Western Standard - Alberta Liberal Zak Abdi feels the party can make a comeback

00:00:00.000 ambitious young politicians i've got zach abdi uh on deck there let's bring him in so uh you know

00:00:05.840 i gave some background earlier some people have joined the show since i was talking about the

00:00:09.840 alberta liberals uh earlier uh not typically a party we talk a lot about here but uh you responded

00:00:16.720 to it with a tick tock video and i thought it was great it was upbeat and optimistic and corrected

00:00:20.720 me on what you felt was was wrong with it and uh you are uh an aspiring liberal candidate in

00:00:26.240 edmonton city center i believe perfect yeah thanks for having me corey it's good to be on the show for

00:00:31.840 the first time it's kind of sad to see your show come to an end um but yeah as you alluded to i am

00:00:37.680 running for the alberta liberal party nominee for edmonton city center and um a bit about

00:00:43.600 my background i was born and raised in ontario but i've been living in alberta for almost the last 10

00:00:48.560 years and in downtown and some of the issues that i've been hearing on the doorsteps is public safety

00:00:56.080 issues with petty crime on the rise um talking to um self-employed workers and um them not getting

00:01:02.240 a fair deal when it comes to on the gig economy and as well as on people a few uh conversations

00:01:08.320 about a public uh sorry a provincial sales tax okay and i guess being in in the urban area of

00:01:14.720 edmonton the issues are very similar to here where i'm in downtown calgary as you said petty crimes we

00:01:19.760 have an addiction epidemic it's led to a lot of challenges for people living in in urban areas uh

00:01:25.120 and you get everything from from shoplifting to uh uh bike thefts or car break-ins is that sort

00:01:30.560 of what you're addressing or yeah um like one of the and part of the reason why i'm running is a

00:01:35.760 little bit a little bit more about myself is my partner and i we recently bought a condo in downtown

00:01:40.240 edmonton two years ago we love it here it's amazing we're close by the river valley and we've gotten to

00:01:45.280 we've gotten to know the community and connect with folks and a lot of the petty crime that we've been

00:01:51.120 seen it's usually stuff to do with needles on the floor public drug use um public defecation and a

00:01:57.600 lot of that stuff isn't being addressed by the current in covenant um mla and as well as on the

00:02:04.000 the current government and there's things that we can do in the short term uh such as for example

00:02:09.200 installing public bathrooms or working with the city and funding public bathrooms in and around the

00:02:14.240 downtown core right our vulnerable neighbors do have a right um to some dignity and um the other

00:02:21.280 and businesses too right um a lot of the businesses the vandalism they see against their property it's

00:02:26.640 usually confrontational and has to do with maybe access to the bathroom or maybe staying inside and

00:02:32.160 we can do things to alleviate some of that pressure okay so we've got a general election that looks

00:02:38.480 like probably about seven eight months away coming up and presumably you know you'll probably be running

00:02:43.520 in it and it's something that you'd responded to and as i said in my earlier show i mean the liberal party

00:02:48.480 for people don't know it's the oldest party in alberta they were our very first governing party with

00:02:53.280 with rutherford uh and uh you know they had ups and downs but uh what you'd spoken on as well of course

00:02:59.360 the highest point in in living memory was with lawrence decor leading it uh the former mayor of edmonton

00:03:04.720 uh very well respected alberton and he came very close to actually winning the election and becoming

00:03:10.080 a liberal premier uh again i argued it was only he had the ill timing of uh catching uh the wave of ralph

00:03:16.640 klein that sort of just overwhelmed him and and he didn't quite make it in but he was running on a very uh

00:03:21.840 you know you you you question the word conservative fair enough but a fiscally uh tight campaign

00:03:26.720 platform at that time uh because debt was high and interest rates were high but your party's been in

00:03:32.000 kind of a long slow decline ever since then and and you've got a lot of rebuilding to do and then

00:03:37.760 you're currently kind of stuck with an interim leader i what i was impressed with was your optimism

00:03:41.680 and still going forward uh how do you look to to make a mark though within such a short time until the

00:03:46.720 election um for me that's a good question and and to be a liberal in alberta you have to be optimistic

00:03:54.080 um and to me um yes it's no um it's a fact that we have been in decline i think a big reason for

00:04:02.800 that has to do with controlling the narrative a lot of folks um get us mixed up with the federal

00:04:07.840 liberals and can't seem to distinguish the two and for us it's just going back to our roots and

00:04:14.400 lawrence the court to me he's not just one of my favorite um liberal politicians but one of my

00:04:18.880 favorite politicians not just in alberta but all of canadian history and for the things that

00:04:23.520 he's advocated for and if we go back to our roots um talk about fiscal responsibility um because i'm

00:04:29.680 a firm believer um a strong economy leads to um better outcomes for everyone and we can do a better

00:04:34.880 job in tackling social issues when the economy is strong and a lot of that message has been lost um

00:04:42.240 just due to more press and attention going to the rival parties such as the ucp and the ndp yeah well

00:04:49.600 alberta had kind of current is this we'd always been more of a multi-party system or at least

00:04:55.040 recently you know we had a number of ndp seats we had a large number of liberal seats we had the

00:05:00.160 the progressive conservatives in we have progressive conservatives in wild rose but we've kind of fallen

00:05:05.520 into a true two-party system for the time being and uh personally i like to see more parties in there i

00:05:12.080 really actually do and i i think you know a liberal presence would help reduce the polarity i mean i don't

00:05:18.240 want to see a liberal government look i'm an apologetic libertarian conservative but i think

00:05:22.800 our legislature would be a lot more balanced if we had sort of that that voice in the middle

00:05:27.840 uh sitting in there as more of a classical liberal anyways um absolutely and that's what the alberta

00:05:32.960 liberal party is for me right a liberal liberalism in terms of the classical sense right in the center

00:05:37.840 strong on fiscal issues and um and also moderate on social issues and we can get there if we control

00:05:44.960 um get a better job in controlling the narrative and when it comes to um representation i do agree

00:05:51.040 right if you look i know federal um issues and provincial issues are two different matters but

00:05:56.080 if you look if the fact that the federal liberals picked up two seats in alberta managed to capture i

00:06:00.560 think slightly under 20 of the popular vote in the province we can do that as well here we just have

00:06:05.760 to build our party's presence we build the infrastructure and just focus on positive messaging

00:06:10.560 yeah so i mean the the messaging and another challenge you have i mean have you heard or

00:06:15.520 i'm not sure how tapped you in you are with the party mechanism you need a leader uh uh you know

00:06:20.400 john's been doing what he can as an interim but uh is there going to be something scheduled to try

00:06:25.920 and draw somebody in i know it was an uh unfortunate outcome seeking a leader nobody uh put their name

00:06:30.800 in kind of but you're going to have to get somebody in before the general election because that's

00:06:34.080 where you need to speak for and brand the party um in terms of right now for me my focus is just on

00:06:38.960 the campaign and connecting with folks in edmonton city center um the party is working on um um what

00:06:45.120 the next steps are but i can say with um positivity and certainty that the alberta liberal party will

00:06:50.400 be around and i will be a candidate on the ballot okay great i i saw actually uh i think it was on

00:06:56.480 twitter or somewhere else too there's another edmonton gentleman who's running for a nomination so

00:07:00.000 there's some folks on the ground like yourself who are still planning on making a go with the next

00:07:04.160 election so you're you're not uh vanishing yet well absolutely one of our um our regional um

00:07:09.600 directors um irene hunter she's the regional chair for edmonton and she's been doing a really good job

00:07:15.120 in building the party's presence in edmonton i believe um we have um abdi buckle um who's run

00:07:21.120 who's considering running in millwoods and there is um jacob um who's also running in sure in i believe

00:07:28.000 strathcona short park area so there's a lot of things happening in the edmonton area and the party is

00:07:32.640 rebuilding our infrastructure here okay and you did touch on one of the challenges that your

00:07:37.840 parties had is unfortunately you know whether you like it or not you end up wearing the reputation

00:07:42.320 of the federal liberals and i do believe the current provincial liberal party doesn't have a

00:07:46.640 a formal tie to the federal party aside from the name no um and it's it there's no uh formal links or

00:07:54.400 anything right and it's and it goes back to um just sticking with the narrative right because the

00:08:00.000 alberta liberal party we do well when we stick to when we control the narrative and when we focus on

00:08:05.040 issues um that are relevant to the province and to albertans and we can make a comeback right and

00:08:10.240 we've seen um liberal parties in western canada bounce back we've seen it in the case in yukon and

00:08:15.920 manitoba they made some small but steady progress and saskatchewan you know they're also making their

00:08:21.200 gains there too yeah well and then starting you know everything starts small initially i was with the

00:08:27.200 alberta alliance party way back when we had one seat uh almost uh 20 years ago i think it was and

00:08:32.640 and uh worked that up eventually through a lot of work and compromise up into official opposition

00:08:37.840 uh and and then became the wild rose party and then we blew it all up and screwed it up

00:08:42.000 but uh a party can come from a small seed and with some work and can still rebuild well absolutely

00:08:47.840 and rachel nottley is um one thing i admire her about her leadership is proof of that right um she

00:08:53.200 built the ndp up right and we can do the same thing with the liberals it's just um and one thing i'm

00:08:58.720 excited about a lot of people who are working with irene and with the party in the edmonton area are young

00:09:04.160 folks and they're committed to the party and they're committed to the liberal cause great uh like one of

00:09:09.920 the my commenters there i think it was a paradox yeah just it was mentioning and i wanted to ask too

00:09:15.600 uh the alberta party i mean they're of a very similar type platform i think trying to land in in

00:09:20.960 what they call the middle though always saying middle makes it hard to define where you actually

00:09:25.520 are uh but i mean sometimes some of the resources perhaps or supports being drained in multiple

00:09:31.520 directions have you been in communication with the alberta party at all uh no but i'll actually tell

00:09:35.760 you a funny story um i'm not involved with the with the alberta party but um i actually did um and

00:09:42.960 maybe some of the folks at the alberta liberal party will get a bit upset but i actually did take out

00:09:47.040 a membership with the ucp and i did cancel it a week later because i was just so fed up with the

00:09:52.560 direction of the party um there's no um really third option or alternative and for me the alberta party

00:09:59.520 is a party that kind of shapeshifts with every leader and becomes and doesn't really have a true

00:10:04.960 cause or values and it was actually when i was walking um with my partner and our dog by the lawrence

00:10:11.040 decor lookout point that's where i made the decision to run for the party and help and be committed to

00:10:16.320 rebuilding it because ultimately i do think there's a place for a party and alberts do deserve

00:10:22.320 as you said a third option right and i believe we do provide that option well that's great well i i

00:10:28.160 really do appreciate and like i said i was impressed with your your optimistic attitude and the way you

00:10:32.480 approached it you see i i focus on crabbiness and ranting and things such as that i think there's a

00:10:37.120 role for that as well of course but uh you you uh countered uh you know uh my point on on mr decor and

00:10:43.840 in what i'd call the you know reference the party is conservative leaning back in the 90s and uh i

00:10:48.960 just think you're taking a good pragmatic approach up there in edmonton so i was happy to see that

00:10:52.880 there's still some life going on and somebody with some common sense making a go of it so uh where can

00:10:57.760 people find information about your your campaign and where you're going zach um definitely so they can

00:11:02.320 reach me at my website at zachabdi.ca and from there they can find links through from my social media

00:11:08.800 some of the issues that i'm running on and any upcoming events as well great well thank you very

00:11:14.640 much again for joining me today zach i think you are the first provincial liberal i had on this show

00:11:19.120 and you cap off my final episode of this show so i i appreciate it and we look forward to seeing how

00:11:24.080 you do up there for sure i'm glad to be here and i'm glad to end it on a upbeat and positive note great

00:11:29.040 thanks zach

Western Standard - August 22, 2022

Alberta Liberal Zak Abdi feels the party can make a comeback

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