Life as an Albertan Liberal

I thought it would be fitting to write my first blog entry from the personal perspective of being a born and raised Albertan Liberal (born into a conservative family though).

An Albertan Liberal cannot be compared to other Liberals; we are unique and completely predictable. Unique for we face things that liberals in other provinces would never think of having to endure—mockery, door slamming, insults, ridicule, and being a constant outsider. Predicable for our support never sways and we eagerly support and dedicate our time to candidates with no chance of winning (even if hell were to freeze over).

I don’t mean this to imply that Alberta Liberals are better than all the other Liberals, but when you grow up in a province where it is impossible to have the candidate of your choice but you still put 100 percent into each election to know you are going to lose, you are a different kind of Liberal. We work hard for a cause we believe in, but see very little or if any results from our work.

Just imagine when politics are brought up, you are automatically judged negatively and conflict sometimes arises. During elections you door knock for the Liberal candidate and get doors slammed in your face, greeted with disgust and in most cases rude comments. In this province, everyone expects you to be a Tory, and if you’re not, people ask what is wrong with you.

Not only am I an Albertan, I was born and raised in the riding of Wildrose (for those of you not familiar with this riding, the incumbent Myron Thompson, wins with over 90% of the popular vote for not doing a single thing). Wildrose is a rural based riding of farmers, ranchers and has strong ties to the oil sector, and where every household has at least one truck. The bumper stickers go as follows: “Say NO to gun control, gay marriage and Kyoto”. Just saying the word Liberal will get people’s blood boiling and ranting about NEP, crooked liberals and how great Stephan Harper is.

While the University Conservative Association earns $16000 in one fundraiser and the University Liberal Association hits the jack pot with $1500 fundraiser, it is easy to see that Liberals are a long shot out here. We appreciate every opportunity that MP’s and MLA’s visit us and come to our speaking engagements; however, they are not that often. It is easy for the national party to forget about us when they don’t think that there is any support in Alberta, especially Calgary.

The support maybe minimal but it is strong. Liberals in Alberta have to endure so much and should be respected for that. We are outsiders. Constituency meeting usually consist of 3-6 in attendance and at the last election, membership got to an outstanding 113 people in some ridings. Such out casts are we that for some of us, even our own parents refused to buy memberships to support us as delegates for the convention.

Albertan liberals are not fair-weather liberals; we will stand our ground amongst harsh words and negative treatment because this is what we believe in. If you want a dedicated liberal—look no further than Albertan Liberals.

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