From political rump to anti-separatism powerhouse: Inside a politico's bid to transform the Alberta Liberals

The Alberta progressive company has long been mired in obscureness — thomas more than a century removed from existence in power, 14 years removed from a lengthy tenure as Official Opposition, and held without a legislature seat in the last two elections.

The party barely showed up last election, running candidates in 13 of 87 ridings, and garnering a total of 4,259 votes, or 0.24 per cent of the province-wide vote.

To veteran political operative Stephen Carter, this makes it a candidate for an extreme political makeover.

This faded echo of a party could soon become a multimillion-dollar enterprise to fight separatism and Premier Danielle Smith’s other referendum questions.

It would still technically remain a party, although its next bosses may ditch the Liberal label and rename it. But according to Carter, the party will become what he calls a “financial vehicle” to fundraise and advertise far more than could be done by a traditional third-party advertising group (TPA) dedicated to push for referendum “no” votes.

TPAs are limited to spending $607,000, while political parties are capped at $5 million annually.

A party can also give tax receipts for individuals’ donations, unlike a TPA, though the maximum contributions are the same $5,000 for both entities.

A party also lacks some of a TPA’s constraints on communicating with other political entities.

Until at least referendum day, the Liberal Party would cease working toward electoral readiness and become a sort of clearinghouse of various advertising campaigns, distributing money to groups that want to advocate against separatism, one of the referendums targeting immigration, or others in Smith’s slate of ballot measures.

Carter is calling it a “constellation campaign.”

“So we create a constellation effect where every star is shining — it’s just a question of how big that particular star is.”

Every ad, online or broadcast, would carry a note that it’s been “authorized by” the Alberta Liberals, or whatever the party winds up being known as.

More Albertans speak out against separatist movement

Carter, whose strategies helped Jyoti Gondek and Naheed Nenshi win as Calgary mayor, and Alison Redford as premier, brushes off accusations it’s a “hostile takeover.” He’s presented to the Liberal Party executive and he says they’re broadly in support of this manoeuvre.

The party’s current president confirms this, though to a point.

“Stephen Carter came to us and said, I want a political party so I can fundraise as much as I want and squash separatism — and so we said, well, don't squash us as well,” Helen McMenamin said. 

“So we can be a vehicle, so long as he doesn't knock the wheels off and pour sugar in the gas tank. We're just a small party.”

She said Carter talked to them about potentially changing the party’s name, and she and others pushed back on that idea.

“After 125 years, we are not changing our name,” McMenamin said. “That is a bridge too far for the Alberta Liberal Party.”

She suggested a new “tagline” rather than new moniker — to subtitle the Liberals “Alberta’s Canada party.”

All Carter would say is that he’s expecting a “robust discussion” on the name.

When he used that phrase on his political podcast The Strategists, co-host Zain Velji interpreted it as delicately saying he wants a new party name without saying so plainly. 

“Changing the name — it’s going to be a yes at some point because obviously it’s a liability,” Velji said. “You literally can’t put ‘Alberta Liberal’ on something if you want to convince more people.”

Alberta Liberals have long faced pressure to change their name to clearly break with a brand more associated with the long-governing federal party that’s long been loathed in much of this province.

But a strong showing from Carter’s supporters may overwhelm the dwindling number of Alberta Liberal establishment types at the party's annual general meeting, on May 2 in Calgary.

Fewer than 100 people showed up at the party’s last annual gathering, party leader John Roggeveen said. Carter said the group behind his vehicle bid number about 100, with various unnamed allies who’ve been active with other movements like the Alberta Party, Progressive Conservatives and even some UCPers. 

Roggeveen is the lawyer and six-time-unsuccessful candidate who has led the Liberals since 2021, and has mostly stayed on because nobody else has applied to replace him in a leadership race. He also opposes a new party name, and sees this as less of a takeover and more of a potential “collaboration” with the broader anti-separatist movement. 

“That is an existential threat to Alberta in my view. We need to fight it as best we can,” Roggeveen said.

Carter has a reputation as an innovative campaigner. He embraced Alberta’s new municipal party system last year by helping launch the Calgary Party, which ran a slate for mayor and in all 14 city wards but only elected one councillor.

However, his initiative to use a party as a vehicle for a focused issue campaign would not blaze new trails. It’s already been done by the anti-abortion movement.

In 2016, a few dozen newcomers dominated a meeting of the Social Credit party, which led Alberta from 1935 to 1971 and became a fringe party soon after that. Those activists took over the party’s board, and soon renamed it the Pro-Life Alberta Political Association.

Since then, the Pro-Life party has only run a single candidate in a single riding during elections, the bare minimum required to prevent Elections Alberta from deregistering a party.

Last year it raised $616,867, a figure that lags well behind donations to the UCP and NDP, but is multiples ahead of any of the other small parties (including the Liberals and their $57,012).

But instead of electoral positioning, the Pro-Life party has largely spent on advertising about abortion, its campaigns fuelled by tax-credit-eligible political donations that other anti-abortion activist groups cannot offer to donors.

Elections Alberta and its rules have condoned the Pro-Life party’s activities for several years, perhaps adding to Carter’s confidence he can redefine what the Liberal party does.

It’s unclear which groups would attach themselves to Carter’s Liberal party-cum-vehicle, although other players are gearing up for the “No” side in a potential separatist referendum. 

The NDP have launched a campaign called “For Alberta, For Canada”; former deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk is turning last year’s Forever Canada petition drive into a referendum movement; and a business coalition called Build Canada is hosting a pro-Canada forum next month with former premier Jason Kenney and Calgary Liberal MP Corey Hogan.

More may emerge if or when a separatist referendum is actually approved for the Oct. 19 ballots, and overcomes constitutional court challenges by First Nations.

How many of them will get into this vehicle that’s currently named Liberal, a provincial entity that’s logged very little political mileage in the last several years?

Why it’s almost impossible for Alberta to separate from Canada | About That

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