EDMONTON — The Alberta Liberals will be looking to rebuild as the party holds its annual general meeting this weekend in Edmonton.
Interim Liberal Leader David Swann was the only MLA to win a seat in the recent provincial election. That means the party will have a clean slate as it elects a new executive and charts a course for the future.
“We’re small but mighty,” said Karen Sevcik, who was just elected the party’s new president.
She said about 160 people attended the AGM on Saturday.
“We had a lively discussion on moving forward as Liberals and everybody is up to the challenge.”
The party has lost seats in every Alberta election for the past 15 years.
“Beyond the leadership they also have to deal with merger talks with either the Alberta Party or the Green Party,” says Duane Bratt, a political scientist at Mount Royal University.
“There needs to be a bit of soul searching with the Alberta Liberals.”
Sevcik said there won’t be any big changes coming from the AGM.
“This is about taking a big, deep breath. It’s about steadying the ship.”
She explained the Liberals need to relay what they’re about more clearly to the public.
“We’ve been here before, this isn’t a new position for us.
“We believe fundamentally that the Alberta Liberal Party represents the values and principles of most Albertans and what we think has happened is that we haven’t been very good at articulating that at communicating that to people. So we’re going to go back to the drawing board a little.”
READ MORE: Swann says Alberta Liberals not weakened by Blakeman merger gambit
Global News asked Sevcik about the possibility of merging with another party.
Said there’s still a big place for the party in the middle of the Alberta political spectrum.
“We’re going to stake the claim in the middle of that political spectrum and be Liberals going forward from here.”
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