Western Standard - February 29, 2024


The Alberta NDP leadership race just got interesting


Episode Stats


Length

4 minutes

Words per minute

203.83466

Word count

932

Sentence count

53

Harmful content

Misogyny

2

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Former Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi and Alberta Federation of Labor's Gil McGowan join the race to replace Rachel Notley as the next leader of the Alberta New Democratic Party. Will they be enough to unify the party?

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
00:00:00.000 I mean, Rachel Notley, she expressed her intention to retire as the NDP leader on January 16th.
00:00:05.300 And since then, the race to replace her has been pretty dull.
00:00:08.660 I mean, there's been four NDP MLAs now enter the race.
00:00:11.680 They've been lobbing softballs at each other and pretty much running lackluster campaigns to date.
00:00:17.400 They haven't been capturing the excitement or really even the casual interest of Albertans.
00:00:21.300 So for political wonk, I like interesting races.
00:00:23.700 And this has all changed, ironically, due to two men who haven't even formally entered the race yet.
00:00:30.000 Both former Calgary mayor and head Nenshi and Alberta Federation of Labor Gil McGowan have expressed their interest now in pursuing the NDP leadership.
00:00:38.580 And the fireworks are sure to follow.
00:00:40.900 I mean, Nenshi and McGowan, they have much in common in that they both have thin skins and inflated egos.
00:00:47.080 They also have some very serious differences.
00:00:48.940 As McGowan's an in-your-face type of old-school union-pushing socialist.
00:00:54.520 Well, Nenshi's more of a pragmatic type of leftist.
00:00:57.260 He's going to pander to an assortment of groups to try and gain and maintain power.
00:01:02.120 Now, Nenshi is clearly giving the leadership serious consideration as he suddenly appeared giving fire and brimstone type speeches at leftist rallies.
00:01:09.060 He hasn't denied his interest in the job and has been painting himself as something of a savior for the NDP.
00:01:14.560 And he could bring their party back into prominence, he says.
00:01:17.360 Legacy media outlets, of course, are dutifully giving Nenshi more coverage suddenly with interviews and polls.
00:01:22.220 And there's even a story in the state broadcaster showing his favorite list of books last week.
00:01:27.520 Yes, they certainly come around for Mr. Nenshi fast, don't they?
00:01:30.800 Gil McGowan now.
00:01:31.860 He's been entrenched in the NDP for decades.
00:01:34.500 And he's less than pleased with the prospect of an outsider suddenly appearing on the scene telling his party it needs to be saved from itself.
00:01:41.220 So he's decided to throw his hat in the ring.
00:01:43.680 McGowan has kicked off his campaign by taking shots at Stephen Carter, who's long been a compatriot of Nenhen Nenshi.
00:01:49.440 And in saying his campaign will not be run by party insiders, these are Gil's words, or self-styled strategy gurus with podcasts who too often look down their noses at ordinary working people and who've never actually run for office themselves.
00:02:04.460 Yes, the shots have already been fired, Gil's going after Carter.
00:02:08.660 I'm sure they'll start shooting back soon.
00:02:10.720 Now McGowan, he's an abrasive sort of brute.
00:02:13.140 He's known for verbally assailing media members with profanity-laden rants as he tries to block cameras with his middle finger.
00:02:20.040 He's styling himself as being a worker who could lead a worker's party.
00:02:24.660 He'd love to bring union, thuggery, and intimidation to the prominence it used to enjoy decades ago.
00:02:30.180 He wants to be a modern-day Joe Hill who will inspire people to bring oppressive capitalists to heel.
00:02:35.980 Nenhen, he's more an opportunist, willing to wear whatever cloak it takes to win.
00:02:39.960 The Alberta Party was his first political choice of vehicle, but his unexpected mayoral win in Calgary put a halt to his provincial ambitions.
00:02:48.820 So since leaving the top job in Calgary, Nenhen's been biding his political time to see where to go next.
00:02:53.500 Since there's little indication Trudeau's leaving the federal job anytime soon, the head's turned his eye to the opening at the helm of the NDP.
00:02:59.120 Now, McCowan, he has enough union support to potentially win the NDP leadership, but a loose cannon like him isn't going to win the premiership in a general election.
00:03:08.920 Nenhen, on the other hand, he could bring in new members, and he might win over pragmatic existing members and might win the NDP leadership,
00:03:15.220 and could conceivably garner more Calgary support for the party, which would be interesting.
00:03:20.620 But it would cause a lot of division among the party loyal, wouldn't it?
00:03:23.680 Both Nenhen and McCowan have already fostered some division with the NDP.
00:03:26.880 Of course, they've burst upon the scene and pushed aside four women who've put in their time as party MLAs, 0.96
00:03:32.320 and basically what they're saying is, step aside, girls, it's time for the men to take charge and get things back in order.
00:03:38.120 The feminist wing of the NDP can't be amused. 1.00
00:03:40.720 I'm sure Nancy will close his eyes, look at the ceiling, and explain more clearly to them why they need to embrace his guidance.
00:03:46.720 Maybe he'll tell them to calm down. That always works.
00:03:49.180 The NDP members were going to have a tough choice to make.
00:03:52.160 Should they go with the unelectable McCowan, who would keep the party true to its roots,
00:03:56.520 or should they accept some personal compromise and choose a party outsider like Nenshi to try and win the next election?
00:04:01.940 The race has become interesting, and the future of the NDP is on the line.
00:04:05.140 The Nenshi-McCowan battle won't do the party or Albertans really any favours,
00:04:09.160 but it will offer us some fantastic political drama to observe.
00:04:12.140 I'm looking forward to watching it, kind of like that morbid fascination akin to a kid who just put a couple of bugs into a jar and wants to see them fight.
00:04:19.120 I'll try and give it a little shake now and then when I can.
00:04:21.460 I don't really care who wins. I just want to see how low they're going to go in trying.
00:04:25.260 So the NDP race, which I was indifferent to, has finally become exciting,
00:04:30.140 and I'm looking forward to covering it with all of the zeal I just showed now.