Northern Alberta political figures are looking forward to an interesting few years in provincial politics with Naheed Nenshi at the helm of the province's New Democratic Party.
After two months of debates, fundraising events, and community visits, the NDP announced its new leader June 22 after a historic race that saw party membership increase from 8,000 to over 80,000.
Nenshi secured the party leadership on June 22 with 86 per cent of the 72,930 votes — the next closest candidate finished with 8.1 per cent of the vote.
“The NDP has gone from being a movement-based party to one of the two major parties in a two-party system, and we need to be able to represent the entire province more effectively,” said former Athabasca-Redwater MLA Colin Piquette on June 24. “We can’t be seen as primarily urban. In order to properly represent people, we need to be able to understand them. We need to hear their voices and take their perspectives.”
The leadership race was Nenshi’s first foray into provincial politics — he spent 11 years as Calgary’s mayor, where he dealt with a once-in-a-century flood, explored an Olympic bid, and dealt with the daily realities of running a major city.
“Nenshi has a good understanding of the struggles that municipalities face and the interesting dynamic in the relationship between the province and the municipalities,” said Athabasca County Reeve Brian Hall.
“I’ve appreciated that as the mayor of Calgary, he took a very non-partisan stance, he took on and worked with everybody and I think that’s a model for all municipal leaders. It’s an interesting change to see him in a much more partisan role.”
Members of the Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock constituency association are expecting Nenshi’s communication skills to be an asset, especially when it comes to getting the word out about the party’s agenda.
“He’s the first one to say it; he said, ‘I don’t think that there’s much in the NDP platform Albertans don’t agree with,’” said Landen Tischer, who ran in 2023 against UCP MLA Glenn van Dijken. “I expect to see a lot of clear communication points from him, I’m excited to see him. He does a lot of research in politics, that’s really his game.”
Currently, Nenshi doesn’t have a seat in the Alberta legislature, which isn’t unheard of for new party leaders — Danielle Smith took over as premier before she was an MLA after her own campaign in the fall of 2022.
Unlike Smith, Nenshi doesn’t appear to be in a hurry to change that. In a press conference following his victory speech, he said he “wasn’t worried” about his lack of status. He added he is open the idea of running in a byelection for a seat, including Lethbridge-West’s upcoming byelection.
“I think every constituency in the province deserves an MLA that is present and speaks for their best interests. I don’t want to be like the premier and represent a constituency that I show up to once or twice a year,” said Nenshi.
Throughout the campaign and during his victory speech, Nenshi called out Smith and her government, which he said encouraged him to re-enter politics.
“The stories I was hearing from our premier and from our government, the place they were describing didn’t feel like our home,” said Nenshi in his victory speech. “They were describing an Alberta that was very, very small.
“As we all know, it is impossible to think small under a sky that big.”
