Rakhi Pancholi drops out
Nenshi's impact on the Alberta NDP is already incalculable.
One fewer conservative is running to lead the Alberta NDP. Edmonton-Whitemud MLA Rakhi Pancholi dropped out of the race on Mar. 26, just two weeks after former Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi announced his own bid to take over the party.
Nenshi really turned the leadership campaign on its head. The other candidates, including Pancholi, are unknown to most everyone but NDP insiders and their own constituencies, which is actually something to capitalize on during a leadership race. The point, after all, is to win over committed NDP members, not the general public. Nenshi’s power and influence supersedes this logic.
Pancholi claims Nenshi doubled the number of Alberta NDP members after announcing his intentions—in other words, people who signed up just to vote for him. Amanda Freistadt may as well call the race now if this number is even close to accurate.
Not to sound mean spirited, but it would be wrong to interpret Pancholi’s decision charitably. She did not concede with grace simply because she recognized the futility of carrying on. Dropping out of the Alberta NDP leadership race was the right thing for any self-respecting McLennan Ross lawyer to do, but let's not pretend Pancholi did it for any other reason than to forge an early alliance with the new boss.
The public reaction to Pancholi’s departure has been, to put it at its mildest, baffling. I expected garden variety centrists to offer all their love, but even good friends and greater enemies fawned over her.
Former AUPE President Buff McLennan said: “Unfortunate but understandable decision that makes sense. Congrats on having run, and the bold ideas you introduced to the race Rahki.” What bold ideas? Divorcing the Alberta NDP from the rest of the NDP? Scrapping the price on carbon? Some Bay Street scheme she had yet to announce? What?
Union historian Alvin Finkel wrote, sincerely as far as I can tell, “Maybe next time… I'm sure you and the other leadership candidates will be important members of a Nenshi cabinet.” It almost writes itself.
Evan Scrimshaw, the annoying Liberal but excellent writer, moaned: “I am incredibly disappointed to see someone who embodied the future of the Alberta NDP and who could have won the province bail out to endorse someone who will lead the Alberta NDP to ruin.”
Yeah, sure.
UCP MLA Devin Dreeshen, representing Innisfail-Sylvan Lake, was the only person who responded reasonably. He wrote: “Running for leader for only two weeks then dropping out is the highlight of your career? Call me, let’s get a road paved for your constituents.”
Dreeshen—whose own career highlight is resigning his former Cabinet post for getting drunk all the time in the Legislature—is not exactly off-base here. The bar is in the floor if it is this easy for a notorious failson like Dreeshen to call you out and be right.
Regardless (or because?) of public opinion, Pancholi has officially thrown in with team Nenshi, no doubt eager to lick the boot for a caucus position or future cabinet post. She even leapt onstage with Nenshi when he campaigned in Edmonton on Tuesday, mere hours after she quit the race.
To be clear, Nenshi did not just campaign in Edmonton, he filled up the Polish Hall. And he did not just fill up the Polish Hall, he filled up the Polish Hall. Standing room only. All the chairs had butts. Some folks scootched right up to the stage, hunched low so those in the front row seats could still see. Progress Alberta chief Duncan Kinney wondered aloud what on earth the fire code capacity might be.
Rachel Notley barely filled the Polish Hall during the 2023 election, needing to stuff it with staffers to do so. Nenshi managed this feat without even trying. I remember when Notley was so inspiring as to pack the entire Citadel with supporters. Those were the days.
I don’t expect any of the other leadership candidates to fall in line like Pancholi. They’re too stubborn.
Gil McGowan should drop out immediately if polls are to be believed. He is not as well known as he thinks, and less than half as liked by those who know him as he thinks. His campaign is also invisible. I could not find his website—I had to ask around!—and when I did all I saw was a seven point plan, the first point of which had ten sub-points. I hope that appeals to a few nerds with party memberships, at least.
Jodi Calahoo-Stonehouse is proposing what, exactly? She tried to get an Edmonton city worker fired for being critical of the police while she sat on the Edmonton Police Commission, so that’s an inauspicious teaser of what may come.
Kathleen Ganley needs someone to tell her that leadership candidates should be likeable, but she does not have so bold a confidant. Instead, she has Jeremy Nolais, who is fighting for his life, and his job, and will keep her leadership campaign going so long as he has anything to say about it. Nenshi has eclipsed Ganley’s niche as the Calgary-winner and therefore government-winner. A reliable source tells me she only got 22 or so people out to her campaign town hall tonight (Mar. 28) in Red Deer. It’s hopeless.
Sarah Hoffman is the only candidate running on some decent ideas. She is attacking the leadership race smartly, as the torch-bearer of traditional NDP values—you know, all the things she put aside as Premier Notley’s second in command. I remember well the Press Gallery Christmas party where she led the “We got us a pipeline!” conga line. A good friend speculates she will likely run a repeat of Dave Eggen’s leadership bid in 2014: the strong, progressive second showing who secures about 20% of the vote.
This is Nenshi’s game to lose. He may be a smart person, he may even be charming, but he is not a social democrat and the NDP will be worse for it. Anyone who thought his candidacy would light a fire under the race is, ironically, mistaken: if he wins this thing in as dominant fashion as he appears poised to, crossing the finish line will be a tedius cakewalk. Pancholi is just the first quitter—and the second-best opportunist.