Former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi named Alberta NDP leader in landslide victory

Alberta’s New Democratic Party has found a new leader in former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi.

A little more than 62,000 members selected Nenshi as the new leader Saturday afternoon, ending a months-long leadership race between Edmonton MLAs Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse and Sarah Hoffman, and Calgary MLA Kathleen Ganley.

Nenshi, who won the leadership race with 62,746 votes, becomes the first from Calgary to lead the New Democrats, securing the win with roughly 86 per cent of the vote on the first ballot of the party’s biggest and most competitive leadership contest.

Calahoo Stonehouse received 1,222 votes, Ganley received 5,899 votes and Hoffman received 3,063 votes.

Out of the 85,144 members eligible to vote, 72,930 people voted in this leadership race, which was a record voting turnout, according to Amanda Freistadt, the Alberta NDP’s chief returning officer.

Nenshi lost no time in launching attacks against his newest political foe, using his victory speech to describe Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Government as small-minded.

“This extraordinary movement that we created together is an example of what is possible when we stop thinking small and start thinking big,” he told the crowd on Saturday.

Nenshi said Saturday’s large voter turnout means party members are here to stay.

“We need to convert this movement into something that is going to build and build and build and build,” he said.

“We need to co-create a vision for Alberta with our neighbours in big cities, in midsize towns, in small rural communities everywhere in this province … to create the vision of the Alberta that we all want.”

While Nenshi becomes leader of the Official Opposition, he doesn’t hold a seat in the provincial legislature.

Notley announced in January she would step down to make room for a new leader after the NDP won 38 of the 87 legislature seats in the 2023 election, forming the largest Opposition in provincial history.

Premier Danielle Smith took to social media on Saturday afternoon to congratulate Nenshi.

“Serving as opposition leader is a great honour and I look forward to the dialogue we will have on how best to serve Albertans,” she said.

In a social media post, Calahoo Stonehouse…