Tag: Danielle Smith

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Alberta Politics

Nenshi will run in Calgary, Trisha Estabrooks expected to run for NDP nomination in Edmonton-Strathcona

Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi and Trisha Estabrooks at the NDP’s annual Art Walk event on Whyte Avenue in July 2026 (source: Trisha Estabrooks / Facebook)
Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi and Trisha Estabrooks at the NDP’s annual Art Walk event on Whyte Avenue in July 2026 (source: Trisha Estabrooks / Facebook)

It was expected and NDP leader Naheed Nenshi has just confirmed it. Nenshi will run in a Calgary riding when the next provincial election is called. The NDP leader and former Calgary mayor won a by-election in Edmonton-Strathcona in June 2025 to replace former MLA and premier Rachel Notley but he had yet to officially announce his plans for the next election.

In a statement published on social media today, Nenshi said:

Today, I’m letting you know of a decision I’ve made. While I’ve been thrilled every day to serve as your MLA, I will be seeking election in a Calgary riding in the next general election.

This will open up Edmonton-Strathcona for a new representative from this beautiful community. I am informing you today so that the incredible constituency association in this riding has time for a healthy and robust nomination process to select a candidate and a future MLA worthy of representing you. Interested candidates can express their interest now and more details on the nomination process and dates will be coming soon.

Former school trustee Trisha Estabrooks is expected to announced her plans to run for the NDP nomination in Edmonton-Strathcona at a July 17 press conference at Frank’s Community Pub. The riding has been held by the NDP since 1997 and from 1986 to 1993 before that.

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Alberta Politics

Alberta Foundation for the Arts chair Cynthia Moore running for Calgary-Elbow UCP nomination

Premier Danielle Smith and Cynthia Moore in 2025 (source: Cynthia P. Moore / Facebook)
Premier Danielle Smith and Cynthia Moore in 2025 (source: Cynthia P. Moore / Facebook)

Former United Conservative Party president Cynthia Moore has launched her campaign for her party’s nomination in the Calgary-Elbow riding in the next provincial election.

Moore currently serves as chair of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, a role she was appointed to by the UCP government in 2024, and as chair of the Real Estate Council of Alberta. She previously worked as an executive of the Kahanoff Foundation.

Moore was UCP president from 2021 until 2023 — a tumultuous time in the governing party’s history that saw rank and file members revolt against Premier Jason Kenney’s leadership and rocket Danielle Smith into the Premier’s Office.

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Alberta Politics

Tracking who’s who in the Alberta separation referendum debate

An appropriate Alberta-themed decal on a hotel elevator in Ottawa (Source: Dave Cournoyer)
An appropriate Alberta-themed decal on a hotel elevator in Ottawa (Source: Dave Cournoyer)

A list of pro-Canada and Alberta independence supporters in the October 19, 2026 referendum

Albertans are being asked to vote on ten referendum questions on October 19, 2026 and, unsurprisingly, the one question attracting the most attention is about Alberta’s separation from Canada.

I am a proud Canadian and proud Albertan and will be voting for Alberta to remain in Canada in this referendum.

One of my key goals since launching Daveberta more than two decades ago has been to help Albertans better understand the politics of their province. So, in the months ahead, I will be writing a lot about the referendum questions and maintaining a running list of groups, politicians, and individuals who are campaigning or taken positions in the Alberta separation referendum debate.

Similar to my nomination candidate tracking list, I will be updating this page as I receive new names, so please click on the title link and bookmark it to keep up to date.

If there are any names or website links that should be added or removed from this list, please send me an email at david.cournoyer@gmail.com. I am striving to do my best to keep this list as accurate as possible during a very noisy political debate.

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Alberta Politics

TMXL: Alberta is getting a new pipeline but who’s going to pay for it?

Publicly-owned Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission and Trans Mountain Corporation to build pipeline to the Pacific Coast

The path already taken might be the easiest way to get a new oil pipeline built from Alberta through British Columbia to Canada’s Pacific Coast.

That’s what Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith are betting on as they announced a proposal for a new pipeline to follow the route near the Trans Mountain and Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) pipelines to BC’s Lower Mainland. So let’s call it TMXL.

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Alberta Politics

Alberta separatism referendum will be impossible to ignore in Calgary-Shaw by-election

The NDP were quick to put United Conservative Party candidate Mike Derry on the spot on the issue of Alberta separatism, which voters will face in a province-wide referendum on October 19.

An NDP press release sent out the night of Derry’s nomination win questioned his support from Darrell Komick, the president of the UCP constituency association in the neighbouring Calgary-Lougheed who ran in the UCP board president election last year on a pro-independence platform, and campaign manager Craig Chandler, a well-known right-wing political organizer in Calgary.

Chandler recently ran City Councillor Mike Jamieson’s successful election campaign in Ward 12 and is believed to be involved in Erin Averbukh’s campaign for the UCP nomination in the Calgary-Acadia riding (Averbukh’s only competitor in that race at the moment is former Wildrose Independence Party leader Jeevan Mangat).

While polls show that a majority of UCP supporters would vote for Alberta’s separation from Canada, the majority of Alberta voters would vote to remain in Canada. The NDP will undoubtably try to use the by-election to put pressure on the UCP’s internal division on Alberta separatism.

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Alberta Politics

It’s Kyle Campbell vs. Mike Derry in Calgary-Shaw by-election

Campbell will face United Conservative Party candidate Mike Derry, who surprised many political watchers last week when he defeated City Councillor Dan McLean in the party’s nomination vote.

With 507 total ballots cast in the UCP membership vote in Calgary-Shaw, Derry earned 286 votes to McLean’s 221 votes. Fifty-three per cent of party members in the riding turned out to vote at the nomination meeting.

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Alberta Politics

Alberta NDP nominate Kyle Campbell as their candidate in Calgary-Shaw by-election

Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi and Calgary-Shaw NDP candidate Kyle Campbell in a campaign video released by the Alberta NDP (screenshot: Kyle Campbell / Facebook)
Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi and Calgary-Shaw NDP candidate Kyle Campbell in a campaign video released by the Alberta NDP (screenshot: Kyle Campbell / Facebook)

Campbell will face UCP’s Mike Derry in race to replace Rebecca Schulz

The Alberta NDP have nominated Kyle Campbell to run as the opposition party’s candidate in the upcoming Calgary-Shaw by-election to choose a new MLA following Rebecca Schulz’s resignation last month.

The by-election in this southwest Calgary riding will be an uphill battle for the NDP but, whenever it’s called in the next five months, it will take place during one of the most unpredictable periods in Alberta politics in recent memory.

There is no shortage of issues of the NDP to focus on in this by-election and it looks like health care and affordability will be top of mind for Campbell as he hits the doors.

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Alberta Politics

Mike Derry wins Calgary-Shaw UCP nomination, defeats city councillor Dan McLean

UCP candidate Mike Derry and Premier Danielle Smith (source: Mike Derry / Facebook)
UCP candidate Mike Derry and Premier Danielle Smith (source: Mike Derry / Facebook)

NDP expected to nominate Kyle Campbell on June 26

Talent management company owner Mike Derry defeated City Councillor Dan McLean to win the United Conservative Party nomination in Calgary-Shaw at a candidate selection vote on June 24.

The nomination vote was held to choose a UCP candidate in the upcoming by-election to replace former UCP MLA Rebecca Schulz, who stepped down on May 15, 2026.

Derry owns the LegenDERRY talent management company and was the talent management lead for Canadian Natural Resources Limited from 2013 to 2022 and is a coach with the Bow Valley Hockey Society. He was the Chief Financial Officer of Calgary-South East UCP association and has volunteered with Conservative MP Tom Kmiec‘s campaign in Calgary Shepard.

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Alberta Politics

Nenshi NDP launch affordability agenda, finally talking about cost of living and grocery prices

Edmonton-Gold Bar MLA Marlin Schmidt (left) and NDP leader Naheed Nenshi (right) speaking at a press conference on June 23, 2026 (screenshot: Alberta NDP / YouTube)
Edmonton-Gold Bar MLA Marlin Schmidt (left) and NDP leader Naheed Nenshi (right) speaking at a press conference on June 23, 2026 (screenshot: Alberta NDP / YouTube)

I wrote last year that NDP MLAs should should start every day by asking themselves the question “how can we make life more affordable for working-class Alberta families?” and then they should spend the rest of their day talking all about it, all the time. I still believe this today.

Nenshi’s NDP have now started talking more about pocketbook issues with the launch of their Alberta Affordability Agenda, which is a good start. The party has been spending a lot of energy focusing on the separation referendum through its For Alberta For Canada campaign, but it can’t afford to ignore other important issues with a provincial election only 15 months away at the latest.

In their new suite of affordability policies, the NDP promises to cut electricity bills by 10 per cent, increase minimum wage to $18, and to reduce grocery prices by increasing competition, ending shrinkflation, and appointing a grocery watchdog.

The NDP also proposed removing the $0.13 per litre provincial gas tax while gas prices remain high — something that will make even Lorne Gunter happy.

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Alberta Politics

Stampede Stomp! Farkas and Smith duel over party tents and beer prices, Nenshi finally shifts to affordability

Premier Danielle Smith and Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas in December 2025 (source: Danielle Smith / Facebook)
Premier Danielle Smith and Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas in December 2025 (source: Danielle Smith / Facebook)

Danielle Smith’s row with Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas over weeknight music tent hours ended with the Premier getting Stampede stomped over her government’s plans to increase the minimum price of a pint of beer days ahead of the start of the Calgary Stampede. Smith backed down and beer minister Dale Nally ordered the Alberta Gaming, Liquor & Cannabis crown corporation to abandon the price increase.

Farkas can now do a victory lap as a hero of both Stampede beer drinkers and local residents worried about the giant Cowboys party tent being erected in their neighbourhood.

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Alberta Politics

Former UCP President Matthew Bissett running for Progressive Tory nomination in Sherwood Park

Former UCP staffer and constituency president Matthew Bissett has announced his plans to run for the Progressive Tory Party nomination in the Sherwood Park riding just east of Edmonton.

Bissett was president of the UCP constituency association in the riding from 2023 to 2024 and worked as a policy advisory to Deputy Premier and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis and Minister of Infrastructure Nathan Neudorf. He was an active member of the Progressive Conservative Party in the 2000s and early 2010s.

Bissett shared a statement about his candidacy with Daveberta, including why he believes he was dismissed as a staffer by the UCP government.

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Alberta Politics

Sundre’s rodeo parade an early casualty of Alberta’s separation referendum

A photo from the Sundre Pro Rodeo in 2025 (source: Sundre Pro Rodeo / Facebook)
A photo from the Sundre Pro Rodeo in 2025 (source: Sundre Pro Rodeo / Facebook)

Social media algorithms and influencers put a big target on community volunteers

What happened in Sundre is a warning about how algorithms that decide what people see on social media platforms are promoting outrage and opportunistic influencers looking to score clicks are helping fuel that division. It means that local issues, like a decision made by a small town rodeo parade committee, can have a much broader reach and be a target for backlash from people (and AI-bots) from far and wide who might have no real connection or interest in the community.

Sparking anger over Alberta separatism has even become financially lucrative for some people outside the country and is almost certainly a target for foreign governments and groups who have an interest in destabilizing Canada.

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Daveberta Podcast

Alberta’s role in Canada – why we need to tell better stories

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Federalists need emotional arguments about improving Canada and Alberta

Alberta’s separation referendum is only four months away, so longtime Daveberta Podcast contributor Adam Rozenhart joins Dave Cournoyer for part 2 of our discussion about Canada’s role in Alberta and Alberta’s role in Canada as neighbours and leaders in our country.

Where do Albertans fit in the sprawling success story we call Canada? What can we do to improve Alberta and Canada? How can we tell better stories about why Albertans are important players in making our country a better place? We start the discussion here.

Thanks for listening.

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Alberta Politics

Albertans give Danielle Smith a failing grade on separatism but would probably re-elect the UCP anyway

Danielle Smith speaking at the United Conservative Party Leaders Dinner in Calgary in 2026 (source: Danielle Smith / Facebook)
Danielle Smith speaking at the United Conservative Party Leaders Dinner in Calgary in 2026 (source: Danielle Smith / Facebook)

Only two Alberta premiers have finished a full term in office since the beginning of the 21st century.

Ralph Klein completed his third full-term as a Progressive Conservative premier from 2001 to 2004 and Rachel Notley led the New Democratic Party through the entirety of its historic one-term as government from 2015 to 2019 (Notley’s also defied historical expectations by leading her party to a near comeback in 2023).

Aside from Klein and Notley, the Premier’s Office has been a rotating door of short-term tenants who were forced out after election defeats, scandals, caucus and cabinet revolts, and raucous party memberships (the exception being Premier Dave Hancock, who served in the role for the six months between Alison Redford’s resignation and Jim Prentice’s win in the 2014 PC Party leadership race).

So the question on the minds of many political watchers today is whether the current occupant of the Premier’s Office, Danielle Smith, can survive a full-term in office to lead her party into the next election?

A month ago, I would have said absolutely and even today I would say probably, but Smith is now finding herself on increasingly shakier political ground after deciding to call a province-wide referendum on Alberta’s separation from Canada.

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Daveberta Podcast

Podcast: Why Canada needs Alberta and Alberta needs Canada

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Part 1 in a Daveberta Podcast series about Alberta, Canada, and the stories we do and don’t tell each other

Longtime Daveberta Podcast contributor Adam Rozenhart joins Dave Cournoyer for a discussion about Canada’s role in Alberta and Alberta’s role in Canada as neighbours and leaders in our country.

This is part 1 of a podcast series about where Albertans fit in the sprawling success story we call Canada and how we can tell better stories about why Albertans are important players in making our country a better place.

Part 2 will be released in about a week.

Thanks for listening.

Become a paid subscriber to listen to the full episode.

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