Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley announces she is stepping down from her position, in Edmonton on Jan. 16.JASON FRANSON/The Canadian Press
Rachel Notley, who upended 43 years of conservative rule in Alberta when she led the province’s New Democratic Party to power in 2015, said on Tuesday that she will resign as leader.
She told a news conference that she will remain in the post until the party selects a replacement, and that she does not have plans to pursue elected politics at the federal level. For now, she said, she will continue to serve as the MLA for the riding of Edmonton-Strathcona, a seat she has held since 2008, making her the longest-serving current member of Alberta’s legislature. She did not rule out running for her seat again in the next election.
“We didn’t get everything right, but we governed with integrity, an ambitious agenda and an earnest desire to make life better for Albertans,” Ms. Notley said as she announced her resignation, with her husband and adult son and daughter by her side.
Ms. Notley transformed Alberta’s NDP into a competitive and cohesive option for voters in a province known for its deep devotion to conservative politicians. She served just one term as premier, but her four years ended without any notable political scandals or internal uprisings.
She is one of the most recognizable political figures in Canada. As premier, she often clashed with her progressive colleagues across the country. Her support for expanding the Trans Mountain oil pipeline to the West Coast put her at odds with the federal NDP and the governing provincial NDP in British Columbia. During the spat, Ms. Notley started a miniature trade war by ordering Alberta’s alcohol regulator to block wine imports from B.C.
Her resignation was expected after the NDP lost the 2023 provincial election to the United Conservative Party and its leader, Danielle Smith. Ms. Notley and the NDP also lost the 2019 election to the UCP, which at the time was led by Jason Kenney. The back-to-back losses made it politically difficult for Ms. Notley to stay, despite the respect she commands in her party.
Although the Alberta NDP lost last year’s election, it still swept Edmonton, made significant gains in Calgary and formed the largest Official Opposition in Alberta’s history.
“But it wasn’t enough. And that’s why it is now time for me to leave,” Ms. Notley said.
“If there is any one accomplishment that I can leave behind me, it is that we are not a one-party province where Albertans have no real choice about how their province is to be run.”
NDP Leader Rachel Notley, announces on Jan. 16 that she is stepping down as party leader, but will stay on until her replacement is chosen in leadership race. Notley, who was Alberta’s premier from 2015 to 2019, thanked her family and honoured the memories of her mother Sandy and father Grant Notley, who also served as NDP leader.
The Canadian Press
Ms. Notley noted the NDP caucus had four MLAs when she took over as leader in 2014. It was only months later that her party booted the Progressive Conservatives from office. At the time, support for conservatives was split between the PCs and the upstart Wildrose Party, which some voters considered to be too far to the right.
The two conservative parties merged under the UCP banner in 2017, consolidating their support. But the NDP now stands as a formidable option on the ballot.
“Alberta is not a one-party province, or a two-party province with two different shades of conservative,” Ms. Notley said on Tuesday, framing her own legacy.
The race to replace Ms. Notley is already under way, although the party has yet to declare a leadership contest officially. Expected entrants include Kathleen Ganley, a Calgary MLA who formerly served as provincial justice minister; Sarah Hoffman, an Edmonton MLA and Ms. Notley’s deputy leader, who formerly served as health minister; and Rakhi Pancholi, a second-term MLA from Edmonton. Gil McGowan, the president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, is another possible candidate.
Ms. Notley said she will not endorse any candidates.
Her tenure as premier, between 2015 and 2019, was marred by weak oil and gas prices, which dragged on the province’s balance sheet as she pursued her agenda. Although she pulled the NDP closer to the political centre, the province’s conservative establishment never fully embraced her government. In addition to fighting to secure the Trans Mountain expansion, she introduced a carbon tax, which the UCP used against her on the campaign trail and repealed when voters returned the conservatives to government.
Ms. Notley introduced a plan to accelerate the phase-out of coal-fired electricity, which earned her both praise and scorn. She increased Alberta’s minimum wage, as well as its tax on corporations. Her government’s plan to protect farm workers was especially disliked in rural Alberta, and it haunted the party in subsequent elections.
She grew up surrounded by NDP politics. Her father, Grant Notley, served as the province’s NDP leader between 1968 and 1984, when he was killed in a plane crash. Ms. Notley was 20 at the time.
Ms. Smith, Alberta’s current Premier, thanked Ms. Notley for her years of service.
“Serving as premier is an extremely demanding job, and she served in that office with an honour and dignity reminiscent of her late father, another honourable and loyal Albertan and public servant,” Ms. Smith said in a social-media post.
Ms. Notley’s attempts to balance Alberta’s environmental progress with economic activity meant she often clashed with Jagmeet Singh, the leader of the federal NDP. Mr. Singh, on Tuesday, said in a statement that Ms. Notley was an inspiration to NDP members across the country.
“She fought hard for Alberta to have a government that reflects Albertans’ values and priorities,” he said.