Provincial Liberals have drifted to irrelevance in some provinces, such as Alberta and Saskatchewan, and in Manitoba they hold just three seats. But in Ontario, despite falling from the party forming government to third place in 2018, some observers say it’s a different story.
“The Liberal brand is very strong in Ontario. After all, they’re the dominant party federally. They certainly aren’t in Alberta,” Nelson Wiseman, emeritus professor of political science at the University of Toronto, said in an interview.
Wiseman said the Alberta provincial Liberals fell away as an alternative to the Progressive Conservatives due to the ascendency of NDP leader Rachel Notley to premier in 2015. He credits part of her success to the name recognition carried by her father, the late Grant Notley, who served as MLA and led the party from 1968 to 1984….