Nenshi pushes NDP to sever links to federal counterpart
What began as a race to pick a new leader for Alberta's Opposition NDP has triggered a broader existential debate over why being provincially orange must automatically tie you to the federal brand.
According to party constitutions, members of a provincial NDP are automatically members of the federal party.
It's a linkage that caused headaches for Alberta's NDP when it was in government from 2015 to 2019 and continues to prove politically problematic as it seeks to wrest power from Premier Danielle Smith's UCP in 2027.
The NDP got a big boost in profile — and a reported spike in memberships — last month when former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi joined the race.
Rakhi Pancholi, a two-term Edmonton legislator and one of the leadership candidates, immediately quit the race to back him.
Nenshi says it's time for the Alberta NDP to cut the apron strings.
“I think the membership has to have a very serious conversation about its links with the federal NDP,” Nenshi said in an interview.
“I believe that our ties to the federal NDP are remnants of a party that wasn't confident, a party that wasn't grown up yet, that relied on big brother to look after us.
“Now this party is confident and a modern force and I don't think we need that anymore.
“The costs of allying with people who we don't control, whose values and ethics may not line up with us, greatly outweigh the benefits.”
Nenshi isn't alone in his views. Pancholi began her campaign by questioning the link.
“Membership in one political party should not require membership in another,” she said. “Albertans who want to join the Alberta NDP should get to decide if they also want to become a member of the federal NDP.”
Candidate Kathleen Ganley, a former justice minister and current Calgary MLA, has said she won't shut the door on the debate.
“I think the concerns of members, especially when you hear them repeatedly, are very valid,” said Ganley.
Alliance with their federal counterparts has forced Alberta New Democrats to walk a policy tightrope on energy and environmental policy in a province where jobs and billions of dollars in revenue are tied to non-renewable resources like the oilsands.
The two wings openly clashed in 2018 when Notley's then-government celebrated Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government spending billions to purchase the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion to ensure more Alberta oil would get to the B.C. coast. The move outraged environmental advocates, including those within the NDP. Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh disparaged the purchase as a bad deal for all involved.
In last year's provincial election, Smith's UCP happily harvested anti-Trudeau sentiment among voters by gleefully painting the Alberta NDP as either enthusiastic co-conspirators or impotent lackeys in the federal power sharing deal between Trudeau and Singh.
Political scientist Lori Williams said while severing ties may be controversial, the debate is not just coming from the outside.
“It's making people angry because it's (Nenshi) saying it. He's not seen as somebody who is on the inside,” said Williams. “But Pancholi said it (and) Kathleen Ganley expressed openness to it”