United Conservative Party strategists must be thanking their Judeo-Christian deity that Rakhi Pancholi isn’t the leader of the Opposition.
With Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi nowhere to be found Friday morning, Ms. Pancholi took up the task of eviscerating the long list of intentionally confusing referendum questions announced by Premier Danielle Smith in her prime-time televised message the day before, not to mention the way the premier coddles separatists, her dog whistling about immigration, and her refusal to take responsibility for her government’s fiscal mismanagement.
“Cut the bullshit! Call the election!” Ms. Pancholi began her Friday morning news conference, cutting right to the chase.
“Danielle Smith and the UCP did not campaign on nine new referendum questions,” the Opposition party’s deputy leader immediately continued. “They do not have a mandate from Albertans for this. Not on separatism, not on pulling out of the CPP, not on breaching the Charter rights of Albertans, not on coal mining in the Eastern Slopes, and not on bringing in two-tier health care!
“The premier is trying to distract us ahead of a UCP budget that will contain billions of dollars in deficits,” Ms. Pancholi rolled on, the wind in her sails. “She’s trying to distract us from separatism – which she put on the agenda and is already putting our province at risk. The premier is blaming oil prices and immigration for her poor planning and financial mismanagement.” (And, as ever, she’s also blaming long gone former prime minister Justin Trudeau, it must be added.)
After that, it just got better. Ms. Pancholi never faltered in her forensic deconstruction of the house of cards Ms. Smith has built, starting with the premier’s plan for nine murkily worded referenda next Oct. 19, the point of which appears to be to create a constitutional crisis in Canada that will help break up the federation.
Over the next half hour, Ms. Pancholi repeated the mild profanity she started with two more times – just to make sure everyone was awake and understood that she, at least, had had enough of Ms. Smith’s constant bullshit, and that political discourse in Alberta is shifting whether the UCP likes it or not.
One imagines the post-adolescent pundits at this province’s plethora of well-funded right-wing propaganda platforms were sharpening their crayons to accuse Ms. Pancholi of having a potty mouth. It won’t work. She sounded impassioned, not profane. And Albertans who listen to her presentation will want to hear more.
On the low oil prices the premier blames for Thursday’s sad-sack deficit budget: “Oil production is hitting record levels, and resource revenue from the past five years is the highest it has been in decades. Only the UCP can blow a resource boom!”
On the premier’s pivot to condemning immigration from demanding it: “The hypocrisy on immigration is unreal! Less than two years ago, in 2024, Danielle Smith herself asked Justin Trudeau to increase immigration levels because Alberta wanted more than what Ottawa was offering. Also in 2024, she stated publicly that she wanted to double Alberta’s population to 10 million people, grow cities like Red Deer 10 times their size to one million, all while promoting the ‘Alberta is Calling’ campaign asking people from Canada and around the world to make Alberta their home.
“She did all this without a thought or plan for how to create the jobs, build the houses, schools and hospitals that we already needed!”
And now, Ms. Pancholi continued, the premier wants us to blame immigrants and asylum seekers and to send us to the polls to vote on a raft of referenda to enable such a campaign pulled right from the pages of Donald Trump’s agenda. “Again, what a load of absolute bullshit! She’s trying to make people angry about things that she can’t even back up with facts. She’s stoking the flames and raising the temperature. This is the opposite of leadership!”
Ms. Pancholi’s performance made an interesting contrast to the premier’s “media availability” the same day, during which Ms. Smith was by turns shouty, defensive, cranky and smug, all the while offering a master class in gaslighting. Just listening to Ms. Smith was exhausting. More than a whiff of panic was in the air.
But the UCP, after all, is a party that has made a cult of avoiding deficits at any cost. Now they’re going to bring down a budget expected to have a deficit of at least $6 billion to $8 billion because … what? They haven’t figured out the price of oil fluctuates?
Once again, Alberta is reduced to playing to poor little rich kid of Confederation, only this time with a separatist problem of its own creation to complicate matters. UCP fiscal incompetence will be revealed in all its glory Thursday, and blaming Mr. Trudeau and asylum seekers isn’t going to cut the mustard with anybody except the UCP’s MAGA base.
“The UCP has been in power for six years now,” explained Ms. Pancholi. “This is the premier’s fourth budget and will now be her second big deficit. Tell me how this is not a disaster in managing Alberta’s finances!”
When a reporter suggested it might be dangerous for the NDP to demand an election – after all, they might just get their wish – Ms. Pancholi said confidently she was willing to take the risk. As she put it in her formal remarks: Danielle Smith “wants to champion direct democracy? We have a direct democracy, and it’s called a general election. Call it!”
Packed Emergency Rooms, crowded classrooms, a million Albertans without a family doctor, no caps on sky-high insurance rates, soaring utility bills, the lowest minimum wage in Canada? “Where’s the premier’s leadership on any of this?”
So, concluded Ms. Pancholi, who ran for the NDP leadership in 2024 but dropped out in favour of Mr. Nenshi when his victory was clearly inevitable: “Cut the bullshit, premier! Stop with the distractions, and if you’re so convinced this is what Albertans want, call an election and let Albertans decide.”
It was a delight to see Ms. Pancholi tear into the UCP with an aggressive spirit that has been largely missing from Alberta politics on the Opposition side since Jason Kenney defeated Rachel Notley’s one-term government in April 2019.
This is what NDP members thought they were voting for when they chose Mr. Nenshi as leader in June 2024. Instead, it has been almost completely absent since Mr. Nenshi took over.
And where was Mr. Nenshi Thursday night, immediately after Ms. Smith’s remarks, or Friday morning for the news conference Ms. Pancholi handled so well? The deputy leader assured reporters that her leader had just returned from a well-deserved vacation and would reappear soon. I’m sure the UCP was relieved.
Danielle Smith remains a talented communicator skilled at setting political narratives before the Opposition gets out of their seats. She is not to be underestimated.
Ms. Pancholi, a lawyer by profession, seems to have the ability to destroy an overconfident and glib witness with forensic precision. With 20/20 hindsight, we can see that she might have been the perfect opponent for a premier with such a casual relationship with the truth and such a destructive ideology.
We can only hope that Mr. Nenshi has the sense to set her loose on the premier while he practices politics in full sentences, or whatever his passive strategy is called.
It is true, these nine bad questions are calculated to motivate the UCPs separatist base to turn out and also to distract from the UCPs poor management of education, health care and our finances.
However, if that is not bad enough, I believe it gets worse. This is also another power grab by Smith. She wants to take over things like immigration. Interestingly, immigration has been declining over the last year after several years of higher levels, so this could be a problem about to solve itself, which may be another reason why Smith is rushing in like a credit hog eager to take over now.
Although if she can’t manage our schools, heath care or finances well why should we give her any more powers now? So I feel we should just say no to the nine bad questions and Smith’s lastest power grab.
Nenshi sucks ass.
What a waste of of a seat!
Full disclosure: a comment I made below the February 20th column, in which I made a rather snide comment about the premier’s appearance, was censored. Upon reflection, this censorship was appropriate and so I thank Mr. Climenhaga for sparing me the embarrassment of my rude and less than intelligent comment before it reached the masses.
Understandably, then, I am confused as to why Mr. Gordon’s is deemed to have met ‘community standards’. I find it objectionable.
Mr. T: Thanks, and good question. I know you’re probably not going to believe me, but I actually thought I was deleting that one when, obviously, I clicked on the publish button. It’s abusive and contributes little to the discussion. This is surprisingly easy to do behind the scenes in the WordPress content management system when moderating a lot of comments. It’s even easier to delete comments that should have been posted. I’m going to leave Mr. Gordon’s comment there now because to delete it would be to delete this whole thread, which is useful. As I have said before, I am inclined to delete comments that are pointless, merely abusive, or present a risk of defamation liability. I also try hard to post as many comments as possible. I don’t hold back when readers criticize me. I do that on the grounds that if you’re going to dish it out, you ought to be able to take it. DJC
Why she dropped in favour of Nenshi, unless it’s a political ploy because the NDP hopes Nenshi is more palatable, baffles me.
This is what Albertans need to hear. Someone in their corner, passionately fighting for them. Choosing the policy wonks to enact the agenda is the later task.
Winning is the first one.
It starts with firing up enough people to go out and vote for you and caring enough to frame your arguments in terms they will understand and get behind.
I’d vote for that.
How many times did we hear Notley say the same things with the same passion and what did it get the NDP? Criticisms that they lost votes in the election because they only focused on the negative.
“Only the UCP can blow a resource boom!”” Well, the UCP does worship a “person” who managed to bankrupt casinos.
Nenshi has to go. He has done nothing and he just does not have it.
Carlos: What do you expect Naheed Nenshi to do? For one thing, the media openly props up the UCP and Danielle Smith. They do not acknowledge the NDP and Naheed Nenshi. It used to be that the media would be balanced, objective, and weren’t one sided. In addition, Danielle Smith intentionally held off the by-election for the riding of Edmonton Strathcona until the last possible moment. Also, the Alberta Legislature hardly ever has sessions, and Danielle Smith created it that way. It wouldn’t matter who was the leader of the NDP, because the media bows down to the UCP and Danielle Smith, and Danielle Smith stifles opposition. The NDP can get any leader they want to, and the media would still prop up the UCP and Danielle Smith, while lying about the NDP, and Danielle Smith will still silence the opposition, like the dictator that she is. The media needs reforming, and the UCP and Danielle Smith need to be called out for their abysmal performance, and their bullying behavior.
Anonymous – I do not disagree with what you said but Nenshi is invisible. Just doing what Pancholi would go a long way.
Anonymous: I see that you’ve made the point about media bias against the NDP a few times here and you’re not wrong. That bias exists and is well-recognized. But here’s the thing: it’s a fact of life in Alberta politics and the NDP are surely well aware of that, so the question that they need to ask themselves is ‘How are we going to deal with it?’ To date their approach has been passive, as if they expect Albertans to recognize that the NDP are the good guys and the UCP are not and will cast their vote accordingly. The last two elections have shown us how well that strategy works.
Personally, I loved what Ms. Pancholi did in that press conference. She was strong, confident and assertive and I thought that her voice at times hinted at controlled anger and outrage. Above all, she came across as fearless and defiant. I’ve been waiting a long time to hear something like this from the NDP and finally it has arrived, thanks to Ms. Pancholi, and it needs to continue. As to whether or not this will generate sufficient media coverage, I believe that it will if the NDP can create a story that the media, biased or not, can’t resist covering. After all, good stories attract readers/viewers which in turn generates revenue and the media aren’t likely to turn away from that.
So how does the NDP create a good story? The late spy novelist John le Carre offered this advice: “The cat sat on a mat. That’s not a story. The cat sat on the dog’s mat. That’s a story.” In that press conference Rakhi Pancholi sat on Danielle Smith’s mat. If she and the rest of the NDP refuse to move without a fight, that’s a story.
Guy I wished I had written that post. Well said and that is exactly what I think. Summarizing Nenshi is completely ineffectual and the NDP in general is “sleeping beauty”. The UCP is going to win the next election because the NDP is invisible and has had no response since they lost the election exactly because they were aloof to say the least.
Nenshi Did Increase Calgary’s Debt & Ignored Their Infrastructure Needs While In Office See Water Main Fiasco.
https://www.weforum.org/people/naheed-nenshi/
There was good reason for Smith to look defensive at her Friday morning news conference. The multi question referendum ploy isn’t playing well with the base. One reason – the questions that were missing. Nothing on leaving the CPP and creating an APP. Nothing on getting rid of the RCMP and forming a new Alberta police force. Nothing on Alberta collecting its own tax revenue. All that stuff that was recommended by the Alberta Next panel. Another reason – they see this as a further attempt to delay, delay, delay. Check out their social media – well, Facebook because they’re all old. Their message to Smith – Cut the bullshit and declare independence!
“With 20/20 hindsight, we can see that she might have been the perfect opponent … ”
With remarkable foresight, some onlookers warned that Nenshi was the wrong choice to lead the Alberta NDP.
To quote the illustrious, sagacious, if not precisely omniscient GP:
“While Nenshi brings some much needed star power to the contest, he sounds even more fossil-fuelled than Alberta’s Pipeline Queen. Unlike Notley, he favors a divorce from the federal NDP. Limiting his appeal to longtime federal NDP supporters in Alberta.
“Like it or not, insiders like Notley and outsiders like Nenshi will continue pulling the AB NDP to the right. Nenshi wants to sever ties with the federal party altogether. Maybe a name change?”
*
“The otherwise admirable Nenshi parrots CAPP’s talking points without an ounce of scepticism. For someone who seems well versed on all other subjects under the sun, Nenshi’s ignorance on climate and energy issues is appalling. The King of Purple not only embraces the LNG fantasy, but also supports new oilsands export pipelines (TMX). He clearly has not done his homework.
“This moment in history is not calling for more oil-soaked petro-progressive politicians.”
*
“As the Alberta NDP morphs into PC-lite, Alberta progressives are left without representation. No one left to defend social democratic principles and science-based, progressive policy.
“Absent a progressive party on the left, centrist parties like the present-day Notley-Nenshi NDP will continue to chase conservative parties to the right. Trying to out-conservative the conservatives in a vain attempt to win power.
“The upshot? Our political parties — now run by lobbyists, with the grassroots kept at a distance — stray from the public interest and increasingly cater to corporate interests. That goes for both the NDP and UCP.
“Make no mistake. Progressives have been shown the door, with security guards posted outside. Much as I like Nenshi, his coronation is a setback to Alberta’s progressive movement.”
*
“If Nenshi does not win in 2027, all will be for naught.
“To win the doughnut ridings around the two big cities, the NDP must swing so far to the right that the left disappears. And still it may not win. The NDP will have given away their party for nothing.
“If the New Democrats become the new PCs, what have they gained? All the NDP has done is sideline progressives and erase the last vestiges of political representation on the left.
“Congrats, Rachel! You just deep-sixed your own party.”
*
“Today, the AB NDP rejects consumer carbon pricing. Supports carbon capture and storage. Supports O&G subsidies. Supports new pipelines that sabotage Canada’s climate targets. Opposes a just transition for workers. Nenshi opposes the federal greenwashing bill.
“The O&G industry has every right to greenwash its operations. A proud Canadian tradition. You betcha.
“Nothing like a vigorous opposition that aligns its policy with the ruling party’s.
“The NDP is MIAP — missing in action and policy.”
*
“I don’t hear a deafening roar from Nenshi’s NDP. Do you?
“Maybe all the NDP’s previous deafening roars made me deaf.”
—
Nenshi needs to do the honourable thing.
Go for a walk in the snow before it melts.
Spend more time with his family.
Pass the torch before it goes out.
Pancholi’s fire and fury are fine, but the ‘potty mouth’ is unnecessary and a trend in politics to be condemned. It added nothing to what she had to say.
But the difference between Pancholi and Nenshi isn’t (just) passion, it’s basic likeability. We see that even from the author of the blog, who frequently takes aim at Nenshi for his lack of passion and other things. These critiques are not without merit but they are over-emphasized, in my opinion. Furthermore, how many Albertans actually saw Pancholi’s ‘performance’? Mostly NDP sympathizers like readers of this blog I would venture to guess. Here in rural Alberta were you to ask: ‘Who is Rakhi Pancholi?’ you would get blank stares from 75% of respondents. In the end, the NDP’s problem getting elected in Alberta has much more to do with large swaths of the population refusing to listen, rather than what or how the NDP communicates. For those of us deeply frustrated and concerned about the direction of the province, our best hope (sadly) still lies with Danielle Smith self-destructing rather than Churchillian oratory from Nenshi, Pancholi or anyone else.
@Rufus
Blaming the electorate for “refusing to listen” is the same excuse the DNC used in the USA.
They didn’t refuse to listen. They were busy watching TikTok unleash a torrent of real-time videos of an actual genocide taking place by someone who had zero intention and claimed it loudly and often that she would continue to send arms to the genociders. They heard the words “I won’t change anything”–when they were desperately crying for major economic change while working three jobs, still needing food benefits to survive and going bankrupt from healthcare costs.
Nenshi talks like an academic. The academics will vote for him. YAY! How many of them are in Alberta, exactly? If a leader wants popular support they need to speak like a union leader fighting for the lives of the people they want to lead. Listen to him, do you think this guy would even fight for pepperoni on the lunch pizza–never mind for the rights of Albertans? Why isn’t he yelling his housing plan from the rooftops, banging on doors pleading with people to do right by their neighbours and fix the healthcare system then screaming down the street at separatists for the unholy mess they’re unleashing while our southern neighbours are eyeing us as red meat?
Carney is a brilliant financier, I’d wager. He could likely ramble off economic statistics, how capital and investment flows and rattle off a bunch of talking points from charts. That’s not how he speaks to the voters. He speaks like he cares about them and is fighting for them and we’re all in it together. Had he spoken like a banker, we’d now be living under the rule of the insufferable Polliviere and being stomped by the American hegemony as the 51st state.
There are times in history when the electorate is facing a future so monstrous that outrage is the only “proper” response and the call to action must be conveyed clearly, loudly and without apology.
If this is not that time in Alberta, I don’t know when, is.
https://www.weforum.org/stories/authors/mark-carney/
Rufus T. You are right. We have a media that openly endorses the UCP and Danielle Smith, while the UCP and Danielle Smith act like dictators.
There is no question she should be the leader.
Nenshi has been a huge disappointment. I am still furious with Notley for destroying their chances at another term by saying she would increase corporate taxes by 3% a few days before the election and not bothering to explain why she had to do it, people would have understood.
The stupid seniors that I knew who weren’t smart enough to understand that it didn’t mean them voted against her. Apparently they weren’t smart enough to know the difference between corporate and personal taxes.
Those of us who have friends and relatives in other provinces find it embarrassing when they point out how stupid Albertans are, just like the American Oilmen I was involved with did. They know how stupid we are and it’s true.
I’ve told my kids and grandkids that they should start looking at another province to move to, none of us from the world of finance can see anyway out of this gigantic financial nightmare they have created, can you?
Alan K. Spiller: The problems aren’t with the NDP. The NDP can have any leader they want to, and the media will lie about the NDP, wile propping up the UCP and Danielle Smith. That’s one problem. Long ago, we didn’t see low grade columnists like Rick Bell, Lorne Gunter, Licia Corbella (now retired), Carson Jerema, Jamie Sarkonak, and David Staples. They clearly endorse the UCP and Danielle, every chance they get.
Danielle Smith has also delayed the by-election for Edmonton Strathcona, until the very last moment, and didn’t care. The Alberta Legislature has very little sessions, and Danielle Smith did that on purpose. The NDP can have any leader they desire, and it’s meaningless, if the media doesn’t acknowledge them, and Danielle Smith acts like a dictator.
Copy editors checking facts? That’s thing of the past at Postmedia, apparently, as election column illustrates – Alberta Politics https://share.google/HJGVJu0GI23DtNkKS
@Anonymous,
I wouldn’t disagree that the legacy media is part of this problem. Just look at their pure hatefulness towards Jagmeet Singh. The only traction he ever got was through limited contact with new media forms.
That is why progressives shouldn’t be depending on them.
Therein lies the problem with the NDP. They want so badly to “be in” with the cool kids of legacy media that they’re refusing to use the most powerful tools they do have–the *real* cool kids of new media. It takes a different kind of savvy and authenticity to master and the NDP just won’t expend the effort.
Even Carney managed it. A banker. A guy who is so straight his spine could be used as a ruler.
But the NDP can’t be bothered because it’s not the “real” media even though the reach is literally, millions of viewers more powerful.
Rakhi Pancholi is outstanding at destroying Marlaina’s lies. Unfortunately, there are a lot of racists in Alberta who prefer Smith’s lies to the truth.
Danielle Smith’s referendum questions seem to be aimed at people like Rakhi Pancholi and Naheed Nenshi. Imagine if Smith’s wish to deny education and health care to children of immigrants and even to deny immigrants entry to Alberta, had been in effect decades ago. Well look, it sure would have made Smith’s life easier in the here and now.
Some mediocre white people don’t seem to like high-achieving, well-spoken children of immigrants very much. What are immigrant surcharges for education and healthcare but a head tax with another name? Ah, the good old days of the “bachelor society”, when every tiny Alberta hamlet had a full-service laundry and café. /S
Abs: I’m not knocking your fundamental point here, but it’s important to remember that both Ms. Pancholi and Mr. Nenshi were born in Canada, in the same province, as it happens, as Derek Fildebrandt, Ric McIver and Adriana LaGrange. DJC
Oh yes, I am well aware of that. However, Danielle Smith’s referendum questions would apparently target *the children* of immigrants, charging them for medical services and education and potentially denying the parents medical attention for services such as labour and delivery that brought those children into the world, depending on the parents’ immigration status and time since arrival in Canada.
It smacks of all the controversial American immigration policies that we’ve been reading about lately.
“Danielle Smith remains a talented communicator skilled at” gaslighting, propaganda, misdirection, manipulating emotions, muddying the waters, deflection, whataboutism and blaming the victims.
DJC, your point was a good one but I thought it could be expanded. I agree completely that we dare not underestimate Smith.
The NDP desperately need to answer Danielle Smith’s emotional appeal to the permanently-pissed-off minority. Ms. Pancholi has demonstrated her talents as a highly effective critic, exposing the weakness and hypocrisy of Smith’s MAGA platform. Good! The NDP need a “bad cop,” and Ms. Pancholi can serve well in that role.
But every good cop/ bad cop duo needs the good cop, too. Nenshi might yet prove effective, if, repeat, emphasis, IF the NDP can create a good-news platform to undo all of Smith’s damage. Rebuild AHS, at least try to address affordability, and remind everyone—including the rest of Canada!—that, of five million Albertans, at least four million of us are loyal citizens of Canada.
If he can grow a backbone and DEMAND attention from the media, Mr. Nenshi may yet grow into his role as Leader of the Opposition. But he better do it soon, like yesterday at the latest.
Mike J Dhanush: The media doesn’t care about the NDP. They openly prop up the UCP and Danielle Smith. That’s the problem, and it exists in different media outlets, including from Postmedia.
Good for Ms. Pancholi. I will be looking for Mr. Nenshi’s photo on milk cartons my next visit to the grocery store.
LOL Loved it. I wonder if Nenshi thinks he has any chance if an election is called?
I have a question about immigration:
What’s the difference between Danielle Smith and Kristi Noem?
Answer: lip filler
Yup, Rakhi Pancholi is exactly who the NDP needs right now to be effective. Whip smart, well spoken, to the point, well prepared.
By now I wish she’d be the leader of the opposition. I live in Nenshi’s riding. When he decided to run, I took out a membership and donated money to the NDP. Biggest mistake I ever made. Politically speaking, at least. What a profound disappointment!
None of these events, the political choices and the agenda acted upon by the current servant to the oil and gas industry Premier, should be surprising as they were all predictable based upon her own historical record and that of her close allies and associates.
The entire enterprise of faulty assumptions and dishonest rhetoric revolves around neutralizing certain perceived threats, for example “woke leftists”, and serving the interests of the socially, economically, and politically privileged/powerful. See for example,
“Filet mignon and haskap sorbet were on the menu as Premier Smith said that the “left has their head explode almost every other day to things that we do, we’ve got so much more coming though, they don’t know what’s about to hit them” to uproarious applause and laughter from the audience, which included orphan well corporate welfare king W. Brett Wilson.”
https://www.theprogressreport.ca/black_tie_business_elite_crowd_in_calgary_applauds_danielle_smith_as_she_brags_about_tearing_down_hundreds_of_encampments_in_edmonton
That is her primary audience and the people that she faithfully and hypnotically serves.
Further, the irrationality of the entire Western ruling class ideological absurdity is encapsulated in the following interview:
“Former Canadian Prime Minister: How to Save Western Civilization”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb0b4utSxiQ
Either the “former Canadian Prime Minister is a liar as Ed Broadbent long ago observed, or he is simply intellectually deluded. Where it is the case that for an individual that has been “properly” socialized by internalizing the beliefs and attitudes of the hierarchical system of power in a society, some thoughts are simply unthinkable.
1. The “skepticism” regarding “America’s principles” has a substantial and broad based historical real world background shared by many scholars that is conveniently not even addressed.
2. The attribution of “modern left nihilism” is both fraudulent, simply stupid, and lacking in any understanding of nihilism’s origins, or why Western civilization is on the trajectory that it is on.
3. “There is no alternative”, for anyone that has benefited from and continues to benefit from the current status quo social arrangement.
4. “The adolescent egos of the woke university crowd” arrogantly and conveniently dismisses all of the scholarly voices that have in the past critiqued and continue to critique the current Western social arrangement.
5. And so on and so forth.
More wisdom could be found in a dung heap than in this particular “former Canadian Prime Minister” and confidant/adviser to the oil and gas industry Alberta Premier.
Well. The first part of Ms. Pancholi’s event was clearly written by the ABNDP comms dept so it’s not just her who is confident calling for an election. Apparently the party sees Ms. Smith and the UCP floundering a bit and vulnerable.
“Who is Rakhi Pancholi?” Well if Mr. Nenshi or whoever runs things there is smart Albertans are going to see a lot more from her. Ms. Pancholi read their statement well enough but where she excelled was the unscripted answering questions part. As our blog host said, she eviscerated Danielle Smith quite well and cut through the bullshit – and bullshit is exactly what it is – not letting Smith set the narrative. If the NDP continues to front up MLAs who as skillfully slam Smith while projecting positivity as Pancholi does they’ll rattle Ms. Smith and the UCP.
This moved me to check out Premier Smith’s “media availability” event of the same day. She is a good communicator but she’s not really in control of things and she’ll have more than a “whiff of desperation” dealing with Ms. Pancholi. I don’t see her calling an election for that reason alone.
I think you’re right on all counts in this comment, Mickey. A bit of a backstory is that I keep hearing the NDP has some private polling of their own that suggests they are in a stronger position than some other recent polls have indicated. There is also a private subscribers-only poll that was in the field in December that shows the UPC in a very strong position. Despite its paying-eyes-only status, a lot of people have seen it and talked about it. So its possible the NDP now has more recent polls that make them feel more confident. If that were so and I were in their shoes, I wouldn’t necessarily want to reveal what I knew about voter sentiment. Appearing to be farther behind than you really are isn’t necessarily a problem when your opponent is overconfident and making big mistakes. I find it very hard to believe that the UCP’s obvious sympathy for and enabling of separatism isn’t making a hell of a lot of ordinary Albertans very nervous and this may be moving a significant cohort of voters away from the UCP. DJC
I think good analysis DJC. I have been optimistically thinking Nenshi may be laying in the weeds with a plan, at least a rough plan. I thought it was interesting the way the NDP caucus members were highlighted so much while we were waiting for Ms. Pancholi’s event. “This is who we are vs who they are” may be part of a plan…
While Rakhi Pancholi is doing to hard yeo(wo)man for the ABNDP, my only question is where is Nenshi? Really. Where is this guy?
Writing another sternly worded letter? Or, maybe he is preparing another scholarly review of the facts, and proposes solutions that will arrest the decline of whatever the UCP is trying to wreck.
I remember, in my callow youth, as a member of the RPC, I stole my way into a meeting of my local PC association meeting. Hosted by the ill-fated Scott Thorkelson, the guest was Garth Turner, PC MP for somewhere in Ontario. A long time TorSun business columnist, and happy warrior against all things wrought by Trudeau the Elder, he had become, by a weird twist of fate, the defender of Brian Mulroney’s government. It was a mere 24 months away from the 1993 election and the self-immolation of the PCs, and all the Tories were desperate for any measure that could save their hides. Turner stood before the small gathering of Tories and said that the PCs must convince others, with missionary zeal, that only they have the solutions for, what Turner called, the “Canada Problem”. It was a mystifying thing to say, but all those gathered ate it up. Yes! We must go forth and cleanse the land of the sloth caused by the LPC and the French-speaking ilk. Time to begin a Canadian Renaissance, where you will work for less than market rate and be happy for it.
Jamil Jivani’s recent crazy mission into the Trump administration and calls for Canada to quit the hissy fits and surrender to Orange Mussolini echos Garth Turner’s own lunacy. Both men were able to create their platforms of insanity because their respective leaderships were impotent, directionless, and hoping for a better offer that they could accept.
Kudos to Ms. Pancholi for doing the right thing and exposing the UCP’s treason. As for Mr. Nenshi, I remind him of the ill-fated tenure of Michael Ignatieff, and also remind him that he is just as uninspiring.
JM: Great story about the “Canada Problem.” I know there are those who will disagree, but I think Ms. Pancholi is on to exactly the right way to attack Premier Smith. There’s no point telling voters that Alberta Health Services needs to be preserved, because it’s obvious to everyone that the health care system is broken, and it’s also obvious that Ms. Smith is “doing something” about it. The problem is that what she’s doing is making it worse – by design. This is the short attention-span digital era. A long treatise explaining what AHS ought to be saved isn’t going to save AHS or anything else. DJ
I hope we are finally waking up about Danielle Smith. Are we going to stop this lunacy?
https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2026/02/23/Danielle-Smith-No-Separatist-Much-Worse/
Wow. When I saw Ms Pancholi on the news , I just about fell out of my chair. That was, without a doubt, the best NDP news conference I’ve ever seen. Dave, in a previous blog, someone wrote about Nenshi bringing a thesaurus, to a knife fight, or something like that. Pancholi brought a shotgun and she certainly knew how to use it.
The elephant in the room is the nonexistent state oil company of Derpberta. Good ol’ pragmatic centrists talking about minimum wage in a petrostate where the world’s largest sludge puddles are entirely in the hands of the Epstein class.
The NDP isn’t at fault for what goes on. The media lies about the NDP, while openly supporting the UCP and Danielle Smith. That happened with the media and Rachel Notley. Danielle Smith thought she was clever by lying about Rachel Notley, before the last provincial election in Alberta, and she also withheld the by-election for Edmonton Strathcona, until the last possible moment. How anyone else cannot see this is beyond me.
One bit of light at the end of the tunnel, is the corruption of the UCP is going to end them in a big way.
David Climate Haga,
Don’t Write Lies When Writing Articles, You Expose Your Personal Biases & Gaslighting When You Do So, Try To Be Objective Like Journalist’s Used To Be.
Not All Conservatives Are “Judeo-Christian” In Fact I Find Both Terms Neither Synonymous But Mutually Exclusive & Erroneous From My Point Of View.
A Lot Of People Call Themselves Christian Whatever That Means.
I Personally Am A “Follower Of Jesus Christ” You Know The Guy That Was Murdered By The Roman Church At The Behest Of The Saddudee’s & Pharisee’s The “Money Changers” That Jesus Christ Turned Their Tables Over & Kicked Out Of The Temple.
Your Bias Toward Danielle Smith Is Also Very Apparent & That Is From A Fellow Like Myself That Is Very Suspicious Of Her Motives.
Her Push For Surveillance State Data Centers That Will Pollute Our Acquifers & Ground Water & Use Exorbitant Electicity & Water Really Concerns Me Especially When She Has Already Suggested Tying Digital RFID To Our Drivers Licences.
I Am Also Concerned That She Is Playing Into The Global Carbon Capture Psyop When Carbon Or Carbon Dioxide Is A Natural Part Of The Cycle Of Life & What Trees and Plants Need To Survive. Mark Carney Is A Satanic Globalist Sell Out, Danielle Needs To Tell Him To Get Stuffed & Start Putting Albertan’s First Instead Of Her World Economic Forum ( Young Global Leader From 2006 To 2016 ) Globalist Aspirations She Endeavors To Get Some Personal Power From.
The Only Way To Escape This Globalist Nightmare Is For Alberta To Separate & Refuse It All Completely. Go Alberta Go!
Some things just never change, they are simply repackaged for the naive individual unaccustomed to the never ending side show hustle being played out on the human all too human stage, where; in this case the consumer of ideas/information is also viewed as a sucker to be psychologically and socially manipulated.
See for example,
https://www.skeptic.org.uk/2025/11/why-billionaire-peter-thiel-is-suddenly-talking-about-the-antichrist/
“Why billionaire Peter Thiel is suddenly talking about the antichrist”
“Thiel is still just advancing the same (((anti-globalist))) paranoia that has animated right-wing politics in American since the Civil War: the simple fear that people with power are going to destroy freedom in their attempts to make the world better.”
The contradictory nature of the absurdity as both an extreme case of psychological projection and as a clumsy distraction from the growing reality of a ubiquitous technological surveillance state is plainly obvious, or “In this sense, Thiel joins Buckley and other conservatives in decrying authoritarianism when it’s used against their goals, while still believing that authoritarianism in the hands of genuine elites is the best hope for Western Civilisation.”
Why can’t Ms. Pancholi be running the NDP? The UCP are providing a target rich environment yet no one seems to be able to call it what it is. Let alone deliver a knockout blow.
Hemlock….also “democracy and capitalism cannot exist together “.
Personally I think people have over complicated the whole analysis of what him and his buddies are doing.
From my perspective it’s just a reincarnation of the little lord pompinjoys jostling for power to see who will be king of the castle this year and us peasants are the collateral damage to their insatiable narcissism.
They have still not learned the lesson of the maggots— rich or poor, you’re still just a vehicle for the next generation of blowflies.
Perhaps not the next generation, Randi-lee. But some future one, for sure. DJC