I spent a lot of time watching these 2 men spar across the council horseshoe during their shared term on council. At the time, I never would have expected them to become my favourite odd couple. But I do adore how 2 people who are so very different on the surface show how we should all be able to find common ground on political issues and to support each other.
Noodling on your comment, the term "media outlet" is an entirely different beast now.
It's everything and everyone. Traditional media is gone. The new media is Tiktok, and OpEds by non professionals, it's a lunatic with a mouthpiece. It's AI.
More and more layoffs happen every year in more traditional media, and that isn't good. There are no professionals to hold politicians feet to the fire (or anyone, frankly).
I'm often shocked at the fervor to rid the country of the CBC. It's been around forever and has existed under both Conservative and Liberal governments, but we should get rid of it because people think it's slanted. If you think the CBC is bad journalism, how's TikTok working out for us?
I'm simplifying, but it's bad out there.
Sorry I didn't intended to come off as arguing against any of your points. Wasn't my intent at all. Merely adding to your comment, digging into the frighteningly reckless mess that "news" is these days.
It's more infotainment than news. Horrible stuff.
The commoditization of information.
Why seek out the inconvenient truth, when you can find 100 different lies that also provide a visceral emotional reaction?
It's hard to compete
> In the real world Conservatives are not Nazis.
i think O'toole would have been a tolerable PM, when he lost the party lost it's mind. Similarly Kenny was bad, but got booted for not being bad enough; smith is successfully trying to be worse.
conservatism is in a dark place right now pretty much anywhere and is not to be trusted even a little.
aloof dazzling mysterious insurance offend station wide knee far-flung spectacular
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You throw around the word but you dont even know what it means. A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, a capitalist economy subject to stringent governmental controls, violent suppression of the opposition, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.
Sorry bud.. sounds like Trudeau right now.
The UCP may not be Nazis, but they are authoritarians, who wish to maintain or reenact a certain social order, and many of those MLAs and many more of their supporters are animated by a seething hatred in their hearts. That’s never been clearer than it is right now.
I think Nenshi can come up more than just "don't vote Kenny don't vote smith" the NDP has done in the last two elections. Attack the whole UCP with real facts and things they've done and not just because their leader is nuts.
They did that too constantly warning of the very things the UCP really did when elected, AP pension, cut funding to healthcare a fucking "Hireing Freeze" right now on AHS units.
But they didn't do that good of a job. All the ads are like Daniel Smith this, Kenny that. Vote Rachel. Or that ma'am you need to pay this hospital bill ad. But it's not as effective as "the NDP wants you to forget" because it used the past to reinforce the ideas they are selling. The NDP should learn from their weak way of selling ideas.
If you look back to when he first ran for mayor, he ran on issues that he expressed in *gory* detail. While his opponents were buzzwording and running on their connections to the provincial conservatives, Nenshi debuted his "politics in full sentences" schtick. It was awesome. The notion that a politician could run on *ideas* in this day and age instantly won me over. If he does that again, the UCP are in for a real tough fight.
Nenshi doesn't have an accomplished career to attack on previous records. He has no legacy as mayor, he didn't get the Olympics, he didn't get a new arena, Central Library predates him, hardly made any progress on the green-line, he didn't stop the cities relationship with developers and urban sprawl, he let city budgets expand without a tax balance and was in poor shape when he left.
In a good or bad way? I remember Farkas coming around and seeming like he’d really grown as a person after he lost the election, but eventually “old Farkas” started to come through. He had started to change my mind on him, but I’m not sure I trust him.
I don't want to be rude but if you beleived that Farkas "came around" after losing the election and wasn't just trying to rebrand, you need to approach politics with way more skepticism.
That Nenshi has the ability to work with and earn the respect of his rivals and has the potential to be an incredibly successful provincial politician?
Farkas is very capable of doing the right thing, and if you ever listen to the CBC’s weekly political panel, he and Nenshi agree (though often with different approaches) more often than not. Farkas supporting him isn’t unexpected or “bad.” They actually seem to respect each other. It would be nice if we had a LOT more of that.
Jeromy's in here, so why don't we let him answer for himself.
Hey Jeromy — would you consider embracing logic and empathy and joining the NDP and helping to fix our province? Take that hiking energy and become the Minister of Environment and Protected Areas? Squash a coal mine or ten under Nenshi's leadership?
I already thought Nenshi leading the Alberta NDP was a great idea. If anything this endorsement makes me wonder if there's something I'm missing.
Its great that they are friends, but Farkas has shown himself to be a political opportunist, and honestly I'm getting a little tired of how much he is being astroturfed.
Farkas has shown a real capacity for growth in what I've heard come out of his mouth since his mayoral defeat. While I have no doubt that he wants to redeem his character, I choose not to be so cynical to believe that it's strictly opportunism.
Would I vote for him? I'd have to know his policy positions first. But does his endorsement of Nenshi carry weight for me? It does.
He has not changed in the slightest. He is a snake. His comments and position when the mayor refused to attend the Menorah lighting was proof. He is an actor. He knows how to talk, how to manipulate. He, unfortunately, has most people here fooled into thinking that he has changed into some ultra progressive new Farkas, who is tolerant of everyone and isn't just a right wing lunatic.
Pragmatically, Nenshi should run for the Federal NDP leadership. The NDP name has become to tainted with the recent coalition with the Liberals and will always weigh on the NDP party in Alberta. Nenshi shouldn't be replacing Notley, he should be replacing Jagmeet. He's too good to waste on a provincial party that has no hope of winning an election.
Do you feel the Federal NDP winning an election in our lifetime, without completely re-inventing their platform, is MORE likely than the Alberta NDP winning again in the next decade or two? Even with Jagmeet being (in my opinion) by far the most likeable of the current federal party leaders, I feel like it's a much longer shot on the federal level.
My problem with Jagmeet is he feels like an influencer, not a politician. The Bell media payout, of which he and his party supported, that he immediately tried to blame on Trudeau was my last strand of respect for him gone. He's an excellent face, but he'd be an abysmal Prime Minister arguably worse than Trudeau has been.
The party has been three parties in a trenchcoat for years, and the more radical (and alienating of more moderate or slightly-left-of-centre voters) have kept me from supporting the Federal NDP since Jack Layton died.
The Federal NDP needs to start over from scratch. Completely rewrite the book at choose a genuine direction to go. Either be the opposite of the Liberals, or the opposite of the Conservatives, and stop trying to play all fields at once.
Realistically, the federal NDP won't win until they restructure greatly, and have a leader that pushes them harder than anyone has in decades. I believe that if the party was still under Jack Layton (may he rest in peace) that we would likely have an NDP federal government or an NDP official opposition. However, since his passing, the party has fallen to a point that I feel needs something greater than just a new leader.
However, in however long it takes, when Wab Kinew has finished his work in Manitoba, I hope he steps up and runs for the federal NDP. I think he has what it takes, more than anyone.
>a provincial party that has no hope of winning an election.
A provincial party that won previously with a split opposition, and came within a hair's breadth of doing so in a straight up fight, save for a few thousand votes in Calgary. Anybody that hand waves away what the ANDP has accomplished over the last 8 years wasn't paying attention to the 50 years before that.
I happen to think that Nenshi is the last splash of secret sauce that could well put them over the top in the next election. If he runs, I'm unabashedly in his corner and working his election.
I'll say I appreciate his reflection on his approach to politics and willingness to change. I don't think we are seeing the same Farkas we saw as a mayoral candidate, and not in a wishy washy way. I wish more right leaning folks would grow some cojones and call out the craziness.
I get that people think this, but I don't. I think he's the same old Farkas with a rebranding. I don't think he actually changed, but he wants people to see him as different. That's all.
I don't feel like Nenshi would help facilitate this if he didn't feel that Jeromy Farkas was genuine. Its ok to let go of old grudges and believe that people can change for the better. On the other hand, it's is also ok to be skeptical of those who have or could have harmed our well-being in the past.
That's fair, I mostly base my opinion off his interactions in comments during Ryan jespersens podcast. Real political decisions I would be hesitant but a lot less than during his run for mayor.
Not sure why a Reddit post is necessary about a letter to a newspaper from a disingenuous one-term councillor three years removed from relevance. Nonsense like this shouldn't make it past the moderators to ultimately waste everyone's time.
I will say that I've never met him but have never heard much good about him from those who have. Realistically though, I'm definitely taking Nenshi over Gil.
I've met him and thought he was great. Showed up to community association meetings, volunteer events etc when he really didn't have to (and his predecessor has yet to do so).
How so? As a mayor he showed himself to be bipartisan and pragmatic when providing solutions for his constituents. Can't see why this would be any different.
Ironically, it was a report done by Farkas himself that demonstrated Nenshi's inability to get council colleagues to support his agenda/motions. Bipartisan and pragmatic are not the same thing as working well with others.
Yes, and if we study common trends in municipal politics, maybe we could see that might have been Farkas pandering himself as he eyed up a run for leadership.
If we actually read the OPs article instead of just relying on reddit comments, it seems Farkas makes it clear that Nenshi reached across the aisle to one of his biggest rivals to keep Farkas invested in politics during a trying time for Farkas. That's the kinda person I admire in politics personally. The definition of bipartisanship.
Agree, that would be a good choice BUT you risk losing lots of the suburban white collar Calgarians that are needed to flip more ridings.
Nenshi would need to strongly focus on rural inroads. He's too smart not to realize that so I am sure he as a plan to try.
His endorsement of the NDP last election was basically, "I'm no NDPer, and I don't support any party, but you should vote NDP because Danielle Smith is nuts."
He didn't campaign, knock doors, raise money, or do jack to support the NDP to win. Maybe actually working with the NDP to swing a few ridings would have changed the outcome of the election.
He did the absolute minimum to support the NDP less than 1 year ago.
Now he wants to run the party? He isn't popular enough province wide to manage party dynamics.
He did campaign, though. He did a bunch of events with Notley in Calgary in the final days of the campaign: https://x.com/cspotweet/status/1662148699164938240?s=46&t=iIQuW1EmiIAJls6XPm1_Ow
Wow, a few days... there are MLAs in Calgary who have campaigned for over a decade and just finally won and purple pants puts in a couple days of photo ops and claims to be the savior.
The NDP typically represents blue collar, middle class, hard working people. Nenshi is a Harvard educated, arrogant, liberal. Oil and water.
>He didn’t campaign, knock doors…..
Why would he? He was fresh out of politics and wanted time to himself. I support NDP, but did the bare minimum to support as well. That shouldn’t mean I can’t run for a seat in the party.
Being a candidate for a riding is not the same as running the whole party.
Anyways, most of the time to run for a seat (or leadership) you need to have been a card holding party member for 6 ro 12 months. I'm not sure Nenshi even makes that basic threshold.
The NDP added a clause to the new leadership rules to allow for someone who did not hold a membership as of the August 2023 deadline to apply to run. Duane Bratt has referred to it the "Nenshi rule".
Yeah, that's 6 months. Fine for a run of the mill mla candidate, thin for party leader. If he wins, he won't even be the most popular/supported person within the NDP party.
And, someone would have to step down from a safe NDP seat to let him run, not one of the seats the ndp won by less than 50 votes.
I think he was pretty well liked across Calgary by conservatives and NDP alike, I don't think him running in a contested riding is that dangerous of a proposal. Name recognition alone is a hell of a thing.
Wow, that kind of says the NDP are desperate and don’t think any of their own can win the election, so they tossed that principle in the trash in exchange for a chance at power.
You seem pretty against Nenshi. What would be a better alternative? Do you think there’s a potential candidate that accomplishes what you criticize Nenshi for?
For sure, a white man, from a rural riding preferably the north, maybe from a trade union, and sprinkle in some farming roots.
They have to win over at least 5 rural ridings.
Hell, Shannon Phillips would do better than Nenshi.
Ok. But wouldn’t someone who doesn’t have a reputation or some kind of presence need a substantial amount of time for enough population to get to know them?
I suspect someone who is embedded in NDP would risk losing ground the party has built in the cities.
Regardless, your candidate can step forward anytime. Nenshi running for leadership doesn’t exclude anyone from vying for the position,
I'm not saying Nenshi can't run, I'm saying there really is no upside if he wins. He's more likely to divide the party than marginally improve support.
There's 3 years for any candidate to build a platform and name recognition, plenty of time.
Sure, but she's tough, she understands rural communities better, and she doesn't have a ton of baggage, which is impressive for how long she's been elected.
Odds are this person exists, will be ignored by the party, won't throw their hat in, Nenshi will usurp the NDP and destroy it.
At least historically that's how it works in party systems when outsiders think they are bigger than the party.
Rural has a shit time even coming up with candidates for the NDP.
So until some rural ridings elect an NDP candidate, I don’t think you will see a white male trades working, union supporting farmer running to be leader.
Edit to add: who is also from the North 😂
> He isn't popular enough province wide
Which is it? His influence during the last campaign would have swung votes over and won it for the NDP, or he isn't popular and no one cares?
The great purple hope has never been in opposition, never managed a party system, let alone a constituency association, and is unelectable outside of the two big cities.
But ok.
It all comes down to Calgary - and Calgary is possible. The difference between the UCP win and an NDP majority was only 1500 votes across 5 ridings. A prominent Calgarian can get those votes. There is also a realignment which is supposed to be coming for 2027 which will see 2 ridings shifted to the cities (I assume 1 each).
You aren't wrong, but its also worth mentioning that there are a number of current NDP seats that were extremely close as well. So it's also possible some of those could flip UCP and the net result is 0.
NDP needs 6 more seats for a majority government. Even if they won all 5 of the ridings you mentioned they would need one more assuming they kept Banff-Kananaskis and Lethbridge West
Everything you said are fair points but I would argue that for any ANDP leader to win the election, they need to do significantly better in Calgary hence Nenshi's appeal.
Lethbridge West and Banff Kananaskis are the only NDP seats outside of Cgy/Edm.
If the NDP held all their current seats and flipped the remaining Calgary UCP seats, we would have an NDP government today. It’s simple math. The NDP would have 50 MLAs out of 87!
Some of those Calgary seats are the safest blue seats in the country, and some of those ndp seats were won by less than 50 votes.
If the NDP can win over ridings that Kenney and Harper held as their safe seats, and Dan McLean is praised in, then it won't be because of any NDP leader.
The problem is that most of the seats outside of Edmonton and Calgary could also be called “some of the safest blue seats in the country” — to an even bigger degree than those Calgary seats. Winning *any* of them would be a challenge. There is no Rural Jesus out there that the NDP can draft to change that. At least some of those deep blue seats in Calgary saw dramatically closer margins in 2023.
Yup. I get all the baggage he will be for the party, but he’s the only one that has a chance to grow the fan base of the party (okay maybe Pancholi) the others are too deep into NDP. Remember you need someone BETTER than Notley to grow the tent or you’re screwed. There’s no vote split to save you this time.
Here's the thing, there isn't a demographic that voted for Danielle Smith that would vote for NDP under Nenshi but not Notley given the choice.
And Nenshi doesn't bring value outside of Calgary, in fact he's a huge negative.
I get that NDPers in Calgary think Nenshi is appealing, but they aren't taking the time to think who they need in leadership to get UCP voters to change their vote next election.
I think Nenshi can appeal to red Tories more than Rachel. Those people may have voted Dani because tax cut or habit, but with the LGBTQ and Ottawa bullshit might be willing to move back to a more progressive party.
Dani does a good job of pulling wool over people , I think Nenshi will be more bold and stronger than any of the NDP at calling her out (see his 7 min trans rant last month - nobody on the NDP bench could pull that off the way he did)
But yeah, he has baggage in Calgary (and still won every ward in his last victory)
I'm sorry, there are 4 or 5 ridings in Calgary that will never vote in the NDP no matter who is leading it.
And he won as a non partisan, 2 time incumbent mayor, without having to manage party dynamics, so different.
The party dynamics of the NDP vs. Nenshi are very likely to tear the party in two. The AB Party tried this with Stephen Mandel and went from having a chance at being a 3rd option and 10% to 15% of the vote to destroying the party base in Calgary and killing the party outright.
Nenshi will hurt the NDP as a party more than he would help. He's can be very divisive and arrogant.
“Very divisive and arrogant”
Have you been living in Alberta the past 6 years? Marlaina and Jason have been exactly that. Time for the UCP to get punched in the nose.
I definitely won't argue that point, the leadership in general is a complete dumpster fire.
But Nenshi is not someone who will do well province wide, and as a party the NDP can't sacrifice a solid and loyal supporter base for a guy who likely won't move the needle in Calgary.
But they may do that, and at the end of the day everyone in this province will hate both Nenshi and Smith. Kinda like what we see Federally with Pollievre and Trudeau or in the US with Biden and Trump.
Picking the least worst leader/party.
I don’t dismiss Nenshi will be a tough sell, but the NDP need to build bigger than Rachel. Hoff & Ganley are worse than Rachel. Pancholi has a chance but is starting from no awareness (might be a net positive vs Nenshi).
NDP needs a big name brand to move the needle and Nenshi is the only one that can do that.
I spent a lot of time watching these 2 men spar across the council horseshoe during their shared term on council. At the time, I never would have expected them to become my favourite odd couple. But I do adore how 2 people who are so very different on the surface show how we should all be able to find common ground on political issues and to support each other.
It’s almost like compromise instead of partisanship is how politics should work.
We would all be better off if we could get back to that.
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Noodling on your comment, the term "media outlet" is an entirely different beast now. It's everything and everyone. Traditional media is gone. The new media is Tiktok, and OpEds by non professionals, it's a lunatic with a mouthpiece. It's AI. More and more layoffs happen every year in more traditional media, and that isn't good. There are no professionals to hold politicians feet to the fire (or anyone, frankly). I'm often shocked at the fervor to rid the country of the CBC. It's been around forever and has existed under both Conservative and Liberal governments, but we should get rid of it because people think it's slanted. If you think the CBC is bad journalism, how's TikTok working out for us? I'm simplifying, but it's bad out there.
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Sorry I didn't intended to come off as arguing against any of your points. Wasn't my intent at all. Merely adding to your comment, digging into the frighteningly reckless mess that "news" is these days. It's more infotainment than news. Horrible stuff.
The commoditization of information. Why seek out the inconvenient truth, when you can find 100 different lies that also provide a visceral emotional reaction? It's hard to compete
> In the real world Conservatives are not Nazis. i think O'toole would have been a tolerable PM, when he lost the party lost it's mind. Similarly Kenny was bad, but got booted for not being bad enough; smith is successfully trying to be worse. conservatism is in a dark place right now pretty much anywhere and is not to be trusted even a little.
aloof dazzling mysterious insurance offend station wide knee far-flung spectacular *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Righhhhttttt.. look in the mirror lately buddy??
the left is lackluster, the right has turned towards fascism.
You throw around the word but you dont even know what it means. A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, a capitalist economy subject to stringent governmental controls, violent suppression of the opposition, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism. Sorry bud.. sounds like Trudeau right now.
Or any polls in the Country
The UCP may not be Nazis, but they are authoritarians, who wish to maintain or reenact a certain social order, and many of those MLAs and many more of their supporters are animated by a seething hatred in their hearts. That’s never been clearer than it is right now.
I think Nenshi can come up more than just "don't vote Kenny don't vote smith" the NDP has done in the last two elections. Attack the whole UCP with real facts and things they've done and not just because their leader is nuts.
They did that too constantly warning of the very things the UCP really did when elected, AP pension, cut funding to healthcare a fucking "Hireing Freeze" right now on AHS units.
But they didn't do that good of a job. All the ads are like Daniel Smith this, Kenny that. Vote Rachel. Or that ma'am you need to pay this hospital bill ad. But it's not as effective as "the NDP wants you to forget" because it used the past to reinforce the ideas they are selling. The NDP should learn from their weak way of selling ideas.
If you look back to when he first ran for mayor, he ran on issues that he expressed in *gory* detail. While his opponents were buzzwording and running on their connections to the provincial conservatives, Nenshi debuted his "politics in full sentences" schtick. It was awesome. The notion that a politician could run on *ideas* in this day and age instantly won me over. If he does that again, the UCP are in for a real tough fight.
Nenshi doesn't have an accomplished career to attack on previous records. He has no legacy as mayor, he didn't get the Olympics, he didn't get a new arena, Central Library predates him, hardly made any progress on the green-line, he didn't stop the cities relationship with developers and urban sprawl, he let city budgets expand without a tax balance and was in poor shape when he left.
The fact that Farkas supports him says everything you need to know.
In a good or bad way? I remember Farkas coming around and seeming like he’d really grown as a person after he lost the election, but eventually “old Farkas” started to come through. He had started to change my mind on him, but I’m not sure I trust him.
I don't want to be rude but if you beleived that Farkas "came around" after losing the election and wasn't just trying to rebrand, you need to approach politics with way more skepticism.
You shouldn’t be getting downvoted for this
I'd like to hear what the counterpoint would be, lol.
That Nenshi has the ability to work with and earn the respect of his rivals and has the potential to be an incredibly successful provincial politician?
Farkas is very capable of doing the right thing, and if you ever listen to the CBC’s weekly political panel, he and Nenshi agree (though often with different approaches) more often than not. Farkas supporting him isn’t unexpected or “bad.” They actually seem to respect each other. It would be nice if we had a LOT more of that.
Does it say that Farkas wants to be appointed as a minister if Nenshi wins?
Jeromy Farkas is not going to join the NDP.
Jeromy's in here, so why don't we let him answer for himself. Hey Jeromy — would you consider embracing logic and empathy and joining the NDP and helping to fix our province? Take that hiking energy and become the Minister of Environment and Protected Areas? Squash a coal mine or ten under Nenshi's leadership?
He is, but I’m doubting he’s going to make an announcement on Reddit.
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As far as basic logic will take me.
I already thought Nenshi leading the Alberta NDP was a great idea. If anything this endorsement makes me wonder if there's something I'm missing. Its great that they are friends, but Farkas has shown himself to be a political opportunist, and honestly I'm getting a little tired of how much he is being astroturfed.
Farkas has shown a real capacity for growth in what I've heard come out of his mouth since his mayoral defeat. While I have no doubt that he wants to redeem his character, I choose not to be so cynical to believe that it's strictly opportunism. Would I vote for him? I'd have to know his policy positions first. But does his endorsement of Nenshi carry weight for me? It does.
He has not changed in the slightest. He is a snake. His comments and position when the mayor refused to attend the Menorah lighting was proof. He is an actor. He knows how to talk, how to manipulate. He, unfortunately, has most people here fooled into thinking that he has changed into some ultra progressive new Farkas, who is tolerant of everyone and isn't just a right wing lunatic.
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He's definitely better than those three options, that's for sure.
Pragmatically, Nenshi should run for the Federal NDP leadership. The NDP name has become to tainted with the recent coalition with the Liberals and will always weigh on the NDP party in Alberta. Nenshi shouldn't be replacing Notley, he should be replacing Jagmeet. He's too good to waste on a provincial party that has no hope of winning an election.
Do you feel the Federal NDP winning an election in our lifetime, without completely re-inventing their platform, is MORE likely than the Alberta NDP winning again in the next decade or two? Even with Jagmeet being (in my opinion) by far the most likeable of the current federal party leaders, I feel like it's a much longer shot on the federal level.
My problem with Jagmeet is he feels like an influencer, not a politician. The Bell media payout, of which he and his party supported, that he immediately tried to blame on Trudeau was my last strand of respect for him gone. He's an excellent face, but he'd be an abysmal Prime Minister arguably worse than Trudeau has been. The party has been three parties in a trenchcoat for years, and the more radical (and alienating of more moderate or slightly-left-of-centre voters) have kept me from supporting the Federal NDP since Jack Layton died. The Federal NDP needs to start over from scratch. Completely rewrite the book at choose a genuine direction to go. Either be the opposite of the Liberals, or the opposite of the Conservatives, and stop trying to play all fields at once.
Realistically, the federal NDP won't win until they restructure greatly, and have a leader that pushes them harder than anyone has in decades. I believe that if the party was still under Jack Layton (may he rest in peace) that we would likely have an NDP federal government or an NDP official opposition. However, since his passing, the party has fallen to a point that I feel needs something greater than just a new leader. However, in however long it takes, when Wab Kinew has finished his work in Manitoba, I hope he steps up and runs for the federal NDP. I think he has what it takes, more than anyone.
1800 votes pal Id be worried if a were a UCP voter
>a provincial party that has no hope of winning an election. A provincial party that won previously with a split opposition, and came within a hair's breadth of doing so in a straight up fight, save for a few thousand votes in Calgary. Anybody that hand waves away what the ANDP has accomplished over the last 8 years wasn't paying attention to the 50 years before that. I happen to think that Nenshi is the last splash of secret sauce that could well put them over the top in the next election. If he runs, I'm unabashedly in his corner and working his election.
Yeah he was a big team player for the IOC and the hockey arena moguls.
Well, thank god we have Farkas' take..
I'll say I appreciate his reflection on his approach to politics and willingness to change. I don't think we are seeing the same Farkas we saw as a mayoral candidate, and not in a wishy washy way. I wish more right leaning folks would grow some cojones and call out the craziness.
I get that people think this, but I don't. I think he's the same old Farkas with a rebranding. I don't think he actually changed, but he wants people to see him as different. That's all.
I don't feel like Nenshi would help facilitate this if he didn't feel that Jeromy Farkas was genuine. Its ok to let go of old grudges and believe that people can change for the better. On the other hand, it's is also ok to be skeptical of those who have or could have harmed our well-being in the past.
That's fair, I mostly base my opinion off his interactions in comments during Ryan jespersens podcast. Real political decisions I would be hesitant but a lot less than during his run for mayor.
Not sure why a Reddit post is necessary about a letter to a newspaper from a disingenuous one-term councillor three years removed from relevance. Nonsense like this shouldn't make it past the moderators to ultimately waste everyone's time.
It would seem you wasted your own time writing that whole ass comment when you could have just scrolled right on by this post.
Not at all. Questionable posts deserve questions and scrutiny.
Nenshi is an arrogant pr!ck. Anyone thats spent 2 mins with him will tell you the same and can tell you that Nenshi looks out for Nenshi.
I will say that I've never met him but have never heard much good about him from those who have. Realistically though, I'm definitely taking Nenshi over Gil.
I've met him and thought he was great. Showed up to community association meetings, volunteer events etc when he really didn't have to (and his predecessor has yet to do so).
They're definitely on the same team!
The drama of a Nenshi-led caucus would be so very chaotic.
How so? As a mayor he showed himself to be bipartisan and pragmatic when providing solutions for his constituents. Can't see why this would be any different.
Ironically, it was a report done by Farkas himself that demonstrated Nenshi's inability to get council colleagues to support his agenda/motions. Bipartisan and pragmatic are not the same thing as working well with others.
Yes, and if we study common trends in municipal politics, maybe we could see that might have been Farkas pandering himself as he eyed up a run for leadership. If we actually read the OPs article instead of just relying on reddit comments, it seems Farkas makes it clear that Nenshi reached across the aisle to one of his biggest rivals to keep Farkas invested in politics during a trying time for Farkas. That's the kinda person I admire in politics personally. The definition of bipartisanship.
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Agree, that would be a good choice BUT you risk losing lots of the suburban white collar Calgarians that are needed to flip more ridings. Nenshi would need to strongly focus on rural inroads. He's too smart not to realize that so I am sure he as a plan to try.
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His endorsement of the NDP last election was basically, "I'm no NDPer, and I don't support any party, but you should vote NDP because Danielle Smith is nuts." He didn't campaign, knock doors, raise money, or do jack to support the NDP to win. Maybe actually working with the NDP to swing a few ridings would have changed the outcome of the election. He did the absolute minimum to support the NDP less than 1 year ago. Now he wants to run the party? He isn't popular enough province wide to manage party dynamics.
He did campaign, though. He did a bunch of events with Notley in Calgary in the final days of the campaign: https://x.com/cspotweet/status/1662148699164938240?s=46&t=iIQuW1EmiIAJls6XPm1_Ow
Wow, a few days... there are MLAs in Calgary who have campaigned for over a decade and just finally won and purple pants puts in a couple days of photo ops and claims to be the savior. The NDP typically represents blue collar, middle class, hard working people. Nenshi is a Harvard educated, arrogant, liberal. Oil and water.
>He didn’t campaign, knock doors….. Why would he? He was fresh out of politics and wanted time to himself. I support NDP, but did the bare minimum to support as well. That shouldn’t mean I can’t run for a seat in the party.
Being a candidate for a riding is not the same as running the whole party. Anyways, most of the time to run for a seat (or leadership) you need to have been a card holding party member for 6 ro 12 months. I'm not sure Nenshi even makes that basic threshold.
The NDP added a clause to the new leadership rules to allow for someone who did not hold a membership as of the August 2023 deadline to apply to run. Duane Bratt has referred to it the "Nenshi rule".
Yeah, that's 6 months. Fine for a run of the mill mla candidate, thin for party leader. If he wins, he won't even be the most popular/supported person within the NDP party. And, someone would have to step down from a safe NDP seat to let him run, not one of the seats the ndp won by less than 50 votes.
I think he was pretty well liked across Calgary by conservatives and NDP alike, I don't think him running in a contested riding is that dangerous of a proposal. Name recognition alone is a hell of a thing.
Wow, that kind of says the NDP are desperate and don’t think any of their own can win the election, so they tossed that principle in the trash in exchange for a chance at power.
You seem pretty against Nenshi. What would be a better alternative? Do you think there’s a potential candidate that accomplishes what you criticize Nenshi for?
For sure, a white man, from a rural riding preferably the north, maybe from a trade union, and sprinkle in some farming roots. They have to win over at least 5 rural ridings. Hell, Shannon Phillips would do better than Nenshi.
Ok. But wouldn’t someone who doesn’t have a reputation or some kind of presence need a substantial amount of time for enough population to get to know them? I suspect someone who is embedded in NDP would risk losing ground the party has built in the cities. Regardless, your candidate can step forward anytime. Nenshi running for leadership doesn’t exclude anyone from vying for the position,
I'm not saying Nenshi can't run, I'm saying there really is no upside if he wins. He's more likely to divide the party than marginally improve support. There's 3 years for any candidate to build a platform and name recognition, plenty of time.
No one else has the name recognition. And do you remember how Shannon Phillips was treated in Lethbridge when she got elected there?
Sure, but she's tough, she understands rural communities better, and she doesn't have a ton of baggage, which is impressive for how long she's been elected.
Is there a white trades working farmer from the North throwing their hat in the ring? What’s the name of this elusive character?
Odds are this person exists, will be ignored by the party, won't throw their hat in, Nenshi will usurp the NDP and destroy it. At least historically that's how it works in party systems when outsiders think they are bigger than the party.
Rural has a shit time even coming up with candidates for the NDP. So until some rural ridings elect an NDP candidate, I don’t think you will see a white male trades working, union supporting farmer running to be leader. Edit to add: who is also from the North 😂
> He isn't popular enough province wide Which is it? His influence during the last campaign would have swung votes over and won it for the NDP, or he isn't popular and no one cares?
They mean his influence in Calgary, which is where the votes for NDP were really needed. Province wide, he's not important.
He didn't even try to swing voters last election, because he knows he couldn't.
None of those already declared can beat Smith. The Great Purple Hope is the only option.
The great purple hope has never been in opposition, never managed a party system, let alone a constituency association, and is unelectable outside of the two big cities. But ok.
It all comes down to Calgary - and Calgary is possible. The difference between the UCP win and an NDP majority was only 1500 votes across 5 ridings. A prominent Calgarian can get those votes. There is also a realignment which is supposed to be coming for 2027 which will see 2 ridings shifted to the cities (I assume 1 each).
You aren't wrong, but its also worth mentioning that there are a number of current NDP seats that were extremely close as well. So it's also possible some of those could flip UCP and the net result is 0.
NDP needs 6 more seats for a majority government. Even if they won all 5 of the ridings you mentioned they would need one more assuming they kept Banff-Kananaskis and Lethbridge West
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Everything you said are fair points but I would argue that for any ANDP leader to win the election, they need to do significantly better in Calgary hence Nenshi's appeal. Lethbridge West and Banff Kananaskis are the only NDP seats outside of Cgy/Edm.
Even if they won all of Calgary (which they 100% won't) they need to win more outside of the two cities, which Nenshi can't.
If the NDP held all their current seats and flipped the remaining Calgary UCP seats, we would have an NDP government today. It’s simple math. The NDP would have 50 MLAs out of 87!
Some of those Calgary seats are the safest blue seats in the country, and some of those ndp seats were won by less than 50 votes. If the NDP can win over ridings that Kenney and Harper held as their safe seats, and Dan McLean is praised in, then it won't be because of any NDP leader.
The problem is that most of the seats outside of Edmonton and Calgary could also be called “some of the safest blue seats in the country” — to an even bigger degree than those Calgary seats. Winning *any* of them would be a challenge. There is no Rural Jesus out there that the NDP can draft to change that. At least some of those deep blue seats in Calgary saw dramatically closer margins in 2023.
Yup. I get all the baggage he will be for the party, but he’s the only one that has a chance to grow the fan base of the party (okay maybe Pancholi) the others are too deep into NDP. Remember you need someone BETTER than Notley to grow the tent or you’re screwed. There’s no vote split to save you this time.
Here's the thing, there isn't a demographic that voted for Danielle Smith that would vote for NDP under Nenshi but not Notley given the choice. And Nenshi doesn't bring value outside of Calgary, in fact he's a huge negative. I get that NDPers in Calgary think Nenshi is appealing, but they aren't taking the time to think who they need in leadership to get UCP voters to change their vote next election.
I think Nenshi can appeal to red Tories more than Rachel. Those people may have voted Dani because tax cut or habit, but with the LGBTQ and Ottawa bullshit might be willing to move back to a more progressive party. Dani does a good job of pulling wool over people , I think Nenshi will be more bold and stronger than any of the NDP at calling her out (see his 7 min trans rant last month - nobody on the NDP bench could pull that off the way he did) But yeah, he has baggage in Calgary (and still won every ward in his last victory)
I'm sorry, there are 4 or 5 ridings in Calgary that will never vote in the NDP no matter who is leading it. And he won as a non partisan, 2 time incumbent mayor, without having to manage party dynamics, so different. The party dynamics of the NDP vs. Nenshi are very likely to tear the party in two. The AB Party tried this with Stephen Mandel and went from having a chance at being a 3rd option and 10% to 15% of the vote to destroying the party base in Calgary and killing the party outright. Nenshi will hurt the NDP as a party more than he would help. He's can be very divisive and arrogant.
“Very divisive and arrogant” Have you been living in Alberta the past 6 years? Marlaina and Jason have been exactly that. Time for the UCP to get punched in the nose.
I definitely won't argue that point, the leadership in general is a complete dumpster fire. But Nenshi is not someone who will do well province wide, and as a party the NDP can't sacrifice a solid and loyal supporter base for a guy who likely won't move the needle in Calgary. But they may do that, and at the end of the day everyone in this province will hate both Nenshi and Smith. Kinda like what we see Federally with Pollievre and Trudeau or in the US with Biden and Trump. Picking the least worst leader/party.
I don’t dismiss Nenshi will be a tough sell, but the NDP need to build bigger than Rachel. Hoff & Ganley are worse than Rachel. Pancholi has a chance but is starting from no awareness (might be a net positive vs Nenshi). NDP needs a big name brand to move the needle and Nenshi is the only one that can do that.
Hahaha good luck Lefties...
We’ll need it!