Janis Irwin, Peter Guthrie, and Rakhi Pancholi big winners in Best of Alberta Politics 2025 Survey
Marlin Schmidt voted MLA with Best Sense of Humour and Brooks Arcand-Paul is the MLA to watch in 2026
After a week of fierce campaigning, all the votes have been counted and the winners of the ninth annual Daveberta Best of Alberta Politics Survey have been chosen.
The annual survey is all about celebrating the best in Alberta politics and the winners were nominated and voted for by politically-savvy Daveberta subscribers.
Congratulations to this year’s winners.
Janis Irwin is the Best Alberta MLA and Best Constituency MLA of 2025
Always a crowd favourite, Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood MLA Janis Irwin has been voted Best Alberta MLA for the sixth year in a row and this year took the new Best Constituency MLA category as well.
Irwin is one of the savviest communicators in Alberta politics with a huge following on social media and in-person across the province, and she is widely considered one of the hardest working constituency MLAs (as one of her constituents I can testify to this — if there is a community event happening in Highlands-Norwood she will be there to support it). As the NDP’s shadow minister for housing she is on the frontlines of one of the most important issues on the minds of Albertans today.
Irwin faced Strathcona-Sherwood Park MLA and Minister of Technology and Innovation Nate Glubish in both categories. Glubish placed a strong second in each category but it wasn’t enough to break Irwin’s winning streak.
Best Alberta MLA
Janis Irwin: 62%
Nate Glubish: 38%
Total votes: 1,171
Best Constituency MLA
Janis Irwin: 63%
Nate Glubish: 37%
Total votes: 1,053
Peter Guthrie is the Best Alberta Cabinet Minister and Most Effective Government Backbencher of 2025
It has been a roller coaster year in politics for Airdrie-Cochrane MLA Peter Guthrie, who is the winner of this year’s Best Alberta Cabinet Minister and Most Effective Government Backbencher of 2025.
Guthrie started the year as a Minister of Infrastructure in the United Conservative Party government and is ending it as an Independent MLA affiliated with the Alberta Party who is trying to restart the Progressive Conservative Party.
Guthrie resigned from cabinet in February 2025 after he raised concerns at the cabinet table about the alleged corruption and political interference in health care procurement practices and government contracts with private surgical companies.
“I’m not going to stand by and see potential corruption exist within government and be a part of that,” Guthrie told the Globe & Mail after he resigned from cabinet. “I felt profound disappointment in their ability to be able to ignore these clear conflicts,” he said.
After two months in the backbenches, the second-term UCP MLA was kicked out of the government caucus after voting in favour of an NDP motion calling for an independent public inquiry into the dodgy contracts scandal that convinced him to resign from cabinet.
“If we have nothing to hide, we should take that path,” Guthrie said of an independent public inquiry. “I would like to see people feel free to be able to share their thoughts with the auditor general without feeling that there may be retribution for them,” he said in response to allegations the government was using external lawyers to slow down an ongoing investigation by the Auditor General.
Now in the opposition benches, Guthrie has remained a steadfast conservative critic of the UCP government’s involvement in the alleged corruption scandal.
Best Alberta Cabinet Minister
Peter Guthrie: 54%
Nate Glubish: 37%
Rebecca Schulz: 10%
Total Votes: 1,009
Most Effective Government Backbencher
Peter Guthrie: 59%
Scott Sinclair: 25%
Brandon Lunty: 16%
Total votes: 815
Rakhi Pancholi is the Most Effective Opposition MLA and Best Question Period Performer of 2025
Edmonton-Whitemud MLA Rakhi Pancholi was voted Most Effective Opposition MLA for a second year in a row and this year took the Best Question Period Performer category.
Pancholi has been a rising star in the opposition benches since she was first elected in 2019 and now as deputy leader of the NDP official opposition she has been given an opportunity to shine by demonstrating her political skills and talents.
Pancholi’s diligent prosecutorial-style of asking questions and quick-on-her-feet responses to the government has made her one of the most effective critics in the opposition benches in the Alberta Legislature.
Most Effective Opposition MLA
Rakhi Pancholi: 68%
Naheed Nenshi: 32%
Total votes: 900
Best Question Period Performer
Rakhi Pancholi: 68%
Danielle Smith: 32%
Total votes: 1,000
Naheed Nenshi is the Best Public Speaker of 2025
Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi thrives in front of a crowd or TV camera, which is why he’s the winner in this year’s Best Public Speaker category.
Nenshi’s energy in front of a crowd propelled him to win a landslide victory in the NDP leadership race last year and is why his party sent him out on round of town hall meetings across the province almost immediately after he was finally elected to the Legislature in June 2025.
Now as the MLA for Edmonton-Strathcona, the former Calgary mayor has a seat in the Legislature and appears to be enjoying the daily cut and thrust of Question Period and legislative debate.
It’s fitting that Nenshi faced Premier Danielle Smith in this category, as both party leaders with their different styles of public speaking — Nenshi being more professorial and Smith as a former talk-show host — have proven they are most comfortable in front of an audience.
Best Public Speaker
Naheed Nenshi: 60%
Danielle Smith: 40%
Total votes: 1,021
Marlin Schmidt is the MLA with the Best Sense of Humour of 2025
In 2016, Edmonton-Gold Bar MLA Marlin Schmidt became Alberta’s first accordion-playing hydrogeologist cabinet minister and, in 2025, he became the first winner of the Best of Alberta Politics Survey’s MLA with the Best Sense of Humour.
Comedy and politics can sometimes be a dangerous mix, and Schmidt’s self-deprecating sense of humour is not everyone’s cup of tea, but his quips in the Legislature and series of unique politics videos on social media have caught the eye (and hit the funny bones) of some Alberta politics watchers.
Best Sense of Humour
Marlin Schmidt: 39%
Janis Irwin: 38%
Sarah Hoffman: 23%
Total votes: 830
Brooks Arcand-Paul is the MLA to Watch in 2026
Edmonton-West Henday MLA Brooks Arcand-Paul was voted the MLA to Watch in 2026.
The first-term NDP MLA, who was voted as the Candidate to Watch in the 2022 Best of Alberta Politics Survey, has excelled as a strong voice for First Nations in the Legislature and a fierce critic of the government’s use of the notwithstanding clause to limit access to health care for transgender people in Alberta.
Arcand-Paul studied law at the University of Ottawa and was the in-house legal counsel for the Alexander First Nation before he was first elected to represent his west Edmonton riding in 2023. He currently serves as the NDP shadow minister for Indigenous Relations and in November 2024 introduced Bill 209: Reconciliation Implementation Act into the Legislature.
MLA to Watch in 2026
Brooks Arcand-Paul: 44%
Rob Miyashiro: 31%
Chantelle de Jonge: 24%
Total votes: 814
Thank you for voting
Thank you to everyone who voted in this year’s Best of Alberta Politics Survey and congratulations to the nominees and winners.
And thank you for reading and subscribing to Daveberta. After 20 years of writing about Alberta politics and history it continues to be a pleasure to be able to share my columns and articles with the more than 8,700 subscribers of this newsletter.
If you like what you read here today, please feel free to share it with your friends and colleagues. And if you have any feedback or questions about today’s post, feel free to leave a comment below or email me at david.cournoyer@gmail.com.
Thanks again,
Dave
I really appreciate the positive spin you add to Alberta politics with your survey, Dave.
Impressive list of favourites!