As the Progressive Conservatives and Wildrose move towards a merge, and the NDP tries to woo disgruntled Conservatives, Alberta’s Liberal Party is hoping new leader David Khan will bring new fortunes.
But the party only has one seat in the legislature and it isn’t going to be easy to regain a foothold in the province.
The party’s most recent success was 1993 when the Liberals formed official opposition with 32 seats.
It hasn’t won an election since 1917.
Mount Royal University political scientist Lori Williams believes the biggest hurdle going forward is history.
“(They’ve been) earning double digits seats off and on over the last little while but they’ve just gone down,” she said. “Their popularity has gone down, the number of seats have gone down, their fundraising has dropped.”
If the right merges it’s likely some Conservatives will jump ship but there’s no guarantee they’ll end up in the Liberal camp.
“To some degree, even the NDP will be competing for similar seats in the next election, so, it’s a really difficult thing,” explained Williams. “They’ve got more competition there than they’ve had historically.”
The Liberals will also have to compete with the Alberta Party, and there is a downside from a potential merge. It would eliminate vote splitting on the right, making it even harder to pick up seats.
Williams argues there is still a place for the party in Alberta politics, but it’s very unlikely they’ll win the next election.
“Their best bet would be to improve, let’s say, to five or more seats in the next election and use that as a foundation to build in the following election,” she said.
