[Firebot]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

You eventually came the the correct conclusion at the end. It's the voters, not the party name. No solid Conservative voter(the type that says this is the reason they can't) is going to vote for a new named NDP, and no moderate cares enough about it to matter. It's baffling because the people who keep going back to this well have zero interest of ever honouring their supposed objection to it.


You can look at the Federal Liberals to see how true this is, because they installed a largely Cosnervative leader, and the CPC still had one of their best results since holding a majority. They'll say "this is the reason" but they don't really mean it. And then the cent-e left ends up chasing their tales and excuses when it is a waste of time.

Opendoor recently quoted a Lay's poll that 42% of people don't know that chips are made of potatoes. These people vote.

https://fortune.com/2025/10/10/pepsi...e-of-potatoes/

A&W's Third Pound burger failed versus the quarter pounder as when polled, customers felt they were getting less meat for the same price. These people vote.

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/undertheinf...nder-1.5979468


Unlike you however, I don't brand specifically just hard Conservative voters as being braindead and I view a decent portion of the population as being politically illiterate who vote based on partisan lines, feelings or rhetoric versus doing a deep dive into issues and platforms. Forums and social media are not representative of the general population.

Case and point: Kevin Vuong being voted in despite being kicked out the Liberal party, simply because at election time he had the Liberal party brand still attached for the vote.

Case and point: BC Conservative surging and nearly winning just because of their branding despite a very abrasive leader, with the newly named BC United plunging out after removing the Liberal party portion of the name

The federal NDP link is a huge pariah because of their policies, and as long as they maintain their direction the Alberta NDP which frankly is quite different from their federal counterpart (especially in regards to oil and pipelines) will never escape the association. And it's not going to get any better, considering the far left loony direction the federal NDP still wants to go and may choose as leader.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ndp...uels-9.6958669

"We need really straightforward policies that distinguish ourselves from the federal Liberals," Lewis said. "We cannot keep increasing fossil fuel production in this country."

He said the federal NDP must "be able to have disagreements" with its provincial counterparts.

Lewis later added that there are "safe forms" of generating energy "that actually looks to the 21st century."

And he likened society's relationship to fossil fuels to an addiction that he said was fuelled by greed.

"[Fossil fuel addiction] is as much an addiction to the revenues from fossil fuels from provincial and federal governments as it is an addiction to the substance itself."

Yeah that will go over well in selling the NDP name to Albertans while claiming to be different.

The NDP brand has to go in Alberta, if you want to see someone else than the UCP leading in Alberta. Party names absolutely factors in, as does party leaders (as the federal election clearly showed). If your leader is vastly outperforming your own party while also outperforming the opposing leader, you try to bridge that gap. Brand name change is a quick win and the right step when the federal side tries to run the country from a Metro Vancouver perspective.

You can blame the voters all you want, but in the end they are who choose and the orange NDP sign is scary and will remain scary to voters in Alberta. And it allows for this association.

https://unitedconservativecaucus.ca/...hip-candidate/

https://calgaryherald.com/news/polit...ral-party-ties

Nenshi says it’s time for the Alberta NDP to cut the apron strings.

“I think the membership has to have a very serious conversation about its links with the federal NDP,” Nenshi said in an interview.

“I believe that our ties to the federal NDP are remnants of a party that wasn’t confident, a party that wasn’t grown up yet, that relied on big brother to look after us.

If the Alberta NDP leader thinks the link is a significant problem deserving very serious conversation, it shouldn't be hard to contemplate how your average voter would see similar, let alone the dumber ones.