I had coffee with my old friend Buff yesterday, and Buff had a theory about what’s happened to NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi since his slam dunk 86-per-cent victory over all the other candidates to lead Alberta’s Opposition party back in June.
“I think Nenshi’s been kidnapped,” said Buff as we waited for our overpriced cappuccinos.
Maybe that’s why the NDP doesn’t seem to have time to criticize Premier Danielle Smith or her outrageous United Conservative Party Government very much, Buff speculated.
Well, I’m delighted to be able to report that Mr. Nenshi’s safe and sound and doing what he said he was going to be doing back in that post-victory interview with CTV on Aug. 12. You know, “organizational work, the sort of less sexy stuff,” as he put it at the time.
No need to take my word for it. Blogger Susan Wright, a very respectable source of information whose weekly Susan on the Soapbox blog has been around almost as long as this one, reported that she actually saw him in action yesterday afternoon, at the Calgary-Elbow NDP Constituency Association’s barbecue.
No one seems to have posted any photos of that event on social media, but there was a snapshot on X of Mr. Nenshi addressing a small group at another Calgary constituency association get-together on Friday.
“After a (very) enthusiastic introduction from NDP MLA Samir Kayande,” Ms. Wright wrote of the NDP leader’s Sunday afternoon do, “Nenshi made a short speech which reinforced his commitment to classic NDP positions like public health care and public education, he touched on the need to be ready for the new economy arising from a shift to renewable resources, increased automation and AI, and he emphasized the importance of adopting an attitude of joy and optimism as we move forward.”
Joy and optimism, eh? There’s something familiar about that. I feel like I’ve heard that somewhere in the last few days.
OK, to be fair, according to the Soapbox blog’s author, Mr. Nenshi acknowledged the source – the campaign of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz for the American presidency and vice-presidency. “Nenshi ended his speech by reinforcing the need to ‘tap into love’ and turned once again to the amazing momentum coming out of the DNC,” Ms. Wright said. “When we fight, we win!”
Ms. Wright and her hubby “returned home feeling energized,” she concluded. “Which when you think about it, is quite remarkable given all the crap that’s come down the line since Smith took power.”
So it’s great to learn Mr. Nenshi is safe, well, and leaving NDP supporters feeling energized and encouraged, perhaps even joyful and optimistic.
Now, I don’t want to be a nattering nabob of negativity, to borrow a phrase from a former U.S. vice-president, the late Spiro T. Agnew, or his speechwriter William Safire anyway. But Mr. Nenshi is going to have to do better than just go to the occasional NDP BBQ that attracts no media reporters and preach to the choir.
He needs to be speaking up forcefully and consistently about the appalling policies the UCP is implementing – for example, the wholesale privatization of mental health and addiction treatment now underway, which is in the news because the government is making regular announcements about it, and the frightening state of the entire health care system which appears to be near collapse while the government focuses on ideological vanity projects!
Mr. Nenshi need not do it all himself. But where have NDP Mental Health and Addictions critic Janet Eremenko and Health Critic Luanne Metz been?
Well, the MLAs for Calgary-Currie and Calgary-Varsity popped up at an NDP town hall meeting in Okotoks on Thursday, but that seems about all that’s made the news lately.
I speak from some experience when I say it’s not all that hard to earn more media coverage than that if you want to – even in these days of mostly conservative-biased mainstream media. A news story, after all, is still a news story, and most journalists still define sharp criticism from an elected official as news.
It gives me no pleasure to say this, but this summer anyway, Ms. Smith’s UCP is mopping the floor with the NDP, and the Opposition is squandering opportunities right and left to hammer the government for policies that are unpopular with most voters, including many conservatives outside the UCP’s extremist base.
Labour Day is almost upon us and summer will soon be over. And sure, the Legislature won’t sit again until the last week of October. But Question Period is mostly a waste of time anyway. So let’s not focus on that as it’s a game changer, for heaven’s sake!
Joy and optimism? South of the Medicine Line, that is mainly the result of the relief felt by Democrats who realized their doddering incumbent president simply could not defeat his baleful Republican opponent.
Here in Alberta, New Democrats chose Mr. Nenshi two months ago to replace capable former premier Rachel Notley. That was the moment for optimism, if not joy.
At the risk of sounding like an assistant coach somewhere, now is the time for Mr. Nenshi and the NDP to up their game and start playing like they actually want to win!
I have a feeling much of the joy and optimism in the US is actually relief from a party facing an imminent election, which had increasing doubts about the coherence of its leader who was well past his prime. He has now been replaced by someone almost 20 years younger in the political golden age range and now their opponent is the one looking old. Well 59 is not quite youthful and energetic, but I suppose it is in comparison to 78.
Here in Alberta the situation has some similarity, specifically there is a Premier who does not always seem coherent, but she can fake it when needed. However, no imminent election or big age gap.
I suspect part of Nenshi’s strategy is in treating this as a marathon not a sprint. The toughest part for him may be the first part until the Federal politician with the name toxic in Alberta is replaced, one way or another. After that it becomes an easier fight.
I’m not sure if this strategy is a good one or will work, but it is my best guess as too why this summer has been more politically quiet than expected.
The UCP are Reformers, and they don’t have a single Conservative bone in any of their bodies. It’s Conservatives who are supporting the NDP in Alberta, because they know that the NDP wanted to return to the oil and tax rates that Peter Lougheed gave us, protect our pensions, keep public healthcare and public education well maintained, look after the less fortunate, keep utilities affordable, look after the environment, and care for seniors. With the UCP, we aren’t seeing those things.
Joy and optimism. Yeah that seems to be the catchphrase of the day. During the recent DNC convention/ Kamala Harris coronation, commentators were claiming excitement and anticipation was in the air. Kamalamania! In the 2020 primaries, Harris was a huge flop despite being declared by insiders early on as the favourite and heir apparent. Now they are branding her as Ms Joy and Optimism. You are feeling joy and optimism because we say you are. Now Trudeau wants to import the brand to save his sorry ass. The power of suggestion.
Trudeau? And here I thought we were talking Nenshi, Ron ! I’ll be honest; like many folks, when trump was shot at, I figured he was a lock, but all it’s really taken is a candidate that can nearly string a coherent sentence together and the tables have turned once again. IMHO ; this indicates an electorate that is quite weary of MAGA, as polling suggests Americans will vote for anyone other than a living corpse to defeat trump.
NOT for NOTHING this is the exact same problem the CPC has in Canada. Canadians are not overly enamoured with our foppish hockey haired Prime Minister ; they just hate the CPC. Stephen Harper has done a wonderful job making the party conform to his image, the problem is his image is closer to Dracula than Mr Dressup and most people who have a pulse remember just how cold and arrogant he is. Don’t even get me started on the sycophantic idiot that is heading the party now; no one likes him, nobody trusts him, and it’s going to take a lot more than F Trudeau bumper stickers, which themselves have become an eye rolling cliche and embarrassment; to change their assessment of that (possibly juicing) political nothing.
Both dominant conservative parties in the northern part of North America are run by hateful goldfish who don’t remember anything, are completely incapable of change or growth, and are eternally mystified why they keep bumping into the walls of the tank.
To be such a band of hypocritical assholes that it’s such a layup for the democrats / liberals to beat you that they literally don’t even have to offer any meaningful ideological alternative is quite pathetic.
A Little Bird
….hateful goldfish in a tank….
LOL!! 2 thumbs up!!!
Though personally, I see Skippy as more of the guppy type…..from what I remember of Mrs R’s fish tanks. Even if he does see himself as a Siamese fighting fish.
Now I’m seeing cartoon fish wearing 10 gallon hats….lol
Speaking of political parties/democracy etc., thank the good lord you’re not living in France. Macron has just announced he is not turning power over to the coalition New Popular Front that won the election, stating he has a “responsibility is to ensure that the country be neither blocked nor weakened.”
Well said.
It is well known that alt-rights are extremely susceptible to manipulation by suggestions from their political cult leaders. Alt-rights also project their own massive failures onto others. So predictable.
I agree, David. Given the many misdeeds of the fanatical UCP, you have to wonder whether Albertans will continue to be willingly duped, or wake up and support a new direction. Renewables anyone? Investment in public education to create a new way forward for our children? Admitting that climate change is real? Separating religion from the public trust? Embracing the public through healthcare, affordability, seniors, the arts, admitting that science is real, a voice of measured tolerance, thoughtfulness and understanding? Nay, after working and living in this province for decades, I have come to know that too many, in my opinion, support conservatives and will do so for the foreseeable future. Alberta is easy pickings for conservatives and they know it. Currently we have a totalitarian, near fascist government that is proud to be so. Remember the Tucker Carlson interview? No outrage against this unhinged UCP group. 4 billion dollars lost on the teacher’s pension fund by way of these self righteous conservatives? Crickets. Protests? Why, no one shows up don’t you know.
The NDP has a huge hill to climb and they seem unwilling, unable, or incapable of mounting a movement, because that is what it would take is a movement, to move Alberta off of its current trajectory, of the entirely destructive UCP doing nothing meaningfully helpful for anyone, but their friends and like-minded supporters.
Strange how many in the USA seem suddenly happy to have Kamala Harris in their election giving them a sense of hope for a positive way forward (assuming they also win the House and the Senate – if not then it will be more of the same – not to mention the fact that Trump and his ilk are calling for civil war if he loses the election – how awful is that?), but even more strange is that fact that Trump, in spite of all of his misdeeds, is neck and neck with Harris. Seems that many Albertans are in the MAGA group and they have taken full control of Alberta, and no one is powerful enough to move the goal posts; perhaps the NDP have given up like the majority of Albertans.
“No outrage against this unhinged UCP group. 4 billion dollars lost on the teacher’s pension fund by way of these self righteous conservatives”. I offer no reply to your overall comment, however I must correct the factual inaccuracy in this quoted remark. At the time that AIMCO suffered an approximate $2 billion dollar loss to the funds it was responsible for managing (spring of 2020, immediate post-covid arrival), AIMCO did not manage the investments of the Alberta Teachers’ Retirement Fund (ATRF). The ATRF suffered no losses at that time that could be attributed to AIMCO. Pursuant to legislation passed by the Government of Alberta in November, 2019, AIMCO has since assumed responsibility for managing the investment of ATRF pension funds. This is done in accordance with strict and specific guidelines provided by ATRF, according to ATRF investment strategy. ATRF is currently fully funded and able to deliver on its pension promise to the teachers of Alberta. Whether the transfer of responsibility for day-to-day management of ATRF investments from ATRF to AIMCO is sound public or pension policy I leave for others to comment.
Full disclosure, I am a director of ATRF, and am committed to being a trusted advisor to both sponsors of ATRF – the Government of Alberta (regardless of whatever party is in office) and the Alberta Teachers’ Association. I therefore felt compelled to correct the public record (which used to be the daily newspapers for which our illustrious blogger toiled, but now includes our blogger’s blog). Please don’t let my correction take anything away from my gratitude and admiration for the thoughts you’ve posted in reply to this report on Mr. Nenshi’s recent appearance. Onward!
No problem, Greg. I do try to keep up, for obvious reasons, but I also try to allow readers to express strong opinions and, as long as what they’re saying doesn’t appear to be defamatory or intentionally misleading, I do not check all their facts. If I did, I would have no time for anything else. DJC
Thanks Dave. I do not expect you to fact check. I’m just trying to help, and truly appreciate the exchange of opinion in the reply section. I am glad that you and I are on the same page. I’d be surprised if more than two others have read our exchange, the inter web being what it is. On to the next shiny object!
Greg: Interestingly, the comments section appears to be well read. I’m frequently complemented on the quality of my commenters compared with other sites. I take some credit for this. All comments are moderated. Some require spiking to keep the tone civil. DJC
Agreed, except for one thing: we’re not having a provincial election in November. In fact, the only political event on the calendar for that month here in Oilbertastan is the UCP leadership review.
Mr Nenshi began his leadership by saying he was going to work on the fundamentals of political organizing. He’s been under the hood of the party, and laying down on a creeper tinkering with the running gear, and isn’t yet ready to get in the driver’s seat and turn the engine over.
Meanwhile, the Premier and her team have spent the summer stunt driving, laying down rubber and pulling doughnuts, but it’s summer and the people really haven’t been paying attention. But Labour Day is coming, and back to school, and then they will start to notice what’s going on. That’ll be the time for Mr Nenshi to turn the key and see if the vehicle will run.
I am shocked the UCP are mopping the floor with the NDP, said no one ever. Sadly, you can count on it like the sun rising in the east.
I would not say the UCP is “mopping the floor with the NDP”. One could say Nenshi is giving Smith as much rope as she wants. Just let her keep talking and once all her plans are out there, then its time to start talking about what she has planned. the UCP has a majority with no election in sight so what does it matter what the NDP does now. Of course others may want to counter each statement Smith makes. However, sometimes you have nothing to say later on and people don’t care. Sometimes you can even count on the party itself to hang the leader, if there is enough rope.
whatever cards Nenshi is playing, he is playing them close to his vest. He did get elected Mayor of Calgary more than once, so he might know what he is doing. Well I sure hope so.
I bought an ABNDP membership and did vote for Mr. Nenshi.
I also expected July (and most of August) to be somewhat quiet; but honestly, full cricket mode from the NDP was not a good thing.
With September around the corner, it’s time for the NDP to hold the UCP’s feet to the fire. Offer real solutions, start acting like a government in waiting. I will remember come next election.
I am still nauseated by the Notley “Laissez-faire” sleepwalker approach to the last election.
Maybe Nenshi has the Alberta Progressive Stupor, some sort of smug appeal to the intelligence of the average voter to assess and vote wisely in their own best interests. ( please read Alberta political history Naheed, that’s not us , it will be a blue page not orange or red or purple. ) For all our reference to Vision of the future we are horribly short term visceral players. Bribery with our own money gave NDP a loss, decaying HC and the election was won with a arena.
‘tap into love’ is great but the NDP better tap into how the psychology of deception and UCP/TBA/Alberta politics work or it will be an endless self love fest on the sidelines of power here.
Dear NDP political opposition. You are the opposition NOT the observation.
“When we fight, we win!” necessitates fighting. Not even showing up by text, or social platform or news conference or letter or essay or in person anywhere beyond a family BBQ is a betrayal of every Albertan who voted for you to be paid stand up for them. And “no shows” default to the attendees no matter how retrograde they swing.
Lost time and lost opportunities are lost forever. Lose enough and you will get to yet again analyse your NDP defeat and do your “organizational work, the sort of less sexy stuff,” from a legislative broom closet while your pension accrues.
It would be wise, I think, if the NDP— wherever the are—not adopt American Democratic Party slogans, at least until the oxygen-sucking US contest is completed, anytime between Election Day and Inauguration Day (presumably Jan/6 anniversary ‘celebrations’ will be good and done by then).
Not that Jack Layton, the late federal NDP leader, didn’t do well by adopting some of Obama’s HOPE. But this time it’s different.
This time I’d rather see the Canadian partisan right’s unabashed aping of tRumpublican tropes stand starkly alone without any countering diametrics distracting, diluting, or—heaven forbid!—legitimizing of tRumpublican-style meanness, nastiness, and hatefulness. It’s bad enough seeing MAGA infiltrate north of the border—and especially as much as it has in my second-favourite province of Alberta.
US election rhetoric is bound to get much more ugly and, with the tRump/VD ticket getting more syphilitic with every passing day of mounting desperation and sagging prospects, responding with a hyperbolic pissing match is probably not advisable: not enough umbrellas or sou’westers to go around anyhow.
And remember: the distractions of US, BC, NB and Saskatchewan elections will all be over soon enough whereas Mr Nenshi, the swaddling two-month-old NDP leader, has yet to get himself a seat in the Assembly, let alone worry about a general election that’s unfortunately over three years away.
Patience, my Alberta friends, relief soon come!
In furtherance of my point re: Canadians hating the CPC, the Conservative Party of Canada has had five different leaders since Harper was defeated by Trudeau NINE YEARS AGO. All of them, save the latest one, had their political careers taken out behind the woodshed. Changing the face of the party clearly has had little effect on how Canadians perceive the CPC because it is still VERY MUCH Stephen Harper’s party. The rot is at the core of the party and, like I said, these goldfish don’t care they’re wrong, they are completely incapable of change to a person.
Good luck with all that.
lungta: The only reasons why the NDP lost in the 2023 provincial election was because the media did not take the UCP to task for their very pricey shenanigans, or the lies of Danielle Smith, and they lied about Rachel Notley and the NDP.
Rachel Notley and the NDP aren’t responsible for that.
Naheed Nenshi will be different, because he has known Danielle Smith for a long time, and she won’t be able to lie in front of him, if she even makes it past the leadership review unscathed. The media won’t be games like this with him.
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/licia-corbella-rachel-notley-cant-run-on-her-record-as-premier-because-its-a-disaster
https://albertapolitics.ca/2023/05/copy-editors-checking-facts-thats-thing-of-the-past-at-postmedia-apparently-as-election-column-illustrates/
Based on emails I am receiving from Nenshi and his team, as well as Susan’s note, it looks to me that he is at the grassroots, consolidating his win with the many new and long-standing members, focusing on the Lethbridge by-election and building strength for 2027. Wisely, in my opinion. About 50% of Albertans did the not listen to the previous NDP criticisms about the UCP before and after election and still are not listening, if one looks at opinion polls. Personally, I am tired of hearing the same old true (and frightening) but tired criticisms. Enough words! I want to see actions, which I am beginning to see in Nenshi’s emails. Three years from an election, Nenshi is saving his breath to cool his porridge.
This reminds me of the Liberals who did nothing and assumed that Albertans would wake up and realize what Klein was doing to us and vote him out. They didn’t. In fact he is still their hero while they ignore all the damage he did to this Province.
I still have a hard time believing how ignorant these Rural Albertans are after what these Reformers have done to them. Apparently from what they tell me they only vote Conservative and apparently they don’t care what they do to them. Where is the intelligence in that?
Alan K. Spiller: Rocks, or fenceposts seem to be smarter. No matter how much these phony Conservatives and Reformers walk all over rural Albertans, and treat them like dirt, they still will not care. They seem to be gluttons for punishment.
Anonymous When they want to sell their farms and retire and can’t because of the pollution problem they face maybe they will wake up, but I doubt it.
I don’t have a problem with Mr. Nenshi going to the grass-roots rather than simply doing photo-ops and working the media. But it’s imperative that he get out to rural Alberta and target a broader audience. The “converted” (as you put it) are supporters already.
Dani has just stated that the best way to deal with an under-performing monopoly is through competition and fear. Now where are the NDP again? She’s seizing control of hospitals and destroying AHS. Big enough target for the slackers running this shyte show of an opposition? No? Don’t say no! Pass me a Tommy Douglas hotdog!
“It gives me no pleasure to say this, but this summer anyway, Ms. Smith’s UCP is mopping the floor with the NDP, and the Opposition is squandering opportunities right and left to hammer the government for policies that are unpopular with most voters, including many conservatives outside the UCP’s extremist base.”
Perfectly put, David. Thank you.
I wonder if today’s (27.08) announcement by Dani re scaring hospitals into performing or leasing them out to third parties will finally stir Nenshi into action? My sources tell me that Scientology and the Masons have submitted their applications to run “under-performing rural hospitals”. What could go wrong?
Lefty: No way the Masons are interested. They are few, old, and having trouble finding new recruits who know how to memorize long passages. Well, that’s the way it goes. So mote it be. DJC
Please look up the article in the Albertan where the premier discusses plan to relieve AHS of managing hospitals. Yes we do need the official opposition to do their job. https://www.thealbertan.com/local-news/alberta-premier-reveals-plans-to-transfer-hospitals-away-from-ahs How many defeated MLAs are on Covenant Board?
Thanks, Gail. This is the topic of tonight’s post. DJC
Now that Alberta is heading, without guardrails or safeguards of any kind, toward a faith-based healthcare model, Nenshi and the ABNDP should be all over Queen Danielle and the UCP Christian solders on the further damage they are planning on committing to public healthcare in Alberta. But … silence.
Those who are committed to the faith-based healthcare model are…weird. I recently viewed a video of Congressional committee hearings in the US concerning (or branching off into) women’s reproductive rights. A Republican (one of those ‘FreeDUMB Caucus’ idiots) was going on and being skeptical that women may not know they are pregnant in the early stages of their pregnancy. This genius suggested having a woman swallow a camera to see if there was a fetus in her uterus. The member was reminded by another committee member that the mouth is NOT connected to the uterus. To that, the GOP bonehead replied, “Okay. OKAY. OKAY!!!”
You’re welcome Alberta.
Is it just me, or should Nenshi/NDP round up Marlaina and her merry gang of misfits and put them into one of those new “rural Covenant Health ” aka Shandro &Stelmach B.of D,
Or would Albertans be better off with them in the Last Door Recovery Centre?
Seriously, do they have any idea what they are doing? Is there any real plan, or is this just pulling notes from the ca’boy hats in between rodeos and frog jumping & horse racing?
IMHO what’s going on in Alberta is like watching the Exorcist. Either way, an intervention of some kind is really needed. Bizarre is an understatement.