The first time I was ever exposed to the charismatic drawing power of Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley was in the spring of 2012.
There was a provincial election under way and I was in Edmonton to follow then-NDP leader Brian Mason on the campaign trail. We stopped at a farmer’s market in Ms. Notley’s riding of Edmonton-Strathcona. As we wandered the aisles, the affable Mr. Mason might as well have been invisible.
Ms. Notley, on the other hand, couldn’t walk two feet without being stopped by someone. You could see people pointing at her from afar. Others stopped to have their picture taken with her. Two years later, Ms. Notley would become NDP Leader. A year after that, in May of 2015, I would see her again on the campaign trail.
That’s when I first sensed that something historic might happen in Alberta; that the NDP had a real chance to upset the Progressive Conservatives, a party that had then held power for 44 years. The crowds Ms. Notley was attracting were enormous, often with people flowing out the door of whichever room in which she was speaking. Something was in the air.
Indeed, the NDP did go on to win that election, arguably the most historic in the province’s history. In her speech, Ms. Notley stifled tears as she acknowledged the impact her father, Grant, a former Alberta NDP leader killed in a plane crash in 1984, had on her as a young woman. She also thanked her mother, Sandy, who instilled in her a sense of social justice, often taking her to protests as a young girl.
This week, Ms. Notley announced she is stepping down as NDP Leader. She does so as the most transformational political figure Alberta has seen in the past 25 years. As things stand today, she is one of the most important politicians in the province’s history.
Since her announcement, most of the retrospectives on her career, and more precisely her time as premier, have focused on obvious achievements such as raising the minimum wage to $15 and helping get the Calgary Cancer Centre across the finish line. Her greatest accomplishment, undoubtedly, is getting the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion built – something her Progressive Conservative predecessors couldn’t.
The pipeline wouldn’t have been given the go-ahead had Ms. Notley’s government not brought in an ambitious plan to fight climate change, one that included a carbon tax that ultimately became a massive political liability.
The worst bit of luck Ms. Notley’s government faced, however, was the oil recession she inherited, one that left her government with little option but to run up massive deficits, something Albertans weren’t used to. That accumulated debt ultimately weighed like a giant anvil, one that eventually helped sink the party in the next election. A perceived friendship with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also didn’t help Ms. Notley, nor, more recently, the fact that the federal NDP inked a deal to help keep the federal Liberals in power in Ottawa.
That pact became a cudgel regularly used by Conservatives in the largely Trudeau-hating province to pummel the NDP.
Throughout the UCP governments of Jason Kenney and now Danielle Smith, Ms. Notley has remained a popular figure. Her authenticity sticks out amid a political landscape in which grifters and flim-flam artists have assumed power positions.
Many thought the NDP’s victory in 2015 was a one-off fluke, or a one-off rebuke, intended to send a message to the province’s conservative politicians that they shouldn’t take Alberta voters for granted. Politics were expected to return to “normal” in the next election, with the NDP rendered to political oblivion once again. But that didn’t happen. The NDP survived and thrived in Opposition. Ms. Notley’s devastating critiques of Mr. Kenney’s leadership certainly helped hasten his downfall.
There is little doubt that Ms. Notley was disappointed that she and her party couldn’t beat Danielle Smith’s UCP in last year’s election. She still believes Ms. Smith grossly misled voters on a number of fronts, not least of which was saying she had no intentions of touching people’s pensions and then setting out a plan to do just that after winning the election. Ms. Notley is not wrong.
Ms. Notley will remain leader until a successor is chosen. After that, who knows. There was a full-circle moment at her news conference announcing her decision. Near the end of her comments, she once again mentioned the impact her deceased parents, Grant and Sandy, had had on her life. Fighting back tears, she said she was sorry they never got a chance to see all that she accomplished as the Leader of the NDP.
They likely never would have believed it. Then again, maybe they would have.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MONTREAL – NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he will not be taking advice from Pierre Poilievre after the Conservative leader challenged him to bring down government.
“I say directly to Pierre Poilievre: I’m not going to listen to you,” said Singh on Wednesday, accusing Poilievre of wanting to take away dental-care coverage from Canadians, among other things.
“I’m not going to listen to your advice. You want to destroy people’s lives, I want to build up a brighter future.”
Earlier in the day, Poilievre challenged Singh to commit to voting non-confidence in the government, saying his party will force a vote in the House of Commons “at the earliest possibly opportunity.”
“I’m asking Jagmeet Singh and the NDP to commit unequivocally before Monday’s byelections: will they vote non-confidence to bring down the costly coalition and trigger a carbon tax election, or will Jagmeet Singh sell out Canadians again?” Poilievre said.
“It’s put up or shut up time for the NDP.”
While Singh rejected the idea he would ever listen to Poilievre, he did not say how the NDP would vote on a non-confidence motion.
“I’ve said on any vote, we’re going to look at the vote and we’ll make our decision. I’m not going to say our decision ahead of time,” he said.
Singh’s top adviser said on Tuesday the NDP leader is not particularly eager to trigger an election, even as the Conservatives challenge him to do just that.
Anne McGrath, Singh’s principal secretary, says there will be more volatility in Parliament and the odds of an early election have risen.
“I don’t think he is anxious to launch one, or chomping at the bit to have one, but it can happen,” she said in an interview.
New Democrat MPs are in a second day of meetings in Montreal as they nail down a plan for how to navigate the minority Parliament this fall.
The caucus retreat comes one week after Singh announced the party has left the supply-and-confidence agreement with the governing Liberals.
It’s also taking place in the very city where New Democrats are hoping to pick up a seat on Monday, when voters go to the polls in Montreal’s LaSalle—Émard—Verdun. A second byelection is being held that day in the Winnipeg riding of Elmwood—Transcona, where the NDP is hoping to hold onto a seat the Conservatives are also vying for.
While New Democrats are seeking to distance themselves from the Liberals, they don’t appear ready to trigger a general election.
Singh signalled on Tuesday that he will have more to say Wednesday about the party’s strategy for the upcoming sitting.
He is hoping to convince Canadians that his party can defeat the federal Conservatives, who have been riding high in the polls over the last year.
Singh has attacked Poilievre as someone who would bring back Harper-style cuts to programs that Canadians rely on, including the national dental-care program that was part of the supply-and-confidence agreement.
The Canadian Press has asked Poilievre’s office whether the Conservative leader intends to keep the program in place, if he forms government after the next election.
With the return of Parliament just days away, the NDP is also keeping in mind how other parties will look to capitalize on the new makeup of the House of Commons.
The Bloc Québécois has already indicated that it’s written up a list of demands for the Liberals in exchange for support on votes.
The next federal election must take place by October 2025 at the latest.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante is defending her decision to turn off comments on her social media accounts — with an announcement on social media.
She posted screenshots to X this morning of vulgar names she’s been called on the platform, and says comments on her posts for months have been dominated by insults, to the point that she decided to block them.
Montreal’s Opposition leader and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association have criticized Plante for limiting freedom of expression by restricting comments on her X and Instagram accounts.
They say elected officials who use social media should be willing to hear from constituents on those platforms.
However, Plante says some people may believe there is a fundamental right to call someone offensive names and to normalize violence online, but she disagrees.
Her statement on X is closed to comments.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
