Seeking Alberta NDP leadership, Nenshi dubs himself 'underdog' and UCP 'dangerous'
Joining the race just four days before the candidate cutoff date, Calgary's former mayor said he has considerable ground to make up behind other declared NDP hopefuls
Article content
In entering the Alberta NDP leadership race, former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi called himself an underdog and the party’s UCP foes “dangerous.”
Joining the race just four days before the candidate cut-off date and as a comparative outsider, Nenshi on Monday said he has considerable ground to make up behind five other declared hopefuls.
“I’m not the front-runner and I haven’t sold a single membership,” said Nenshi.
“We have four very capable women and someone else (running), and I’m used to being an underdog — I have a lot of ground to make up.”
But the three-term Calgary mayor said his experience and ability to collaborate with other governments prove he’s qualified for the job — defeating a UCP government he said is incompetent and a menace to Albertans’ lives due to its policies on trans rights, science and health care.
“We have a government that is not only incompetent, but is actually immoral and dangerous — we can’t afford any more of (Premier) Danielle Smith and her government,” said Nenshi.
He said banning health services for psychologically vulnerable trans youth, undermining vaccination efforts and overseeing a faltering health-care system are of concern.
The UCP’s fights with Ottawa, he said, show the party is not interested in actually governing, but in favour of “picking fights and wasting money.”
Nenshi said he can be pugilistic when required but is also able to work with other levels of government to help constituents.
“This government doesn’t know how to make deals . . . it’s like watching junior high or elementary school kids fighting,” said Nenshi.
Nenshi, 52, served as Calgary’s mayor from 2010 to 2021 and saw his share of the popular vote fall from 74 per cent in the 2013 municipal election to 51 per cent in his last run for the city’s top job in 2017.
He joins the race along with Edmonton MPs Sarah Hoffman, Rakhi Pancholi and Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse, Calgary MLA Kathleen Ganley and Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan.
Before his candidacy announcement, Ganley’s campaign lashed out at Nenshi, questioning his ties and loyalty to the NDP.
Nenshi said he’s not interested in remaking the NDP in his image.
“I’m coming here with the utmost humility and respect . . . I wasn’t there when there were just two or four MLAs and doing the work of building the party,” he said, adding he’s confident he can widen the NDP’s appeal.
“We need more people to come on the journey and to respect their values.”
He said the party did a “good job” in last year’s provincial election but should have offered a vision more of hope than fear of the UCP, while better articulating their corporate tax hike policy that many feel hurt their electoral fortunes.
And he wouldn’t rule out running solely as an MLA should he not win the leadership contest, saying it would depend on the winner and their approach to him.
“I take up a lot of oxygen in the room — the leader might appreciate that or that I take much more of a background (role),” said Nenshi.
Nenshi’s detractors say the baggage he carries as mayor means he can’t take winning the city for the NDP for granted.
The former mayor said the map tracing his civic electoral success means he could succeed provincially in parts of the city the NDP has faltered, but added it’s more complicated than that.
“We have to do better basically south of Glenmore Trail . . . and help people understand this is not a Conservative government of the past, not one of (Peter) Lougheed and (Ralph) Klein — this is something quite different,” said Nenshi, who expressed admiration for the late Peter Lougheed, who served as premier from 1971 to 1985.
As for winning outside the two largest cities where the NDP holds only two seats, it’s critical to convince those Albertans the UCP has failed to make life better for them “and that we share the same values.”
And there needs to be a different approach to differentiate between Albertans living in mid-sized cities, small towns and all-out rural areas, he added.
‘They’ve never beaten him’
Nenshi’s entrance is a game-changer that significantly heightens the notoriety of the leadership race, said Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Bratt. Nenshi is a household name in battleground Calgary and has wider recognition across the province and countrywide — something that can’t be said for most of the other challengers.
“He’s got greater name recognition and more pizzazz than any of the other candidates,” Bratt said.
Another political scientist, MRU’s Lori Williams, said there’s “no question” the other candidates consider Nenshi a strong contender in the race despite his lack of ties to the party — something she said may reduce his popularity among longtime or more left-leaning NDP members.
“But for those who are more pragmatic, more concerned about having a strong leader, a strong party and a contender in the next election, I think his presence in the race will be quite welcome,” she said.
While Nenshi has received an early vote of confidence from Calgary NDP MLA Court Ellingson, who is co-chairing his campaign, Bratt doesn’t believe Nenshi will see as much caucus support as other candidates.
“The question is, does he bring people who are not traditional NDP voters into the party?” Bratt said.
Bratt and Williams both say Nenshi’s largest challenges will come from within the party. He has to catch up to his fellow candidates in membership sales — they’ve had a monthlong head start — and sway the minds of existing members to welcome a party outsider.
While some say the UCP and its supporters are “salivating” at the prospect of taking on Nenshi in the 2027 general election, Bratt said that excitement may be misplaced.
“They really dislike him, but they’ve never beaten him. And I think they hope that some (NDP members) may fear what he would bring to the race,” Bratt said. “I think he matches up against Smith much better than the other candidates. I just don’t know if he can win the NDP leadership.”
This leadership race is set to be the largest in the party’s history and the first since it formed government in 2015. The party’s last leadership contest came in 2014 when it had just four MLAs, and fewer than 4,000 ballots were cast.
Under the leadership of Rachel Notley, who served as Alberta’s premier from 2015 to 2019, the NDP rose to become a contending political force, though the party lost the last two provincial elections to the UCP.
Notley announced Jan. 16 that she’d be stepping down as leader.
X (Twitter): @BillKaufmannjrn
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.