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Alberta Politics

ndp leadership candidates attending edmonton kitchen table talks.

2012 NDP leadership candidates Nathan Cullen Paul Dewar and Brian Topp
Three federal NDP leadership candidates: Nathan Cullen, Paul Dewar, and Brian Topp

Home of Alberta’s only NDP Member of Parliament, Linda Duncan, the Edmonton-Strathcona NDP Association is hosting a series of “Kitchen Table Talks” with NDP leadership candidates (named in honour of Jack Layton and his penchant for addressing the kinds of problems that people talk about around the kitchen table).

The informal format of the “kitchen table talks” will give Edmontonians a chance to meet the candidates and give the candidates a chance to ask questions and engage with participants.

Talks have been scheduled with three of the leadership candidates, so far:

November 17: Nathan Cullen 18:30-20:30 at the McKernan Community League, 11341 78th Avenue

November 22: Paul Dewar 19:30-21:30 at the City Arts Centre, 10943 84th Avenue

December 12: Brian Topp 19:30-21:30 at the City Arts Centre, 10943 84th Avenue

The other candidates to enter the leadership contest are Niki Ashton, Robert ChisholmThomas Mulcair, Peggy Nash, Romeo Saganash, and Martin Singh. NDP members will be selecting their new leader on March 24, 2012.

Visit PunditGuide.ca for more detailed information about the NDP leadership contest.

Categories
Alberta Politics

alberta’s ndp prepares for high tide. will an orange wave come?

 

The NDP fleet waits for the next Orange wave.
The NDP fleet waits for the next Orange wave.

A recent poll released by Citizen Society Research Lab at Lethbridge College shows Alberta’s governing Progressive Conservatives with a huge lead over the three main opposition parties. The same poll showed the New Democratic Party and Wildrose Party tied at 16%, which reinforces the results of a controversial Evironics survey released over the summer months. At the time, an online poll released by the new company ThinkHQ showing the Wildrose neck-to-neck with the PCs in support. Wildrosers rallied behind the ThinkHQ online poll results, while everyone else supported the Environics survey results.

Alberta NDP Breakthrough Conference
NDP waiting for high tide.

As the right-wingers continue to argue about the methodological strengths and weaknesses of online polls versus phone polls, the untold story appears to be the rise in support of Alberta’s NDP. The provincial NDP, which have been stuck in the 10% range since it lost Official Opposition status in 1993, appears to be benefiting from the Alberta ripple of the Orange Wave that hit Quebec in May 2011.

The good ship NDP is holding a “Breakthrough Conference” this weekend in Edmonton in hopes of capitalizing on their federal cousin’s recent successes. Keynote speakers incude Calgary Alderman Brian Pincott and recently elected Scarborough-Southwest MP Dan Harris. Expected to be in attendance are Federal NDP interim leader Nycole Turmell and leadership candidates Nathan Cullen, Paul Dewar, Romeo Saganash, and Martin Singh.

The NDP have attracted a surprising group of seaworthy candidates including former MLA David Eggen in Edmonton-Calder, Catholic School Trustee Cindy Olsen in Edmonton-ManningAUPE Vice-President Sandra Azocar in Edmonton-Mill Woods, former five-term City Councillor Lorna Watkinson-Zimmer in Red Deer-South, and Shannon Phillips in Lethbridge-West. The NDP have a crew of 30 nominated candidates in 87 constituencies across the province, and will have over 40 nominated by the end of next week. On the surface, the NDP looks ready to tap into the 17% of Albertans who supported their party in the last federal election.

The occupants of the two most thankless jobs in Alberta politics: NDP leader Brian Mason and Liberal leader Raj Sherman.
The occupants of the two most thankless jobs in Alberta politics: NDP leader Brian Mason and Liberal leader Raj Sherman.

As a centre-left leaning urban progressive-type that has voted NDP as many times as I have voted Liberal, I have a hard time getting excited about the provincial NDP and an even harder time imagining that some New Democrats are not thinking that it may be past time for their provincial-wing to get a fresh face sitting in the admiral’s chair.

Current leader Brian Mason has served his party faithfully through two stormy elections and holds the second most thankless job in the province (the first currently being held by Liberal leader Raj Sherman). Mr. Mason has years of experience in the Assembly, but after more than two decades as a municipal and provincial politician he is hardly the fresh face that NDP may need to make an Orange splash in the next provincial election.