Tag: Naheed Nenshi

Chris Henderson: How to Talk to the Temporary Strategic Alberta Separatist in Your Life

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date October 7, 2026

ScreenshotA long highway somewhere in southern Alberta, probably near Foremost. (photo credit: Dave Cournoyer)

Five practical messages to explain this isn’t a game worth the risk of playing.

From time to time I open up the Daveberta newsletter to guest writers who have perspectives and thoughts they would like to share that might interest readers of this Substack. My friend Chris Henderson wrote today’s guest article about how to talk about Alberta’s October 19 referendum with the temporary separatist and separation curious people in your life.

Here’s Chris Henderson.

With Alberta’s weird-as-hell 10-question referendum only weeks away, most people seem to have made up their minds about separation.

But one group sits in a paradoxical spot: people who don’t want Alberta to leave Canada, but are considering a strategic Option 2 vote to “send Ottawa a message,” believing it strengthens our hand down the road. Most of us know at least one—in the family, at work, or in the group chat. These are the only moveable voters in this debate, and if you’re voting against separation (which, spoiler alert: I already did, and I voted “No” on the other nine questions), they’re worth having a conversation with.

Tags Alberta Anti-Immigration Referendum, Alberta NDP, Alberta Politics Substack, Alberta Prosperity Project, Alberta Separation Referendum, Alberta Separatism, Alberta Separatists Rally, Canada Election Substack, Chris Henderson, Danielle Smith, Daveberta Substack, Dennis Modry, Donald Trump, Jeff Rath, Jeffrey Rath, Mark Carney, Mitch Sylvestre, Naheed Nenshi, United Conservative Party

Mark Carney’s broad approval dwarfs Danielle Smith and Naheed Nenshi

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date September 27, 2026

Prime Minister Mark Carney met with Albertans at a Forever Canadian event in Banff in September 2026 (source: Mark Carney / Facebook)

There’s nothing like a Janet Brown poll to shake up Alberta politics

There’s a lot to unpack in the new Alberta politics poll by Janet Brown Opinion Research commissioned by CBC, but before I dive into what one of the province’s most well-respected pollsters has to say about support for Alberta’s political parties, separatism, and AI data centres it’s worth spending a moment reflecting on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s popularity in Alberta.

Carney’s popularity continues to dwarf Premier Danielle Smith and NDP leader Naheed Nenshi and he might be the most popular Liberal Prime Minister in Alberta since Sir Wilfrid Laurier more than 100 years ago.

According to Brown’s poll, 52 percent of Albertans surveyed said they were very impressed with Carney and only 26 percent said they were not at all impressed. Only 30 percent of Albertans surveyed said they were very impressed with Danielle Smith and 51 percent said they were not at all impressed with her job as Premier.

Read the rest on the Daveberta Substack

Alberta Politics

The UCP loss in Calgary-Shaw and the thin end of the separatist wedge

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date September 25, 2026

Premier Danielle Smith joined former Reform Party leader Preston Manning and former BC Premier Gordon Campbell on a zoom call-based Alberta and the West Assembly conference last weekend.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has had a rough few weeks.

Ten days ago, Smith’s United Conservative Party lost the by-election in Calgary-Shaw, a south Calgary riding that had been a stronghold for her party in the last two elections. The surprise win by NDP candidate Kyle Campbell has been widely interpreted as a backlash against Smith’s referendums on October 19, including a vote on Alberta’s separation from Canada.

Smith quickly blamed the loss on vote splitting with the Progressive Tory Party candidate who earned 6 percent of the vote, but that doesn’t explain the 22.2 point drop in UCP support in the riding since the 2019 election. The Progressive Tories may have been a dynamic in the race but they weren’t the reason why the UCP lost the Calgary-Shaw by-election.

Read all about it on the Daveberta Substack

Alberta Politics

Wow! Just wow. NDP’s Kyle Campbell wins Calgary-Shaw by-election.

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date September 14, 2026

Calgary-Shaw NDP MLA-elect Kyle Campbell and NDP leader Naheed Nenshi on September 14, 2026 (source: Naheed Nenshi / Facebook)

The Calgary-Shaw by-election was supposed to be a sleepy race and an easy win for the United Conservative Party but it ended up being a nail-biter with a surprise NDP win.

The Alberta NDP’s Kyle Campbell did what many political watchers believed would never happen by beating UCP candidate Mike Derry to win the by-election in the south Calgary riding that was a UCP stronghold under former cabinet minister Rebecca Schulz.

Tags Alberta Liberal Party, Alberta NDP, Alberta Separation Referendum, Alberta Separatism, Calgary-Shaw, Calgary-Shaw by-election, Danielle Smith, John Roggeveen, Kyle Campbell, Kyle Joseph, Mike Derry, Naheed Nenshi, Peter Guthrie, Progressive Tory Party of Alberta, Rebecca Schulz, United Conservative Party

Alberta Politics

UCP’s Mike Derry the favourite to win the Calgary-Shaw by-election

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date September 12, 2026

Premier Danielle Smith and Calgary-Shaw UCP by-election candidate Mike Derry (screenshot: Mike Derry / Facebook)

Provincial cabinet ministers have poured into Calgary-Shaw to support UCP candidate Mike Derry and Danielle Smith has campaigned with him numerous times since the by-election campaign started last month.

Derry is the favourite to win the by-election but the vote is also a test for Smith, who has led a government mired in controversy and a party deeply divided on whether Alberta should separate from Canada.

Smith’s absence from any visible pro-Canada campaigns ahead of her October 19 separation referendum has raised a lot of eyebrows, especially after Prime Minister Mark Carney’s full-throated support of Thomas Lukaszuk’s Forever Canadian campaign in Banff this week.

Naheed Nenshi delivers NDP health care pitch days before Calgary-Shaw by-election

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date September 12, 2026

Calgary-Shaw NDP by-election candidate Kyle Campbell (centre) with NDP leader Naheed Nenshi (left) and Dr. Luanne Metz (right) announcing the party’s “Future of Health Care” policy (screenshot: Alberta NDP / YouTube)

NDP pitches stability and investment over the UCP’s restructuring and privatization

With only days left before the September 14th by-election in Calgary-Shaw, Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi joined candidate Kyle Campbell to deliver his party’s health care pitch to voters with a pledge of stability and investment in a public system that has undergone massive bureaucratic restructuring and increased privatization since 2023.

Nenshi pledged that within three years of forming government after the 2027 election, the NDP would shorten emergency department wait times, cut surgical, diagnostic, and specialist wait times by 30 per cent, make sure every Albertan has access to a family doctor or nurse practitioner, and, a big one, re-form one single Ministry of Health.

Nenshi said the NDP would also launch a judiciary-led public inquiry into CorruptCare, a wide-ranging government corruption scandal that largely faded into the background over the summer.

Nenshi kicks off series of Vote to Save Canada rallies

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date September 1, 2026

There are 49 days left until Albertans cast 10 separate referendum ballots on October 19. Rallies held over the weekend aimed to pump some energy into what has been a fairly sleepy referendum campaign.

In Calgary, NDP leader Naheed Nenshi launched the first in a series of Vote to Save Canada rallies being organized by the NDP Official Opposition Caucus.

Nenshi was joined by Calgary-Edgemont MLA Julia Hayter at the rally of supporters clad in red and white and waving maple leaf flags. The NDP’s For Alberta, For Canada has been one of the main campaigns focused on door-to-door canvassing and lawn sign placement ahead of October 19.

Danielle Smith heading to Music City USA

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date August 31, 2026

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Minister of Immigration and Multiculturalism Muhammad Yaseen at the province’s Alberta Day event in Calgary on August 30, 2026 (source: Danielle Smith / Facebook)

Premier going to Tennessee as Alberta separation referendum only 49 days away

Premier Danielle Smith is soon flying to Nashville, Tennessee to meet with the Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, Head of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce, and the CEO of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corporation.

These meetings with local officials in Nashville are somewhat comical because of how low-level they are for a provincial premier’s international trip. Imagine the Governor of Tennessee travelling to Alberta to meet with the CEO of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce but not arranging a meeting with the Premier.

It would be strange, right?

Tags Alberta NDP, Alberta Prosperity Project, Alberta Separation Referendum, Alberta Separatism, Danielle Smith, Donald Trump, Doug Ford, Jeff Rath, Jeffrey Rath, Madison Holmes, MayCee Holmes, Mitch Sylvestre, Naheed Nenshi, Nashville Chamber of Commerce, Nashville Convention & Visitors Corporation, Nathan Cooper, Tennessee Department of Tourist Development, United Conservative Party

Alberta Politics

Nate Glubish faces rural Alberta backlash against AI Data Centres

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date August 22, 2026

Minister of Technology and Innovation Nate Glubish was met with jeers from the crowd at the government’s AI Data Centre town hall in Lacombe. The Canadian Press reports:

“Albertans do not want data centres,” said one man who came from the neighbouring town of Ponoka.

Another woman told Glubish to “get your boxing gloves on” if another AI data centre was being planned for the region.

“Your words are nice, you explain things well, but I don’t trust you, and I think that the people in this room agree with me,” she said to big applause.

Glubish encountered a similar response from local residents at a Redwater town hall with Morinville-St. Albert MLA Dale Nally:

Sturgeon County resident, Connie Shields, said she doesn’t trust the government to properly regulate projects like these.

“You are the people we elected. You should be saying what we’re telling you to say,” Shields said.

“You shouldn’t be making up your own rules, you shouldn’t be dictating what goes where.”

The NDP has been hosting their own town halls in response to the data centre backlash. Leader Naheed Nenshi was joined by Edmonton-South West NDP MLA Nathan Ip at a town hall meeting in Red Deer earlier in August

An Independent Alberta is an American Alberta

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date August 22, 2026

A supporter of Alberta Statehood at Alberta Beach on July 4, 2021 (source: Dave Cournoyer)

Voting for separation weakens Canada and Alberta against Trump’s economic attacks

We are now 58 days away from the province-wide referendum that will ask Albertans whether they want to hold a future referendum on Alberta’s independence from Canada.

Leaked voters lists, billboards, lawn signs, political assemblies (from which just last week very candid and horribly racist remarks were delivered from a prominent separatist movement leader), and Premier Danielle Smith musing about holding a binding referendum next spring have grabbed the headlines in the separatism discussion. But there’s one big question that hasn’t been asked in this debate: Would Alberta be allowed to be an independent country?

I believe the answer to this question is no.

I wear my Canada and Alberta flags on my sleeve and am proud to call this place my home. My family settled here around 130 years ago and has deep roots in this part of the country. I have lived in Alberta my entire life and have spent more than two decades writing about its politics and history, so I would never punch down on Alberta — but I’m also realistic.

Alberta Politics

UCP disqualifies Karen Peters from Grande Prairie-Wapiti nomination race, MLA Ron Wiebe expected to be acclaimed

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date August 19, 2026

Former UCP nomination candidate Karen Peters was disuqlified from the party’s candidate selection race in Grande Prairie-Wapiti (source: Vote Karen Peters / Facebook)

Karen Peters has been disqualifed from the United Conservative Party nomination contest in Grande Prairie-Wapiti, making first-term MLA Ron Wiebe widely expected to be acclaimed to run for re-election in the 2027 provincial election.

Peters was the UCP constituency president in the northwest Alberta riding and has posted on her personal Facebook page about chemtrails and vaccination conspiracy theories. These posts raised eyebrows among political watchers but neither issue is grounds for disqualification in the current UCP.

Alberta Politics

Calgary-Shaw by-election called for September 14, ahead of Alberta’s separation referendum

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date August 18, 2026

Sherwood Park NDP MLA Kyle Kasawski and Calgary-Shaw NDP candidate Kyle Campbell (source: Kyle Kasawski / Facebook)

Premier Danielle Smith has set Monday, September 14 as the date of the by-election vote in the Calgary-Shaw riding vacated by former UCP MLA Rebecca Schulz earlier this year.

The by-election will see UCP candidate Mike Derry face New Democrat Kyle Campbell, with Progressive Tory candidate Kyle Joseph trying to break into what has been a two-party race in Alberta politics, and Liberal Party leader John Roggeveen trying to get his party back on the radar.

Read all about it on the Daveberta Substack

Alberta Politics

Weird fever dream? Sleepwalking? What is even happening in Alberta right now?

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date July 24, 2026

A screenshot from the Alberta separatist telethon. Mister Alberta is pictured in the Alberta-themed shirt and belaclava (second from the right)

Albertans need to get out and vote on October 19, 2026

Even after writing about Alberta politics for more than 20 years it’s still sometimes hard to fully understand and explain what is happening in our province.

Albertans are now 87 days away from having to vote on Premier Danielle Smith’s 10 referendum questions, including a convoluted question about holding a future binding referendum on Alberta separating from Canada. It feels like we’re having some kind of weird fever dream and we’re definitely sleepwalking into it.

Despite putting the future of Alberta’s place in Canada on the ballot in less than three months, I am shocked at how many people have told me Smith is barely or not even mentioning the separation referendum in many of the public speeches she is making during her summer travels across the province.

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

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date July 16, 2026

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.

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

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date July 16, 2026

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.