Remember the Nenshi frenzy back in June?
For once, the spotlight shifted away from Danielle Smith, who usually dominates headlines with her whirlwind of controversial policies and federal sparring.
Nenshi’s bid for Alberta NDP leadership, driven by the slogan “For Alberta. For All of Us,” struck a chord. He energized the party, pulling in thousands of new supporters and leaving his rivals in the dust. With a staggering 86% of the leadership vote, he didn’t just win—he transformed the NDP, skyrocketing membership from 16,000 to an impressive 85,000. (For context, the UCP boasts about 120,000 members.)
His victory was hailed as a game-changer, sparking hope for the NDP’s return to power in Alberta.
And then? Silence.
Languishing or Team Building?
One would expect to hear all sorts of reactions from Nenshi, the official leader of the opposition to Danielle Smith and the UCP’s unpopular shenanigans, such as killing the CPP, creating a provincial police force, anti-trans legislation, and healthcare privatization.
However, Nenshi’s voice was rarely heard in mainstream media.
To be fair, Nenshi is an opposition leader without a seat in the legislature, so it is tough for him to react when he is not in the thick of things. But Nenshi, who knows how to use both traditional and social media effectively, seemed uncharacteristically silent.
Journalist Graham Thompson stated that anyone in opposition, even with a seat in the legislature, will have a tough time against the machinery of the UCP.
“[Nenshi] fell into the pit of silence populated by Opposition politicians everywhere whose voices are reduced to mere whispers against the clamour generated by majority governments. And, boy, can Alberta’s United Conservative government generate a racket. To say Premier Danielle Smith “flooded the zone” with news and controversy in 2024 is to say Niagara Falls drips water.”
While some will accuse Nenshi of being absent, others have noted that he has been active this past summer in team-building, heading to BBQs to meet NDP members, build trust and rally the team for an election in 2027.
Passing the First Test
All eyes were on a byelection on December 18 in the Lethbridge-West riding where former NDP cabinet minister Shannon Phillips resigned from the riding she represented since the 2015 general election.
The first question was whether Nenshi would run in Lethbridge-West so that if he won, he would finally have that seat in the legislature. When asked, Nenshi said numerous times that he preferred to seek a legislative seat in his home city of Calgary.
Instead, the NDP fielded Rob Miyashiro, a former Lethbridge city councillor, as their candidate.
Of course, the whole byelection was not without controversy. The UCP ran candidate John Middleton-Hope, a former police chief of Lethbridge and a current city council member.
Ironically, in her decision to leave politics and depart the Lethbridge-West riding, Shannon Phillips cited the refusal of the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team to charge Lethbridge police officers who spied on her and circulated profane and insulting memes about her.
“I can take being criticized on a political level,” she said at the time of her resignation. “What I can’t take is what happened from the [Lethbridge Police Service], given that it is so far outside the acceptable norms of the rule of law and the institutions of liberal democracy, for which they have never been held accountable and have never shown a whiff of responsibility.”
The final unofficial tally was 7,239 votes for Miyashiro to 6,089 for Middleton-Hope, securing the NDP seat until the next election.
Calgary or Edmonton?
But Nenshi still needs a seat in the legislature, but will he hold out for his preferred seat in Calgary, or will he run in Edmonton instead?
With former NDP leader Rachel Notley stepping down from her Edmonton-Strathcona seat on December 30th, there is a vacant seat to fill. And it should be an easy win. Edmonton-Strathcona is the safest place for an NDP win.
And now Nenshi has changed his tune.
In an interview with the Tyee, Nenshi talked about running in the capital city: “I’m certainly willing to look at Edmonton because I split my time between the two cities, and quite frankly, I think it’d be good for me to learn more about Edmonton.”
And so… with a wide-open, easy-to-win seat in Edmonton, will Calgary’s former mayor jump in to represent Edmonton-Strathcona voters?
Probably.
Expect Nenshi to be back in the news in the new year. And we’ll see if he can compete with Danielle Smith for headlines.
