Edmonton-Whitemud MLA Rakhi Pancholi formally joined the NDP leadership race yesterday.
This was not exactly a surprise, as Pancholi, an Edmonton lawyer before starting her career in politics, has made her interest in the province’s top political job quite clear for weeks.
First elected as part of the “Class of 2019,” as they say of MLAs elected to the Alberta Legislature, this gives Pancholi the right to claim to be enough of an outsider to appeal to voters who are not traditional NDP voters without being so much of an outsider she offends the party old-timers who right now seem to be clustered around former justice minister Kathleen Ganley.
Whether it matters more to have a little distance from the policies of Rachel Notley, who brought the Alberta NDP in from the wilderness after it had wandered around for most of the preceding 83 years, or to have cabinet experience, which Panchholi does not, remains to be seen.
Likewise, it also remains to be seen if not having a Calgary postal code – which will be said by backers of candidates who do have one to be essential to winning votes in Calgary, where nowadays Alberta political campaigns are won and lost – is really a requirement for victory.
As we have observed in some recent leadership races by another party that used to form governments in Alberta, third place or thereabouts isn’t necessarily the worst spot from which to start a campaign.
That said, the NDP isn’t one of those other parties, so it is uncertain if this is a law of political nature or just something that happened a couple of times once upon a time in Wild Rose Country.
Pancholi launched her campaign modestly by publishing an upbeat and polished campaign video on social media that was clearly designed both to speak to the way Albertans see themselves and undercut the current government’s approach to the same self-perception.
So, the candidate says in her voice-over, “there’s no challenge Alberta can’t take on,” and, in the next breath, “but the story the current government tells about Alberta is too small for such a big place!
“We see it in the choices they make, the fears they exploit, and they fights that they pick,” she added. “But that’s not the Alberta I know.”
It’s not particularly clear from her website or the video where she’s likely to stand on the spectrum of policies acceptable to NDP voters, but she was bold enough to tell media reporters after dropping her video that she’d consider replacing a consumer carbon tax with other measures to mitigate climate change.
“I know Albertans are absolutely committed to taking action on climate change and we know that there are lots of other things we can do,” she said in one interview.
It’ll be interesting to see if this degree of political realism can fly in the face of Alberta NDP orthodoxy at the end of the era of Rachel Notley.
It’s said here it’ll likely be a tough sell within party ranks, but could be a political necessity with rank and file voters.
So yesterday’s announcement puts Pancholi and Ganley officially in the race. Former health minister Sarah Hoffman is expected to announce her entry on the weekend, and David Shepherd, a member of the Class of 2015 but one who didn’t hold a cabinet post, is also likely to announce soon.
That leaves the interesting question of whether former Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi will make a grab for the brass ring or if he’s just teasing us. Nenshi, a polarizing figure during his decade at Calgary City Hall, has passionate supporters and passionate detractors within the universe of NDP voters.
Nor can we completely rule out the possibility of one or two additional candidates emerging with enough cash to pay the $60,000 entry fee and enough bit left over for a respectable campaign.
Most of MLAs thought to have been pondering a bid, however, have shown up endorsing candidates already in the race, or all but in it.
Edmonton-Rutherford MLA Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse, though, has been said for weeks to be seriously considering a run. She was first elected to the Legislature last year, but in 2021 campaigned for the position of national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, so she would have an experienced campaign team to help.
One thing this contest can reasonably said to be about to deliver is generational change.
Notley will be 60 on April 17. The oldest of the current list of candidates and putative candidates is Nenshi, a youthful 52. Shepherd is 49, Pancholi and Ganley are both about 45, and Hoffman is 43.
Candidates have until March 15 to make up their minds.
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Nick Seebruch, editor
