The two worst things that have happened to the Alberta Party are, in this order, Naheed Nenshi and Alison Redford.

This is not to say either the mayor of Calgary or the premier of Alberta is personally responsible for the Alberta Party's troubles.

On the contrary, a case can be made both support the goals of the political phenomenon that briefly captured the attention of Alberta's chattering classes -- that is, to encourage the rise of a government and economy that might be described, with apologies to Alexander Dubcek, as "capitalism with a human face."

Uh, the Alberta Party leadership race... there are no big names... not even Dave Taylor's.

Whatever you thought was going to happen, whoever you thought might be about to run, the fledgling Alberta Party has now announced its official list of leadership candidates and there are no big names. Nada.

Hey, Alberta Party! You got some 'splainin' to do!

For months now, the motto of the Alberta Party seems to have been "Run Silent, Run Deep."

While party supporters were drinking coffee and Listening Big in kitchens across the province, it was pretty hard for an uninvolved observer like Yours Truly to figure out where the heck this was all supposed to lead, except possibly to more Capital Letters.

Somewhere, someday, we were told, it was going to result in a Big Policy that all Albertans could get behind, and when that day came, the Alberta Party would be ready to run a full slate of candidates in a general election.

What could turn out to be a significant political development in Alberta took place last evening, when the leaders of all three opposition parties with seats in the Legislature showed up in front of a large crowd of agitated rural landowners in the town of Vegreville, about 100 kilometres east of Edmonton along the Yellowhead Highway.

The 500 rural folks at the meeting are riled up about plans to build a high-voltage electrical line through many of their farms. Since there is more than one proposed route, no one is yet sure which farms will be affected -- magnifying the furor all the more.

OK, the fledgling Alberta Party says it's moving onward and upward from meeting, greeting and eating in kitchens and living rooms throughout the province, and that now is the time for Momentum-with-a-Capital-M. Big Momentum.

Despite a great name and some excellent startup publicity, there’s little reason to believe the new and improved Alberta Party will blossom in this province's increasingly crowded political garden.

It’s a sign of Alberta's troubled political times that new parties are popping up like dandelions in springtime. Voters are discontented with the government of Premier Ed Stelmach, who is seen as a bumbler with no plan. But they are even less impressed by the traditional opposition parties.