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Braid: As legislature opens, many Nenshi backers wonder where the star power went

Many people in the Alberta NDP are concerned that Nenshi hasn’t caught fire with the public

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The legislature session that opened Tuesday will be crucial for NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi.

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Many people in his party are concerned that the former Calgary mayor hasn’t caught fire with the public.

Nenshi must somehow overcome that impression. This is a pre-election year and the stakes keep rising.

He was feisty in the House on Monday, demanding that Premier Danielle Smith sign the NDP’s pro-Canada petition, decrying the state of health care.

He doesn’t concede problems with his caucus, party or his performance.

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“We just had a caucus retreat with unbelievable unity,” Nenshi said in an interview.

“We are focused and, by the way, we got another poll that shows we’re six points ahead in Calgary. We had a record fundraising quarter in the fall. So, we’re doing great.”

But concerns linger that Nenshi hasn’t sparked the public.

“They thought they voted in a rock star,” says one critic, referring to the 62,000 party members who swept Nenshi into the job in June 2024.

Now, some New Democrats feel they got a dwarf star who no longer lights up the sky the way he did as Calgary mayor for three terms.

Eyes are turning to Rakhi Pancholi, the Edmonton MLA and deputy leader who recently told the UCP: “Cut the bull—-. Call the election.”

The rhetoric wasn’t exactly Churchillian, but Pancholi’s vivid clarity caught the ear of New Democrats who crave somebody forceful, dynamic and perhaps younger.

Nenshi says he’s happy she got the notice.

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“Rakhi is brilliant. She’s a star in the party that we want people to see. I really want Albertans to be able to see the extraordinary team that I’ve got.”

One sign of trouble for Nenshi came Tuesday morning when Dave Cournoyer posted the latest column to his long-running Daveberta substack.

Cournoyer for years has been a reasonable, well-informed, influential voice on the left. He has a big following on social media.

Cournoyer said: “The 38-MLA NDP Opposition has struggled to gain traction and define itself since . . . Naheed Nenshi replaced former premier Rachel Notley as leader a year and a half ago, but those six words from Pancholi last Friday cut through the noise and were a blunt reminder that she is one of the party’s most effective voices.

“It’s the kind of punchiness that a lot of NDP voters remember Nenshi having during his time as mayor of Calgary, and hoped he would bring with him as leader of the NDP. But Nenshi acts a lot more mild-mannered these days.”

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Cournoyer also called out Nenshi for “continuous long periods of absence from public view and social media (that) has left a lot of people puzzled about where he’s been in the meantime.”

Smith, meanwhile, is all over Alberta both as government leader and eternal campaigner at local events, on right-wing podcasts and in mainstream media.

There’s a regional element here, too.

One reason Nenshi won is his big presence in Calgary. That was supposed to capture the city for the NDP in the next election. Maybe it will.

But the UCP constantly turns his record against him. They pound him on taxes, the Green Line and, more recently, the disastrous city hall failure to deal with rotting water pipe that now plagues the city.

On Monday morning, the UCP caucus put out one of its routine blasts: “Nenshi has emerged from hiding and is once again trying to spin his own disastrous record as mayor of Calgary — this time on financial management.”

There’s also an Edmonton cluster in the NDP that didn’t want a Calgary mayor in the first place. Their vote was overwhelmed by the vast number of new members Nenshi brought to the party.

That feeling lives on in Edmonton, and now, Pancholi looks like a bright, new light.

Unless Nenshi decides to quit — a retreat unthinkable to those who know him — he will be NDP leader for the 2027 election.

The question is whether he can rekindle the old magic.

Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald

X and Bluesky: @DonBraid

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