NDP leadership hopeful Nenshi will speak in the Hat next week

By Collin Gallant on June 15, 2024.

@@CollinGallant

Collin Gallant

cgallant@medicinehatnews.com

Twitter: CollinGallant

Naheed Nenshi will appear at an event in Medicine Hat next Wednesday, just days before the leadership contest of the Alberta New Democrats concludes.

Campaign staff for the former Calgary mayor say he will speak from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Monarch Theatre downtown.

The results of the contest to replace outgoing leader Rachel Notley will be announced Saturday in Calgary following a party event Friday for the former premier.

More than 85,000 party members in good standing as of April 22 can vote for a new leader.

That is five times as many members as the party had at the end of last year, and is attributed to the leadership contest and interest in Nenshi, the Calgary mayor from 2010 to 2021.

During the five-month campaign, other candidates Kathleen Ganley and Sarah Hoffman, both former cabinet ministers, each held events in Medicine Hat.

Ganley had advocated publicly for the party to expand a series of three debates outside Calgary, Edmonton and Lethbridge to the Hat and other mid-sized centres.

MLA Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse is also seeking the party’s top position.

CBC media analysis states that the Brooks-Medicine Hat riding was No. 78 among Alberta’s 87 ridings terms of NDP memberships, with 460 members. Cypress-Medicine Hat was No. 63 with 652.

Alberta Federation of Labour leader Gil McGowan also spoke in Medicine Hat during an AFL event in the city in late May. He has since announced that he was concluding his campaign. Rahki Pancholi, an MLA and former education critic, was also a candidate who has dropped out.

15
-14