An initiative has been launched to explore the idea of rebranding the Alberta NDP to give the Opposition party a fresh look and distance itself from Ottawa ahead of the next provincial election.
The Alberta’s Progressive Future initiative is led by director Brian Malkinson, who was the MLA for the riding of Calgary Currie from 2015-2019 and minister of Service Alberta under Rachel Notley’s NDP government.
Alberta’s Progressive Future (APF) calls itself an organization created in response to the results of the May 2023 provincial election.
It’s a grassroots group of NDP members who feel it’s time for the party to rebrand and distance itself from its federal NDP counterpart, after hearing feedback while door-knocking back in the spring.
“The members noticed that there was this misconception that somehow the federal NDP controls provincial NDP policy, which is not the case, nor has it ever been the case. But it, you know, was a feeling on the doors that that was potentially a drag on support,” Malkinson said.
“Jagmeet Singh does not control Rachel Notley — Jack Layton didn’t control Brian Mason.”
The group had Janet Brown Opinion Research carry out a poll from Sept. 13-26 of 900 Albertans and said the results highlight a few key points:
- 50 per cent of respondents think that the federal NDP either has some or a great deal of influence over the provincial NDP;
- 12 per cent of respondents could vote for the Alberta NDP but do not support the party at this time;
- An additional 12 per cent of respondents are not likely to vote for the Alberta NDP but would vote for another centre or centre-left party;
- Based on this poll, the Alberta NDP could be missing out on as many 24 per cent of voters that are within the party’s voter universe
Malkinson said the group isn’t proposing a formal split between provincial and federal counterparts because there is value in sharing resources such as IT staff and tech infrastructure, plus all involved do have similar political and social views — but a shared name muddies the water in Alberta.
“If voters aren’t willing to hear what we are actually proposing because of the name, then that’s something worth exploring whether that name needs to change.
“I think winning is more important than nostalgia and it allows the party to be in control of their own brand.”
Other provincial parties, such as the Alberta Liberals, have also debated a rebrand to distance itself from its federal counterpart, said Mount Royal political analyst Duane Bratt.
He said some, like the Saskatchewan Party, have carried through with the change and been successful. Others, meanwhile, such as the BC Liberal switch to BC United, have been less so because voters don’t know what the new party stands for.
“There are dangers in in doing this rebranding exercise. But with the NDP, this isn’t just about rebranding. This is completely disassociating themselves from the federal party,” Bratt said.
Bratt said the doorstep feedback the NDP received during the election was ironic, noting there’s probably just as close a link between the provincial UCP and Conservative Party of Canada, but “the difference was, the federal Conservatives are popular in Alberta — the federal NDP was not.”
Bratt said at some point down the road, Rachel Notley will step down as leader and the Alberta NDP will have the most publicly scrutinized leadership race in its history, which will bring about an identity crisis of sorts.
“Do they decide to go back to being a traditional workers’ party? Do they work more towards the centre? Do they change names?” Bratt asked.
“There’s lots of things at play within the NDP right now.”
Rachel Notley said Wednesday she is proud of the NDP brand and the party’s legacy of championing public health care and pensions, and the APF is free to do what it wants. However, she said, she’s focused on other things.
“I think what Albertans want from us is to be more focused on the issues that matter to them: health care, CPP, affordability, the housing crisis. That’s what they want their official Opposition to do and those are the issues they’ll judge us on in the next election,” Notley said.
“Have we acted with integrity, with honesty, with a connection to the values they know they can count on from us? And have we delivered on their priorities? That’s my focus.”
Notley said the Alberta NDP is quite comfortable with its relationship with the federal NDP right now, noting there are still differences between provincial and federal counterparts, as is the case across the political spectrum in all parts of Canada.
All of the sitting NDP MLAs were made aware of Alberta’s Progressive Future’s intentions before it was made public, Malkinson said.
“At end of day, we expect the sitting MLAs to hold Danielle Smith to account in the legislature. And that should be their focus, that should be Rachel’s focus. This name change is something for the party membership to move forward and explore, and that’s where we’re focusing our efforts.”
He stressed the group is not trying to take over the Alberta NDP, but rather explore ways to strengthen its chances of forming government again.
“We want the party to take all the steps it possibly can to maximize the chances of success.”
Malkinson said the next step is to fundraise and conduct focus groups, before coming up with some possible options for new names to take to the party membership.
“This initial polling would suggest that it needs to not have the acronym ‘NDP,'” he said.
According to Elections Alberta, the next provincial general election is scheduled for May 31, 2027, unless the Lieutenant Governor calls it sooner.
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