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The Alberta Party did not field a candidate in the recent Calgary-Greenway byelection, a campaign that turned out to be a bright spot for the Liberals as the party’s candidate finished third — ahead of the New Democrat — and just over 400 votes off from the victorious PC candidate.

Liberal Leader David Swann said the party is in much better shape than it was a year ago when he was re-elected in Calgary-Mountain View as the party’s sole MLA.

That’s due in part to a major lift the Alberta Liberals received from the election federally of Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government, which contains an almost unheard of four Grits from Alberta, he said.

Swann, who took over the party’s leadership on an interim basis just ahead of the 2015 election, said the party is rebuilding at both the provincial and local level. He expects the delisted constituency associations to be registered again with Elections Alberta in a matter of weeks, and notes the party is heading into its annual general meeting this month and preparing for a leadership contest next year.

“A couple of issues that are going to either make us or break us is a new leader in the next 12 months . . . and I think a sense that the (NDP) cannot be trusted to take us into a more bountiful future, a more balanced future,” said Swann.

But Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Bratt said both the Alberta Party and Liberals are struggling to make their mark.

The Liberals’ greatest asset at this point is their brand name, but the party will face major questions about its future when it has a new leader who isn’t in the legislature, he said.

Clark, meanwhile, has shown himself to be an effective MLA but the Alberta Party “is not a party, it’s one person,” said Bratt.

“What sets the Alberta Party apart? . . . They’ve got a great name. They have a solid MLA, but the rest of it is just not there. I don’t see the organization,” he said.

jwood@postmedia.com