Say what you will about Rachel Notley, she made Alberta democracy great again!
Ms. Notley, who yesterday announced her plan to step aside as Opposition leader in the Alberta Legislature as soon as her New Democratic Party chooses a new leader, turned the Alberta NDP from a marginal “party of conscience” to an electoral and fund-raising powerhouse that formed a majority government in 2015 and came close again last year.
Never again can any Alberta government assume its election will be guaranteed simply because it has the word “conservative” in its name.
Ms. Notley can be thanked for that.
Never again will being an intelligent person with progressive instincts and a social-democratic vision mean an Alberta politician must be automatically considered a “fringe” candidate, as is the case in the United States.
Ms. Notley is responsible for that, too.
For more than 70 years – from about the time Ernest Manning took up the reins of the Social Credit Party after the sudden death of William Aberhart in 1943 – we didn’t really have a functioning democracy here in Alberta.
Sure, we had occasional elections and a few other democratic trappings, many of them thanks to the good fortune Alberta was part of the Dominion of Canada.
But for all intents and purposes, Alberta was a one-party state and, while that one party had a pro forma capitalist ideology, in a surprising number of ways the place resembled a kinder, gentler version of the Soviet Union.
Now and then an opposition party could elect a couple of MLAs. Every so often, the Opposition would do a little better for a spell. But conservatives ruled the roost and Albertans trooped out every four years or so to re-elect them.
If you caught Albertans complaining and asked them why they voted Social Credit – or after 1971 when Peter Lougheed and his Progressive Conservatives lent a new face and a new name to the same old thing – they’d answer with a question: “Who else is there?”
And fair enough, who else was there? Laurence Decore’s Liberals, who in 1993 challenged the PCs led by Ralph Klein in what the Edmonton Journal called a Ralpherendum by promising to implement and even harsher version of the same ideology?
Ms. Notley’s father, Grant, a popular and respected NDP politician, tried – and died tragically in an airplane crash in 1984.
Now and then the PCs, soliciting new memberships on the arrogant logic that their leadership contest was the only one in which Albertans could actually vote for change, would elect someone with progressive instincts. And soon enough they would be encouraged to leave – so long Alison Redford, farewell Ed Stelmach …
And then came Rachel Notley, who really changed everything.
First elected as an MLA in former leader Raj Pannu’s Edmonton-Strathcona riding in 2008, Ms. Notley was chosen as leader to replace leader Brian Mason in October 2014 in an NDP race she was odds-on favourite to win. Less than a year later she was premier of Alberta.
As she put it in her remarks yesterday, “At the time we were the fourth party in the Legislature with a massive caucus consisting of four MLAs. Less than seven months later we had a caucus of 54 MLAs, and Alberta’s first NDP government.”
Sure, she caught a lucky wave – which included a PC party so arrogant it didn’t think losing was a possibility – but she certainly knew how to ride it.
As political commentator Dave Cournoyer put it in his Substack column yesterday, “Notley was impressive in that election. She brought a new kind of energy and professionalism to the NDP campaign that the party had never seen before in Alberta. A few killer blows in the televised leaders debate solidified her as Albertans’ chosen alternative, but the PCs also met her halfway by running one of the clumsiest re-election campaigns in recent memory.”
And, yeah, as she acknowledged, she had an inexperienced caucus with many members who hadn’t expected to get elected, and they certainly didn’t get everything right. But as Ms. Notley accurately said, “we governed with integrity, an ambitious agenda and an earnest desire to make life better for Albertans.”
As successes, she cited building the Calgary Cancer Centre, standing up for the rights of working people, and seeing Alberta become the first jurisdiction in North American to raise the minimum wage to $15 – albeit, $15 Canadian.
“We secured Alberta’s first pipeline to tidewater in over 50 years, ensuring that the return to Albertans for the sale of resources we all own is permanently increased,” she boasted.
“We eliminated coal-fired electricity in Alberta, thereby increasing the health of countless citizens, and at the same time kickstarting our renewable energy industry to be the fastest growing on the continent … all while significantly reducing our emissions in one fell swoop.
“And, finally, in the midst of a recession caused by the international collapse in the price of oil (seriously folks, I did not cause that), we cut child poverty in half.”
All true, and it all still gets up the noses of the United Conservative Party that successfully replaced the NDP in 2019, and managed to hang on to power last year after chasing Jason Kenney out of office and replacing him with Danielle Smith, who has run the place like gong show ever since.
One imagines quite a few UCP voters in Calgary, where the 2023 election was won and lost, are suffering a severe case of buyers’ remorse by now.
But as Ms. Notley reminded us yesterday, “if there is any one accomplishment that I can leave behind me, it’s that we are not a one-party province where Albertans have no real choice about how their province is run.
“Albertans do not ever have to feel that elections and their opinions don’t matter. It was that way when I started. It’s not that way anymore.
“Not only do I leave Albertans with that electoral choice, I leave them with a caucus that is filled with expert, dedicated, diverse people.”
Of course the Conservatives tried to characterize the 2015 election as a fluke. But as the NDP’s fund raising efforts ($7.1 million in 2022) and vote totals in 2019 and 2023 proved, Ms. Notley’s NDP remains a force to be reckoned with.
And there is little danger, as some who ought to know better have suggested, that with Ms. Notley gone, the NDP will crumble.
No, Rachel Notley made the NDP a party worth leading. A party, even, that can survive a bad leader or two and still form a competent, quintessentially Canadian government.
That day can’t come too soon!
NDP to set leadership race rules on Jan. 27
In a statement made soon after Ms. Notley’s announcement, Alberta NDP President Nancy Janovicek said the party’s Provincial Council will meet in Red Deer on Jan. 27 to set the process and rules for the leadership contest.
“Council will determine the start and end date of the campaign period,” she said. The party has chosen as chief returning officer Amanda Freistadt, a former Alberta NDP Table Officer who is now director of labour relations for the Saskatchewan Government and General Employees Union.
Ms. Freistadt shouldn’t have too much trouble ensuring Take Back Alberta founder David Parker, the far-right eccentric who takes credit for forcing out former UCP premier Jason Kenney and replacing him with Danielle Smith, doesn’t succeed where George Clark failed and engineer Kudatah 2.0 to take over the NDP.
To hatch a hare-brained scheme like this, Mr. Parker must fear that the NDP is going to form the next Alberta government when voters get a chance for a retake.
All things considered concerning the ABNDP’s proposed name change, they may as well just call themselves the Blue Party.
Plays well to win over the stupidest people alive.
Rachel Notley was the closest thing Alberta ever had to Peter Lougheed for a premier. That’s been said by a former cabinet minister of Peter Lougheed. Also, anyone who knew Peter Lougheed, or any of his cabinet ministers, would certainly agree with that. There are others who were in Peter Lougheed’s cabinet who also said they do not trust Danielle Smith, and showed support for Rachel Notley. When we had these phony Conservatives and Reformers, such as Ralph Klein, as well as the UCP get into power in Alberta, things became much worse. We were robbed of our oil and tax wealth, which lost Alberta hundreds of billions of dollars, saw very costly shenanigans, that cost us more money, had the deterioration of our essential services and infrastructure, from deep cuts, and outright neglect, saw increased poverty levels, had people’s lives put in jeopardy, saw costs of utilities and insurance shoot upwards, and let the environment take a beating, we were no further ahead. In fact, we are headed in a reverse trajectory with the Danielle Smith and the UCP. Alberta is a one party state, and democracy is non existent. Ralph Klein was like that, and so are the UCP. With the UCP, they were hit with a multitude of financial penalties for their members, for disobeying the election rules. These fines totalled at least $230,000. The last head of the UCP has the R.C.M.P investigating his ascent to power, and why it’s taking so long, remains a mystery. The last UCP leader didn’t like Lorne Gibson levying all those fines for the UCP members, who were not obeying election rules, so he sacked him, when he was out of the province and country. The provincial Legislature hardly has any sessions. Municipalities are forced to submit to the UCP’s demands, or there is repercussions if they don’t comply. Questionable bills get rammed on through with little debate. There is no visible donors list for the UCP leaders either. Vacant ridings never saw by-elections. The media, especially Postmedia, but not exclusive to them, will never question anything the UCP does that is controversial, unethical, or costly. The columnists in Postmedia newspapers just let whatever the UCP does that isn’t good slide, and they cozy up to the UCP. In the comment sections in Postmedia newspapers, there is mainly nasty comments aimed at Rachel Notley and Justin Trudeau. They are blamed for things they never had any role in. Anyone who does not agree with these phoney Conservatives and Reformers, also has nasty insults hurled at them. With Rachel Notley, we had a responsible and practical leader. Under Danielle Smith and the UCP, we don’t have anything like that, and Take Back Alberta are pulling her strings.
A rare moment of class from Premier Smith — quoted in the Star: “Serving as Premier is an extremely demanding job, and she served in that office with an honour and dignity reminiscent of her late father, another honourable and loyal Albertan and public servant.”
You can bet Daniellezebub didn’t write it.
Lil Davey has called an “emergency” TBA meeting because of Alberta NDP developments.
I remember where I was when the news broke that Grant Notley had died in a plane crash. That heartbreaking loss of a good man took away my hope of ever being represented in the province where I was born.
I remember where I was when the news broke that Rachel Notley had won the 2015 election, too. Finally, a breakthrough for people like me who had waited their whole lives for someone to be our voice!
I will be forever grateful to Rachel Notley for what she has done for the people of this province. And in case anyone forgets it, this used to be a place where progressives dared not place election signs on their lawns or in their windows. In the last election, the only blue signs on my street were on public boulevards. The orange signs were on private property. Times have changed and there’s no going back. Silence us no more! We have a right to be here and be heard. That’s democracy in action.
I am surprised that a smart and very experienced journalist like you, says that Rachel Notley made democracy great again.
She is undoubtfully the greatest politician we have had since Peter Lougheed but Alberta has never been a democracy and it will never be. We are a clear Petrostate and Rachel did very little to make us anything but what we are.
Alberta is owned by big businesses and their shareholders PERIOD. Lets us not live in a permanent dream.
I find it interesting that just because we have elections, we call ourselves a democracy. Even at Federal level we are absolutely controlled by Business interests and it has gotten worse every single year. We are now, in my opinion becoming very fast a banana republic and we justify it by thinking that we have elections after all. So does Russia and Hungary and many other states.
We are a pseudo democracy and in the last 30 years nothing has been done to evolve our so called democracy not even the simple change to a more representative proportional representation just because the prime minister who promised it does not like it. That is a democracy all right.
With the possibility of Pierre Poilievre becoming our next ‘know it all emperor’ we can kiss the little we have good bye.
We have no say on anything in this country so lets not pretend we are a democracy and point fingers to those who are not, that is called hypocrisy. We did with our indigenous people and created sanctions against South Africa at the same time we were still operating residential schools.
You know the very first step of curing addiction is to admit it.
We cannot even do that yet.
It takes courage but first lets not convince ourselves we are a democracy.
The new one is now that we are accepting 1 million immigrants a year without even thinking that we cannot integrate them and it is overwhelming our health system and housing and we continue to deny it on the media that is supposed to inform our citizens. Lots of propaganda to allow our landlords and businesses to get the cheaper labour they want and at the same time weakening our unions.
What can we do in our so called democracy? Swallow it all. At this moment most Canadians cannot choose where to live in our country because we cannot afford it. So much for the critic that people cannot do it in Russia and China because they need permission. We are in the same boat if you are the average Joe.
And one can go on and on as you very well know.
Thank you
Carlos
I agree with your basic premise but I do have to ask where in the world you’ll find a country that HAS democracy and ISN’T captured by big business? It sure ain’t the US, the UK etc. I’m pretty sure Canada is far from alone around the globe when it comes to this.
Well then we agree even more. I just talked about Canada because it is our country but Democracy is failing everywhere and the reason is the one I mentioned and you agreed with.
I am glad we have the same opinion because we are going to need as many people as possible to resolve this issue. One thing I already know for sure, it is either going to change peacefully or it will be forced in which case it will not be pretty. Democracy just like all the other crisis that are converging was ignored for decades and we chose to believe that things always fall in place. We develop new technologies and everything is alright. Well it seems that technology is not a simple panacea and in many cases it deepens the problems. A clear example is the cell phone. Convenient, solves a lot problems but it will not be to far from now that we will have to deal with an addiction that is worse than opioids except is it not as obvious and we think it will never happen.
Carlos:
Could’nt agree more.
Ms. Notley managed to lose, in successive elections, to a “man” whose only discernible qualities are carpet-bagging and pandering , and to Danielle Smith, a creature of no apparent attributes of any kind.
What does a “quintessentially Canadian government” look like? Mike Harris’ griftocracy? Ralph Klein’s? Mulroney’s smash-and-grab? The Harpo Roy Cohn Experience? How about Saskatchwan’s All-you-can-steal Devine Comedy?
“A candy-colored clown they call the sandman
Tiptoes to my room every night
Just to sprinkle stardust and to whisper
Go to sleep, everything is alright”
You’re just a glass-half-empty guy, aren’t you, Murph?
So well said, and I totally agree with you. Notley is the leader I admire and have voted for. Democracy finally takes a deep root in Alberta because of the leadership of Notley. No doubt about it. What I wanted to add here is that the whole society has been changed in the last decade, and those changes help to bring more people to NDP. Here are some: 1) political blogs such as yours, Susan Wright, etc., are so well run and read so widely that readers who want to hear alternative voices from the mass media come. And young people are doing the same thing by attending to instagram, facebook, X, etc. for information and also sharing their thoughts there. 2) Ordinary citizens are no longer believers of the conservative preach that what is good for rich people is also good for ordinary persons; the trickle down economics has never been true and has been proved time and again a false proposition. At the same time, conservative governments are seen to be very good at parceling out well functioning and lucrative regulated businesses to their friends and leaving government deficit to all. Furthermore, the financial hardship caused by de-regulation has been imposed on everyone while the rich reaps the benefits. So, facts are known that conservative governments are for the rich and not for ordinary citizens. Plus, conservatives often are lecturing people. 3) the whole world has become flatter in information sharing while the mass media does not tell the whole truth.
All those changes are helpful for NDP to gain people and votes.
I fully understand your comments and I agree with you but you are underestimating the power of money in our politics. Just look at a similar system on steroids in the US and you can easily see that money buys anything. Trump must be one of the few Americans that can insult a judge without any consequences other than a gag rule on him. Even if he gets charged he will do his sentence in Mar a Lago with is golden toilet. It is naïve to think that our so called democracies can progress without what the Russians had to do with their Tsar. Nothing has changed or will change without the full force of the citizens and the chances of that happening in North America are as good as a black hole fall on earth.
Recall the remark attributed to Boss Tweed of the Tammany Hall crowd in New York City near the turn of the twentieth century. He was asked what are the two most important things in politics. “Money,” he replied, “…and I can’t think of the other one.”
LOL
Pretty good – so the question is why is it that we in the west continue to talk about OUR democracies when we know for a fact that we have elections YEs but not democracy. Some people reply to me – ‘Well better than the other systems’ – Well that is not my point. Calling democracy to a system where we only have a vote every 4 years and then get people that lied and are not going to do what they told us they would do, then what is that?
I personally do not call it democracy – we have a voting / lobbyist system
People voted for Trump because they believed (erroneously) he represented their material interests.
I swear to god if the average liberal realized how easy it is to win elections they just might actually do so. There are those that say liberals fear winning because they don’t want to be in charge; I’m inclined to this line of thinking more and more these days.
Serious question, how much more
Did trump spend than Hillary in 2016, exactly ? I’ll wait on this one.
Just out curiosity, what do you suggest then, that the Liberals should be doing, that they aren’t? My feeling is that they are abysmal at marketing themselves and for some reason, they are reluctant to remind voters of all the things that Conservatives have voted NO on.
Conservatives never have to give context when criticizing Liberals or NDPs, just accusations and spin. So maybe if Liberals started giving a little of the actual context around what they’ve done for Canadians, as in ‘we gave low income families free dental care for their kids while the Conservatives voted NO’! (or whatever might be a provincial situation here in Alberta, NDP’s opposition or contrasting philosophy compared to what UCP have done…).
It’s far too easy for Conservatives/Republicans to get mean and sling mud with no consequences because Liberals/Democrats seem to think that their good deeds and efforts will be recognized by the people via telepathic ‘good will vibes’ or something.
I’d be interested to read some other ideas on what our progressive parties need to start doing in order to put the political thugs out of business (so to speak).
I am only sorry that the accomplishments Rachel Notley listed in her farawell speech were not more prominent during 2023 election.
I was also hoping she might hang on a little bit longer or at least until David Parker engineered the ouster of Danielle Smith…
True enough, Rachel Notley did a lot of good things while in Government. She could have done a lot more.
I think Rachel was the right leader at the right time. Albertans sense of themselves has changed, and is changing. Albertans are not the same as those of 1976. The UCP is learning this. They are far better educated, and even more urbanized. Far less provincial, dare I say, so rural farmers are sophisticated business people. The end result is these voters are ripe for a well reasoned, but also emotionally appealing future orientated scenario. I suspect much of last election’s failure was too much concentration on how wacko Danni is, and not enough about plans and scenarios to make Alberta a better place for a 21st century Alberta citizenry. Rachel is sensible enough to realize that now is an ideal time to pass the burden of leadership to someone who will carry on her work. But that person will also bring new energy to the movement, as leadership is very draining. To Rachel and many other party members and supporters, we need to offer many thanks for their key work in bringing Alberta into a modern political ethos after a long period of stasis. Forward!
Now the interregnum. For our journalists at Post David Pecker media? A caution. https://youtu.be/ovOVGg5VE4s?t=1
Rachel Notley will leave some very big shoes to fill for whoever comes after. She made the difficult, a progressive party winning in Alberta, look easier. Of course with her departure, the UCP will also lose one of their advantages, the four years of NDP government in Alberta were not easy times economically.
So it will be a chance to move ahead both for the province and the NDP. The only leader stuck in the past now will be Smith, so in a way Notley’s departure may hasten Smith’s as well.
In any event, at this point we seem to have a vigorous healthy two party system, a well functioning democracy. This is a rare thing in Alberta which in the past has frequently lapsed into the trappings of a one party state, where election results often seemed predetermined.
Especially for reinvigorating our democracy, which is no small feat, Notley deserves credit and our thanks. It will not be an easy task for whoever succeeds her either, but at least they will be well positioned to continue her work.
Rachel Notley did two big things: she broke the mold of conservative government—eight decades of it—and governed well and steadily during four years of astounding change such as the world had never seen before. Yes, preserving and then growing a respectable opposition during her next two times at bat are almost invaluable for both the NDP and Alberta’s future but, despite all that, failure to defeat dark horse Danielle Smith gave cause for Notley to admit that her real legacy was achieved back in 2015 on the night she and her party terminated 44 years of ProgCon government (almost 80 years of right-wing government if the Socreds are included), followed closely by that single term of memorably good governance. An eternity of sterling Loyal Opposition cannot outweigh that kind of gold.
Notley’s announcement is bittersweet, nonetheless, because, after coming to within a few thousand votes in a few Calgary ridings of beating Smith’s UCP last May, voter-regret after seven-and-a-half months of Danielle is so palpable the NDP would win if, as they say, an election were held today. That alone might rationalize Notley staying on as a premier presumptive shoe-in three-and-a-bit years from now, but by then it will have been a dozen years since her last successful bid for power—and long-in-the-tooth might weight heavily the wrong way regardless whatever electoral opprobrium Smith’s government has earned for itself by then, or even if Smith suffers the same fate as her predecessor, party-founder Jason Kenney, and doesn’t complete a whole term.
The only opportunity for Notley to stay on was conditional on a victory the NDP didn’t achieve in 2023. I think she would have made a great premier again but, even if she had won, the question of leadership would only have been postponed. Now the party can focus more on electing her successor whilst in opposition and UCP government promises to keep ineptly undermining its own popularity without inordinately complicating the NDP’s obligation to expose it. Meanwhile the one-time premier—the best Alberta’s had in a long, long time—retains considerable influence in the ensuing leadership race and the party will do well to keep her good counsel thereafter.
Ms Notley obviously thought long and hard about her decision, and, as much as I hate to she her go, I think she came up with the correct one.
Everybody will be citing the debt of gratitude Albertans and its cofederates owe Rachel Notley. I’ll only add that if the NDP wants to follow Notley’s legacy it will first win power just like she did it and govern well just like she did.
Thank you from BC, Rachel Notley. And good luck, my Alberta friends.
As long as ignorant Albertans are dumb enough to support these Reformers this is what you are going to get and you can kiss a democracy goodbye and that’s what they want. Their supporters are definitely some of the dumbest people in the world and they certainly aren’t smart enough to believe the truth as Anonymous and I certainly know.
Alan K. Spiller: You are absolutely right. When we have phony Conservatives and Reformers steal our oil and tax wealth, just to buy votes, while our important services get neglected, and they destroy jobs, something is amiss. I recall reading about an individual who wasn’t interested in getting into politics, but they were asked to join the Wildrose. They weren’t happy with what the Alberta PCs were doing, so they reluctantly agreed. As soon as they heard Danielle Smith give accolades to Ralph Klein, they wisely backed off. This person knew that Ralph Klein made a horrific mess of things, and Peter Lougheed wasn’t impressed by him at all. I recall also reading about this person saying that Ralph Klein’s own parents were doubtful of his attempt at politics. When you look at newspaper comment sections, anyone that disagrees with these phony Conservatives and Reformers, gets called nasty names. I recall one person being called a communist, because they didn’t support them. In addition, we see columnists, such as David Staples, Lorne Gunter, and Licia Corbella fully supporting the UCP at every opportunity.
@ Carlos,
very experienced journalist like you, says that Rachel Notley made democracy great again…………………
She is undoubtfully the greatest politician we have had since Peter Lougheed but Alberta has never been a democracy and it will never be. We are a clear Petrostate and Rachel did very little to make us anything but!!
Until Alberta wakes up to that fact little will change.
Consider this!
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/17/alabama-power-electric-utility-finance-birmingham-news
Sound familiar?
TB
Thank you Trailblazer for this article.
Alberta will never wake up until the costs for clean up show up. We do not vote for any reason other than money. Those of us who survive the relentless propaganda of the Alberta Advantage and stuff as idiotic as cancer is treatable at home until reaches level 4 and great contract deals like the 2.5 billion that Jason Kenney lost on the pipeline and Danielle Smith’s Tylenol that can actually kill kids, we are the ones that will have to suffer the consequences of this disgrace. Pierre Poilievre the one who knows everything and declares to be the only one who can fix this country, does not say a word about his illiterate cousins in Alberta but attacks the Mayors in Quebec, calling them incompetent. He is the most incompetent leader I have ever seen in my life and along with Trump they will leave North America the basket case in the world. We can get prepared for that. PP are you still going to make Canada the God of Crypto in the World?
Now that the Alberta NDP is openly gearing up for a leadership race, I want to see some bolder ideas from the candidates for what another NDP government would do. The Notley government was a bit timid and incremental in many areas of public policy, and when it tried to do bold, it sometimes got slapped down hard — case in point, Bill 6. The carbon tax was the only bold policy that was actually implemented, and that didn’t last past their first four-year mandate. Of course, after 44 years of uninterrupted PC rule, that government’s learning curve wasn’t just steep, it was a near-vertical cliff face that had to be ascended with pitons and rope.
I also was deeply skeptical of the provincial public service’s ability to truly shift gears to supporting a moderately progressive government after so many decades of conservatism. When they won in 2015, I called for a wholesale purge of the top levels of the public service — Deputy Ministers and ADMs. That didn’t happen, and I still wonder how much that decision affected the ability of the NDP to govern.
All that said, we got calm, rational, honest and ethical governance from Rachel et. al., not someone we are guaranteed to get in this country. Not even a whiff of scandal, and stability on some of the government’s most impactful files — especially health care.
But next time they win government, timid and incremental won’t be enough. We need bold, creative public policy to tackle the most pressing issues of our time. Poverty, homelessness, and income inequality … health care capacity … climate change and the environment … all of these issues call for a serious commitment to finding solutions.
Let’s hope we see some good ideas emerge from this campaign.
Rachel Notley was a refreshing change in Alberta.
I used to joke with a friend in Alberta, Wonder how Rachel Notley got a copy of Peter Lougheed’s play book. Bet you its in a safe somewhere. We would just laugh.
Notley did a good job! Hopefully she will not leave politics.