Swann and Elbow - The Fight on the Left.

You don't get a PhD by being stupid. At least, most people don't.

Dr. David Swann isn't stupid by placing a candidate in Calgary-Elbow. But he thinks voters are.

The fact is, despite everything the Liberal leader said, we know very little of it is true. In fact, we know that he's making it up to justify an unpopular decision. Swann knows he won't form government. He knows he won't even get Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition. He's not fighting to govern, He's fighting to keep the Alberta Liberal Party relevant.

He talks of the Alberta Party refusing to cooperate. States that there's a lot of animosity. Yes, of course there is animosity. After all, during the byelection, the smart doctor released private messages from a conversation between him and an Alberta Party volunteer and tried to spin them to state that Greg Clark's campaign was pushing a backroom deal to ask the Alberta Liberal Party representative to step down in Calgary Elbow.

Of course, in the published messages, there was no such thing mentioned about any candidate dropping out. The smart doctor made everything up. There was five days to an election, and it would have been impossible to remove a name on the ballot. In fact, all the message from the volunteer stated was an offer of future cooperation. Literally, the message read "Do you think there's any way we can both get what we want?"

The Alberta Party wanted to cooperate in some way - no one knows how exactly, except the volunteer who was messaging Dr. Swann - and the now Liberal leader spun it into an attack.

After Dr. Sherman stepped down as leader of the Alberta Liberal Party, Greg Clark once again offered to cooperate with the Alberta Liberal Party, saying he wouldn't run candidates in ridings where there are Liberal incumbents - even if those incumbents are not seeking re-election.

Again, the Alberta Party wanted to cooperate. There were two eligible Alberta Liberal Party MLA's qualified for interim leader following Dr. Sherman's resignation. One said they would take the helm if they were allowed to coordinate efforts with the Alberta Party. That person is not leading the party, Dr. Swann is.

So, either the smart leader was lying when he attacked the Alberta Party for trying to cooperate during the byelection, or he's lying now. Or possibly both, who knows... but he's hoping we won't remember that.

The second point is that he talks of a candidate preparing for a campaign for "Up to four years."
and that it isn't fair to let them down. It's a shame, since Alberta Party refused to field candidates in Mountainview and Buffalo, despite willing volunteers to run, and even one candidate was almost ready to fund raise. Had their nomination papers ready and everything.

The problem with that is that we know there was no candidate ready to run in Elbow. The candidate that the Alberta Liberals were ready to run, joined with the NDP. If the candidate had been preparing as much as he could, for such a length of time, then it wouldn't have taken one week into a three week election to announce his candidacy. The ALP essentially scrambled to make sure they had a candidate in Elbow, even though they are lacking candidates in many other ridings where they could have had a chance of winning.

He says no one knows what the Alberta Party stands for. Despite the constant mantra of "Socially moderate, fiscally responsible." Despite the Alberta Party having a complete platform on their website. If people don't know what the Alberta Party stands for, they can easily find it. The members know, Greg Clark knows, the volunteers know, and they have been working hard to inform voters.

So why did Dr. Swann place a candidate in Elbow? Because he's fighting to make sure the Alberta Liberal Party is still relevant after this election. First of all, Elbow is a major battleground. Every news outlet has been reporting on it and covering it. ALP needs to be part of that conversation.

Secondly, the ALP is nearly on it's death-knell. People in both sides know that there has been a word tossed about: Merger. It actually is in the ALP's best interests for the Progressive Conservative's to win in Elbow. Not necessarily in the best interest to ALP voters, but to the survival of the party itself
See, if there are any merger talks after the election, the Alberta Liberal Party is going to want a strong hand going into these talks. The best scenario for them is a pure acquisition of the Alberta Party. No changes in policy, ALP leadership. Essentially, an elimination of the Alberta Party as a rival on the center altogether, and membership switches to ALP.

An Alberta Party victory in Elbow would mean actual negotiations to cooperate. It would mean a stronger hand for the Alberta Party in any negotiations going forward, it would mean a rise of profile for the Alberta Party going forward, which would make any potential merger talks much more difficult. Albertans could see the Alberta Party as not only an alternative to the PC's, but to the ALP, which is still often associated - unfairly -  with the federal Liberal Party of Canada, who had brought in the National Energy Program which most Albertans are still angry about. A Greg Clark win puts the Alberta Liberals one step closer to irrelevant. Dr. Swann's political future is in the balance in this riding.

The Alberta Liberal Party has every right to field a candidate in Calgary Elbow. Dr, David Swann isn't stupid for exercising this right. But for this to work for him, he must be counting on voters being stupid enough not to remember the past eight months.