Rakhi Pancholi takes the lead — and centre stage, again, in response to Danielle Smith's nine referendum questions
“Cut the bullshit. Call the election," says NDP deputy leader
“Cut the bullshit. Call the election.”
Those were the words Alberta NDP deputy leader Rakhi Pancholi directed at Danielle Smith the morning after the Premier took to the television waves to blame immigration for the provincial government’s budget problems and announce a suite of nine referendum questions to be put to Albertans on October 19.
The 38-MLA NDP opposition has struggled to gain traction and define itself since former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi replaced former premier Rachel Notley as leader a year and a half ago, but those six words from Pancholi last Friday cut through the noise and were a blunt reminder that she is one of the party’s most effective voices.
“This reeks of desperation and Albertans see right through this. The premier is trying to distract us ahead of a UCP budget that will contain billions of dollars in deficits. She’s trying to distract us from separatism – which she put on the agenda and is already putting our province at risk,” Pancholi said.
“The premier is blaming oil prices and immigration for her poor planning and financial mismanagement,” she continued.
Pancholi then turned to Smith’s comments about immigration being a source of the province’s budget problems:
“Less than two years ago, in 2024, Danielle Smith herself asked Justin Trudeau to increase immigration levels because Alberta wanted more than what Ottawa was offering.
“Also in 2024, she stated publicly that she wanted to double Alberta’s population to ten million people, grow cities like Red Deer ten times their size to one million, all while promoting the ‘Alberta is Calling’ campaign asking people from Canada and around the world to make Alberta their home.
“She did all this without a thought or plan for how to create the jobs, build the houses, schools and hospitals that we already needed.
“But now she wants to go to the polls for nine new referendum questions, none of which are a top priority for Albertans?
“Again: What a load of absolute bullshit.
Smith’s shift to blaming immigration was previewed by comments made by Premier’s Office Executive Director Bruce McAllister and Chief of Staff Rob Anderson. Both men and their boss have been heavily influenced by President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement south of the border, so that they are even immitating the language of anti-immigration politics should be deeply troubling to Albertans.
These referendum questions, along with an impending separation referendum, and a possible debate in the Legislature about the Forever Canadian citizen initiative, could define the next 10 months in Alberta politics and redefine how Albertans see our province and each other.
Pancholi is the NDP’s designated hitter
First elected as the MLA for Edmonton-Whitemud in 2019, Pancholi is a rising star in the Alberta NDP and briefly ran for the party’s leadership in 2024 before dropping out to endorse Nenshi. She was rewarded for her support by being named deputy leader and Nenshi has increasingly turned to Pancholi as a designated hitter to respond to the Premier.
In a lot of ways she is a good foil to Smith — who is widely considered one of the most effective communicators in the province.
“Ms. Pancholi took up the task of eviscerating the long list of intentionally confusing referendum questions announced by Premier Danielle Smith in her prime-time televised message the day before, not to mention the way the premier coddles separatists, her dog whistling about immigration, and her refusal to take responsibility for her government’s fiscal mismanagement,” wrote AlbertaPolitics.ca columnist David Climenhaga.
“Pancholi never faltered in her forensic deconstruction of the house of cards Ms. Smith has built, starting with the premier’s plan for nine murkily worded referenda next Oct. 19, the point of which appears to be to create a constitutional crisis in Canada that will help break up the federation,” Climenhaga wrote.
As a lawyer before jumping into politics and a self-described theatre kid before that, Pancholi is whip-smart and has a ruthless prosecutorial-style that allows her to easily poke holes in United Conservative Party talking points. She can argue effectively and make good political theatre at the same time, which can be a key ingredient for success as an opposition MLA.
It has made her one of the most effective critics in the opposition benches and is why Daveberta subscribers chose her as the most effective opposition MLA and best Question Period performer of 2025.
It’s the kind of punchiness that a lot of NDP voters remember Nenshi having during his time as Mayor of Calgary and hoped he would bring with him as leader of the NDP. But Nenshi acts a lot more mild-mannered these days.
National Observer columnist Max Fawcett honed in on it when he recently described Nenshi as having “a kind of professorial prickliness — and lately, a lack of energy and passion.”
Nenshi’s absence from the NDP response to Smith’s speech, we’re told, was due to a pre-planned vacation. That would have been an unfortunate missed opportunity if Pancholi had not been available to step in.
Where’s Nenshi?
“Where’s Nenshi” has been a common question asked by political watchers since he jumped into provincial politics in 2024.
Nenshi swept the party leadership in a landslide win in 2024 and won another landslide in the Edmonton-Strathcona by-election in 2025. And last year he was having some moments and looked like he was finally starting to get into the swing of things after entering the Legislature, but what has felt like continuous long periods of absence from public view and social media has left a lot of people puzzled about where he’s been in the meantime.
It’s a big contrast to Smith, who is front and centre all the time. Not just at official government events but at community events, business luncheons, trade shows, on the radio, on podcasts, and anywhere she is handed a mic. She is incredibly comfortable in front of a crowd, confident and convincing in delivering her message, and hasn’t stopped campaigning since she jumped back into provincial politics in 2022.
The NDP have remained competitive in fundraising, which is a good sign, and have begun nominating candidates ahead of the next provincial election, which is a smart move. But the party has has been stuck at second place in the polls behind the UCP and appears frustratingly unable to capitalize on any of the UCP’s fumbles or political controversies.
Nenshi will be back in the Legislature, which reconvenes for the next session starting later today, and so will Pancholi, who will almost certainly take centre stage in the debates to come.
Recommended reading: There’s a lot to unpack in Danielle Smith’s televised address and I am going to take a much closer look at the referendum questions in a future column soon, but readers may want to read Paul Wells’ thoughtful take on the nine.
What bills to expect on day 1 of this Legislative session?
Alberta MLAs return to the Legislature today ahead of Thursday’s provincial budget speech by Finance Minister Nate Horner.
The Government House Leader has not held a press conference to announce the legislative agenda for the next seven weeks, but the Order Paper reveals that Deputy Premier and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis will introduce Bill 15: Public Safety and Emergency Services Statutes Amendment Act, 2026 and Minister of Tourism and Sport Andrew Boitchenko is scheduled to introduce Bill 16: Traveller Protection and Destination Development Act.
Edmonton-Manning NDP MLA Heather Sweet’s private members bill, Bill 204: Public Interest Disclosure (Publicly Funded Health Entity Whistleblower Protection) Act, is still in second reading and has 57 minutes of debate remaining from the fall session.
Alberta’s Whistleblower laws had the attention of MLAs as the Standing Committee on Resource Stewardship reviewed the laws earlier this month.
Candidate nominations begin ahead of the next Alberta election
The NDP will start nominating candidates next week, beginning with MLA Sarah Hoffman in Edmonton-Glenora on March 3, Samir Kayande in Calgary-Elbow on March 4, Lizette Tejada in Calgary-Klein on March 5 March 6, Peggy Wright in Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview on March 6 March 5 and Julia Hayter in Calgary-Edgemont on March 7
The NDP have also added additional nomination dates to confirm incumbent MLAs running for re-election:
Kathleen Ganley in Calgary-Mountain View on March 20
Nathan Ip in Edmonton-South West on March 21
Rhiannon Hoyle in Edmonton-South on March 28
Sarah Elmeligi in Banff-Kananaskis on April 25
The final report of the Electoral Boundaries Commission recommending a new electoral map is expected to be released in March but the rumours of a potential early provincial election have likely convinced the NDP not to wait for the new riding boundaries to start the nomination and candidate recruitment process.
If the new boundaries are implemented before the next election then its likely the NDP would renominate any already nominated candidates into newly redrawn ridings.
Federal Conservatives start jockeying for nominations
With a minority government in Ottawa, the possibility of a federal election is always on the mind of federal political parties. That’s why the federal Conservatives are starting to nominate candidates in ridings across Alberta:
Elan Harper is running for the federal Conservative nomination in Calgary Confederation. Harper is the Director of Canadian Business Tax for the Anderson legal and tax company in Calgary.
“I’m running because I believe Canada deserves a better government than the one they have. I believe deeply in the promise of a prosperous Canada, not just for today, but for the next generation, and achieving that promise requires disciplined fiscal leadership and serious, principled governance,” she wrote on her LinkedIn page.
Harper is the former Chief Financial Officer of the UCP association in Calgary-Varsity and was the campaign manager for federal Conservative candidate Amanpreet S. Gill in Calgary Skyview.
She was appointed to the board of the Alberta Gaming, Liquor, and Cannabis regulatory commission in 2019 and served until 2025.
Harper is former Prime Minster Stephen Harper’s sister-in-law.
The riding currently represented by Liberal MP Corey Hogan, who was elected in 2025.
Jeff Johnson has launched a website to promote his candidacy for the Conservative Party nomination in Edmonton Riverbend.
Johnson is a former school principal and executive staff member of the Alberta Teachers’ Association who is active in the local federal Conservative and UCP constituency associations.
The riding currently represented by fourth-term MP Matt Jeneroux, who left the Conservatives and crossed the floor to the Liberals last week.
This Jeff Johnson is a different person than the Jeff Johnson who served as a provincial cabinet minister and Progressive Conservative MLA for Athabasca-Redwater from 2008 to 2015.
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I linked to this piece in the column above, but in case anyone missed it, here are five opportunities I identified for Nenshi’s NDP in June 2025:
1. Albertans are facing an affordability crisis and they need an opposition party to be the champion of lowering the cost of living. Nenshi and NDP MLAs should start every day by asking themselves the question “how can we make life more affordable for working-class Alberta families?” and then they should spend the rest of their day talking all about it, all the time.
2. In the debate about Alberta separatism, Nenshi has positioned the NDP as the “Stand up for Canada” party. Now he needs to appeal to that significant group of Albertans who want our province to remain in Canada but also think we could get a better deal out of Confederation. Canada isn’t perfect and neither is the relationship between the provinces and the federal government. In this debate, the status quo isn’t going to be good enough. Nenshi should come up with some concrete and aspirational ideas aimed at improving Alberta’s position within Canada.
3. The allegations made in the Dodgy Contracts Scandal, which the NDP has dubbed “Corrupt Care,” reek of corruption and political interference but it doesn’t always need to be the NDP’s central focus. Recent polling suggests the scandal has not caught the attention of voters, probably because the allegations are complicated and involve a web of political figures and confusing business arrangements. More from this scandal is guaranteed to break, so the NDP should keep the coals hot but they probably shouldn’t make it their central focus.
4. When Nenshi ran for the NDP leadership his campaign gained momentum through a series of town hall meetings with his supporters across the province. These meetings helped galvanize his position as the frontrunner in that race, attracted a lot of interested Albertans, and helped show a side of Nenshi that was fun, entertaining, and punchy. Getting Nenshi back on the town hall circuit could help reignite that spark and Stampede season is a perfect place to start.
5. Being mayor of the province’s largest city meant that for 12 years, anytime Nenshi wanted to speak to the media, journalists would be there to listen and report what he said. Being Leader of the Official Opposition takes more work to get attention and connect with voters, but with more effort, persistence, humility, and a focus on the issues that matter to Albertans, breaking through is not impossible. So get out there and hustle!
Time for Nenshi to go as leader. NDP are floundering under his leadership and continue to drop in the polls. For them to have any chance in an election, Pancholi or Ganley need to take the reins.