With an election being held at some point this spring the perennial election question of which parties should participate in televised leaders’ debates is rearing its head.
In the last few federal elections, and most provincial elections this question tends to revolve around whether the Green party should be participating in the debate. However this isn’t the case in Alberta this time around, because the Green Party of Alberta was deregistered by Elections Alberta after failing to file financial disclosures. This time the question has to do with the Alberta Party.
For those who aren’t familiar with the Alberta Party, are a “centrist” party that basically came about after a group of dissident Alberta Liberals and red tories got together and took over the board of a small far-right political party known as the Alberta Party so that they wouldn’t have to go through the usual party registration process. The Alberta Party has not come up with much in terms of concrete policy, instead claiming that they’ll “listen” to Albertan’s and make decisions on what their party supports along the way. They’ve struggled to gain much support – which is not surprising since most voters want to know what they’re voting for, rather than a party that won’t say how they’ll govern until after they’re elected. When they have been included in public opinion polls they poll somewhere between 3% and 6%, with the most recent forum poll showing them at 3% (with a 3% margin of error meaning it could be 0%).
The arguments for and against including the Alberta Party are similar to those that have been used regarding Green Party participation in debates. The percent of popular support the party has mostly counts against them at this point, unlike the federal Greens who were polling around 10% when they really started arguing to be included in debates the Alberta Party is currently polling at 3%, which puts them in the same league as the Social Credit, Alberta Separation Party and the Communist Party. Arguably if the Alberta Party is included in the debate then the So Creds, Communists and Separatists should be included as well.
Whether a party has seats in the legislature is often cited as a justification for allowing the party to participate in the leaders’ debate. The Alberta Party does in fact have a seat which some would view as justification for allowing the Alberta Party to participate in the debate, but it should also be noted that the Alberta Party has never actually won a seat – the seat they possess in the legislature is held by Dave Taylor, a former Liberal MLA who left the Liberals in a huff when he wasn’t given the leadership. The fact that their sole MLA is someone who crossed the floor from another party in my opinion cancels out any consideration the party should be given for having an MLA.
My personal opinion – let them in the debate, if the Communist Party, Social Credit Party and Alberta Separation party are allowed too.
*Sidenote: When I ran in 2008 the social credit candidate who was also running in the constituency was one of the most entertaining characters I’ve ever seen at a forum. If their leader is even half as entertaining as he was they should include him.
