Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi will run for a seat in the provincial legislature after Premier Danielle Smith called byelections in three vacant ridings, scheduled for June 23.
Nenshi, who previously served as Calgary mayor, has led the NDP without a seat in the legislature since June 2024, after Rachel Notley, a former Alberta premier, resigned as party leader. He will run in Edmonton-Strathcona, the riding left vacant when Notley stepped down as MLA on Dec. 30, 2024.
“On June 23rd, we can choose better for our province,” Nenshi said in a May 26 social media post. “I’m proud to run as your Alberta NDP candidate to fight for the strong, competent, and ethical leadership that we deserve!”
The riding has been an NDP stronghold for nearly 40 years, except from 1993 to 1997 when Liberal MLA Al Zariwny held the seat. In the last provincial election, then-NDP Leader Notley received nearly 80 percent of the vote, while the United Conservative Party (UCP), which went on to form a majority government, received 17.3 percent in that riding.
The UCP’s candidate for the riding will be Darby Crouch, whose career is in government communications, and has served as press secretary of the province’s minister of agriculture since last year.
In announcing her party’s candidates, Premier Smith said Albertans “have a clear choice.”
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“These are experienced, principled leaders who know their communities and are ready to fight for safer streets, better health care, and real cost-of-living relief,” she said in a social media post on May 26.
“While the NDP push high taxes and Ottawa-style overreach, our UCP candidates are focused on defending Alberta and delivering results.”
The other two ridings holding byelections are Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills in south-central Alberta and Edmonton-Ellerslie.
Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills became vacant after MLA and former legislature Speaker Nathan Cooper stepped down earlier this month to become the province’s representative to the United States in Washington.
One of the candidates in the riding is Cameron Davies, leader of the Republican Party of Alberta and a proponent of independence for Alberta.
“The Republican Party of Alberta is the only party offering a clear, unapologetic path toward independence—a vision for a free and sovereign Alberta, where decisions are made right here at home,” Davies said in a May 26 press release. “We believe in economic freedom, energy independence, and a future where Albertans control their own destiny.”
The UCP candidate for the riding is Tara Sawyer, a farmer and business owner who the party says is a “respected voice” in agriculture policy, market access, and sustainability, and has “built a reputation for bridging the rural-urban divide.”
The NDP has not yet announced a candidate for the riding.
The Edmonton-Ellerslie seat became vacant after former NDP MLA Rod Loyola stepped down earlier this year to run as a federal Liberal candidate. He was later disqualified after a 2009 video surfaced in which he said Hamas and Hezbollah “stand up for their people, and that needs to be recognized.” He ran as an Independent but lost, with the Conservative candidate winning the seat.
The NDP’s candidate for the riding is Gurtej Singh Brar, who won the nomination race earlier this month. The UCP candidate is Naresh Bhardwaj, who previously held the seat as a Progressive Conservative MLA from 2008 to 2015. Bhardwaj also served as the associate minister for persons with disabilities from 2013 to 2015.
Candidate nominations will close on June 5 and official results will be announced on July 3.
