Maserati Marxist. Rolex Rebel. First-class, pod-flying phoney.
For many Albertans, that’s the image of federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, a politician almost as reviled as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi is regularly mocked in UCP ads showing him between Singh and Trudeau, a big grin on his face.
But Nenshi is still stuck with Singh and the federal party, despite his talk of cutting formal ties with “big brother.”
Not so easy, it turns out.
The second line of the provincial NDP constitution states: “The Party shall constitute a section of the New Democratic Party of Canada.”
Clear enough. The Alberta party is a junior partner — one section — of a national movement.
Buy an Alberta membership, and you’re signed on with Singh’s party as well.
The Alberta party rules also say no bylaws may contradict “the constitution of the New Democratic Party of Canada.”
It seems the Alberta party would violate both constitutions by declaring independence.
This is messy enough from a technical standpoint, but even worse as an internal NDP conflict.
Just days before the leadership vote on June 22, former Premier Rachel Notley surprised nearly everyone when she told me that any plan to separate is “silly, short-sighted, superficial.”
She said there was room to talk about how the parties work together, but rejected “this idea of denouncing the federal NDP.”
Nenshi had prompted this blast by saying: “I believe our ties to the federal NDP are remnants of a party that wasn’t confident, a party that wasn’t grown up yet, that relied on big brother to look after us.”
That was popular with many of the new members he drew into the NDP, but for traditionalists like Notley it was almost treasonous.
Nenshi confirmed Friday that he’ll run in a byelection in Notley’s Edmonton-Strathcona riding. NDP support is so powerful there that any differences with the former leader won’t mean much, if anything.
He said recently he’ll represent Strathcona until the 2027 election, then seek a Calgary riding. “I really need to learn more about Edmonton and get more rooted in that city,” he added.
Premier Danielle Smith could call the election immediately so Nenshi will be in the legislature for the winter-spring session.
But she has six months to trigger the vote. She’s unlikely to do the NDP any favours.
Nenshi now promises changes to the link with the federal NDP. It’s nothing like the separation he seemed to favour in the leadership campaign.
“The members have been pretty clear with me that they want to make membership in the federal party optional for members of the provincial party,” he told me in a year-end interview.
“I think that’s a pretty common-sense thing to take to the members.
“I promised that they would have a clear decision, that we wouldn’t let the decision fester, and that ultimately they would be able to vote on what they wanted to do.
“And I think we should be able to do that relatively quickly.”
That’s a start, but it’s no divorce. On the organizational level, the Alberta party would remain a “section.”
Nenshi now argues that the link is largely meaningless anyway.
“The provincial party is quite autonomous from the federal party,” he says. “We’re not tied together on policy at all.
“Since I’ve been the leader of the Alberta NDP, I have actually spoken with the prime minister and with (Conservative Leader) Pierre Poilievre more than I have with Jagmeet Singh.
“Jagmeet did call to congratulate me and I haven’t spoken to him since.”
The Alberta party has certainly bucked Singh and his caucus over issues such as the Trans Mountain pipeline, which Notley boosted enthusiastically.
Singh’s caucus brought in Bill C-59, which makes energy companies prove the truth of everything they say or face fines of up to $15 million.
Some of those people want oil company executives jailed as international criminals.
The fact is (and they’ll both hate this) the Alberta NDP is sometimes closer to Smith’s UCP than to its own federal party.
On Thursday, another eternal irritant popped up to further rile Albertans against the national system.
Alberta once again gets no equalization payment.
Manitoba receives $4.7 billion, mighty Ontario mysteriously scores $546 million, and Quebec gets the usual bonanza, $13.6 billion.
Singh’s NDP, of course, joyously supports the system that produces numbers like that.
Alberta New Democrats need their own party version of the Sovereignty Act. They likely can’t win again as long as they’re linked to the federal NDP.
Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald
X: @DonBraid