Nenshi holds most party endorsements ahead of end to leadership race membership drive
Posted Apr 16, 2024 7:43 am.
Last Updated Apr 16, 2024 7:46 am.
The membership drive for the Alberta NDP wraps up in less than a week as the race to replace Rachel Notley as leader shifts into another gear.
Former Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi has the pole position with nine endorsements, including Calgary-Glenmore MLA Nagwan Al-Guneid, who says in a video posted to X earlier this week that Alberta needs a vision, not moratoriums when it comes to climate and energy policy.
“It needs a government that will put forward a vision for Alberta’s energy sector in a climate-conscious world,” she said.
As of Tuesday morning, former Minister of Justice Kathleen Ganley has eight endorsements, including finance critic Shannon Phillips.
In a social media post, Ganley encourages people to buy memberships and vote for their leader and future premier.
RELATED: Edmonton MLA drops outs of NDP leadership race, endorses Naheed Nenshi
It was just last month Nenshi announced he was joining the Alberta NDP leadership race, and since then party memberships have more than doubled.
Al-Guneid says Nenshi is what the Opposition needs heading into the next election.
“It’s exactly that pragmatic vision and leadership that we need in 2027,” she said.
This led competitor Rakhi Pancholi to announce she was dropping out of the race to support Calgary’s former mayor.
“The party had 16,000 members in December of last year, and then all of a sudden they had 30,000, roughly, and Pancholi said that’s mainly because of Naheed Nenshi,” Alberta-based political commentator Graham Thomson told The Big Story Podcast.
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He claims party memberships have grown to 80,000 this week, and suggests the outcome of the leadership race could determine the future of the rocky relationship with the federal NDP.
There’s much debate over the party’s relationship with the federal NDP, especially following the party’s loss in the 2023 election.
Nenshi has suggested it’s time to cut the apron strings, while Hoffman believes it’s important to maintain that bond.
Thomson says Nenshi’s comments about severing ties with the federal NDP have caused some controversy.
READ MORE: ‘Part of the history’: Rivals for Alberta NDP leadership torn on federal party ties
Recently, there has been much contention over energy and environmental policy.
Former Deputy Premier Sarah Hoffman has the third most endorsements from party members at four.
Five candidates remain in the race, including Nenshi, Ganley, Hoffman, Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan, and first-term Edmonton MLA Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse.
According to party constitutions, members of the provincial party are automatically members of the federal party.
Notley’s successor will be announced on June 22.
