Alberta NDP Leadership candidate Rachel Notley addresses her supporters in Edmonton yesterday afternoon. Below: Ms. Notley talks to the media.

No surprise, then, as predicted yesterday, Edmonton-Strathcona MLA Rachel Notley made her entry into the Alberta New Democratic party leadership race official yesterday morning in Calgary.

If anyone had any doubts Ms. Notley might not run a committed and enthusiastic campaign, they were surely put to rest by the enthusiastic – and well organized – welcome she received when she returned to Edmonton yesterday afternoon.

When she showed up at a trendy Edmonton coffee shop at 3 p.m., a crowd of about 150 well-wishers had already been herded into place, with green “Ready for Rachel buttons” on their shirts, green and NDP orange “Ready” signs in hand and primed to stomp their feet in time to the beat of the music amplifiers.

Earnest factotums herded the partisan crowd to the best spots for TV shots and warmed them up for Ms. Notley’s sometimes tearful, sometimes cheerful arrival.

Albertans wanted change in 2012, she told her Edmonton supporters in her short remarks, and what’s more they were promised it by the PC Government. But all they got the same old same old. “I will not rest until we have brought those Albertans into our movement to bring a modern, progressive government to the legislature in Alberta, because, my friends, I want to be premier.”

Party members will get to choose the leader in mid-October. At the moment, the only other candidate is Edmonton-Calder MLA David Eggen. Forming an NDP government may take a little longer. For more, see the story below.

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1 Comment

  1. …sigh… I was afraid this would happen, now I will have to choose between one of two politicians who I both like and respect. Both are more than capable, have proven themselves to be extremely hard working and not afraid to take on hard issues. Both have so much to offer with little if any in the way of perceived faults.

    I suppose I can only hope for some attack ads, but then these would probably look like – Don’t vote for my opponent who is just too nice to be an effective leader, I’m nice but not so nice that I can’t lead..

    Or perhaps the party can find a way for joint leadership? Would the voters be ready for Co-premiers?

    So damn you Brian Mason! I had hoped that you would eventually give either Rachel or David a chance to lead, but now I have to choose between them, and for the first time in my life I may have to resort to a coin toss to decide.

    In any case, one will win and one will lose. I suspect we will end with an even better team of New Democrats as a result. This leadership race will expose two extremely capable leaders with a solid people based platform and a better volunteer base going forward into the next election.

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