Nenshi’s strategy: embrace patriotism, keep Avi Lewis faaaar away

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I ask whether federal Liberals will be joining NDP canvassers at Alberta doors. Nenshi says he’s spoken with them about the NDP’s perspective on separation and adds dryly, “It will be interesting to see how they respond.” On that, at least, we agree.

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He hasn’t spoken with Carter about the Liberal reboot. “This is, I believe, the fourth Alberta political party he has attempted to take over,” Nenshi notes, his sarcasm thinly veiled. (Carter, of course, helped engineer Nenshi’s own successful 2010 mayoral run with that memorable purple brand blending liberal red and conservative blue.)

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But Carter isn’t the villain in Nenshi’s telling. That honour belongs to Premier Danielle Smith.

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Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. Photo by Todd Korol/The Canadian Press

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“Premier Smith is following the David Cameron playbook,” he asserts. “Pander to the separatists, empower them, make the referendum easier — then come out at the end, wrap herself in the Canadian flag and say, ‘Only I can save Canada.’”

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Her party, he continues, has been captured by separatists. “She’s painted herself into a corner, just like Cameron. She won’t be able to lift a finger to help the Remain side when the hard work begins. She’ll throw it back to the rest of us. If we don’t do it, no one will.”

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In this narrative, Nenshi casts himself as the reluctant but necessary martyr. I wonder: Doesn’t Avi Lewis’s leadership of the federal NDP make that cross heavier?

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“To be clear: he’s not my federal party leader,” Nenshi shoots back sharply. “I don’t belong to that party, and many thousands of provincial New Democrats don’t either.”

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He chides me for not paying attention. At last year’s provincial convention, delegates voted to make the Alberta NDP fully membership-independent. They were already financially and policy-independent, he says.

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Nenshi hasn’t yet spoken with Lewis, but he has been in touch with Edmonton-Strathcona MP Heather McPherson, the runner-up to Lewis for leader. “She very politely asked if she’s allowed to come flip pancakes at my pancake breakfast,” he says, amused. “I told her, ‘Yeah, you’re my MP. Of course you are. Please come.’”

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NDP Member of Parliament Heather McPherson. Photo by HYUNGCHEOL PARK /Postmedia

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Then there’s the pipeline question — how does the provincial NDP square its ambitions with Lewis and the federal party’s Leap Manifesto stance?

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“Donna, are you really asking me that?” he chides again. “We put out a whole policy on this. The difference between us and the conservatives — with all due respect to a former conservative cabinet minister (he means me) — is that conservatives love to talk about pipelines and have built zero miles to tidewater in 73 years. The Alberta New Democrats got a pipeline built.”

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He presses the point: If Smith delivers on her latest memorandum of understanding, she’ll have taken seven years of UCP government only to land exactly where Rachel Notley left things — minus an actual pipeline in the ground. “They’ve wasted seven years fighting with the feds instead of moving projects forward.”

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I bite my tongue and change the subject.

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One final curiosity: The provincial NDP hired New York’s Fight Agency — the firm credited with helping elect Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Are they still producing videos for Nenshi’s team?

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“We have a bunch of consultants — some of the most thoughtful, progressive people in the world,” he says. Most are Canadian-based. Fight has provided advice, and yes, they’re still involved — but not on the “For Alberta, For Canada” campaign.

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The question that actually keeps me up at night is bigger: Even if October’s referendum delivers a “remain in Canada” victory, how do we stop separation sentiment from becoming mainstream in Alberta politics?

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Nenshi agrees it’s the crucial long-term issue. Then he launches another broadside against the UCP, leaving the unmistakable impression that this debate will remain fiercely partisan for years to come.

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