‘A CARICATURE OF MY HIPPIE SELF’

CA LGA RY • Only a few weeks before the writ dropped on what would become one of the most stunning upsets in Canadian political history, NDP leader Rachel Notley admitted she did not expect to sweep Calgary — the bastion of Canada’s oil and gas sector.

But that doesn’t mean she didn’t have her eye on it.

Her office, in the drafty green modern monstrosity where the opposition parties are warehoused beside Alberta’s legislature, contained only a few adornments; an NDP sign, a pint-sized model of a wind turbine, and a wall covered with detailed electoral maps of Alberta and its major cities.

On top were two black-and-white graphic representations of Calgary and Edmonton comprised of the artfully arranged names of each city’s ridings.

Combined, the cities can hold the key to a majority government.

“I’m definitely sensing that it’s very competitive in certain parts of the province,” she told the National Post just after then premier Jim Prentice’s fatally unpopular budget dropped in March. “We’re excited to be able to make a breakthrough in Calgary, but I’m not anticipating that we’re going to sweep it.”

The depth of the NDP victory was impossible to imagine, even for Notley herself, back then.

Six weeks later, she would be premier-elect. She crushed the 43-year-old Tory dynasty to become the leader of a healthy 53-seat majority on Tuesday. And, yes, she swept Edmonton, most of Calgary, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and even a hearty chunk of rural Alberta for good measure.

While the New Democrats were certainly the grateful recipients of Albertans’ protest votes, there can be no doubt that Notley’s fierce debate performance, natural onscreen presence and near-flawless campaign combined to make her the province’s go-to alternative to Progressive Conservative rule.

This, despite the fact that she’s a New Democrat, in a province that traditionally isn’t — or wasn’t.

The rout will have enormous implications for Notley on the national stage as well. In a matter of weeks, she’s been elevated from near obscurity, the newly appointed leader of a four-person rump party in Alberta, to one of the most important New Democratic Party politicians in Canada.

If her rise is stunning elsewhere in the country, it’s less so in Alberta, where Notley boasts generational political roots.

Her father, Grant Notley, was one of the founding members of the NDP in the province, and its first NDP MLA. He became leader of the opposition in 1982 — then, the head of a two-person party.

Notley’s life was cut short by a plane accident in 1984, when his daughter Rachel was 20.

Notley went on to study at the University of Alberta, and Osgoode Hall law school in Toronto; there she started an NDP club before returning to Edmonton. She worked for the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees; lived in B.C. and worked for Ujjal Dosanjh, who was attorney general at the time.

She later married Lou Arab, who works as a communications staffer with the Canadian Union of Public Employees. The pair have two children, Sophie and Ethan, who are 14 and 16, respectively. “Nineteen different dance classes, that’s what we do,” Notley said, referring to her daughter’s activity of choice.

Notley has long ties to the NDP; when she was nominated, acclaimed, for her seat in Strathcona, her personal hero, now-late federal leader Jack Layton was in attendance. She won leadership of her party in October, coming into power just as both the Wildrose and Liberal parties collapsed.

Still, the Alberta NDP is very much tempered by the political realities of the province. Its platform, while vague around the edges, is comparatively moderate; while Notley said she would cease campaigning for Northern Gateway and Keystone XL — citing environmental and political reasons, respectively — she still backs Energy East and the twinning of the existing Trans Mountain pipeline through B.C.

Speaking to reporters on the Wednesday, Notley tried to calm the oil and gas industry, promising to reach out to the province’s economic titans.

“I’m hopeful that over the course of the next two weeks, they’ ll come to realize that things are going to be just AOK over here in Alberta.”