Notley to announce today he is stepping down as NDP leader

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Rachel Notley ended months of speculation today by announcing her intention to resign as leader of the Alberta NDP.

“I’m not going to lead the party until the next election,” Notley said in an interview.

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“I will resign as leader once the party elects a new leader.”

Notley said he has not decided whether he will remain as Edmonton-Strathcona MLA after the new chief is chosen in a vote of party leaders in a few months.

When asked about his plans (perhaps an eventual run for the federal NDP leadership?), Notley said “that’s pure speculation. We have a leader at the federal level and this is a great job I’ve had, and I’m not really looking for a bigger one right now.”

At the press conference, he firmly said he had no interest in federal politics – “at this time.”

Notley is leaving after being a member of the NDP since 2008 and running in five elections, including three as party leader. She was prime minister from 2015 to 2019.

The obvious choice for his greatest achievement is that stunning victory over the Progressive Conservatives that toppled a 43-year provincial regime.

But Notley says she’s proudest of the party she’s leaving behind after losing the 2023 election but winning more seats and the NDP’s highest-ever province-wide vote.

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“We have now firmly established a bipartisan province,” he says.

“By bipartisanship I do not mean two different shades of conservatives (right-wing and extreme-right shades), but rather that we have a progressive option in the province for the first time in more than a century, which has the potential to be a government.” . after each election.

“While I wish I were premier right now, the fact is that I am the leader of a progressive opposition, the largest in the history of the province, that is very ready to govern.

“What am I most proud of? What is the legacy of my time as a leader? I would say that’s the biggest one.

“When I was elected in 2008, I ran to be a voice much like my father was for that minority of Albertans who felt that their political opinions, their personal opinions and their values ​​were not reflected in their provincial legislature.” .

He was referring to his father, Grant Notley, the historic NDP leader who died in a plane crash in 1984.

She said in an emotional news conference (she gasped several times) that she considered resigning after the UCP won for the first time in 2019, but decided to stay because she was alarmed by all the rumors that Alberta would return to being a one-party province. only.

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Notley places the new Calgary Cancer Center near the top of his list of specific accomplishments. PC indecision delayed the project for years, but the NDP gave the green light for the Foothills site once they took office.

He also cites the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline. “Getting the first pipeline to the Tide in 50 years wouldn’t have happened under (Prime Ministers) Kenney or Smith. Albertans were owed that and I’m proud of it.

“I am also proud to have eliminated coal. “We improved people’s health and launched the largest investments in renewable energy on the continent.”

Some critics currently say the loss of coal-fired power is one of the reasons for the weekend electricity shortage that nearly led to rolling blackouts.

Notley says the NDP strengthened labor rights, raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour and reduced child poverty.

The latter, he said, “is not easy to do at the best of times, but it is particularly difficult when you are in the biggest recession in a generation. I am very proud to have done it.”

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His biggest failure, he acknowledges, was Bill 6, farm security legislation that disrupted family farming traditions and sparked a rural revolt.

“While I still firmly believe that it was very important to protect the rights of the people who worked on the farms (who at that time had no rights), it is definitely true that it was a great learning experience for me about how to work with people and how you take the time to make sure people understand each other’s perspective.

“That could have been done better, there is no doubt. I think most commentators will say that that was the end of the honeymoon we had as a government.

“We definitely could have been a little less arrogant about our belief in the correctness of our position.”

The impact on the NDP was not temporary. It solidified distrust in many rural areas.

Lingering rural rancor arguably had an impact on last May’s election. With a few more rural constituencies and a couple more in Calgary, the NDP would have won.

Notley doesn’t mention the carbon tax he introduced without mentioning it during the 2015 campaign. That, too, sparked resentment that never went away.

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She has run against three Conservative prime ministers: the late Jim Prentice (PC), whom she defeated, and then Jason Kenney and Danielle Smith (both UCP), who defeated her.

His opinion of the current government is harsh.

“I think the UCP obviously poses a significant threat to the well-being of our province and Albertans and their families.

“She (Premier Smith) represents a threat in terms of overall affordability issues, she represents a very clear and present danger to both our health care system and the quality of education that children across the province receive. These are things that matter a lot to me.

“She has proven to be profoundly inept on issues related to the fight against climate change and the management, promotion and construction of our energy industry.

“And I don’t think he’s stopped his ridiculous campaign to gamble on the pensions that senior Albertans and all Albertans work so hard for.

“It is incredibly important that Albertans have to make a sound and competent decision as they try to get rid of Danielle Smith.

“I am very confident that regardless of the outcome of our leadership race, that is what the Alberta NDP will be able to offer Albertans in the upcoming election.”

Notley jokingly describes herself as “very detailed.” She will have much more to say before formally stepping down as leader of the party she built in the image and likeness of her father.

Don Braid’s column appears periodically in the Herald.

X: @DonBraid

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