Alberta NDP Leadership 2024
Episode Stats
Length
1 hour and 51 minutes
Words per Minute
107.418915
Summary
Western Standard presents a special broadcast from the floor of the Alberta NDP Leadership Convention covering the leadership race. Western Standard's own editor-in-chief Nigel Hannaford, Western Standard Opinion Editor Nadal Chaudhuri, and News Editor Dave Taylor join host Derek Fulibrand to discuss the results of the leadership vote.
Transcript
00:15:30.000
Good day. Today is June 22, 2024, and I'm Derek Fulibrand, publisher of the Western Standard,
00:15:50.440
and you're joining us for a special broadcast covering the Alberta NDP leadership race.
00:15:57.000
Long-time NDP leader Rachel Notley gave her farewell address to NDP members yesterday as she goes out.
00:16:07.380
And NDP members are set to vote, actually have already been voting, on who their next leader will be.
00:16:15.920
And we're supposed to have those results fairly soon.
00:16:24.820
uh hopefully they have a better this might be one thing that uh the adp might be better than
00:16:29.700
conservatives are at conservatives are not very good at sticking to the time on this
00:16:33.620
um but uh anyway you know we've got uh a great uh great crew uh for us today we've got uh in
00:16:40.740
studio western standard opinion editor and nigel hannaford who was pleased to come to an ndp
00:16:45.860
convention and uh uh we've also got uh western standard news editor dave baylor who uh experiences
00:16:52.900
This was on the Cory Morgan Show, but not too often with Nadal and I on the pipeline, but he's on the pipeline.
00:16:57.200
I'd just like to give a shake of the fist to the NDP for allowing us to work on the hottest Saturday of the year.
00:17:10.980
I think the building may have actually shut down the air conditioning assets this weekend.
00:17:14.460
We're probably the only ones in the entire building.
00:17:20.900
We've also, on the floor of the NDP Leadership Convention,
00:17:25.020
we've got Western Standard reporter Sean Polzer,
00:17:29.180
who's going to be coming to us from the floor of the convention with regular updates.
00:17:33.220
And we've got some great guest analysts coming in.
00:17:42.020
We've got former Alberta Justice Minister and Solicitor General, Jonathan Dennis.
00:17:47.800
We've got the Alberta Institute's Josh Andrus and some others
00:17:53.700
who are going to provide analysis throughout the day.
00:17:56.700
And we're going to keep it fairly short, depending what the NDP do.
00:18:01.660
If the NDP give us results in a reasonable time, then, you know, it's Saturday.
00:18:10.380
As much as I enjoy your company, gentlemen, I'd rather be drinking a beer on my deck.
00:18:17.080
Okay, so, Dave, we expect the NEP's official event is supposed to start around 2 o'clock.
00:18:27.580
Yeah, the UCP one could be forgiven for going so long because there was, what, eight or nine candidates.
00:18:36.240
And while Daniel Smith was the frontrunner, probably not in as dominant a position as Nahid Menchie is going to today.
00:18:44.540
No, I fully expect this to be a one-ballot affair. I think former Calgary Mayor Mahit Menchie is going to sweep to victory. He's sold the most memberships, including thousands and thousands in Calgary alone. So it's going to be his day. It's end day, and it'll be interesting to see his speech. He's got some interesting decisions to make.
00:19:07.640
He's always said he's going to sabotage with the federal NDP, so that's going to be interesting to see how that goes with the rest of his colleagues, but hopefully the NDP is going to wrap together, and we can be out of here by 2.30.
00:19:34.340
All right, Nigel's 63. What are we wagering, gentlemen? We're going to make it interesting.
00:19:50.740
Do you know the company buys the free beer every Friday?
00:19:59.540
All right, I want a six-pack of Lillard and Brown.
00:20:09.620
So everybody's giving it a fairly large. Fairly large, but a 68 would be a poly of
00:20:16.220
level super blowout, and I, maybe I'm wrong, but I'm not seeing that level of utter crushing.
00:20:22.760
I mean, I think he's gonna crush it, and he's gonna win, and handedly on first ballot. Not
00:20:27.740
that I have a particularly good insight. You know, I do worry sometimes, you know, from our side here
00:20:35.180
that it's like, you know, a panel of the CBC and CBC adjacents talking about inside the Conservative
00:20:42.280
Party. They don't even know any Conservatives. They have no insight into it. None of us are
00:20:47.400
particularly hardcore socialists. But, you know, we watch this pretty closely. So, but we, you know,
00:20:54.620
have to take it for what it is. None of us are particularly plugged in on the inside of the NDP,
00:20:59.580
but, you know, we've all got contacts in there, and we're talking to them.
00:21:05.180
Oh, well, actually, that 63% was somebody I used to work for, work with, I should say,
00:21:11.580
50 years ago, back up north. And these days, he's quite a popular NDP commentator, and he said,
00:21:22.300
Yeah, and I think Derek doesn't give us enough credit.
00:21:24.920
Remember, we were the ones that broke the story of race and all that.
00:21:36.060
Well, we don't have Lindsay on yet, but when Lindsay's here, we'll do it.
00:21:42.540
Well, actually, to start, why don't we bring in former Alberta Minister of Justice
00:21:47.480
and solicitor general jonathan dennis uh coming to us uh thank you for joining us thank you
00:21:54.200
the pleasure is mine hi from west calgary uh so for one uh socialist uh union activist to another
00:22:01.560
uh what are your uh projections uh your your best guess from listen i'm going to go a little
00:22:06.920
bit off the limb and i'm going to go to the 70 mark and uh i'll tell you why is that the real
00:22:12.760
surgery that we've seen in ndp support in the membership numbers has been from calgary and
00:22:18.920
who is the most widely known at calgary it's not kathleen ganley it is the head nenshi lover
00:22:24.680
hated he has been very good at expanding the pie uh his political pie and i i think the ndp are
00:22:33.240
starting to attract a lot of people that would not be traditional ndp members and frankly people that
00:22:39.080
would support justin trudeau's liberals and there's a clear connection between nenshi and trudeau
00:22:47.720
um out of the candidates who are uh on offer on the ballot today uh do you think nenshi is uh
00:22:57.240
their best bet for being competitive in the the next alberto election or do you think they're
00:23:02.680
better off going with someone with you know deeper roots in the party like kathleen kenley
00:23:07.000
or sarah hoffman so if i were an ndp member and please know that i'm not and i never have been
00:23:14.760
uh i would probably have voted for hoffman uh she shares their core values but calgary has been the
00:23:21.320
battleground the last couple of months at least the last one probably will be again in 2027 so
00:23:26.520
i would think that they're looking for someone that can expand their base but they may be biting
00:23:31.480
off more than they can shoot when i was a cabinet minister a couple terms before you garrick
00:23:37.000
I had some dealings with Mr. Nanshee, and he has a very strong opinion of himself.
00:23:43.600
I would suggest that the biggest problem that he's going to have is playing on a team and managing that caucus.
00:23:49.780
It is a much different kettle of fish to play on a team sport in federal or provincial politics than municipal politics.
00:23:57.820
It is going to be interesting to see how he manages a party that has more people than just one person.
00:24:06.260
So I will tell you that I think that he's going to have significant challenges transitioning.
00:24:11.240
When I was in office, I always found that a municipal politician, with one exception, that was Rick McConaughey,
00:24:16.360
he was able to transition to a team sport very quickly.
00:24:19.000
A lot of municipal politicians have had that problem, and that's largely because we've never had a party system municipally.
00:24:26.180
And that may change with the advent of Bill 20.
00:24:28.420
um what do you think the chances of fracture are within the ndp if an outsider like like
00:24:39.900
nancy comes in um he's got no history really in the party itself yeah i think he had to get a
00:24:46.580
special exception exemption to be allowed to run because he didn't have a membership for long
00:24:51.180
enough before now that's not terribly uncommon especially you know if a journalist is running
00:24:56.100
journalists generally are considered to, you know, shouldn't hold a membership. None of us
00:24:59.720
standard hold political party memberships. You know, people are, it's not too uncommon that
00:25:06.480
an exception is granted, but he has no real history in the party. He has a history of
00:25:11.920
connection with the federal liberals, even though he was, yeah, he's never been a liberal MP or
00:25:15.960
elected politician, but he is coming at this as an outsider. And, you know, while I think he is
00:25:23.660
very firmly rooted on the center left. He's not rooted, I think, in the radical left. Although
00:25:29.360
he has, I think, a large measure brought into woke progressivism on a few things. He doesn't have
00:25:34.580
that kind of union and radical green history that a lot of people in the NDP do. Do you think it's
00:25:41.720
going to be difficult for him to manage the further left wing of the NDP when he's successful
00:25:47.040
today? So there's two things that I'm going to flag right away. He has an imminent, but may seem
00:25:53.500
minor challenge does he run in lethbridge when shannon phillips resigns in a week or so
00:25:58.540
uh i would suggest he probably does not but then he's going to face some criticism why are you
00:26:02.620
wasting taxpayers dollars and having somebody resign now i've been hearing unconfirmed reports
00:26:07.260
it might be urban severe i've heard that he might go to the senate which again would cement the
00:26:11.820
nancy trudeau connection that being said that's a small annoyance that'll be a flash in the pan
00:26:17.660
you you said it quite correctly the biggest problem that he's going to have
00:26:20.940
is can we keep this coalition together there are people in the ndp that have been there for
00:26:27.500
20 30 years like i'm told sarah hoffman was a researcher in the legislature at one point
00:26:31.740
she's paid her dues to the party there is a really hard left action of that party for example gil
00:26:37.020
mcgowan was briefly a leadership candidate till he couldn't come up with the uh the required
00:26:41.900
deposit how does he keep this wing at bay while still moving to the center and we're already
00:26:49.740
seeing the fractures happen a couple days ago i believe last night at not least retirement
00:26:54.620
she says we should stay with the federal ndp and of course she's going to stay that because
00:26:58.860
she grew up her father was ndp leader uh many years ago but then she wants to decouple and
00:27:04.300
i really think that would be his first test to see if there are any fishers in the in the in
00:27:10.300
the ndp and more importantly can you keep them together you know i'm um
00:27:19.740
You know, conservatives in Alberta are notoriously fractious.
00:27:23.340
Jonathan, you were actually serving in the PCE caucus and cabinet
00:27:26.120
when the big fracture started opening up between the PCs and Wildrose.
00:27:31.580
But, you know, the left has been constantly divided in Alberta
00:27:41.680
I have a feeling the left is willing to put a lot more water in their wine because they're the
00:27:52.540
left in Alberta. They don't have the luxury of having, you know, 20 fault. The government and
00:27:59.640
the opposition were both nominally conservative. The PCs were, you know, had guys like Jonathan
00:28:04.720
Dennis that were conservative, but were increasingly a minority. It was still a
00:28:11.300
as government, and then you have the Wild Rose's
00:28:13.340
opposition. I think between the two, it was almost
00:28:33.580
is this enough to keep them together if Nancy
1.00
00:28:38.440
If you look at the very far left of the left, there's some pretty radical people in there for, you know, they fight for stuff that the majority of Canadians are against, Nigel. And how is he going to bring those people into the fold will be the big question, I think.
00:28:58.240
Well, I think that, you know, part of the answer to that is where else are they going to go?
00:29:03.020
It's a little bit like in the conservative side of the thing.
00:29:05.440
You have a socially conservative group of people embedded in a party that sort of represents them,
00:29:11.120
but doesn't, isn't really interested in pushing their calls.
00:29:13.860
And you're going to have the radicals that you just referred to.
00:29:18.040
I mean, they could break away and form their own little super, you know, super radical party.
00:29:27.320
and what's it worth to be intellectually pure
0.99
00:29:31.480
when Danielle Smith is going into a second term?
00:29:36.820
So my sense, remember I'm not a doctrinaire socialist,
00:29:48.740
so hold their noses and get as much as they can
00:29:55.500
Yeah, and I think maybe too much credit has been given to Nenshi for his ability to get nomination papers or to get sell nominations in Calvary.
00:30:04.700
When you remember, when he left after a decade in office, he was not very popular.
00:30:10.020
And I think he left because he knew he wasn't going to win the next election.
00:30:12.760
It was nothing but soaring property tax iso, soaring business taxes, and his dream was for Calvary to host the Olympics.
00:30:46.240
had a very difficult time trying to manage city council.
00:30:50.740
I think city councils are probably more difficult to manage than a caucus because they're not a team.
00:30:56.720
They're individuals acting more as a quasi-political board of directors.
00:31:03.380
But he had a very difficult time trying to corral council.
00:31:08.800
And politics, as you know, is very much a team sport.
00:31:11.340
But there is an incentive to stick together because you lose your job if you don't, generally.
00:31:18.500
how difficult the time do you think Nancy would have with caucus members so first off I think
00:31:25.500
you're entirely right and in Canada these days the local Canada really matter it doesn't matter
00:31:29.840
much at all I'd say less than five points it's the demograph of the right and the leader in the
00:31:33.540
party and as I mentioned it's a different kettle of fish playing on a team sport the NDP though
00:31:39.460
as the way they stand have always had a very strong tie with the organized formal labor
00:31:46.540
There are the Alberta Federation of Labour has actual seats on the NDP's board of directors.
00:31:54.540
So I'm going to tell you that if you're trying to move to the so-called centre, he's going to have increasingly a problem managing the people on the left.
00:32:04.720
And it'll be interesting to see, like we've already seen Shannon Phillips step down.
00:32:11.400
You're going to see a bunch of people saying they're not running in the next election.
00:32:14.520
but perhaps more importantly in 2027 the people that are on the hard left do they just stay home
00:32:20.380
all right Jonathan uh thank you very much uh if you have time we'd like to bring you back in
00:32:26.940
in uh in a little bit but uh thank you for joining us for now thank you all right uh we're going to
00:32:32.520
bring in Lindsay Wilson now she is uh I encourage you if I'm wrong Lindsay but uh president of
00:32:38.040
Alberta Proud coming to us. My best guess is from Cochrane.
00:32:46.080
one second, Lizzie. Got it, got it. There we go. You bet, Derek.
00:32:49.940
I'm outside in beautiful Cochrane. Sirens all around me, so I apologize for that.
00:32:53.960
Hopefully they pass them by. It's not too bad. We can hear you pretty well.
00:32:57.860
Thank you for joining us. I guess just from the start,
00:33:01.780
if you can put in a six pack of good German beer,
00:33:09.100
I think Nenshi's going to come out the victor, but I don't think people should underestimate Kathleen Ganley.
0.77
00:33:14.480
I think she's perceived as, you know, fairly centrist as well,
00:33:18.580
especially when you compare to somebody a little bit more, certainly quite a bit more extreme like Sarah Hoffman.
00:33:23.820
But Nenshi has, he's got a lot of work cut out for him.
00:33:26.760
Rachel Notley did, you know, unprecedented work with the party over the last decade.
00:33:32.620
Nenshi is a brilliant campaigner he didn't leave his mayorship in Calgary on a strong note
00:33:39.520
Calgarians seem to have a short memory uh he's he's definitely got his work cut out for him he's
00:33:46.200
perhaps a little bit more center I think we're going to see fracturing as well I agree with my
00:33:50.180
friend Jonathan Dennis I think we're going to see some fracturing from the party he's never been
00:33:54.560
popular with the unions he's not he's maybe perceived as not uh paying his dues with the
00:34:00.500
party. So I'm interested to see how this is going to play out and how he panders to some of the more
00:34:07.620
radical people that are involved with the NDP, which is certainly quite a growing number of them.
00:34:15.920
But I think if anybody can do it, it is Nahid Nenshi.
00:34:20.020
Nigel, previous guest Jonathan Dennis mentioned that, you know, if he doesn't run in Las
00:34:25.220
Bridge, he might, you know, he could receive some criticism for, you know, wasting taxpayers
00:34:30.000
money by triggering a different by-election, likely in Calgary, possibly Edmonton.
00:34:34.720
I'm not convinced of that, because it'd be pretty tough for the UCP to make that argument,
00:34:39.620
because Daniel Smith did not run in the open seat in Calgary Elbow when that was available.
00:34:45.560
That's even closer to home for her, but that was not. In fact, the NDP won it in the general
00:34:50.700
election. So that would have... I don't think the UCP can really make that criticism with
00:34:58.140
a straight face. As well, I mean, he's a Calgary guy. Well, they might make it just to give him a
00:35:04.060
dig, but speaking on the opinion desk of the Western Standard, I'm not going to make a big
00:35:09.500
case out of that, because you're right. A lot of the attraction of, you know, one of the reasons
00:35:16.780
why the ndp held that seat in the first place was the popularity of the local candidate i mean that's
00:35:22.700
a personal thing that could be worth 500 votes right there so without that without the uh without
00:35:29.180
a team in place i mean don't forget he built his whole uh the campaign really here in calgary now
00:35:36.620
who are you going to get in leftbridge somebody so i would actually say let's be real we know very
00:35:43.020
well that you if you're elected as the party leader and you don't hold a seat you're gonna
00:35:50.060
ask somebody with a safe one to step down anybody would do the same i have other clothes to pick
00:35:56.060
with mr nancy but that's not one yeah uh all right uh lindsay do you think uh do you think
00:36:05.500
there's really um any feasible shot that anyone besides denchy uh walks away with the crown tonight
00:36:13.020
oh lindsay we can't hear you hello me all right can you hear me oh yeah we can hear you now lindsay
00:36:24.580
i think balance uh you certainly come with their share of surprises uh my second guess would be
00:36:31.040
canley but i i do think just i mean it's pretty simple you see you know the 85 000 you see the
00:36:37.620
numbers you see the spike in calgary he was calgary's mayor that's where his base is that's
00:36:42.300
his support was i attended that debate and and the color and the energy in that room i think that was
00:36:48.620
about a month and change ago that was uh that was wild that was all that was all love for him so
00:36:54.620
i'm not really seeing how he can't come out of this but again rank ballots can can be surprising
00:37:01.900
all right well we're uh we're seven minutes over the event actually should have started seven
00:37:07.340
minutes ago i mean i won't hold them to it that long uh dave you i'm sure you cannot forget uh
00:37:15.260
the extremely painful experience i think of the first leadership we ever covered the western
00:37:19.420
standard which was the uh forget the exact year but the when erin o'toole was elected uh
00:37:24.540
conservative leader of the federal conservative party um it was something like 10 hours or
00:37:31.740
something i still get nightmares about it yeah at a long point we had to stop broadcasting because
00:37:36.380
it was going so long our camera and computers overheated yes exactly but so we've got better
00:37:42.700
computers now and uh better cameras and uh yeah i don't know what the hold up is now uh maybe we
00:37:49.740
can check in with sean the convention floor if he's on yeah that's a good point uh maybe you can uh
00:37:54.940
make contact with him and uh let's let's get sean from the convention floor as soon as soon as we
00:37:59.500
can. Now, in that case, it was bound to be a multiple ballot race, Nigel, and the Conservatives
00:38:13.220
actually already had all the results in, but they delayed it between releasing the results
00:38:17.440
of each ballot just to drag out the media cycle and give them as much free media airtime
00:38:22.880
as possible. Anybody would do the same, and it looks like they're doing it. Well, I wouldn't
00:38:31.260
say that yet. I mean, we're nine minutes over, and it's going to be one ballot. Now, how
00:38:38.300
long are they going to try and stretch this out? I don't know. I'm not going to judge
00:38:41.280
them yet, because this is the first Alberta NDP leadership race that anyone has ever paid
00:38:46.460
attention to. There's just never been a reason to pay attention to them, because the last
00:38:51.700
time the NDP selected a leader, 2014 that selected Rachel Notley, it was a few thousand people. I
00:38:58.640
don't recall off the top of my mind, but it was not more than four digits. It was a very small
00:39:05.360
number of people, Julian activists, hardcore NDP members. The NDP had only four seats in the
00:39:11.860
Alberta legislature at the time when Brian Mason was being replaced. It was only a step up. It was
00:39:18.240
It was not a fringe party, but it was a very, very minor party.
00:39:24.200
How do you think the sunshine that the NDP is getting now, with anyone caring about the
00:39:31.580
actual, of the election that the NDP leader had, how do you think that's going to affect
00:39:35.180
Well, nothing succeeds like excess, so I'm sure that the fanfare for Mr. Nenshi is going
00:39:45.440
You know, I think one of the things that's happened since 2014 is that you've got a lot of people moved into Calgary.
00:39:51.740
They weren't necessarily hardcore, you know, prairie conservatives.
00:39:57.920
They came from B.C., they came from Ontario, they came from Newfoundland in droves.
00:40:04.360
The newbies I find are the most hardcore conservatives you can find.
00:40:07.500
When I was in politics, I saw newbie flag outside of the house, I knew they were both in wild rows.
00:40:11.940
But they're all up in, mostly up in Fulton Quarry, you know, so I don't know whether Mr.
00:40:16.820
Kendenci campaigned up there, probably not. What I'm saying, I guess, is that to your question,
00:40:22.820
the demographics are quite different in Alberta today from what they were 10 years ago. I think
00:40:29.700
the population now is 4 million, and years ago it was probably two and a half. So, you know,
00:40:36.340
an extra million and a half people without that tradition of uh that came out of the immigration
00:40:42.980
of the americans in the 1960s or 1930s very different looking crowd so i you know they're
00:40:50.660
starting to look a lot more cosmopolitan and mr eventually is going to trade on that i think what
00:40:56.020
the other thing you need to remember at the moment is the ucp has kept their pelvic dry
00:41:00.340
but you know darn well that they've had sort of their own version of the war room going getting
00:41:05.540
all the dirt that they can on one day she's talking about this mayor of calvin and they'll
00:41:09.940
give them a bit of a honeymoon face even like on sunday and then they'll start their attack
00:41:13.860
ads on monday and you know people will see the other side you think it'll take them that long
00:41:20.420
i think they'll give them a day a day yes plus it's going to be nice tomorrow they're decent people
00:41:26.340
if i look unclassy to start the same day but i mean it'll uh i mean the end the ndp went after
00:41:37.600
But before she was even sworn as Premier, although she was sworn as Premier
00:41:40.620
mere days after winning the leadership, which was record time. But that was a weird set of
00:41:44.560
circumstances where you had kind of a hostile outgoing leader there.
00:41:56.240
knew it was time to go, that he would have a very difficult time with re-election.
00:42:00.280
uh but he's had he's had some time to cool off you know my sense in calgary is that you know
00:42:06.600
there's still a lot of people who don't like him but the anger is not white hot because he's been
00:42:11.020
out of office for actually not that long what a year and a half uh two years two years yeah oh
00:42:17.620
yeah okay yeah uh but he's been out of office for for a little while um do you think out of the
00:42:23.300
candidates on offer from the ndp nenshi is would be the most competitive or do you think someone
00:42:28.320
like Hoffman or Ganley, we'll give him a better run.
0.99
00:42:33.400
I think when it comes to Nenshi, Calgarians' memories are short, right?
00:42:42.120
We can't forget in the 10 years that he was in office there, spiking crime, soaring business
00:42:49.020
taxes, soaring residential taxes, fleeing out of the downtown core.
00:42:54.040
but what we but we we also can't discredit that he's a brilliant campaigner and he's a brilliant
00:43:00.120
charismatic public speaker so again i would encourage people to look back on that 10 years
00:43:05.220
and think you know if that's how we how he ended up with calgary is that is that how
00:43:09.940
how is he going to do with with the province with the rest of the province
00:43:14.260
well yeah that's that's a question uh i i've been asking a lot uh dave is how's this going
00:43:22.800
to play for the NDP in Edmonton. The NDP, until 2015, was more or less an exclusively Edmonton
00:43:32.020
party, with some notable exceptions like Rachel Motley's father, Grant Motley, he managed
00:43:36.580
to, you know, he was from an era before he even televised leadership debates when local
00:43:42.740
candidates actually mattered significantly more than just the party leader. I think he
00:43:47.740
even sat as the lone NDP MLA for much of his time. I think he may have been the leader
00:43:52.500
the opposition with two seats uh because there was another two seats at the time but they were
00:43:57.060
independents who have been formally stolen credit um the ndp with a few exceptions like that uh
00:44:04.900
until 2050 was an exclusively ndp party 2015 they won every single seat in edmonton
00:44:10.260
uh they repeated that this time around 2019 um some of that is the politics of edmonton that it
00:44:16.980
is on balance a less conservative city than calgary um do you think by losing
00:44:26.260
the leadership of that party from from edmonton to calgary though that that'll open up um
00:44:32.980
any openings for for conservative gains in edmonton that could offset potential ndp
00:44:38.020
gains of calgary being a being the capital city it's a heavily union town um a lot of union jobs
00:44:46.260
there so i think it all depends on how well menchie deals with the unions when he was mayor of calgary
00:44:51.620
then get along with you guys uh so it's going to be interesting to see how the gill mcgowan's of
00:44:56.820
the world uh and then she's uh co-inhabit you know get along um but uh yeah i mean it's it's
00:45:04.820
There's always the outer roadways of Edmonton, the deep suburbs, you know, are closely concerned with.
00:45:20.820
Oh, see, I had to shave today, so I apologize, Joy.
00:45:24.820
Yeah, it all depends on what happens with the units, I think.
00:45:32.820
Lindsay, actually, I think Dave brought something up in passing here. The water
00:45:39.480
crisis in Calgary right now. I mean, there's going to be an inquiry into, you
00:45:45.120
know, what caused this. So, you know, presumably sometime in the next decade
00:45:49.500
we'll know. But clearly there's clearly some kind of failure to maintain and
00:45:59.360
monitor the infrastructure, the most fundamental infrastructure of any city is its roads, its
00:46:06.420
power, and its water. That's kind of the three core functions of a municipality, followed perhaps
00:46:12.760
by police in large urban areas. Those are the core functions of a municipality. If you can't do that,
00:46:18.960
you should probably unincorporate and just join a county at that point. And Calgary apparently
00:46:24.460
can't do that. So, do you think that the water crisis in Calgary has the potential to blow back
00:46:33.740
on Denshi? Because, I mean, I'm not sure it's fair to put it squarely on Gondek and the current
00:46:39.820
council. They've been there for, you know, two years. This kind of issue, these are long-term
00:46:45.820
issues that extend back. Do you think there's a political risk for Denshi coming from the water
00:46:52.540
crisis in county right now well i think it i think those people who are a little bit more
00:46:57.820
hyper engaged folks like you and i would would pinpoint that a little bit more on nenshi in
00:47:02.940
that past administration because what's happening is that and it really peaked during covid when we
00:47:09.020
had municipal councils that were voting out of their jurisdiction right voting on provincial
00:47:13.020
health matters and the like and and so that opened up such a can of worms so now we have municipal
00:47:18.860
councils who are focused on DEI and gender politics and ideology and federal
00:47:27.440
grandstanding and all these things and they forgot to do their job right which
00:47:31.100
is essential services water water main so this is really this this city council
00:47:37.460
in Calgary I mean Condick is is the least popular polling mayor in Canadian
00:47:44.140
history I mean what a title to rock walk around with I don't think there's any
00:47:47.900
coming back for her through this how much that's going to reflect on nenshi yet remains to be seen
00:47:57.980
sorry lindsay i'm going to cut you off there we're uh we're going to go now live to the
00:48:01.980
floor of the ndp convention where uh uh calgary um buffalo mla and former
00:48:09.020
uh alberta minister of finance joe cc is speaking okay
00:48:17.900
When Rachel asked me to run for MLA way back in 2015, I had already decided that I wanted
00:48:34.220
I didn't know anyone much in the NDP, and I considered that I might run as an independent.
00:48:51.420
The second smartest political decision I've ever made.
0.98
00:48:54.840
First was to get my wife involved with my campaign manager back in 2015.
1.00
00:49:08.200
Working with Rachel was challenging and exciting.
00:49:11.880
as the premier, her and I, I was finance minister, her and I would always find it
00:49:18.640
difficult to make time to meet. So we'd try and get lunches together. And, you know, that can only
00:49:24.920
take you so far because you have to organize your security and all these sorts of people.
00:49:29.380
Anyway, we had a better idea. That's when we joined each other on morning runs in Edmonton
00:49:36.560
when she was down in calgary and every morning she would discuss decisions and we would talk about
00:49:43.840
decisions we wanted to make together and then she would give me my running or walking papers
00:49:50.720
as premier she was committed to her values she supported the vulnerable she lifted up women and
0.96
00:49:57.280
children with her policies no matter how difficult she stiffened all of our backs at the cabinet
0.87
00:50:03.840
table and made us do things that were in the best interests of Albertans throughout this problem.
00:50:17.680
When Rachel announced she was stepping down, I was truly saddened. I was hoping for some sort of
00:50:24.880
Hail Mary, you know, that fantastical way of thinking that puts you back in government and
00:50:30.480
at the cabinet table, I knew it was an extremely hard decision for Rachel.
00:50:37.460
Rachel, I wish you all the best on wherever your journey takes you.
00:51:00.480
It's really hard to listen, eh, Rachel, to that, because it's not about me, it's about
00:51:20.100
you. Yeah. As we move on, I'm really excited to work with a new leader, whoever is elected
00:51:32.760
and I know our caucus will be behind the leader
00:51:39.120
Before we begin today's program, first I'd like to introduce
00:51:41.900
Elder Alice to the stage who will bring us greetings
00:52:17.700
If you have thoughts or thoughts or thoughts or reaction,
00:52:23.340
then you will always be startling with the other mistakes.
00:52:29.580
If you future will understand yourself as it can roles you.
00:53:45.420
I want to read from this information, and I want to Mary that I provide.
00:56:18.700
Garrett, can you come forward and say a few words?
00:56:24.740
Thank you. It's an honour to stand before you today.
00:56:32.540
The Alberta New Democratic Party is the hope of Alberta.
00:56:40.740
today we stand at the precipice of change we just got the keys to a new house and we're walking in
00:56:50.980
through a threshold for the first time in a few short moments we'll be learning which of
00:56:56.580
the four leadership race candidates was selected leader in a history making vote taking up and
00:57:03.860
building upon the legacy of rachel notley and those that came before i'd like to personally
00:57:09.940
thank everyone that put their name forward for leadership political life is about sacrifice
00:57:15.940
and your contributions have made our party richer
00:57:23.780
and i would like to recognize the small but mighty team at the party office your commitment to our
00:57:30.500
cause is clear with every late night every weekend entering data and every answered phone call we
00:57:39.460
appreciate you so much thank you you know as a member of this party since I
00:57:49.420
first walked into Ray Martin's federal NDP campaign office in 2011 I'm mindful
00:57:55.780
today of what came before I'm mindful of what we celebrated last night at the
00:58:01.300
Rachel Notley Legacy Gala if you were able to make it last night you know there were
00:58:39.460
...for moments where there wasn't a dry eye in the house.
00:58:56.620
Rachel proved that New Democrats could win in Alberta, and she helped...
00:59:01.580
Rachel proved that New Democrats could win in Alberta, and she helped people understand
00:59:12.060
Taking care of one another, building each other up,
00:59:15.620
looking to the future, strong public services and healthcare
00:59:19.160
that is there for you when and where you need it.
00:59:28.500
that it's not just about her, it's about all of us.
00:59:35.100
when they are working together with a common cause in the public interest.
00:59:40.140
She will tell you that we are not the authors of our movement, but the stewards.
00:59:45.560
And we stand on the shoulders of those that came before us that have fought across this country
00:59:50.720
for the rights of working people, the rights of women, of LGBTQ2S people, of Indigenous peoples,
00:59:57.460
and for equality and a better life for every one of us.
01:00:01.580
That, my friends, is the strength of our movement.
01:00:10.160
And that is the threshold that we walk through today.
01:00:17.160
The impact of all those years of work is starting to show today.
01:00:22.160
At the end of last year, our membership was roughly 16,000 people.
01:00:30.160
but my friends look at what we accomplished in the last 10 years with the members that we had
01:00:39.920
and imagine the potential for what we can do as the largest provincial political party in canada
01:00:47.200
today we are working from that position of strength because all albertans know
01:00:57.600
that this party represents the viable, credible, competent alternative to
01:01:03.520
Danielle Smith and the UCP. My friends, I can tell you're chomping at the bit. I
01:01:13.100
can tell that you're ready to roll up your sleeves, grab a clipboard and a
01:01:18.860
stack of leaflets and get out onto the hustings and start making a bigger
01:01:23.640
difference danielle smith has three years max today we put her on notice
01:01:42.200
remember when some of you wanted this to go to september
01:01:44.520
well when we leave this room we're one team we're united
01:01:53.900
and no matter who you voted for or what leadership campaign you're on we need all your help if we're
01:02:03.880
going to make change happen in the province of alberta so take a moment to think about the
01:02:08.760
candidate you're going to help and the constituency association you're going to join and hold fast to
01:02:15.020
that optimism and hope that we all feel today thank you and again it's an honor that you're
01:02:20.800
with us today to be part of this historic moment thank you
01:02:24.000
okay thank you very much Garrett now let me just see well that was your speech
01:02:41.900
don't want to do it again although it was brilliant I'm almost there oh please
01:02:55.180
welcome Nancy Janowiczek the president of the Alberta NDP to say a few words
01:03:00.200
Nancy hello fellow new Democrats I know that we're all excited to welcome our
01:03:12.440
new leader so I'm not going to take up too much of your time we're here to
01:03:15.980
look forward and imagine our future but these periods of transition are also
01:03:20.320
times for reflection and I want to reflect on 2015 when I walked into the
01:03:25.200
campaign office of Joe Cece's office to see what I could do to help out.
01:03:29.320
I also remember it was the growing excitement of that campaign under Rachel's
01:03:33.900
leadership. My partner and I were back on our way to the office.
01:03:40.880
Let's just keep the MVP up on the side of the screen.
01:03:42.920
We're watching a statement from the president of the Alberta New Democratic Party right
01:03:49.200
now. They're kind of just going through, I can't blame them, Nigel,
01:03:53.960
They've got the attention, they're going to use it, and I think because they know it's very unlikely to be a bunch of multiple ballots keeping the attention on them for very long, that, yeah, so they're filling out with this stuff. I think they have the longest land acknowledgments I've ever seen.
01:04:18.460
You know, a remark that struck me, at the time, and that's what I meant to you,
01:04:23.620
was the preceding speaker thinking about being on the precipice of training.
01:04:31.440
In government and in opposition, we have given a word as a good choice.
01:04:37.880
Yeah, generally used as a warning term, we're on the precipice of disaster.
01:04:41.940
I just want to check with James here, make sure we're monitoring what the MVP president
01:04:58.380
is saying, making sure we don't actually miss the announcements here.
01:05:02.740
We need to make public services instead of gunning them and attacking the hard workers
0.95
01:05:07.540
Yeah, let's bring in Lindsay Wilson, president of Alberta Pratt, coming to us from beautiful Cochrane, Alberta.
01:05:16.900
Lindsay, if things go as I think we all expect it to today and former programmer, now he's been she wins.
01:05:25.560
What do you think the first 48 hours of his leadership looks like?
01:05:30.420
Oh, I don't think they're going to waste any time on attacking Premier Smith and the UCP.
01:05:36.300
I just, I really want to emphasize to everybody who's listening to this right now, if you're concerned about this next chapter in the NDP, and you're concerned that you feel that this is going to be a viable threat in the next election, which I assure you it will, I encourage people to focus on one word only, which is unity.
01:05:54.520
Conservatives need to stay united. The left has always done it. They wrote the playbook on it. We need to take a page on other playbooks. We as a broader member of this party was when we supported an event.
01:06:06.300
If you believe in keeping a government at the provincial helm, who is going to take on the NDP, liberal, federal coalition, who is going to stand up to these eco-radical regulations in our face, the newest one, C-59, that's come forward, we need to take this seriously and we need to be united.
01:06:25.740
All right, although the question was about the first 48 hours of non-eventing what it was like.
01:06:33.420
I think the gloves are going to come off really quickly, and I think we're going to see who's going to be staying with the NDP party, and which MLPs are going to deflect, really depending on how this leadership race turns out.
01:06:45.180
I think we're going to see some of the extreme left. We'll see how they're going to go.
01:06:51.440
i think i think the left is pretty good at staying united though so i think it's despite a lot of
01:06:57.280
people maybe that wouldn't be happy with the nenshi outcome i think that they they will be able to
01:07:03.040
i guess suck it up and and um it's my pleasure now to invite uh amanda all right let's go back to the
01:07:11.520
the nvp uh state from the returning office perhaps this could bring us the open race amanda
01:07:28.640
thank you hello new democrats thank you so much what a crowd there must be something going on
01:07:35.600
today my name is amanda freistad i use she and her pronouns and i'm honored to be your chief
01:07:43.040
returning officer i'm really humbled to have served this party in many ways from tabled officer
01:07:49.200
to chair of the election planning committee and we did this thing in 2015
01:07:53.200
and to now, what is the biggest leadership race in the Alberta NDP history.
01:08:05.240
When Rachel Notley announced on January 16th, she was stepping down as leader.
01:08:10.320
That decision set into motion this leadership race.
01:08:14.120
And on January 27th, at a special provincial council meeting in Red Deer,
01:08:18.420
delegates from across Alberta gathered to set the rules of this race.
01:08:23.200
those rules our contestants needed to be vetted by the party and the race for
01:08:27.520
leader officially began on February 5th once announced each candidate needed to
01:08:34.480
raise about six we needed to raise $60,000 over a set period of time in
01:08:38.980
order to be considered in the race seven people put their name forward to run in
01:08:44.040
this leadership race seven strong wonderful leaders of the Alberta NDP
01:08:51.160
David Sheppard, Racky Pancholi, Gil McGowan, Jody Callahoo-Stonehouse, Sarah Hoffman, Nahed Nenshi, and Kathleen Gamley all put their name forward to be the leaders of this party.
01:09:13.380
Four of those candidates remained on the ballot today.
01:09:16.720
When the race began, the Alberta NDP had, here's some numbers, folks, 16,224 members.
01:09:26.540
And when membership sales ended on April the 22nd, there were 85,144 members eligible to vote.
01:09:37.880
We did a little bit of list cleanup, and that list was revised.
01:09:41.660
And at the end, there was 85,277 people who were eligible to cast a ballot.
01:09:52.640
Of all of those members eligible to vote, 72,930 members voted in the leadership race by noon today.
01:10:11.660
folks that is eighty five point six percent of the membership to win the
01:10:35.540
race today a candidate must receive 50% of the votes plus one or thirty six
01:10:41.840
thousand four hundred and sixty six votes a total of sixty four thousand two
01:10:48.920
hundred and eighty two votes were cast online eight thousand six hundred and
01:10:53.300
forty eight were cast by mail and 38 ballots were spoiled the votes have been
01:11:00.620
counted they've been audited and they have been affirmed by me as the chief
01:11:05.960
returning officer our auditor and all the candidate representatives but before
01:11:12.160
I announce the first round of counting I would like to it would be my honor to
01:11:20.140
for the very last time invite Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley to join me on the
01:11:55.800
okay you might as well stay on your feet so and the results are
01:12:24.020
votes for Jody Callahoe Stonehouse 1,222 votes votes for Kathleen Ganley 5,899 votes
01:13:14.480
Nahed Nenshi 62,746 votes please join me in welcoming the new leader of the
01:14:23.860
All right, folks, you're going to want to sit down, because I've got a lot to say.
01:14:34.140
First of all, everybody, one more time for Rachel Notley.
01:14:43.580
We'll have more to say about that once-in-a-lifetime leader in a few moments here.
01:15:37.700
To my Blackfoot brothers and sisters, I am known as clan leader, he who moves camp and the others follow.
01:15:45.820
To my Soutena, brothers and sisters, I am known as Etiyah, always ready, which as you
01:15:53.980
already know from tonight does not mean always on time.
01:16:00.920
And it's important for us to begin in a good way that acknowledges this place, l'histoire
01:16:11.980
And over the last four months, I have been able to spend time with people in every corner
01:16:17.980
of this great place, from high level to high prairie to high river, from Fort Mackay and
01:16:25.440
Fort Chip to Fort McMurray to Fort McLeod, from Jasper to Lloydminster, in Calgary, in
01:16:33.160
Edmonton, in Lethbridge, in Medicine Hat and Grand Prairie.
01:16:38.320
And we've talked about this province, about this place, about this place that we call
01:16:45.500
And people have been calling this place home for countless generations.
01:16:51.820
Since time immemorial, people have come here, drawn by the land, by the water, by the sky.
01:17:01.200
They've come to every part of this province, to hunt, and to fish, and to trade, to dance,
01:17:17.340
Sounds like an NDP caucus meeting, minus the dance, dream, and love parts, but ultimately
01:17:23.440
to engage in that very real act of building community.
01:17:28.000
And today, we start the beginning of a new chapter in building that community, in building
01:17:43.960
So, a few nights ago, a few nights ago, my sister, who's sitting in the front row here,
01:17:49.820
came over to my place, and she looked at the place and said, this is the messiest I have
01:18:22.260
I was lucky enough to choose this province as my home twice.
01:18:28.000
Once I was 18 months old, and I did my research and made the case and convinced my parents
01:18:36.840
that the future was in the West, and we packed all of our belongings up into a 1973 Dodge
01:18:46.580
Now my mother says that in fact I'm telling that story wrong and that my briefing book
01:18:51.120
was not in fact all that compelling, mostly in crayon.
01:18:57.560
we made a home here. Whether in a small house in northeast Calgary, a motel room in Red
01:19:03.540
Deer County, we made home here. Later, just before I turned 30, after living and working
01:19:11.680
all around the world, I chose to come home. And to make my home here one more time. One
01:19:18.980
more time forever. Because Alberta has always been home. And it became a home for a poor
01:19:28.840
immigrant family from Africa, as it has become a home for people who have been here for thousands
01:19:35.020
of generations, as we continue to build a home for people who arrived here last week.
01:20:10.900
From our premier and our government, the place they were describing didn't feel like our home.
01:20:22.120
They were describing an Alberta that I didn't recognize.
01:20:27.120
They were describing an Alberta that is so very, very small.
01:20:34.800
And in Alberta, we are many things, but we are not small.
01:20:40.900
They were describing an Alberta where everyone is against us,
01:20:47.900
an Alberta where we need to fight outsiders all the time,
01:21:08.900
Because, as we all know, it is impossible to think small under a sky that big.
01:21:22.920
But Danielle Smith and the UCP want us to be small.
01:21:27.360
They want us to be small because they think small.
01:21:35.640
But what Alberta has always deemed is a wide-open door with a welcome mat, inviting the best people and the best ideas from every corner of this broken earth to live a great Alberta life right here.
01:21:52.600
You know, Danielle Smith recently said, in her way as she is, she gets carried away sometimes, and she claimed to be the most, I have to get this quote right, the most freedom-loving politician in Canada.
01:22:16.320
But friends, she hasn't done a blessed thing to protect anybody's freedoms.
01:22:28.600
In fact, what she does is she systematically takes them away.
0.99
01:22:38.260
Taking away the freedom for doctors, parents and kids to choose the best medical treatment
1.00
01:22:44.840
Taking away the freedom of landowners to decide what to build on their lands.
01:22:50.160
Taking away the freedom of citizens to choose local representatives to reflect local views.
01:22:57.480
Taking away the freedom of regulators to do their jobs without political interference
01:23:07.480
She's taking away the freedom to disagree with the Premier on anything.
0.94
01:23:12.960
And she's taking away the freedom for teachers and doctors and nurses to do their jobs without
01:23:18.280
fear, to do their jobs with hope, and to do their jobs with adequate funding.
01:23:26.560
She's taking away the freedom for the brilliant researchers of Alberta to do any kind of research
01:23:40.000
I think when she said she's the most freedom-loving politician in Canada, she meant to say she's
01:23:55.900
But Albertans have shown over and over and over and over and over again, we have shown
01:24:16.560
And this extraordinary movement that we've created together
01:24:24.180
when you stop thinking small and you start dreaming big.
01:24:34.780
If you've ever heard me speak before, you know one word in Sanskrit that I talk about all the time.
01:24:51.020
It means service beyond oneself and service to build the community and make it better.
1.00
01:24:59.540
There's no room for seva or service in Danielle Smith's tiny Alberta.
01:25:04.780
But there is room for service in our hearts, in our hands, in our minds, and especially
01:25:15.020
And we will use those voices to fight for the Alberta that we want, the Alberta we need,
01:25:21.620
and the Alberta that future generations deserve.
01:25:25.740
So you've heard that number many times today, 85,000 members.
01:25:43.020
The Alberta NDP today is the largest provincial political party in Canada.
01:25:53.740
Now, I'm going to be self-indulgent for one second, though.
01:26:11.080
Just before I got on stage, I was told that that number that you heard is, in fact, the largest number of votes for any provincial party leader in Canadian history.
01:26:53.700
But what I know that's about is the need for every one of us to make a statement about our movement.
01:26:59.860
The other important number that I want to share with you is the number you heard right at the end.
01:27:04.620
And I think it might have slipped by because we were getting a lot of numbers when Amanda was saying it.
01:27:09.060
Did you hear what the voter turnout number was in this election?
01:27:14.880
Most leadership races, for example, the recent Ontario Liberal leadership race got about 30%.
01:27:22.120
Our friends across the aisle and their leadership got between 50% and 60%.
01:27:27.280
No one has ever heard of an 85% voter turnout in a leadership race before.
01:27:34.220
and what that means what that means is that all of you and all the people
01:27:45.080
watching online and all of our friends and neighbors who took out a membership
01:27:49.220
are here to stay we are here to stay and we're here to continue building this
01:27:59.220
movement together forever. So what does that look like? What do we do now with
01:28:04.920
this movement? Well first of all I've been given permission that tomorrow I
01:28:09.480
can take a half day off. So tomorrow evening the work starts again. We'll also
01:28:17.720
take a break on Monday night for a hockey game.
01:28:21.620
Actually, we will not take a night off on Monday for the hockey game, because this is
01:28:33.260
At one of the recent events, I think it was at the Calgary debate, a young man came up
01:28:38.420
to me, and he said, something I hear every day, I've never joined a political party before.
01:28:45.540
But then he kept going, and he said, so now you have to make it worth my while.
01:28:55.380
And he said, listen, it was a big decision for me to join a political party.
01:29:00.620
It was a big decision for me to identify myself with this group.
01:29:11.120
So he lives in the community of Cranston in southeast Calgary.
01:29:13.980
And he said, my job is to talk to my neighbors.
01:29:21.620
My job is to go door-to-door, block-by-block, street-by-street.
01:29:28.180
And over the next three years, my job is to flip Cranston to the NDP.
01:29:35.920
And when I'm done, he said, when I'm done, my job is to go door-by-door, street-by-street, block-by-block, next-door in Mahogany.
01:29:47.120
And that is exactly how we need to be thinking now.
01:29:54.560
We need to convert this movement into something that is going to build and build and build
01:30:02.000
We need to co-create a vision for Alberta with our neighbours in big cities, in mid-sized
01:30:08.260
towns, in small rural communities, everywhere in this province.
01:30:13.020
We need to work with them together to create the vision of the Alberta that we all want,
01:30:28.200
So, even at that hockey game, I want you to watch it in community, I want you to watch
01:30:35.860
it with friends and neighbours, and during the stoppages in play.
01:30:45.300
They had big plans last night for those who couldn't come to the gala, which is Rachel
01:30:55.660
I'm a little bit taller than she is, but one of the things that we really have in common
01:31:02.280
You want me to speak during the intermission and you think I'll speak that long?
01:31:06.760
These are the conversations we need to continue having with Albertans, with all of our neighbours.
01:31:13.760
Yes, we need to build the party infrastructure.
01:31:15.760
Yes, we need to build on the magnificent work we've already done
01:31:18.760
to help Albertans, our neighbours, see ourselves as an alternative.
01:31:22.760
But we need to do more, empowering leaders within our movement,
01:31:26.760
working with volunteers in every corner of our movement,
01:31:29.760
ensuring that we are not just building a campaign-ready machine,
01:31:34.760
but ensuring that as we move forward, that NDP victory in 2027 becomes inevitable.
01:31:55.980
We are going against a well-funded, a well-oiled political machine on the other side.
01:32:01.800
We're going against a machine that, unlike us, is not based on values and ethics and morals and what is best for the province.
01:32:14.080
Because remember, friends, winning that election in 2027, inshallah, as you all have been hearing me say, God willing,
01:32:22.120
winning that election in 2027 is not the end result.
01:32:28.980
That's what makes us different than our opponents.
01:32:36.880
For us, winning that election means having the opportunity to build that home for all Albertans now and all Albertans to come.
01:32:51.740
The work, the work, friends, is only beginning.
01:33:01.800
But I want you to know something else, that in the struggle, in the service, together
01:33:10.180
we will find extraordinary joy, because we're going to be together.
01:33:18.080
We're going to be together with like-minded people.
01:33:23.720
We will find joy and fun and happiness in the work that we're doing.
01:33:28.140
But the real joy, the real joy comes with knowing we are on the side of building that better home for everyone.
01:33:37.580
And I tell you, friends, the work that we are about to go through together is going to make victory in 2027 so much sweeter.
01:33:46.320
and the other thing to remember the other thing to remember about the joy of the work that we're
01:33:59.740
doing right now is that it is both a duty and an important legacy because as we continue to build
01:34:09.420
this movement. We do so in the names of those who started this movement. We do so
01:34:16.140
in the names of Tommy Douglas, and Ed Broadbent, and Jack Layton, and together we
01:34:27.300
do so in the names of Neil Reimer, of Grant Notley, of Ray Martin and Ross
01:34:34.040
Harvey, of Pam Barrett, and of Raj Panu, and of Brian Mason. And we do so building
01:34:48.680
on a home that all of you have worked so hard in building, but none of you would
01:34:54.260
begrudge understanding that the architect, the craftsperson, the master
01:34:59.480
builder of that home was a once-in-a-lifetime politician that we are so grateful to have had
01:35:44.700
We've talked a lot in the family in this room today.
01:35:48.280
But I want to talk to some people who aren't in this room.
01:35:52.860
And I want to say to all of our Albertan neighbors,
01:36:12.320
You know in Hamilton they say you want to be in the room where it happens?
01:36:15.540
I was perfectly happy being in the room adjacent to where it happens.
01:36:20.800
But like all of you, I was increasingly troubled,
01:36:23.380
increasingly troubled by this indulgent provincial government.
01:36:26.640
but also being told by so many people, the stakes are too high right now.
01:36:36.760
Every single one of us is called upon to do every single thing we can do to build this home.
01:36:51.320
Do not ask me to help you fix your car or patch your drywall.
01:36:58.840
But so many people said to me, as they said to all of you, as you have all said to so many folks,
01:37:04.940
and I'm now talking to the people not in the room today,
01:37:20.820
Do I help out others who want to run for office?
01:37:23.360
Because you know me, I'm still wearing the purple.
01:37:30.360
The purple is an invitation, it's an invitation to people to say, set aside who you think
01:37:38.360
you are and let's define ourselves by our common humanity.
01:37:43.360
And I thought to myself, well I got no political home.
01:37:47.360
But then I talked to so many of you, to members of this party in every corner of this province,
01:38:07.020
And now 85,000 of our friends have found a home here.
01:38:15.420
Three quarters of a million people voted for Rachel Notley in this party in the last election.
01:38:21.620
So we have built that home and our job and our challenge is to ensure that all Albertans
01:38:35.200
When we think about what we stand for, strong publicly delivered healthcare and education,
01:38:41.760
up for the rights and the dignity and the opportunity for every single human being
01:38:45.920
who shares this earth with us to live that life of dignity.
01:38:52.240
Not being bystanders to environmental crisis, but leading the world in climate change.
01:38:58.800
Creating an economy that is prosperous for everyone.
01:39:04.000
Ensuring that Alberta is affordable and inclusive and everyone is welcome here.
01:39:11.760
You've heard me say many, many times over the years.
01:39:15.540
You've heard me say many, many times over the years
01:39:18.400
that the promise of this place is a simple promise made under that giant blue sky.
01:39:24.640
It is a promise that regardless of what you look like,
01:39:38.620
regardless of how much money is in your pocket,
01:40:28.860
So we started today, we started today in gratitude, and I'd like to wrap up this part of the day.
01:40:35.580
we started today in gratitude and I'd like to wrap up this part of the day in
01:40:40.740
gratitude as well so first of all I like to live my life in gratitude you know I
01:40:46.260
like to wake up every morning and say what's good today and this morning I
01:40:50.040
woke up and said what's good today and I said I might have to make a speech
01:40:55.420
but first of all I'm grateful for every one of you I'm grateful for those of
01:41:02.700
Actually, I'll ask the question, how many of you have been long-time members of the NDP, more than in two years?
01:41:10.920
I'm deeply grateful to you for building this home.
01:41:22.900
For those of you who took the risk, for those of you who took the risk and put down your $10,
01:41:27.520
dollars. And like me said, oh boy, it's time to identify. And Rachel said last night, something
01:41:35.060
that I wish she had warned me about four and a half months ago, once the NDP gets their fingers
01:41:40.120
in you, they never let go. So, welcome. Welcome to your new political home.
01:41:57.520
One more time, let's hear it for the people who put on this race, the hardworking staff
01:42:04.380
and volunteers of the Alberta NDP and our brilliant CRO.
01:42:11.400
But now, I'm going to invite some people on stage that I'm deeply grateful for.
01:42:20.280
So let's begin with these extraordinary women who I've been able to learn so much from and be inspired by and wowed every single day on this campaign trail.
01:42:34.900
Let's say thank you to Gil McGowan, who could not be with us today, for his extraordinary contribution.
01:42:41.260
And if they could please join me on stage, ladies and gentlemen, Sarah Hoffman.
01:43:20.220
Now, one of the things I was nervous about when we first started all of this is I didn't
01:43:42.440
And so I especially want to thank my NDP caucus colleagues who worked hard on this campaign.
01:43:47.880
So please join me in welcoming our executive chair, Raki Pancholi, our campaign co-chairs,
01:43:54.900
our campaign co-chairs, Port Ellingston and Parmeet Singh Bhoprai.
01:44:06.700
Parmeet Singh Bhoprai, of course, being my MLA.
01:44:14.660
rest of our group techs to the Team Nenshi endorsers. Come on up.
01:44:24.900
Samir Kayande, Rhiannon Doyle, Rod Loyola, David Shepard, Marie Renaud, Najwan El-Junaid, everyone.
01:44:33.460
folks last year you elected the largest opposition in alberta history let's bring them on up your ndp
01:45:39.280
But folks, your Alberta MVP team, we're going to continue to work hard to build this home
01:45:49.140
And I know I speak on behalf of my fellow candidates up here.
01:45:52.980
A special thank you to all the volunteers who worked so hard on all the leadership races.
01:46:00.680
We may have taken different paths in this leadership race, but we are a completely unified
01:46:18.860
So if I may, first of all, I want to thank the most important people to me, without whom
01:46:26.820
My dad passed away in June of 2012, and I know he's up there today, keeping an eye on
01:46:39.780
But of course, he leaves behind him an extraordinary legacy, and folks, I want you to meet my family.
01:46:45.020
So I would love to invite my family up on stage with us right now.
01:47:07.440
My sister, Shaheen, who promises to stay off social media from now on.
01:47:25.980
And you can all say happy 21st birthday to Asha.
01:47:41.540
This campaign that we've just run, I'm a political guy, right? I've been a politician
01:47:46.980
for a long time. I have been studying politics my whole life. I have never seen a campaign like this
01:47:53.940
before. It is the most extraordinary group of people who came together to talk to their neighbors
01:48:00.180
and make it happen. And I want to invite some of our campaign volunteers, just a tiny smidge
01:48:05.300
of the number of people across this province who helped us here. So starting with our campaign
01:48:10.260
directors, Devery Corbin, Zane Velji, Chima and Kemdurim, and all the rest of the Team
01:48:29.380
Now we're going to see how many of them we can fit on stage.
01:48:40.260
I wanted these folks to come up because I want all of us to see not just what the Alberta
01:48:57.840
ndp looks like squeeze in squeeze in i want you to see not just what our party looks like
01:49:12.880
not just what our home looks like but what alberta looks like
01:49:16.320
So folks, let's finish off today by remembering those immortal words of Dr. King, of Dr. Martin
01:49:35.920
Luther King Jr. when he said, now let us begin. Now, now let us rededicate ourselves. Now let us
01:49:51.660
rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter but beautiful struggle for a new world.
01:49:58.820
these this is the calling of the children of god and our brothers and sisters await eagerly
01:50:08.020
our response so folks we have a response for them and that response is that we will work hard for
01:50:17.080
this alberta that we will work hard under this endless sky for those big dreams that we will
01:50:24.320
work hard so that every single person who's lucky enough to share this land
01:50:29.720
has that life of dignity. Folks, this is what we're gonna do for Alberta, for all