Big tent party or left-wing tradition? Leadership race reveals competing visions for Alberta NDP
Two distinct camps among candidates vying to be Rachel Notley's successor
Life after Rachel Notley was on the minds of about 100 Alberta NDP members who gathered in a central Edmonton meeting hall in early April to hear from the people who want to succeed the former premier as party leader.
Sunny Johal, a party member since 2017, hasn't decided who he'll support but he knows the qualities he wants the next leader to have.
"I'm basically looking for a candidate who would not only be the next leader of the NDP but the next premier of the province," he said.
Cheryl Hunter Loewen, a former candidate and party member since 2014, is also undecided. Like Johal, though, she knows what she's looking for.
"I think it's someone who can reach out to all Albertans. Not just members of our party, but members of what we call the 'small c' conservatives who would like to have something to vote for," she said.
Five candidates are vying for the NDP leadership, to be decided on June 22: MLAs Kathleen Ganley, Sarah Hoffman and Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse, labour leader Gil McGowan, and former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi.
Some of the candidates, like Hoffman and McGowan, represent old-school NDP values. Nenshi, meanwhile, is a high-profile party newcomer who believes the route to victory in 2027 lies in bringing as many people as possible under the NDP tent.
Although the party won't release the number of new memberships signed up by the candidates until later this month, Nenshi's early totals were so high that Edmonton-Whitemud MLA Rakhi Pancholi ended her leadership bid in March to join his team.
"We must move forward to offer a positive alternative to the UCP that Albertans can enthusiastically support in the next election," she said at the time.
"And I believe that means uniting behind the next leader, Naheed Nenshi."
Centrist or left-wing?
Ganley has presented a broad platform that proposes overhauling the Alberta Energy Regulator, enacting public auto insurance, and raising the minimum wage. Newcomer Calahoo Stonehouse, who was first elected in 2023, has so far emphasized the need to conserve water for future generations and share resource revenue profits with all Albertans.
Hoffman and McGowan have been sticking with traditional NDP values.
McGowan is making his appeal to labour, which he argues has been abandoned by left-leaning parties, to come back to the NDP.
Hoffman has been emphasizing her long history with the party and her commitment to what the party has long represented. "We win when we are unapologetic about being New Democrats," she said during the April 25 leadership debate in Lethbridge. "We win when we stand up for our values. We've proven that time and time again."
Deron Bilous, an NDP MLA for 11 years before deciding not to run in the 2023 provincial election, has watched the party evolve from being the third or fourth party in the legislature to today's version of Alberta's big tent party, an expression that refers to a party that appeals to a wide range of voters straddling the centre of the political spectrum.
For decades, Alberta's Progressive Conservative party held that title before it merged with Wildrose to become the United Conservative Party.
"If the New Democrats want to form government again, they need to be a big tent party," says Bilous, who is now a senior vice-president for Counsel Public Affairs in Western Canada and has no plans to publicly endorse a candidate in the leadership race.
When Bilous was first elected in 2012, he was one of four NDP members in the Alberta legislature. After the party formed a majority government in 2015, Bilous served in several cabinet posts, including as minister of economic development and trade.
Bilous recalls a shift in attitudes after the party was elected to form the government in 2015.
When Bilous first became involved with the NDP, members spoke about being happy to stay in opposition if it was the only way to stay true to party values. After being in government, however, members saw how they could still hold their values but accomplish so much more, he said.
Bilous said this new attitude opens the door to a candidate like Nenshi, who bought an NDP membership just before entering the leadership race.
"Yes, he may be a newer member, but (members are) not going to hold that against him," Bilous said.
The value of tradition
Not everyone agrees that the party needs to occupy the centre of the political spectrum to win back the government.
Brian Mason was NDP leader from 2004 to 2014, and served in cabinet in the NDP's government days. Although he left politics in 2019, Mason still keeps an eye on his old party from his home in British Columbia.
He has publicly endorsed Ganley.
Mason said the NDP doesn't need to abandon its basic values to attract voters, noting that thousands of Alberta voters have come from Canadian regions where NDP governments aren't unusual, including Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Yukon.
"I think that progressive people in this province — and there there are lots and lots of them — are looking for somebody who can defeat Danielle Smith," Mason said.
"There are people running besides Mr. Nenshi that have lots of potential in terms of taking out the UCP in the next election."
Mason said the party needs to reposition itself as a solid alternative to what he calls the UCP's "radical right-wing direction" but without abandoning its basic principles.
It's a concern echoed by Leah Ward, former director of communications for Rachel Notley and the Alberta NDP caucus and current vice-president with Wellington Advocacy.
For Ward, the question isn't so much how the party will change if Nenshi becomes leader but rather where a broader membership will push the party in terms of policy.
Ward noted that Hoffman has emphasized her history as both an NDP politician and a party worker to appeal to members who want the party to stick to its values. Nenshi, meanwhile, has attracted plenty of attention but Ward wonders if he can sustain that interest in the three years until the next election.
"That's not an easy thing to do," Ward said. "I've been in the job of trying to keep attention on the opposition and breaking through can be difficult when you have a busy and aggressive government to compete with."
If Nenshi wins the leadership on June 22, Ward will be watching how he reaches out to traditionalists in the party.
"How he organizes leadership of caucus, how he plans to lead the party, who he puts in key positions," Ward said.
"Whether or not those are people who have connections to the party under Rachel or whether or not he's looking at an entirely sort of new slate and a change."
Party members have two more months before having to make their decision.
Johal said that, unlike the NDP leadership race in 2014, Albertans are paying attention to this one.
"We have more candidates compared to last time," he said.
Loewen, meanwhile, is looking forward to seeing the next leader explain how NDP values are also Alberta values.
"This is a party of broad appeal, representing all Albertans," she said. "I really do think that our next leader needs to do a good job of talking to all Albertans."
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