Just weeks after settling on a new leader the Alberta Green party may be set to toss its name into the recycle bin in a bid to attract small ‘c' conservatives in the province.
A Jan. 21 meeting in Hoadley, Alta. saw the party's membership confirm Joe Anglin as leader of the party and came within one vote of changing its name to the Progress Party.
Deputy leader Edwin Erickson said though the name change was not accepted, he would like to see the name change considered again in the future.
"It's an interesting debate and I can see the merits on both sides of the subject," said Anglin. "There is a division on some identification about who we are and what we are."
"Regardless of what our label is we are a political party and what we are trying to do as a political party is to affect political change."
Erickson, who came in second place with 19 per cent of the vote in the riding of Drayton valley-Calmar in the 2008 provincial election, said the ‘Green' name is still strongly associated with Greenpeace and "treehugging hippies" in many rural areas.
"In all due respect to the people in those walks of life, I'm sure they're doing what they think is best, but it doesn't work here," he said. "There is an unhealthy segment of the population who...the minute you mention green (will) turn their back and don't want to speak to you."
Erickson, who supports the name change, says he won't let the name issue die for two reasons: The name is holding the party back and they had "terribly poor support" from the federal Green party.
"I don't feel any affinity with the federal Greens to speak of," said Erickson. "We share a lot of the same principles but...in my campaign here I had much more help from the federal Liberals than I had from the federal Greens."
However, the proposed name change and shift in political identity isn't sitting well with some former executive members.
"On the one hand the Green brand did well enough that (Anglin) and (Erickson) both came in second in their ridings," said Susan Stratton, former party president. "So to say (the Green name) wasn't working might be a little odd. I mean coming in second in this province is pretty good."
Stratton said although she feels conflicted about her role in the party, a name change would persuade her to leave.
"As soon as they stop calling it a Green party I won't feel conflicted at all, I'll just be out," she said.
If a provincial election were to be held tomorrow, Stratton says she would be inclined to cast her vote elsewhere. "Probably the Liberals because I usually admire David Swann," she said. "As a leader he inspires confidence a lot more than Joe Anglin does."
