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.

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Some Afterthoughts and Looking Forward

It was a wild ride. I joined the campaign late, but when I did, I immediately felt like a fit in. Like I belonged. Volunteering for Greg Clark and the Alberta Party has been absolutely amazing, with experiences I could never replace. From getting the motivation to write a seven page paper on how to make engagement more democratic to helping an elderly gentleman - confined to home and his wheelchair for some time now - get into a vehicle so his family could take him for a drive for the first time in years. Repairing damaged signs - even those of our rivals - to the fun and sometimes hostile social media wars.

Everyone, I thank you. Every volunteer for every candidate of every party, you have all made me feel special this past week and a half. It has been an absolute delight to work on this campaign for Greg Clark and the Alberta Party.

So, the question is "what now?"

My Alberta Party membership expires in 2019, so obviously, I intend to get involved in the next general election. I also am eager to get involved with my constituency association (I live in Calgary Currie). But I also have a normal life to get back to. I need to look for a part-time job, I need to get involved with my Community Association, I also need to get back to my true passion: poverty reduction and homeless human rights.

I fully plan in getting back to being involved with Calgary Action Committee on Housing and Homelessness. I missed a meeting with the Calgary Homeless Foundation this past week so I could work on the campaign. This also grants me some free time to work with CHF and Poverty Talks! on getting a "Longest Night of the Year" memorial for homeless persons who passed away. I'm going to be busy.

So, looking forwards, I have a lot of work to do. We can end poverty in Calgary. We can guarantee the homeless still get to live with a basic standard of dignity and end discrimination. Together, we can make a better world for everyone - but everyone has to be at the table.

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So I've Finally Decided to get Involved

The following blog is written on behalf of myself, Nigel Kirk, as a private citizen. It does not represent the views of any organization or entity I have worked with.

I've never talked about myself personally here yet, so here's a few things about me you might want to know:

My name is Nigel. I'm a freelance social activist. I've been in and out of homeless shelters for several years, and I currently have an apartment in South-West Calgary. I've devoted most of my personal life to activism in Poverty and Human Rights. I don't advocate socialist style policies like wealth redistribution. I'm not for or against the Labour movement. What I do support though is a certain degree of dignity among everyone, regardless of social standing.

My experiences in homelessness taught me several things: employers discriminate against people who live in shelters. The general consensus is that the poor need to just work in warehouses or in construction or on the oil patch. Poor people aren't allowed to work in jobs of their choosing - even if they are low paying. Personally, I would rather have a job that pays a little less, but I know I'd enjoy and be good at. It would offer much more opportunities for advancement and I could go home at the end of the day and tell myself "I did a good job."

We have laws that target the homeless. We have plans to end homelessness that are failing because the people who created the plan don't even know what the challenges people who are homeless face.

Essentially, I learned the hard way that Charter Rights do not apply to people who do not have a permanent address.

So five years ago, I began lecturing and speaking to schools, businesses and policy makers. I joined organizations. I became involved. I still do, and will always be available to talk to anyone who wishes to learn.

Now, five years later, I'm becoming involved again.

For the first time since becoming an adult, I've sought party membership. I purchased a membership to the Alberta Party.

Now, part of it was process of elimination. I don't have a like for Dr. Sherman or Justin Trudeau. My memories of high school involve Textbooks that still mentioned USSR as a country. They were published shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Teachers were almost constantly on either "work to rule" campaigns or striking. So the PC's are out. I don't consider myself part of the Labour Movement, so NDP is a little out of touch to me. Wild Rose was never even an afterthought to me.

I like the Alberta Party and what I'm seeing in Greg Clark and all the other candidates. It has been a pleasure to volunteer with them. Greg has an energy that I haven't seen in a while. They have a progressive approach to governing, But they also support strong and successful businesses. I truly believe the Alberta Party has the platform that supports both people and the drivers of our economy.

While that statement is not on behalf of any organization I have worked with and is a statement of my own, as a private citizen, I have been pleased to work with poverty reduction and homeless human rights for the past five years. I believe the Alberta Party is the best party to help gather the interests of all areas of the community to come together to build solutions that work best for the greatest number of Albertans, even the marginalized, but also the successful. Greg's commitment to consensus building as well as that I've seen among many other members of the Party has been an utmost inspiration. I am honored to have been spending the past week door-knocking and putting together signs. I am proud to support the Alberta Party.

The game has already changed, my friends. Now let's change it in the legislature.

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