(Alberta NDP)

By Josh Hall | @Vancan19

former calgary mayor takes 86% of vote

Nenshi elected new leader of Alberta NDP in landslide victory

Jun 22, 2024 | 4:00 PM

Following an election that began in the spring, Naheed Nenshi was announced Saturday as the new leader of the Alberta New Democratic Party (NDP).

Nenshi, the former mayor of Calgary, won in a landslide, securing just over 86 per cent of the vote.

In total, Nenshi received 62,746 votes out of 72,930.

The latter represents 85.6 per cent voter turnout, with 64,282 cast online and 8,648 by mail. Another 38 were spoiled.

There were 85,227 eligible voters, up from just 16,224 before the campaign began in February, an increase of 425 per cent.

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Kathleen Ganley received 5,899 votes, Sarah Hoffman received 3,063, and Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse garnered 1,222.

“I am truly humbled and honoured to have been selected to lead the Alberta NDP into its next era. The excitement and optimism I’ve felt throughout this leadership race proves that Albertans want a government they can trust and believe in,” said Nenshi. “Every one of my fellow candidates demonstrate great passion, leadership, and intelligence — I want to thank them and their teams and I can’t wait to get to work with them as part of the larger Alberta NDP family.”

Nenshi went on to criticize Premier Danielle Smith for recently dubbing herself the most freedom-loving politician in Canada.

He said that she is rather the most “power-loving” politician.

He also spoke of dreaming big and selfless service.

“Theres no room for service in Danielle Smith’s tiny Alberta, but there is in our hearts, our hands, our minds, and especially in our voices, and we will use our voices,” he said.

“The Alberta NDP today is the largest provincial political party in Canada.”

Nenshi said party officials informed him that the leadership election was the largest for a provincial party leader in Canadian history.

“What this means is that all of you are here to stay. We are here to stay to continue building this movement together forever,” said Nenshi.

“We need to convert this movement into something that will build and build, we need to co-create a vision for Alberta with our neighbours, everywhere in this province. We need to work with them together to create the vision for Alberta we all want. That’s our job.”

Nenshi said the work, though not easy, will hopefully cause people to see that the NDP becoming government in 2027 is, “inevitable.”

He said the NDP winning in 2027 is a means to an end, not the end, as it is, he opined, for the UCP.

Kevin Shilling, treasurer of the Red Deer-South NDP Constituency Association, says the word ‘excitement’ encapsulates the feeling of the day.

“The fact we saw party membership and grassroots involvement grow rather substantially is a great statement,” says Shilling. “The combination of high voter turnout and high numbers for Naheed sends a clear message that this party has chosen him and that this is the direction we’re going.”

Shilling points out Nenshi has a seemingly clearer mandate from his party than Smith earned when she was elected leader, referring to the 53.8 per cent support Smith received on the final ballot of the UCP leadership race in 2022.

“Naheed’s message from the beginning was about building a home here in Alberta — building back and thinking big, working for each other and not against. Those ring true with a lot of the electorate, unlike the dangerous and destructive speeches coming out of the government,” says Shilling.

“The beauty of our party is that we are a party of diverse people with diverse viewpoints. What’s common is our values such as working together and helping each other to build up a province where we have good services, education and health care.”

Shilling would like to see the party facilitate the election of candidates across the province as early as two years ahead of the 2027 election, in order to have more time to connect with voters.

You can watch the leadership announcement from Saturday afternoon below:

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