Alberta Liberals see opening as leadership race set to launch

With only one MLAand a low public profile, the Alberta Liberal Party will launch its leadership contest this weekhoping tore-ignitelost interest in the strugglingpolitical entity.

Overshadowed by an aggressive political contestplaying out within the Progressive Conservative party, Alberta Liberals will try to attract candidates and interest in what has so far been a muted presence since the May 2015 provincial election, which saw the party win only one seat.

Since then, the party has rebuilt its ranks with a new young executive and eliminateddebt, according toLiberalpresident Karen Sevcik.

"We see a real opportunity right now coming on the horizon with the polarization of politics in Alberta," said Sevcik.

The former Liberal party candidate in Edmonton-Glenora says voters are looking for an alternative to the left-of-centre NDP governmentand what she calls the social conservative brand of politics fromthe Wildrose and PC parties.

"There's an opportunity right now in the middle of that political spectrum for a kind of common sense, pragmatic solutionto some of the challenges we're facing right now," saidSevcik. "We think there's some room, there's opportunity, there's change, and when there's change, there's opportunity."

On Sunday at the Edmonton Glenora Club,the party will formally launch its leadership campaignand lay out the process and guidelines for the contest, which will bedetermined through an online ballot in May.

Unlike the last leadership race where any member of the public could register to vote,this time voters will have to pay $10tobecome a party member, Sevcik said.

"If you want to participate, you have to put $10down on the barrelhead and we're going to enter your name as a member in our database, said Sevcik. "That's how we're going to try to control the voting."

Interest in race

The leadership position has been vacant since January2015, when then-leader Raj Sherman stepped down citing personal reasonsfour months before the provincial election.

Since then, the lone Liberal MLA and former leader from Calgary-Mountain View, David Swann, has been acting as interim leader.

By next week Sevciksaid she expects one or two leadership candidates to surface andmoreon the ballot when voting begins May 26.

"We have been talking to fouror fivepeople right now who have been asking questions and are in different phases of the process," saidSevcik.

One of those names is reported to be outgoing St. Albert Mayor Nolan Crouse. After 13 years in the job, Crouse has declared he won't run again and isconsidering future options, including provincial politics.

Crouse told CBC he will announce his intentionsnext week, adding hefeels there is an opportunity for a strong middle ground in Alberta politics.

"I'm probably about as centrist as there is," saidCrouse. "So I believe what I would bring, should I choose to get involved, a sense of a moderate view of politics, moderate ideology, full inclusiveness of all genders, of all languages, of rural urban.That kind of voice is really what I believe."

University of Alberta political scientist Jim Lightbody worked with the lateLiberal leader Laurence Decore, a former Edmonton mayor, in the party's heyday, when the Liberals were the official opposition after winning32 of 83 seats in the 1993 election.

But the Liberal party fortunes fizzled when they faced the Conservatives for a secondtime led by Ralph Klein in the 1997 election, winning only 18 seats.

Lightbodysaid he thinksLiberals will always have a keypresence in Alberta elections. But the vote collapse in 2015will make it hard for the party climb back, he admitted.Any Liberal who is really interested in public policy will work with the federal Liberal party, or has already migrated to the NDP, Lightbody suggested.

"The gladiators won't (defect) because they work on this 24-7, but just the ordinary folks, the casual Liberals at the ballot box, will go New Democrat," saidLightbody.

Sevciksays at this point, there's no pressureor assumptionSwannwill step aside to allow the new leader to run for his seat in a by-election.

"David is so well respected in Calgary-Mountain Viewright now, and has worked so hard for this party, he deserves to have a chance to finish out his term the way he wants," she said.

Online voting for the new leader will take place May 26 to June 3, with the winner announced at the party's annual general meeting in Calgary June 4, 2017.