In a year-end interview at the Alberta legislature in December 2023, NDP Leader Rachel Notley wouldn't divulge any hints about her future as NDP leader or how long she might remain in the post.
Colleagues and ideological foes say the outgoing NDP leader has fundamentally changed the province's political landscape, far beyond an underdog 2015 election win.Political friends and foes say Rachel Notley fundamentally altered politics in Alberta. Notley will step down as NDP leader on June 22, when her replacement is crowned. Toward the end of the 2015 Alberta election campaign, NDP Leader Rachel Notley summoned her four-member caucus to an Edmonton hotel room with little explanation.
But in May 2015, Notley and the NDP handily defeated Jim Prentice and his PCs, scooping up 54 of 87 seats in an upset win that saw the Wildrose form the Official Opposition. Melanee Thomas, a political science professor at the University of Calgary, cited "economic voting" by Albertans worried about the PC government's management of the economy and provincial coffers at a time when oil prices were sliding precipitously.Support for the Liberals had cratered, allowing Notley to shoo progressives into her tent.
If an oil-promoting NDP premier sounds unexpected, it was. Notley was emphatic that she saw things differently than her federal NDP colleagues. Horner said her approach helped retain voter confidence. But behind the Opposition benches, the NDP political machine was gaining momentum and strength. No longer busy governing, the party had time to build.
In 2008, the Alberta NDP raised $231,000. By 2023, the party pulled in $6.1 million. That's on par with the amount the federal NDP raises annually."Despite losing the election campaign, it was obvious to any campaigner watching that the NDP ran probably the most organized, most well-financed campaign in in their history," he said. "She knew what she was doing.
"She's changed the whole face of the party," Mason said. "It was an older, pretty white sort of membership." Edmonton-Mill Woods MLA Christina Gray, right, said Notley made it a "genuine focus" to recruit women candidates.
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