Party Pooper

It has been ten months since the 2023 Alberta provincial election, and I feel like most of the conversations I’ve had about Alberta politics in those ten months have gone something like this:

“Why is the Smith government pushing ahead with [insert initiative with little public support here]?” “Well, [Michelle/Shaye/Courtney/Kathleen], we need to remember that the last conservative Premier to finish a term in Alberta was Ralph Klein, and Danielle Smith faces a leadership review next fall.”

Today, to mix things up a little, I’m going to write about a Smith government initiative that isn’t popular with the public but isn’t driven by worries about that leadership review. That’s right, it’s municipal political parties time!

It’s clear that the Smith government is planning to go ahead with legislation that will allow candidates in the next Alberta municipal elections to list a party affiliation next to their name on the ballot. Well, maybe not all municipalities, but just the big ones…

The government’s own consultation found very little support for the idea and the organization that represents Alberta municipalities hates it. Nevertheless, it’s full steam ahead!

Why?

It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that this initiative is motivated by a belief that voters in Alberta’s larger municipalities are getting elections wrong: they keep electing pesky progressives instead of true blue conservatives. The logic here appears to be that Calgarians and maybe even Edmontonians would vote for conservative councillors and mayors if only they knew who they were. On a recent podcast, the former president of the UCP spoke disapprovingly of a progressive candidate whose election signs were blue, apparently fooling voters

This belief that urban Albertans would vote for conservative mayors and councillors if only they knew who they were warrants a bit of scrutiny. Looking back to the 2023 provincial election, we see that some 272,000 Calgarians cast votes for the NDP, edging out the 267,000 who voted UCP. (Granted, there was some teal on the NDP signs…) Even more relevant, we can look back to the 2021 Calgary election in which Jyoti Godek rode a wave of white-hot anger at the Kenney government right into the mayor’s chair.

Will legislation allowing municipal candidates to put party labels beside their name on the ballot translate into the true-blue urban governments the Smith government wants? Possibly. But not necessarily.

First, be careful what you wish for. Or, every institutional reform has unintended consequences. Right now, the UCP is doing reasonably well in the polls; its honeymoon has been surprisingly long. But there’s no guarantee this popularity will last all the way to fall of 2025. A smart progressive mayoral candidate might try to make the ballot question “do you loathe the Smith government as much as I do?” Imagine ads linking the chosen conservative mayoral candidate to his or her “boss in Edmonton, Danielle Smith.”

Second, just because you build it doesn’t mean that they will come. I predict that many candidates, especially incumbents, will be describing themselves as “proudly independent” and “taking orders from the people of [neighbourhood], not the party bosses in Edmonton.” And that might well be the ticket to victory.

Meaningful Democratic Reform for Local Elections

The other reason Premier Smith has given for the move to municipal political parties is to limit the role of unions as third party advertisers.

Here, I’m inclined to agree. I don’t think we need unions represening employees that bargain with the city intervening in elections. But, by the same token, we don’t need developers who are seeking approval from city council for their latest project spending to influence the outcome either.

There’s a simple answer that doesn’t involve trying to impose party politics: meaningful reform of election financing. Follow BC’s lead and pass legislation that only permits individuals to contribute to third party advertisers, and to candidates. And lower the limit for individual contributions to candidates from the current $5K down to a more reasonable number, like $1K (or less). This move would make the next municipal election fairer and would get rid of the perception that local politicians are “in the pockets” of either unions or developers. Oh, and how about we make the rules about political finance apply to recall campaigns, while we’re at it?

Unfortunately, there are no indications that this conversation is on the table as the government looks at changing the rules that govern municipal elections in the province. This is a missed opportunity to make local democracy in Alberta stronger.