Shannon Phillips, the high-profile NDP MLA for Lethbridge-West with a reputation for toughness and commitment, is leaving politics. Her resignation will take effect on Canada Day.
Ms. Phillips, first elected in 2015 and environment minister in Rachel Notley’s NDP government, made her bombshell announcement yesterday in an interview with The Globe and Mail, citing the disinformation and viciousness characteristic of politics today, especially as experienced by women politicians, particularly if they are on the left.
It would be fair to add, especially in Alberta, as well, but the Globe did not quote Ms. Phillips saying that. “I’m the next in a line of woman politicians who are taking a pass,” she told the Globe.
“These conditions are not improving,” she did say. “The right is only getting more crazy and more bonkers, and disinformation is just getting worse.”
It is impossible to disagree with that part of her analysis, and not just in Alberta. It’s also hard not to blame her for giving the scoop about her decision to leave politics to a Toronto-based media organization. Throughout her political career Ms. Phillips has not been treated particularly well by local media here in Alberta.
But then, as a general rule, nor have most politicians on the left, especially if they are confident, sometimes bluntly spoken women like Ms. Phillips.
That the harassment to which Ms. Phillips was subjected included being illegally spied upon and photographed by members of the Lethbridge Police Service and her inability to do anything about it despite her position as an MLA undoubtedly influenced her decision.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, Alberta’s toothless police watchdog, found that the officers acted in violation of the provincial Police Act, yet Alberta Crown Prosecution Service refused to lay charges. The Speaker of the Alberta Legislature was silent.
She fought back hard, as befits a politician who Macleans Magazine described in 2016 as “a tenacious social democrat with roots in activism, feminism and organized labour, and whose toughness follows her outside the office. It has to, when you’re determined to succeed as a roller-derby player and single mom of two.”
It must also be noted that Kathleen Ganley, the NDP leadership candidate supported by Ms. Phillips, does not appear to be cruising to victory. Former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi is widely expected to be announced as the victor in the race to replace Opposition Leader Notley when the results of the membership vote is announced in 12 days, probably on the first ballot.
While Ms. Phillips told the Globe this is not the reason for her departure, it does mean that, had she decided to stick around, it would have been in a party likely to drift even more toward the centre than under Ms. Notley, and that is, moreover, bound to be quite different from the NDP she joined and long served in.
Ms. Phillips, 48, is an advocate of much stronger positions on the environment than she was able to take in either government or opposition, so we can expect her to land on her feet and quite likely to continue to be a thorn in the side of Alberta’s United Conservative Party Government.
Whether she will want to continue to do so from Alberta remains to be seen. She grew up in the Spruce Grove, a bedroom community west of Edmonton, and studied at the University of Alberta. It wouldn’t be a surprise, though, if opportunity elsewhere beckons.
Unsurprisingly, the Globe’s reporter couldn’t resist the temptation to note that Ms. Phillips’ resignation opens a seat for Mr. Nenshi to run in only nine days after he’s chosen the leader.
I’m sure everyone reading this or the Globe’s report understands that Mr. Nenshi would have to be insane to agree to that. Not only would a parachute candidate from Calgary be less likely to win than a local candidate to replace Ms. Phillips in Lethbridge, but it would be a wonderful opportunity for the UCP to mess with Mr. Nenshi’s freedom to campaign for months from outside the Legislature and then win a whopping victory in a safe Calgary riding.
Said the Globe: “Chima Nkemdirim, a campaign director for Mr. Nenshi, said that, should the former mayor win the leadership race, his team will examine various avenues for him to obtain a seat in the legislature.”
Yeah, well, Mr. Nkemdirim couldn’t really say anything else, especially to the Globe and Mail, could he?
So I’ll say it for him, with the tone the Globe deserves, not the one it is able to expect: Shut up! Do you think we’re nuts? Mr. Nenshi has the perfect precedent to cite, after all. After winning the leadership of the UCP in October 2022, Ms. Smith could have and should have chosen to run in the Calgary-Elbow Riding, left open a month earlier when former UCP justice minister Doug Schweitzer resigned.
Instead, she waited for a compliant MLA to step aside in Brooks Medicine Hat, so she could win easily in a rural seat safe for the UCP.
Fair enough. But as for Calgary-Elbow, her government left it unrepresented for half a year to avoid the embarrassment of an NDP victory in Calgary. Which was not fair enough.
Ms. Smith claimed that while there was a Parliamentary convention a premier without a seat needed to run in a timely fashion, there was another Parliamentary convention that a by-election didn’t have to be held in an unrepresented riding if there would be a general election soon. That double-barrelled argument, one could argue with justification, was half right. Calgary-Elbow is now capably represented by Samir Kayande of the NDP.
Anyway, when the UCP army of bots attacks Mr. Nenshi for not jumping at the chance to be defeated in Lethbridge-West, they can be dismissed with scorn. Mr. Nenshi can be the leader of the NDP and not the leader of the Opposition in the Legislature until a more congenial time of his choosing.
This is unfortunate to see. Shannon Phillips is a great MLA. The toxic abuse that she had to endure as an MLA was unacceptable, and there were people who enabled the abuse. The police officers who targeted her unjustly, should have been severely punished. Hopefully, another NDP candidate gets to fill the seat, if a by-election is happening. Meanwhile, if it’s a Conservative who is doing nefarious activities, people treat them differently, and see nothing wrong happening, based on the comments.
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/frank-stronach-sexual-assault-charges
Well let’s start with the Globe and Mail here, outside the reach of the Alberta mainstream media’s tendency to often tilt toward the government, perhaps because of our past history of being an almost one party state. So yet another important Alberta political story gets covered by the Globe and Mail.
However, their understanding of Alberta geography can be weak. I am sure many in TO would still struggle to correctly say where the University of Alberta is. So Nenshi running in Lethbridge – probably not happening. Unlesss it was just clever winking sarcasm disguised as something else.
Of course it will be harder for Smith to attack him on wanting a safer seat closer to home, after she ran in a safer one further from home, but Smith and the UCP embrace hypocrisy often and their supporters either don’t notice or don’t seem to care.
I suspect there are good people who stay away from running in politics here because it can be toxic these days and Ms. Phillips departure will not encourage them. She had to put up with a lot of bs. The current right wing crowd are not shy about throwing their weight around and at times abusing their power. Things they wouldn’t get away with in places that more regularly change governments, but here some just shrug and try to ignore it, which of course enables it more.
Ahhh, Alberta, I will not miss this shithole.
This will be more Alberta’s great loss than anything else.
Ms Phillips reason for leaving completely accords to the mundane, day-to-day ignorance and belligerence of your typical Albaturdan. Apologies to the few really nice, intelligent and thoughtful citizens in the province.
I wish her well, likely in another province.
Ultimately, this is the mission of TBA, drive out all opposition, not just public office, but from Alberta entirely. This level of purity testing is reaching its most extreme level, and they are cheering the departure of Shannon Phillips in a big way. And I suppose they will even cheer the end (demise) of Rachel Notley’s career. Since Nenshi will likely step in Phillips’ enormous footprint in her riding, it remains to be seen if even he will be able to weather the coming assault from TBA. This is the face of the Alberta that favours the UCP. Fact.
I get that the TBA cult wants me and people like me to leave the province and I am glad to do this. It will be highly entertaining to watch Alberta die an agonising death by its own hand. So long, TBA suckers!
The surveillance activities by Lethbridge Police took place in 2017, before TBA’s existence. The motivations of the Lethbridge Police are still unclear.
Doug: Actually, TBA was around for much longer than people realize. They have influenced politics in Alberta, when the Alberta PCs and the Wildrose were separate parties. Don’t kid yourself.
Since the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service refused to lay charges: does Shannon Phillips have an avenue to pursue her grievance against the Lethbridge Police Service through a private court action?
She has the option to lay a “private information” before a court of law: https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/8fa0bd3b-2bbe-400d-85d2-3ba8101d83e2/resource/e218dcd8-11e0-4986-b845-86ee4f36c3d9/download/jus-cpm-private-prosecutions-practice-protocol-2023-03.pdf.
https://elc.ab.ca/Content_Files/Files/PrivateProsecution.pdf
I believe she has a lawsuit started, but when a reporter asked recently if she expected it to go anywhere she said no.
Shannon Phillips is an anathema to everything Smith, the UCP and a great swath of voters in Alberta stand for. Phillips is outspoken, progressive, intelligent and accomplished. The fact that Alberta Crown Prosecutors refused to press charges tells you everything you need to know about this province.
What is it with Alberta’s CPS? While Ms. Phillips’ case is very well known, many lesser known instances are well documented by this blog and others.
Clearly, the Alberta CPS is fully captured by political forces. Yet another nail in the coffin of Alberta’s ignorant political suicide.
I’m very sad to see Shannon Phillips leave. She is just the kind of MLA this province needs: hardworking, honest, present for the people of her constituency, and much appreciated by them.
I also understand the reasons she chose to leave. Lethbridge police are untouchable. Remember the time they beat up a kid in a costume outside a pizza joint? Then there was that time they ran over a deer, back and forth, back and forth. Heinous! What they did to Shannon Phillips was violence and abuse of another sort. It never should have happened and there should have been serious consequences for the officers involved and the police force as a whole when it did. Crooked is as crooked does. Will stepping down help move her lawsuit forward?
I understand her concern about the NDP’s likely shift further to the right. The problem is that with the young people of Europe choosing to fight fascism with fascism, what will happen here? If the NDP cannot capture the youth vote, will we end up with UCP on steroids after the next election?
Environmental issues are pressing and it’s getting down to the crunch for humanity. The issues that matter to core NDP voters cannot be tossed aside.
How the austerian, neoliberal switcheroo of “social democratic” parties promotes the rise of the extreme right: https://annpettifor.substack.com/p/passing-the-buck-and-losing
Similar message from Naomi Klein: https://x.com/SaulStaniforth/status/1800166131787001986
Another victim of the spineless, anonymous terrorists on social media, who are not held accountable for their abuse. And for the politicians who allow their followers to post threats either outright or in hidden messages under the guise of “free speech ” is compelling indictment of their personal agenda of power at any cost.
50 years of supposed progress, and now the Cons are taking us back in time. At this rate we’re going to be back to women not being able to vote in a few years and that I’m being optimistic about, going by some of the rhetoric from down south & TBA. So unless you’re an MTG/ KL/ LB /DS- your chances of surviving the the garbage aren’t that good. It’s odd that all the so called left politicians are subject to death threats and verbal abuse, but never the far-right ones- strange, no ?
I really wish more people had paid attention to the implications of the coup of PP, and taking the “progressive ” out of the PCP to make it just the CPC…..warning signs were all there. But hey, I’m just a mere woman, what do I know? I know that growing up on a farm, when you smell “au de farm ” you watch where you put your feet. And in Alberta right now, they are using the industrial spreader.
To further illustrate DJC’s point about the invective directed at female politicians, drop by any Postmedia publication that happens to run an article about Ms. Phillips’ resignation. Make your way to the Comments section.
Makes you wonder why any intelligent, educated woman would want to enter politics if that is the crap (well far worse, but keeping it PG) they have to put up with.
Middle Dave: That is correct. Even on other social media platforms, such as X (formerly known as Twitter), and on other places, the majority of the comments about Shannon Phillips are very toxic. The UCP doesn’t stop it, because they enable it, and their fan base doesn’t care one iota. Postmedia also chapions the Conservatives. You can see the responses on The National Post in relation to Frank Stronach. Very different treatment for him. This is sickening.
I did as you suggested, Middle Dave. What I found really interesting was that the Edmonton Journal story didn’t even bother to mention the abuse Ms. Phillips cited as her reason for leaving.
Every now and then I decide to punish myself by reading the comments section on sites such as The National Joke. Part of me wants to have faith in society and write off all the nasty comments as the work of bots and paid right wing operatives. The other part of me knows deep down that those sections are indicative of the true thoughts of the average Albertan CON sheeple. Absolutely disgusting.
So now it is not just the RCMP, the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board, and the oil industry that are above the law. The Lethbridge Police have joined those ranks. Spy on landowners, attempt to entrap labour leaders, spy on Cabinet Ministers? It is all okay with the Crown Prosecution service as long as it is in the service of the oil industry. But hey, when they go low, we go high! How is that working out so far?
Well, gosh. Social democrats know that we’re all in this together. You, me, Shannon Phillips, people raking asphalt and pouring coffees and taking blood pressures, and Murray Edwards, Brett Wilson and Fred Mannix. After all, our economic interests are all pretty much the same and we should be able to come to a consensus that results in an equitable shake for everyone in the province.
I feel like respect for women is going backwards. Pretty soon we’ll be ‘chattel’ again at this rate.
TBA cult leader, David Parker, makes no bones that that is his goal. I sure won’t miss TBA bullshit like that when I move back to Canada.
Shannon is leaving, the Lethbridge Gestapo are staying.
Never again, Lethbridge, we hear the Goose Steps everywhere.
Get the hell out of there….
On most comment platforms, the toxic crap that gets posted against Shannon Phillips is alarming, but it isn’t surprising. These police officers broke the law, and were allowed to get away with it. Imagine if the UCP creates their own provincial police force, what they will do to anyone who disagrees with them? It’s a police state and a dictatorship that the UCP are creating for Alberta, and this is similar in style to what a certain brutal dictatorship did in the 1930s, in Europe. If we don’t wake up and stop this, it will become much worse. Take Back Alberta, and the UCP are fuelling this toxic and undemocratic behavior.
I suspect Shannon will be welcomed somewhere else in Canada, where her talents will be much appreciated. Alberta yet again is the loser.
As to Naheed Nenshi, I think he is best to avoid the legislature and a seat for a period. Let him tour the province for 6 to 9 months Main Streeting and shaking hands, especially in Forestburg, Drayton Valley and Hinton and the rurban ridings Leduc, Beaumont, Sherwood Park etc. Anywhere the percentage of loss to the UCP was 5 percent or less. Voters will remember meeting him. He has a personal warmth. That may well tip this amoral government down the sewer.
On a slightly positive note……
ICYMI–
https://lethbridgenewsnow.com!!>a
‘A lot of their policies are not acceptable’; Anti UCP rally in front of DS’s MLA office
–hands off our CPP–
(I’m glad to see that people aren’t all falling for the fool me twice routine—-)
A.W.A.R.E
“Alberta Wins: Act Respond Educate ”
‐‐——–———
Shannon Phillips on P&Politics today- left me thinking, how is/was that even possible without collusion ? I’m not a lawyer, and I don’t play one on the radio, but this is taking the ‘justice is blind ‘ to another level.
So Albertans really need to be AWARE !
It is unfortunate Ms. Phillips is leaving. The attitude towards women in politics is getting worse. The attacks are uncalled for and unnecessary. However, some people simply can not abide women in politics.
The Lethbridge police certainly sound like a swell bunch. Usually people like that have secrets. You just need to find out what they are.
If you have been in politics for a long time and the harassment is consistent, it can wear you down and if you have a personal life and/or children, at a point its just not worth it any more.
We need a complete reform of our pseudo-democracy or we will face serious consequences. The political class needs a wake up call.
Privilege and corruption is not a political system, it is a Mafia and that is what we are now in the whole Western world.
Extremism is the consequence of this aloofness and entitlement and Europe is about to fall in the hands of fascism again. I guess 80 years clearly wipes out any memory of what they did in the Second World War.
The right wing has gone bananas and the left is basically invisible.
That Ms Phillips has been hounded out of office by the Lethbridge Police “Service”, the politicized Alberta Crown Prosecution Service, and the anti-NDP trolls, is one of the most antidemocratic developments in Alberta history. Clearly you are not allowed in this province to advocate for political positions that are contrary to the accepted doctrine of extraction-extraction-extraction.
Perhaps the LPS should change its uniform design to a brown shirt and brown képi. This is the kind of behaviour one would’ve expected in Berlin in the early 1930s.
Shannon out ,Alison in ,all makes sense in value added
‘The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team, Alberta’s toothless police watchdog, found that the officers acted in violation of the provincial Police Act, yet Alberta Crown Prosecution Service refused to lay charges. The Speaker of the Alberta Legislature was silent. ‘
This is just unacceptable in Canada and Alberta, except when the far right is in government. It does not seem to bother the UCP supporters because after all Shannon Phillips is just a communist, garbage to be disposed of and played with at the discretion of the UCP fascist machine already in place.
The words that come to mind I cannot use here.