‘Her plan is not going to work’: Alberta leader fires up NDP membership at Saturday town hall

Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi speaks at a town hall meeting Saturday, Oct. 5, at the University of Calgary

Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi laid out a path to the premier’s office at an NDP members'  town hall meeting Saturday at the University of Calgary.

Citing the latest polls, Nenshi said the numbers show that support for the Alberta NDP already puts them on the cusp of a majority if an election were held today.

“According to the latest poll, we would win a majority just in Calgary and Edmonton,” Nenshi said.

He was responding to a reporter’s question about what the NDP could do to counter Danielle Smith’s UCP strategy, which is to sweep rural ridings and add 10 to 15 urban seats in Edmonton and Calgary, which gave the UCP its victory in May, 2023.

Nenshi pointed to Lethbridge West, where nominations were recently held for both parties in the riding vacated by NDP veteran Shannon Phillips.

“What you've seen in Lethbridge is really interesting,” Nenshi said. “Now, it was an NDP held riding, to be fair, but the fact that I think the UCP got barely 500 votes for their nomination, we had nearly 1,500.

“I went door knocking, and the excitement in Lethbridge West about sending the UCP a message is very palpable,” he added. “We've got a ton of work to do, but they are blanketing the airwaves. They've got TV commercials running. It's really a sign of desperation, because I think they're realizing that their math is breaking down.”

A date for the upcoming Lethbridge-West byelection has to be announced by the premier by Jan. 1.

“I just want to continue to show the momentum that we have built in the province," he said. "We are the favorites going in. Shannon Phillips has done an amazing job building it.

“But I really want the people of Lethbridge to be able to send the UCP a message,” he added. “You know, if the UCP candidate does well there, or, God forbid, wins there, then that tells Danielle Smith, just keep doing what you're doing.

“And everything I've heard from the people of Lethbridge is they don't want her to keep doing what they're doing. They want a commitment to the university and to the college there. They want a commitment to better health care there, and they need a government that really understands public safety, crime and security in a way that the UCP has not done.

Nenshi explained why he called Premier Smith the “pinball premier” a number of times as well.

“I'm not good at glib insults, but this is an image that is just stuck in my head, that this government is careening wildly from crisis to crisis,” he said. “And look, they're the descendants of a party that was in power for 45 years. They themselves have been in power for five years.

“It's not like they're new with this, but they wait for a crisis to become untenable before they try and fix it,” he added. “It's like plugging the leak when the basement is already flooded.”

With files from CTV's Tyler Barrow