The Alberta NDP’s worst-kept secret has now been confirmed: Party Leader Naheed Nenshi will run in the by-election to replace former leader and premier Rachel Notley as MLA for the Edmonton-Strathcona riding.
Notley’s resignation as an MLA took effect on Monday, but even before she’d announced her plan to leave politics on December 12, NDP circles were abuzz with talk of Nenshi seeking to replace her in the inner-city Edmonton riding.
Nenshi’s intention was made public in a notice to New Democratic Party members in the riding stating a nomination meeting will be held on Jan. 22 and that “there is one candidate eligible for nomination” – to wit, Nenshi.
Nenshi also posted on various social media platforms yesterday announcing his intention to run. “With our former leader Rachel Notley’s retirement, I have an opportunity to join our MLAs in the Legislature,” he said. “I believe Alberta New Democrats can be a thoughtful government-in-waiting with real solutions for Alberta families.
“That’s why I’m officially announcing today that I’m putting my name forward for nomination as the Alberta NDP candidate in Edmonton-Strathcona for an upcoming by-election.”
Just to be completely clear, though, no one else will be putting their name forward for the NDP nomination in Edmonton-Strathcona, even if they wanted to. “According to the Alberta NDP constitution,” the announcement of the nomination meeting in 19 days said unironically, “if there are no other approved candidates eligible to seek the nomination 21 days prior to the meeting, the approved candidate will be acclaimed.”
The plan makes sense both strategically and tactically: It saves the former Calgary mayor who overwhelmingly won the NDP leadership contest last June from having to ask an NDP MLA in the province’s largest city to make way for him, and it means he’ll be running in one of the two safest NDP seats in the province.
But, practically speaking, at this point Nenshi had little choice but to run for Notley’s former seat. The United Conservative Party government has been making metaphorical hay while the winter sun shines, mocking Nenshi for not seeking a seat in the December 18 Lethbridge by-election won by the NDP’s Rob Miyashiro.
This is pretty meaningless, of course, because whatever Nenshi does, the UCP will attack him for it. Indeed, no sooner had he announced his intention to run in Edmonton than UCP bots on the open sewer of social media sites known as X were calling him a coward for not making someone let him run in Calgary.
This, at least, will encourage the UCP to go back to their hysterical attacks on Nenshi’s record as Calgary’s mayor, which has had him living rent-free in the heads of the governing party’s leadership for years.
While there are bound to be a few grumbles that Nenshi’s upcoming acclamation amounts to “guided democracy,” letting a new leader seek a riding nomination unopposed is close to standard operating practice in most political parties. It’s just unusual to put it right out there so obviously.
Nenshi almost certainly could have won no matter who ran against him, although a case could be made that the contest would have been a distraction from what the party needs to be focusing on right now.
Regardless, being so open about it seems like an odd way to spend political capital, although to be fair, with his slam-dunk 86-per-cent victory in June, Nenshi has a lot of political capital to spend. Like any fortune, though, political capital doesn’t always last as long as one might expect.
Be that as it may, it is widely assumed that an agreement has been sought and made with candidates who were interested in running to replace Notley that Nenshi will seek a seat in Calgary for the next general election. So there will likely be a real nomination battle in Edmonton-Strathcona before the next Alberta election, which is now scheduled to take place on Oct. 18, 2027, but could and may happen sooner if it’s convenient for the UCP.
In the meantime, it won’t hurt Nenshi to be seen representing a riding in Edmonton, where unconfirmed reports of private polls showing Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party making some gains have been circulating.
“This doesn’t mean I’m leaving Calgary behind,” Nenshi promised in his social media post. “While still proudly Calgarian, I’m already dividing my time between the two cities and I’m looking forward to learning more about Edmonton.”
Unfortunately, the date of the by-election is up to Premier Smith, who showed willingness to play silly games with the timing of the Lethbridge by-election to squeeze out some advantage for the UCP’s candidate – to no avail in the event. By law, the by-election must take place by June 30.
Once elected, Nenshi will replace Christina Gray as Leader of the Opposition in the Legislature.
The NDP nomination meeting will take place at 7 p.m. on January 22 in the Hazledean Communirty League hall.
By the way, the other safest seat for the Opposition Party would be the one now known as Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood, held for nearly 20 years by former NDP leader Brian Mason and now represented Janis Irwin, who is surely the most popular and well-known MLA in the Alberta Legislature.
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