Former Alberta NDP premier Rachel Notley ended her nearly years-long political career after announcing her official resignation as the MLA for Edmonton-Strathcona on Thursday.
Notley announced her resignation with “mixed feelings” almost a year after officially stepping down as Alberta NDP leader in Jan. 2024.
She became an NDP member in 2007 and served as the party’s leader since 2015–leading the province as premier between 2015 and 2019.
Notley’s victory in 2015 ended 44 years of rule in Alberta by the Progressive Conservatives. She subsequently lost the 2019 and 2023 provincial elections before resigning as NDP leader.
One of Notley’s first legislative moves was to introduce a carbon tax, while simultaneously pledging to eliminate burning coal by 2030.
Notley was also responsible for raising Alberta’s minimum wage to $15 per hour.
Notley’s reign carried on her family’s legacy. Her father, Grant Notley, also a former NDP leader, died in a plane crash in 1984.
“It has been an indescribable honour to represent the people of my neighbourhood and community for almost 17 years,” wrote Notley in her post to X.
Notley confirmed that her resignation will be effective as of Dec. 30, 2024.
“I was excited and proud to see our membership swell to over 80,000 members as four worthy contestants sought their votes in June of this year,” she said.
In Dec. 2023, the Alberta NDP had 16,224 members. During the leadership race, which Naheed Nenshi won, the number allegedly grew to 85,144. However, the Alberta NDP was cited by Elections Alberta for inflating its membership numbers.
Nenshi won the Alberta NDP leadership contest on the first ballot with 86% of the vote. In her resignation announcement, Notley expressed clear support for her successor.
“Naheed Nenshi’s selection represents a tremendous opportunity for all Albertans seeking practical solutions to the affordability crisis, along with a genuine commitment to fixing our healthcare so that all Albertans can get the support they need no matter where they live or how much they earn,” said Notley.
Notley’s departure may provide an opening for Nenshi to seek a seat in the legislature. Despite winning the leadership race in June, Nenshi is not an elected MLA. No MLAs have vacated their seats to allow him to run and he opted not to stand in the Lethbridge-West byelection currently underway.
Premier Danielle Smith commented on whether Nenshi will choose to run at an unrelated Thursday press conference.
“He chose not to run in the most recent byelection that we’re having on Dec. 18. I waited as long as I could to see if somebody would step down for him so that we could hold the two of them together,” she said. “No one did.”
An Alberta minister recently called out Nenshi for celebrating his “first legislative session.”
“Nenshi never served one day in the Legislature because he refuses to run in an election, to become an MLA,” said Alberta Minister of Transportation Devin Dreeshen.