrose group, with its even more right wing agendas… hopefully there are some political people who can think outside the status quo box, and make the people feel included and that our voices matter. I do think that the best hope for political change is for people to get fed up with the arrogance and lack of caring of the current oligarchy.
A very thoughtful post. Appreciate your insight. I, like many others, was part of the original Reform party and your take on it is right on how it started, and we also collected signatures from people all across Canada to form the party. That was what I think gave it its strength. As I lean toward the social democrat side I did not stay with the party when the traditional Conservatives took over. The new Alberta Party does make Alberta politics more interesting, but I don’t see any real change and citizens having any real influence until the election process is changed to a form of proportional representation which Alberta had up until the mid 1950′s.