Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi is giving more hints on whether he intends to run for in the riding of Edmonton-Strathcona.
Nenshi was in Lethbridge Saturday helping with a by-election campaign for Lethbridge-West candidate Rob Miyashiro.
Fromer party leader Rachel Notley announced on Thursday she was stepping down as MLA for Edmonton-Strathcona and three days later, Nenshi appears to be eyeing the seat.
“I am very open to having a conversation with the people of Edmonton-Strathcona if they believe I would be a good representative for them,” Nenshi said Saturday.
Mount Royal University political analyst Duane Brat says this is a change in tune to what Nenshi said just a few months ago regarding the vacant seat Lethbridge seat Miyashiro is running for.
“He didn’t run in Lethbridge because he said ‘I’m a Calgarian. I don’t want to repeat what Danielle Smith did who lives in High River but is representing Brooks-Medicine Hat. I want to represent a Calgary riding,’” Brat said, adding the Edmonton-Strathcona seat is one of the strongest NDP ridings in the province.
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“If you’re the party leader, you get to run wherever you want. So, when he says ‘I’m open to it,’ that sounds like everything but a yes.”
Nenshi says political advisors have told him it would be a good idea to run in an Edmonton riding to deepen his roots in the capital city.
“I got to say, even as a diehard Calgarian and Stampeders and Flames fan and kind of fallen in love with Edmonton a little bit,” he said, adding there is a joke among the party that every future leader must run in Edmonton Strathcona.
“But like in every election, like here in Lethbridge-West, I take the views of citizens very, very seriously. And regardless of who our candidate is in Strathcona, we will run a hard campaign, and we will make our case. We don’t take anything for granted.”
Nenshi thanked Notley for her years of service and says he will have more to say about his likely campaign in the weeks to come.
“Rachel is a once in a lifetime politician. She brought this movement from two MLAs to being the government, to being the largest opposition in Alberta’s history,” he said.
“I’m really grateful to her for the last six months in particular. She wanted to stick around for my first legislative session to make sure I knew what I was doing. She’s been incredibly generous in her council. I just wish her all the best in the future and I know all Albertan’s are really grateful for her leadership.”
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