EDMONTON - Like a young person embarrassed by his parents, Alberta Liberals are taking great pains to distance themselves from their namesakes in Ottawa.

The party executive is sending out letters urging news organizations to refer to the party and its members as "Alberta Liberals" rather than "Liberals."

With possible provincial and federal elections looming, Alberta Liberals are gritting their teeth at the prospect of being lumped together with their federal counterparts.

"We need you to call us by our real name," reads the letter, adding that it is "critical" for Albertans to distinguish between the federal and provincial parties. "After all, the Alberta Liberal Party is a completely distinct Alberta-born and bred political party ... with a clear vision for sustaining Alberta's prosperity."

The letter goes on to note that Alberta Liberal Leader Kevin Taft is not even a member of the Liberal Party of Canada.

Alberta Liberal Party angst over its identity dates back to 1976, when the provincial and federal wings split over policy and organizational issues. Those feelings were magnified during the 1980s when the Liberals under Pierre Trudeau introduced the national energy program to increase Canadian control and ownership of the energy industry.

Many Albertans believe the NEP intruded on provincial rights and cost the economy billions of dollars. At the time, people used to joke that the Liberal party in Alberta was so small it could hold its annual general meeting in a telephone booth.

Concern about the federal wing appeared to peak again in 2005 following the Gomery federal sponsorship scandal. At the time, Taft openly wondered if the Alberta Liberal Party should consider changing its name.

Taft is adamant that the latest push to separate the Alberta party from the federal party in the minds of voters has nothing to do with Liberal Leader Stephane Dion's political problems in Ottawa.

"I say this quite genuinely, it is not about them being up or down," Taft said. "We are just completely separate organizations. It is just about defining who we are."

Some Albertans appear to have no problem appreciating the difference between the two.

In 2004, former Alberta Liberal Party leader Ken Nicol was soundly defeated as a federal Liberal candidate in the Lethbridge area, even though he had won the provincial riding twice.

Peter McCormick, a University of Lethbridge political scientist, said the struggle is just a fact of political life in the province. Taft's push to carve out the party's identity has little to do with Dion, but is rather just the latest chapter of a continuing story, he said.

"This has been an ongoing concern for the Liberals since the national energy program," McCormick said. "They have been trying to dig out from their shared name with the federal Liberals for that long. It is a longer-term thing."

Nick Tayor, a retired senator and former leader of Alberta Liberal Party, said pushing the identity difference can work. But he said the party must be careful not to alienate rank-and-file Liberals who volunteer during both provincial and federal campaigns.

"It might cause more harm than good," Taylor said. "The workers on both wings are maybe 90 per cent common. If you give the feds too much hell, you will lose some of your workers."