Former candidate for AB Liberal leadership bolts party

14 posts / 0 new

Mon, 2010-04-12 14:30

Lou Arab

Quote:

I told Dr. Swann in my letter of resignation that I lost confidence in his abilities as a leader. I believe that as leader, he has failed to address these significant issues even though he's had sixteen months and plenty of advice from key party executives, many of my colleagues in caucus and rank and file party members.

Source

Taylor is a right leaning Liberal, and something of a maverick.

According to rumour, there wasn't a lot of love between him and the other Liberal MLAs. I believe only one of them supported his leadership bid.

However, there isn't much doubt that Taylor (a former radio talk show host) had the best communications skills among the official opposition. His departure, and the way he did it (taking a lot of swings at Swann) is going to hurt the Liberals.

Mon, 2010-04-12 15:22

HeywoodFloyd

The thing is that Taylor is right. For an opposition party, the LPA is just......useless.....under Swann.

Mon, 2010-04-12 16:15

Lou Arab

Really? I always find QP exchanges between Swann and Stelmach to be sizziling. :)

Mon, 2010-04-12 16:28

HeywoodFloyd

But QP is such a clown show. Sure its fun to watch but really....who cares?

Swann has the job of building an opposition party with the goal of becoming the gov't. People have to rally behind him and they don't. The LPA is just barely treading water.

In all fairness, I thought from the beginning that picking Swann over Taylor was a mistake for the LPA. Swann was the status quo leader. Taylor would have been the change from outside but the LPA wasn't ready for it and that was obvious from the vote. It's too bad really, for them anyways. They have the perfect premier to campaign against but they aren't ready for it. That party needs an enema.

Mon, 2010-04-12 16:29

HeywoodFloyd

Oops. I didn't see the glib tags in your post. HAH!

Mon, 2010-04-12 19:50

HeywoodFloyd

Very true. WRT Taylor I'm of the opinion that he had the same problem that the Scud Stud did in Calgary. Just because you're a star doesn't mean that campaigners will volunteer, money will flow, or people will automatically follow you.

Tue, 2010-04-13 00:00

outwest

"The addition of other political parties makes it harder for the Liberals and NDP to get noticed in the clutter"

Gee, Lou, never thought I'd hear you singing my tune.

Unfortunately, in this province and new political climate, all the "communications" strategy and "elbow grease/door knocking" in the world isn't going to cut it for any single one of the centre/left opposition parties or leaders - not when there are now four of them all fighting for the limelight.

Tue, 2010-04-13 11:19

Lou Arab

Outwest, you know full well we are not singing the same tune.

Tue, 2010-04-13 12:56

aka Mycroft

So is Taylor going to end up with the Wildrose Alliance or the Tories?

I think Alberta is the likeliest place for some sort of NDP-Liberal alliance to emerge (hasn't the AFL been pushing for that?)

Tue, 2010-04-13 22:40

#10

scott

Although the Liberals have a much larger caucus than the NDP, it seems to be the NDP that is acting as the official opposition. Notley and Mason are regularly featured my the media for the "opposition viewpoint" and the Liberals are mostly silent.

If the voters are paying attention, or the non-voters become motivated to vote we may see some big changes next election.

Tue, 2010-04-13 23:09

#11

Ken Burch

aka Mycroft wrote:

So is Taylor going to end up with the Wildrose Alliance or the Tories?

I think Alberta is the likeliest place for some sort of NDP-Liberal alliance to emerge (hasn't the AFL been pushing for that?)

Problem is, such an alliance, according to the current polls, would only get about 40% of the vote(and that's on a good day with a strong Chinook wind). And that's assuming that all current Alberta Liberal voters would back a center-left coalition party if it meant the possibility of electing more "s-s-s-socialists!" to the legislature. Plus the last thing Liberals anywhere would want to do is to do anything that in anyway legitimized cooperation with the NDP.

Tue, 2010-04-13 23:53

#12

outwest

Actually Ken, as only something like 22% of total Albertans currently vote, the question of whether progressive numbers, with more voters, would only stay at 40% is up in the air, and that's partly why groups such as the (Alberta) Democratic Renewal Project believe such a pre-election coalition could work.

If a good number of apathetic Albertans never vote because they think they can never win against the right wing juggernaut, but then you give them a chance to vote for a stronger, united coalition that agrees to implement Prop. Rep., you might surprised how many of them might rouse themselves off the couch to cast a ballot. There's also the possibility that as traditional Albertans see the Conservatives as decaying and the Wild Rose party reveals more and more of its ugly colors, even conservative voters might be forced to look at another option.

In fact, all bets are off as to predicting who would win given such a coalition scenario, especially in a divided climate such as this next election presents where the WildRose and Conservatives are fighting tooth and nail for the same votes. (You'd might also be surprised by the number of grassroots Liberals who are beginning to see merit in the cooperative idea. My feeling is that it's mostly NDPers who are stuck with the idea that it can "never ever" happen. Who knows? Things can turn on a dime.. if not this election, the next...)

Thu, 2010-04-15 12:37

#13

Lou Arab

Further to the points Heywood and I were making above about Taylor not being the star he portray's himself as, former Liberal MLA Maurice Tougas has some choice words for Taylor in his weekly column in SEE Magazine.

Quote:

A Cancer Removes Itself
Loss of Dave Taylor looks bad on the outside, not so bad to those on the inside

...

I'm not going to suggest that members of the Alberta Liberal caucus spent Monday afternoon popping champagne corks, but I guarantee you nobody was weeping over Taylor's departure. It's not very often that a cancer excises itself, so there is cause for celebration.
...

There's a reason why Dave Taylor didn't win the leadership of the Liberals, despite a well financed and professionally run campaign and his high profile in Calgary - nobody likes the guy

....

To say Taylor has an ego is like saying Rosie O'Donnell could stand to lose a few pounds. A former radio talk show host, Taylor was accustomed to hearing himself talk, and expected everyone to hang on his every word. He was prone to profane tantrums when he felt he wasn't treated with the respect he thought he deserved.

Sun, 2011-02-20 14:01

#14

Lou Arab

I also thought picking Swann was a mistake.

However, as you say - there is more to politics than turning in a good speech or QP performance. It speaks volumes about Dave Taylor that he couldn't muster more than a couple of thousand votes in the Liberal leadership contest.

Nonetheless, it's going to be hard for the Liberals to gain traction with a leader who is so bad on the stump. The addition of other political parties makes it harder for the Liberals and NDP to get noticed in the clutter - and it makes communications skills all the more important.