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Saturday, May 05, 2012

Liberals Growing Irrelevance In West.

The Liberal party has a major problem. We seem for the most part since May 2nd 2012 to be up from our election results. All major projections have us gaining some dozens or more seats and racking up a few more votes. But in the West is our major problem. In Western Canada the Provincial parties although not completely similar to the national party do offer enormous showing of how Liberal values fair in the province. The answer isn't so well

In fact Saskatchewan and Manitoba had election recently. In the Manitoba provincial election 2011 the Liberal party got 8% of the vote (4% down from last time around) while the NDP and the PC got well over 40%. The Liberal party only got 1 seat (from their 2 last time around) and that was only given to the leader of the party. In Manitoba they practically have a two party system with a little dot of red in Winnipeg.

In Saskatchewan the situation was just plain sad. The Liberals even before the election were somewhat irrelevant politically getting 9% of the vote in 2007 and no seats. In 2011 is when the situation got sad. The Liberal party only had 9 candidates running out of the 57 ridings. The Green Party of Manitoba Saskatchewan at least had a full slate. The election result was predictable. No seats and only 0.6% of the vote. The Green party of Manitoba no surprise got third place in the vote count with 3%.

If you look at the polls for the national Liberals they are third place in the parries while the NDP and the Tories battle it out. Although there are signs of hope. In Alberta the Liberals did get pushed into third place and did lose a lot of votes as well as seats, but the fact remains that we didn't lose it to the NDP. Second pace went to the Wildrose. Not that this should bring comfort, but the fact remains we did 900 more votes and 1 seat more then the NDP. Which makes us the Progressive leaders in Alberta's politics for the next few years.

But the Liberal Party still has major challenges out in the west and they must tackle them now! Our party can't rebuild only in Toronto and Montreal. We need to look to the west!
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5 comments:

  1. Jordan5 May 2012 at 08:57

    The Saskatchewan Party is made up of federal Liberals and Conservatives, the finance minister was a provincial Liberal before the Sask Party was created.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous5 May 2012 at 09:05

    We're changing in Alberta... There appears to be some room for growth. The example I like to use is conservative Ontario of the early 70s. No-one thought Bill Davis' Blue Machine could be defeated. Ontario was essentially a conservative bookend to Quebec's "rouge". What changed? As societies mature, particularly in urban centers, the influx of new immigrants, intellectuals, and service professionals brings in a more "liberal" mindset. Many Alberta voters may self-identify as "PCs", but they are really Liberals in all but name. This is especially true of urban centers.

    I see a true opportunity in Calgary and Edmonton, and brave Alberta Liberals (I used to be one) must continue to work hard to build that. We WILL elect a federal Liberal out of Calgary within the next few elections. And Edmonton is a given.

    In BC we also have a very "friendly" dynamic. I think there are truly millions who fall within the category of "liberal". We simply have to ID them, and "pull" them. Having a vigorously rebuilt party, with a capable, passionate, and broadly appealing leader will play a big part in that.

    I've said that the biggest blow we can deliver to Harper is to just "be". He can't kill off this party. He's already failed. And like an angry dictator fuming about "only Stalingrad", he will likely waste all his resources on the Liberal Party, in his obsession with "Liberal-hate", while he fails to cover his other flank.

    The old PC party disappeared because they were "of the right" and were in bed with most Reformers prior to the formation of the Reform party (who else could right-wingers vote for in Canada). The split of the Canadian right was like Martinites and Chretienites getting a divorce, then coming back together. The LPC has no clear similar relations with either the NDP, OR the Conservatives.

    We simply have to pull our base, while broadly appealing to swing votes, with a competent and well-voiced platform, a strong team of candidates, and a capable new leader.

    - WesternGrit

    ReplyDelete
  3. vanillaman5 May 2012 at 17:15

    I agree Western Grit. Our Party has survived a lot, and all great political dynasties do eventually fall. The main problem I see is that are party may not be able to brand itself as the urban and rural party. The Conservatives think that they have a monopoly on this and they do to a certain extend, because Liberals weren't very concentrating on getting the rural voters, and only concentrating on getting urban voters. This I think caused many "Liberals" to shy away from ticking off the red candidate.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Saskboy5 May 2012 at 19:57

    Did you mean GPS when you said GPM got 3%?

    ReplyDelete
  5. vanillaman5 May 2012 at 23:20

    Sorry Typo I will fix that thanks.

    ReplyDelete

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