For many years a Blue Grit was a business-friendly federal Liberal MP or cabinet minister from the Toronto and Montreal political and financial establishment, such as former prime minister John Turner.
This summer in Alberta, the term is back in use by political moderates in this province as the new brand for a fiscally prudent, socially progressive third option to the NDP on the left and the United Conservative Party on the right.
The two Alberta Liberal Party leadership candidates, David Khan who gained the leadership in June with the support of 55 per cent of the party's membership, and runner-up Kerry Cundal who had 45 per cent support on the ballot, both consider themselves Blue Grits.
The Blue Grits are not afraid of government, which differentiates them from the conservative right, but want it to be transparent, effective and accountable, which distinguishes them from the secretive special interests who dominate the NDP administration.
The NDP government's $10.5-billion deficit in the budget and $43 billion deficit is not fiscally prudent and the finance minister's reasons for the black hole are fiscally imprudent.
Jason Kenney, the likely front-runner for the UPC leadership, has shown himself to be unenlightened about social policy in his harsh treatment of the gay-straight alliances in schools and his inept response to LGBTQ issues magnified by the Calgary Pride Parade.
The UPC may be the second consecutive one-term Alberta government if it is elected to fix the fiscal mess but can't adequately manage social policy including health care and education - the largest expenditures in the $55-billion annual provincial budget.
It is too early to define the Blue Grits' agenda and policy platform but there are starting points. Here are three that are mentioned when Blue Grits meet this summer:
Public finances cannot mortgage the next generation's future.
Ideology does not belong in the school classroom or the curriculum.
Health-care spending is failing to deliver outcomes commensurate with its amount, especially with respect to equality in the quality of care.
The United Conservatives may rely on the memory of the National Energy Program to taint the Blue Grit brand, given its close tie to the Alberta Liberals. Liberals and Red Tories have never been popular in the Alberta conservative establishment.
But the conservative establishment is shrinking.
Half the population was under 15 years of age or not born in 1980, the year of the NEP.
Millennial generation voters will have half the eligible votes in the 2017 election, so the UPC can't count on an overwhelming victory unless it can dissuade the millennial vote, which favours other parties.
By 2024, when the first generation Z voters cast ballots, the majority of the Alberta electorate will not be conservative as the UPC understands the term.
If Blue Grits and NDP are patient, they will be, sooner or later, the dominant forces in Alberta politics.
- Frank Dabbs is a veteran political and business journalist, author of five books and editor of several more.
