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The results of the Alberta Liberal leadership contest have been released and David Swann was selected on the first ballot. Here is the vote breakdown:Congrats to Calgary-Mountain View MLA David Swann who, depending how you look at it, now has either the privilege or misfortune of becoming leader of the Alberta Liberal Party and Alberta's Official Opposition in our Legislature.
More commentary: Can David Swann change politics in Alberta?
Teaser.
ReplyDeleteI wait with deep anticipation....this is so critical to our lives, oh man I've been dying to know who the next insignificant leader will be...such a Kodak moment.
ReplyDeleteDavid Who?
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to David Swann for his hard work, dedication and commitment!!!
ReplyDeleteWOW!!!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to David and his campaign team.
Another 'academic'?
Was not what I expected or hoped for the Liberal Party (it will be more of the same).
We need to engage Albertans before trying to inform them.
David Swann is an 'academic'?
ReplyDeleteHaving a medical doctor as leader of the official opposition will be interesting.
ReplyDeleteDavid Swann is a medical doctor. He practiced as a family physician from 1975 to 1984 and then as a public health consultant from 1988 to 2004. He was elected MLA in 2004.
ReplyDeleteTaylor got PWND.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to Swann. He has a tough job ahead of him.
ReplyDeleteI predicted Taylor to take it on the firstballot so a Swann sweep is surprising. Swann will bring a different kind of feel to the official opposition and I am looking forward to seeing what he can offer to the public dialogue in Alberta.
ReplyDeleteHe is a thoughtful man and is a public servant at heart. I think he will take his role as Official Opposition Leader very seriously.
Maybe finally we can change the name...
ReplyDeleteI am very familiar with Swann's health care background. I worked with him before PCs on the local Health Board fired him as Medical Health Officer in Medicine Hat.
ReplyDeleteNotice the use of quotes around the term academic??
To the general public Swann likely appears as a person with academic background.
Sadly, Alberta electorial politics is largely about personality.
Liberals need to engage Albertans.
Liberals need to engage the media.
This is good - lots to do and lots to learn but he is teachable and he has the right values and character qualities to govern. He will have to learn politics.
ReplyDeleteAnd the Liberals take it to the left...
ReplyDeleteEd Stelmach and the rest of the PC team just got an early Christmas present.
ReplyDeleteand Albertans received a lump of coal .....
ReplyDeleteThe best thing about this outcome is that Donn Lovett will shut his god damn mouth for a couple of months.
ReplyDeleteDavid is a fine human being and an inspirational figure. I look forward to seeing where he takes us.
ReplyDeleteHe's from Calgary and therefore the Liberal Party of alberta shall never get my vote.
ReplyDeleteFLAMES SUCK!!!!!
Not only did the PC's get an early Christmas present, the NDP just got a lump of coal.
ReplyDeleteI changed my vote from Taylor to Swann after realizing just how Swann's political style is to bring people together. I hope he can bring Alberta together.
ReplyDeleteSorry, but once again the Liberal party of Alberta has shown its propensity for naval-gazing by selecting Swann.. they would have been much better selecing Taylor, who understood the concern with the alienation of average Albertans from the "Liberal elite" image..
ReplyDeleteYes.. the foaming at the mouth left of the party, who assure, what, 10%, of the vote in Alberta?.. have assured that the party will continue to mire in obscurity..
David Swann urged acceptance of Kyoto. Even Stephane Dion understood that acceptance of Kyoto would lay the country to ruin economically..
If those who selected Swann think that the average Albertan will get behind a complete destruction of the Alberta economy to secure speculative scientific impacts of global warming..err.. climate change, well, they are very much mistaken.
The feds at least understood - appointing Ignatieff clearly brings the federal party back to the center - Alberta - farther right by a long-shot than central Canada, will never move to acceptance of Swann's NDP in Liberal clothing views..
It's almost like they WANT to be pounded at election time..
Swann's acceptance speech was notable in a number of ways. Firstly, it never used the word Liberal -- although it did specifically name the New Democrats, Greens and the PCs.
ReplyDeleteHe appealed to so called "responsible business" (I don't know what that means, but expect it doesn't include me), women, visible minorities, and young people to join Greens and New Democrats.
He did tell the press that he would spend the next 12-18 months thinking about what to do with the party.
All I can say is that there are lots of celebrations in Conservative circles today.
Is Swann a leader who knows that in the long run (getting shorter every day) the environment completely trumps the economy? If so he is the first provincially, and probably federally (who knows what Elizabeth May really thinks?).
ReplyDeleteYou can't get elected that way, but when the aliens sift through the remains of our civilization, they'll appreciate it.
Finally... a Liberal leader with some balls..
ReplyDeleteI've always admired Dr. Swan for his courage and integrity..
... looking forward to interesting times ahead..
Good Luck David..
Hmmm ... more of that Change You Can Believe In stuff???
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the Tories will appreciate the extra seats the ALP just supplied them next election.
Your ONLY hope to be even considered a credible, centre leaning party, was Taylor.
Oh well, that's what happens when you let the "bourgeoisie crowd" crowd select your leaders.
For all those saying Taylor was the Liberal's best chance, all I can say is really? A guy that could only get 1600 odd votes amongst the membership?
ReplyDeleteObviously the stories of Dave Taylor's lazyness were not exagerated.
The Liberal's dodged a bullet by avoiding a lazy leader. The NDP are languishing due to their own lazy leader in Brian Mason, so with Swann's hard work ethic the Liberals will at least continue to be the Official Opposition and have some seats in the Legislature.
No offence to Dr. Swann, but the Alb Libs have now officially and definitely signed their death certificate. Taylor could have taken on Stelmach after some deep reform of the party, etc., but Swann? Sorry, won't happen.
ReplyDeleteI find it kind of interesting that most of the talk is that Liberals chose the wrong guy. Funny, all one had to do to change that was buy a membership and vote.
ReplyDeleteIf Taylor can only get 1600 votes out of a much more experienced political machine, he doesn't deserve to win.
Swann will surprise everyone. People think he's crazy left, but he isn't. He shares the moral values that by and large, most Albertans share. Look for David to reach out to the progressive Church crowd in Alberta and win votes their. David has good contacts with rural folks and business minds as well.
He will inspire young people to vote like never before.
The guy works harder than anyone I've ever met. I think it's that work ethic that Albertans will respond to.
He'll need some help, but all in all, by far the best choice.
Taylor is done. Actually looks like the front runner never wins nowadays (Dinning, Ignatieff ....). Elsalhy @ 11% - not too bad for a shoestring budget and small campaign. It was like Frodo Baggins taking on the two towers. He may run again in the future and hopefully Swann grooms him and makes him part of his inner circle. The guy has ideas and energy and may be an asset to David. He's also liked by Swann's people as well as Taylor's and was everybody's #2 choice.
ReplyDeleteSwann is on the right track with his push to have the disparate Opposition parties in Alberta work together; admittedly, after almost forty years of trying, it would appear that they'll never be able to seriously challenge the Alberta Progressive Conservatives so long as they squabble amongst each other over trivialities, and letting the PCs take elections in a walk.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck to him.
Thoughts on turnout Dave? I think if you would have run you could have managed to get out 2500 votes... that's brutal.
ReplyDeleteI was reading that the Alberta Liberals haven't been in power since 1921. Yes, that's right...coming up on 100 years. I mean, when it's been THAT LONG, you just know that SOMETHING IS WRONG HERE.
ReplyDeleteYou know, it doesn't matter that Dave Taylor wasn't elected. The Alberta Liberals could go as right as they possibly could and Albertans won't vote for them because...that's right...on the surface they're still Liberal.
The word "Liberal" has become a swear word in this province. A curse. No amount of party fundraising retooling or policy adjusting will change this. This party needs to be destroyed and rebuilt in another image to create an alternative governing party that Albertans will support.
If David Swann is willing to do this, he's the best hope they have...I don't care how left-wing he is.
Grow up. Give Albertans some credit. Albertans will not vote for the Liberals under any name. If they did change their name it would only draw more attention to how much of a failure the party has been.
ReplyDeleteI love how Daveberta draws out the anonymous Public Affairs Bureau wankocracy on his comment board. The same lot who probably thought a black man would never be elected president.
ReplyDeleteerm... MY church that is!
ReplyDeleteCool, David Swann goes to much church.
ReplyDeleteAll the Tories have to do is take out their "How To Marginalize Kevin Taft" manual and replace the name with "David Swann." He's a well-spoken, thoughtful, intelligent person. So was Kevin Taft.
ReplyDeleteAll Swann guarantees is business as usual for the Liberals. The problem with getting the message out to Albertans isn't the volume, as was suggested at the recent convention, it's the message itself. Case in point - when the federal parties were proposing a coalition government the Liberals SHOULD have issued a statement opposing the coalition as it would have taken away the vote cast by many, many Albertans. They didn't and all it showed is that when it comes down to a choice between the Federal Liberals and Albertans, the Alberta Liberals will not stand up for Albertans.
Before the coalition, I wasn't sure the new "Turning Point" Liberals would stand up for us. Now I'm certain they won't. I'm done with this party.
David Swann's win shows the power of hard work and organizing. That's the first most important element of politics, and it's obvious that Taylor's people weren't doing it.
ReplyDeleteBut equally important is raising money. I suspect this task will not be as easy for Dr. Swann, as what was left of corporate Calgary's donations now beat a path to the nearest exit.
W;
ReplyDelete"Grow up. Give Albertans some credit. Albertans will not vote for the Liberals under any name. If they did change their name it would only draw more attention to how much of a failure the party has been."
It's not an unreasonable proposition that Albertans could vote for a re-branded Alberta Liberals, if the party managed to sufficiently re-establish itself as something distinct.... Or, preferably, if the newly-minted entity was actually a new grouping of Alberta Liberals and members of other parties, instead of just a coat of fresh paint and no new blood.
This was done successfully with the disgraced Saskatchewan Progressive Conservatives (post-Grant Devine) and their evolution into the Saskatchewan Party, with the Saskatchewan Liberals playing a not-insignificant role.
However, accomplishing the same might be a measure tougher in Alberta, given our much more corporate conservative-dominated media -- which will naturally be gunning to tie the "new" party with the "old" Alberta Liberals; not unlike the NDP-sympathetic media in Saskatchewan tried to tie the SaskParty to the old Devine PCs. Just guessing, though....
One thing though, W -- since you speak of name changes drawing attention to a party's failure, didn't the Reform Party of Canada (whose leadership and largest share of membership was in Alberta) try a name change as a ploy at more votes, too? No?
I take it that's different, though? IOKIYAC? ;)