Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi is about to make headlines again.
After languishing for the past six months in the role of Opposition leader without a legislative seat, Nenshi appears poised to run in a yet-to-be called byelection in Edmonton-Strathcona.
Yes, that’s the seat held by former NDP leader Rachel Notley who announced this morning she’d resign her seat Dec. 30.
No, as I write this Nenshi has not confirmed he will run to succeed Notley. But it’s just a matter of time.
Nenshi has coyly been suggesting for months he’d be interested in running in Edmonton-Strathcona, one of the safest NDP seats in Alberta. But he didn’t want to be seen trying to push out Notley who has been serving as his key senior advisor.
By running in Notley’s old seat, Nenshi would be filling a vacancy that was bound to come up sooner or later and he wouldn’t need to ask an MLA in Calgary or Edmonton to step down to trigger a byelection.
He’d also be countering the narrative that as a former Calgary mayor he is a stranger to Edmonton.