Some folks have asked what I mean by "organizing like hell" for 3 years/what that looks like. If you're familiar with electoral politics then skip this. Not going to be anything new here.

Otherwise, come with me on a deep and blunt dive into how to beat @jkenney #ableg #abpoli

We need to acknowledge is that the only way to beat a united conservative movement is by creating a united progressive alternative per @maxfawcett's article back in January.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-politics-progressive-merger-max-fawcett-1.5431008

I don't think brokering party mergers is realistic for progressives in AB.

So when we talk about creating a united progressive alternative, we're really asking: who can actually beat Kenney & the UCP.

The Libs, ABs, Greens won't like this answer, but the only real option is to unite under Notley and the NDP & work within that party leading up to 2023.

What does working w/in the NDP look like? It looks like going out & getting involved in your local constituency association (also called electoral district association or EDA, though that is actually the federal name).

And I don't mean 6 months out from the election. I mean now.

A couple of FAQs about getting involved in your local NDP EDA:

Does that mean becoming a member? No, you can volunteer for an EDA w/out joining the party.

A political party is always going to prefer you become a member. But volunteering & membership can be mutually exclusive.

Do I have to identify as a "New Democrat" to get involved? Nope. You can like Rachel Notley. You can really dislike Jason Kenney. You can vote Liberal or Green federally & identify that way.

Honestly, it doesn't much matter. Wanna beat Kenney? You've come to the right place.

Do I have to donate to the NDP? Negative. Again, the party is going to prefer you do make some sort of donation. Winning elections costs money. And having the money to go toe-to-toe w/ conservatives is challenging and important.

But donating your time/energy is also important.

If I'm interested in running, can I become the NDP candidate? Maybe. Candidates are chosen democratically by the membership of the riding at nomination meetings.

To do this, you need to become a member. And if you do want to run, a good place to start is volunteering w/the EDA.

So, you've gone out and joined your local NDP EDA. Now what?

Voter contact, that's what. You're going to spend the next three years talking to as many voters in your riding as you possibly can.

Usually, this takes the form of door knocking b/c it is the most effective contact.

Obviously no one can go door knocking right now & no one knows what things will look like moving forward.

Does that mean I'm off the hook for voter contact? Negative. There are other ways to contact voters. You can call them. You can text them. You engage them on social media.

So the voter contact continues, no matter what.

If you work hard, you will engage in voter contact in every poll in a riding twice, or maybe three/four times over the course of 3 years.

If you're lucky, you may talk to 30-40% of all the eligible voters in a riding as a result.

And 30-40% is probably optimistic because contact rates tend to be pretty low. People aren't home. People don't answer their phone. People ignore your texts. People tell you f-off on social media.

Generally, voters don't want to be contacted. Least of all by a political party.

So then why all this voter contact? Because data wins elections.

A campaign's job is simple, but difficult: talk to enough people & find enough supporters for your candidate then make sure those people vote in the election to result in yr candidate winning.

Not hard, but hard.

But the reality is that you very rarely have the time or the resources to find all those people in the 28 days of an election campaign.

You need to start the campaign off w/ that list and then spend the campaign confirming that support & ensuring they will and do vote for you.

Generally speaking, especially in AB, consvertiaves have way better and way more data than progressives do.

So we need to spend the next three years collecting that data and making sure we can toe-to-toe with Kenney and the UCP on the two things that matter most: data & money.

None of which is to say that leaders' campaigns don't make a difference. They very much do. 2015 is a perfect example of that.

Leaders' campaigns can make or break an election. They are how the majority of voters engage & understand an election. So they have to be done well.

But it's very rare that an amazing leader's campaign will result in winning govt without the support of strong & effective local ground campaigns.

And most of the work involved in building those strong & effective ground campaigns happens in the years leading up to an election.

So when I talk about "organizing like hell for 3 years" that's what I mean: putting in the time & effort it takes to build up enough strong and effective ground campaigns across the province (particularly in Calgary) with enough volunteers, money, & data to beat Kenney & the UCP.

It's a massive amount of work, but possible. And while there is no such thing as a sure thing in politics, it is the most reliable way to ensure we don't have Kenney as premier & a UCP govt in 2023.

You want to beat 'em? That's how we do it. And like I said we have to start now.