‘They have no influence’: Alberta NDP leader on new direction of federal party

Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi joins Alberta Primetime to discuss the party's relationship with their federal counterpart, including a new federal leader.

Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi joins Alberta Primetime host Michael Higgins to discuss the connection between his party and its federal counterpart, and his party’s proposed energy plan.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Michael Higgins: Premier Danielle Smith says your party is beholden to the federal NDP as your parties share a constitution.

How worried are you about the direction Avi Lewis will take the federal party?

Naheed Nenshi: Every day the premier is focused on talking about Section 73, Subsection 2, Subsection 4B7 of the federal NDP Constitution is a great day for Albertans because it’s a day she can’t do more damage to Albertans. She’s grasping at straws here. The conservative governments with all their bluster and all their talk have managed to build precisely zero miles of pipeline to tidewater in the last 73 years. It was Rachel Notley and the New Democrats, over the objections of the federal New Democrats, that actually got a pipeline built with the Trans Mountain expansion.

What she’s really nervous about is that last week I actually released what I call the “First Look at the Alberta New Democrat Energy Plan.” I really encourage people to go take a look at it. I really would be interested in your feedback on it. But what we’re talking about is actually getting stuff built, which is what we know how to do at a time of enormous global uncertainty. Anyone who’s been to the pumps knows the price of gas has gone up 40 cents a liter in one month, with no gas tax relief from this government. At these times the world is showing that even in an energy transition, even as we’re fighting climate, there’s still a need for fossil fuels. The world is hungry for safe, clean, convenient, reliable sources of fuel, sources of energy, which I happen to believe is the most potent poverty fighting tool we have in the world today. If we don’t supply that, they’re going to get it from somewhere else. It’s not like suddenly emissions will go down. Our job is to figure out how to get that market access done.

We’ve released this energy platform that we want people’s feedback on, which looks at a whole bunch of things. The premier only looks at crude oil pipelines. We do talk about that. We talk about how probably the best candidate for a west coast pipeline is one we don’t hear much about. It’s actually one that goes to the south coast of British Columbia following the Trans Mountain right of way, which is already there for much of its length. We talk about optimizing the current Trans Mountain expansion that Rachel Notley helped build for another 300,000 barrels a day. Then we talk about other projects.

Personally, I’ve always loved Energy East. I love the whole idea of a project that goes across the whole country spanning six provinces. It shows we’re a nation, we’re united, we can do things together. We also talk about natural gas, which this premier has been ignoring. We talk about critical minerals, about value added, and we talk a lot about electricity. The United Conservative Party (UCP) has ruined the electricity market. Your power bills have gone way up. But there is a way to get that renewable investment back, to have inner ties with our neighboring states and provinces, and to do all of that in a way that slashes emissions and lowers your power bill. That’s what I’m talking about. Avi Lewis can talk about other things. He’s welcome to do that, but my job is to talk to Albertans.

MH: What is the status of the tie that binds the federal NDP with your party and the degree of influence it has over the Alberta NDP?

NN: The answer is: They have no influence, and they never have. In fact when the premier was reading the constitution of the party, she actually tweeted out the part that said the provincial parties are fully autonomous. Those are the words: fully autonomous from the federal party. We’ve always been financially independent. We’ve always been independent from a policy perspective. Last year, the members of the Alberta NDP chose to also become independent from a membership perspective. If you choose to join the Alberta NDP you no longer have to be a member of the federal NDP and vice versa. Fundamentally we operate independently already and the premier is just grasping at straws because she’s trying to distract from our energy plan, which I think is a great one that balances energy, prosperity and the environment in a way she’s never even tried to do.

MH: If you end up butting heads with Avi Lewis, how open are you to having a conversation with party members on identity change?

What do you think would push your party to that point?

NN: I’m not sure that’s something that will happen. That’s very inside politics stuff.

MH: Why is it inside politics?

NN: Because the voters care about what we would do as a government. I’m focused not on the federal party, but on Danielle Smith. I’m focused on showing Albertans they deserve a better government, and we are a government in waiting. Mr. Lewis’s challenge federally is a different one. He’s not the government in waiting today and he’s admitted he won’t be in the next couple of election cycles. But across the prairies and across Western Canada, New Democrats are in the ascendance. New Democrats are actually either the government or the official opposition in every province from Ontario west, and we have to show people we are a viable choice for a government that would serve them well.

It’s worth understanding that it’s a long history. The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), the predecessor to the NDP, was started in the Royal Canadian Legion Number One in downtown Calgary. We have deep prairie roots, from Tommy Douglas to Rachel Notley. We have these deep roots that show who we are as a pragmatic Prairie progressive populace. That’s a lot of P’s, but that’s who we are, and that’s what we continue to show. Don’t get me wrong, we share a lot of values with our provincial cousins and with our federal cousins. We are the party of public health care. We are the party of public education. We are the party of workers and a jobs-driven economy and building prosperity for everyone and protecting the environment. We’re not running away from any of that. We have very, very different points of view on energy policy, and that’s fine. Rachel Notley had a very different point of view from Jagmeet Singh, and she was vastly criticized by one Avi Lewis for that. But she got a pipeline built, and I think that’s really what we need to talk to Albertans about.