Four NDP MLAs join the list of Alberta politicians not running for re-election in 2027
Joe Ceci, Luanne Metz, Marlin Schmidt and Lori Sigurdson retiring after next vote
Four Alberta NDP MLAs joined the growing list of provincial politicians who are not running for re-election when the next Alberta election is held.
A statement released by the NDP during the party’s provincial council meeting in Calgary announced the departure of Calgary-Buffalo MLA Joe Ceci, Calgary-Varsity MLA Dr. Luanne Metz, Edmonton-Gold Bar MLA Marlin Schmidt, and Edmonton-Riverview MLA Lori Sigurdson when the next provincial election is called. Three of the four MLAs are currently serving in their third-terms in the Legislative Assembly.
Joe Ceci has represented Calgary-Buffalo since 2019 and was the MLA for Calgary-Fort from 2015 to 2019. His jump into provincial politics followed a municipal career on Calgary City Council from 1995 to 2010 and a bid for the federal Liberal nomination in Calgary-East ahead of the 2004 election.
Ceci was Premier Rachel Notley’s choice for Minster of Finance for the entirety of the NDP’s time in government from 2015 to 2019, during which he faced huge fiscal pressures after the international price of oil began to plummet in 2014.
Despite much pearl-clutching in the opinion pages of major daily newspapers, the sky did not fall when Ceci tabled the NDP’s first budget in 2015, nor did it fall in the four budgets that followed.
As I wrote of Ceci’s fourth budget in 2018, while the NDP didn’t go far enough to fix Alberta’s over-reliance on resource royalties, Ceci’s budgets generally avoided making significant cuts to public services and instead opted for stable increases to operations funding and major investment in capital spending.
It has been rumoured for some time that party leader Naheed Nenshi could run for re-election in Calgary-Buffalo. Nenshi has served as MLA for Edmonton-Strathcona after winning a by-election in 2025, but is expected that the former Calgary mayor will run in a Calgary riding in the next election.
Calgary-Buffalo has been one of the safest NDP seats in Calgary and voters in the downtown riding have a long-history of electing MLAs from progressive parties. The riding has been represented by Liberal or NDP MLAs since 1986 with the exception of 2001 to 2008, when voters elected Progressive Conservative MLA Harvey Cenaiko.
Dr. Luanne Metz was first elected in 2023 after unseating United Conservative Party MLA Jason Copping, who was then serving as Minister of Health. Dr. Metz’s professional background as a Professor and the Head of the Division of Neurology at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute at the University of Calgary made her a high-quality candidate for the NDP in the last election, especially because she was running against the health minister. She defeated Copping by a margin of 4,072 votes.
“As I approach 70 years old,” Dr. Metz wrote in a letter published on social media, “I want to be certain that Calgary-Varsity will have a legislative representative for years to come with the necessary stamina to respond to the very real challenges Albertans are facing.”
“Despite not seeking to run for office again, I am not done yet,” Dr. Metz wrote of her current role as chair of the NDP Opposition’s health care policy group, “I am fully energized to represent Calgary-Varsity until the election, and to continue the work of leading health policy development for Naheed Nenshi and Alberta’s New Democrats to improve our health-care system.”
Marlin Schmidt was first elected as the MLA for Edmonton-Gold Bar in 2015 and served as Minister of Advanced Education from 2016 to 2019, during which he brought the province’s post-secondary tuition policy back into legislation (something that was later, once again, removed from the law by the following UCP government) and didn’t hesitate to quarrel with high-paid university executives.
Known for his self-deprecating sense of humour, Schmidt’s political style has not been everyone’s cup of tea, but his quips in the Legislature and series of unique politics videos on social media earned him the votes of Daveberta readers, who chose him as the MLA with the best sense of humour in 2025.
Like Ceci and Schmidt, Lori Sigurdson was also first elected in 2015, winning the previously long-held Liberal riding of Edmonton-Riverview riding from one-term PC MLA Steve Young.
Sigurdson was appointed to the dual Minister of Labour and Minister of Innovation and Advanced Education roles in 2015 and then became Minister of Seniors and Housing following the NDP’s fumbling of the Bill 6 farm and ranch safety law in 2016.
Sigurdson was a social worker and the professional affairs coordinator of the Alberta College of Social Workers and was instructor of social work at the University of Calgary, MacEwan University and NorQuest College before becoming an MLA.
The four NDP MLAs join two former UCP cabinet ministers and one government backbencher who are not expected to retire at the next election, which is scheduled to happen in October 2027 but could be called in early 2027.
UCP MLAs Nate Horner and Matt Jones resigned from the provincial cabinet last month and Lac Ste. Anne-Parkland UCP MLA Shane Getson is widely expected to not run for re-election.
Sixteen incumbent MLAs did not run for re-election in the 2023 election and 21 incumbent MLAs retired in the 2019 election, so there will almost certainly be more incumbent MLAs who decide not run for re-election in 2027.
Who’s running in Alberta’s next election?
The UCP and NDP have scheduled the following candidate nomination meetings in June:
June 16: NDP MLA David Eggen will be nominated in Edmonton-North West and NDP MLA David Shepherd will be nominated in Edmonton-City Centre.
June 24: NDP MLA Sarah Elmeligi will be nominated in Banff-Kananaskis. Mike Derry and Dan McLean are running for the UCP nomination in Calgary-Shaw ahead of an expected by-election.
June 25: NDP MLA Marie Renaud will be nominated in St. Albert and NDP MLA Sharif Haji will be nominated in Edmonton-Decore.
June 26: Kyle Campbell is running for the NDP nomination in Calgary-Shaw.
June 28: NDP MLA Brooks Arcand-Paul will be nominated in Edmonton-West Henday.
A full list of nominated and nomination candidates running in the next Alberta election can be found on this page:
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PS. In case you missed it, be sure to check out the latest episode of the Daveberta Podcast where we dive into the Alberta separatism debate and why Canada needs Alberta (and Alberta needs Canada):
🇨🇦 Podcast: Canada needs Alberta and Alberta needs Canada
Longtime Daveberta Podcast contributor Adam Rozenhart joins Dave Cournoyer for a discussion about Canada’s role in Alberta and Alberta’s role in Canada as neighbours and leaders in our country.
The steady hands of these four NDP MLAs will be missed. They were part of one of the most stable governments in Alberta since Lougheed retired. All the best.