Vote for the Best of Alberta Politics in 2025!
Voting is now open for this year's best MLA, best cabinet minister, most effective opposition MLA, best public speaker, and more.
With hundreds of names submitted to the ninth annual Best of Alberta Politics Survey, your nominations have been sorted and the top choices have been identified in all nine categories.
Voting in the 2025 survey is now open to the nearly 8,000 Daveberta subscribers until Tuesday, December 2 at 8:00 p.m. The results will be announced on Thursday, December 4.
Vote in the categories below:
Who is the Best Alberta MLA of 2025?
Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood NDP MLA Janis Irwin, who has won in this category for the past five years in a row, and Strathcona-Sherwood Park United Conservative Party MLA and Minister of Technology and Innovation Nate Glubish earned the most nominations in this prestigious category. Honourable mentions go to runners up Edmonton-Whitemud MLA Rakhi Pancholi and Edmonton-South West MLA Nathan Ip.
Who is the Best Cabinet Minister of 2025?
Nominations in this category ended up in a three-way split between Minister of Technology and Innovation Nate Glubish, Minister of Environment and Protected Areas Rebecca Schulz, and former Minister of Infrastructure Peter Guthrie.
Guthrie resigned from cabinet in February after raising concerns at the cabinet table about the alleged corruption and political interference in government contracts with private surgical companies. He was kicked out of the UCP Caucus in April 2025 and currently sits as an Independent MLA. He has now joined the Alberta Party in an effort to rename it the Progressive Conservative Party.
Who is the Most Effective Opposition MLA of 2025?
With the largest number of opposition MLAs in Alberta’s history sitting in the Legislature today, there were plenty of choices in this category. When the dust settled, the most nominated opposition MLAs were Edmonton-Strathcona MLA and NDP leader Naheed Nenshi and Edmonton-Whitemud NDP MLA and deputy leader Rakhi Pancholi.
Who is the Most Effective Government Backbencher of 2025?
There were a lot of government MLAs nominated in this category and when the submissions were tallied only one of the top 3 choices still sits in the UCP caucus today. That honour goes to Leduc-Beaumont UCP MLA Brandon Lunty who was nominated in his category along with former UCP MLAs Peter Guthrie from Airdrie-Cochrane and Scott Sinclair from Lesser Slave Lake.
I already mentioned Guthrie’s resignation from cabinet and removal from the UCP Caucus earlier this year, but Sinclair was kicked out of the government caucus in March 2025 for publicly saying he’d vote against this year’s provincial budget because it didn’t include enough funding for his remote northern rural riding. He now sits as an Independent MLA and has joined Guthrie’s effort to reclaim the PC Party name.
Who is the Best Public Speaker of 2025?
Two political leaders who have never met a microphone they didn’t love topped the nominations in this category. Both Premier Danielle Smith and NDP Opposition leader Naheed Nenshi thrive in front of a crowd or a TV camera making them the natural duo to compete in the Best Public Speaker category.
Who is the Best Question Period Performer of 2025?
It’s usually style over substance that carries the day in Question Period so it helps to have a sharp wit and a shrewd understanding of political theatre — and that takes skill and talent. Two politicians known for being clever and quick on their feet in QP got the most nominations in this category: Premier Danielle Smith and Edmonton-Whitemud NDP MLA Rakhi Pancholi.
Who is the Best Constituency MLA of 2025?
When people ask me who I think the best MLAs are, I often say that it depends what you think makes a good MLA. While the Question Period performers and party leaders get a lot of attention, some MLAs put in a lot of work outside the Legislature for the people living in their constituencies. So maybe it’s no surprise that the two MLAs facing off in this year’s Best MLA category are also facing off in the Best Constituency MLA category: Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood MLA Janis Irwin and Strathcona-Sherwood Park MLA Nate Glubish.
Who is the MLA with the Best Sense of Humour of 2025?
A life in politics can be hard, so politicians who can keep a sense of humour when the work gets tough and partisanship gets ugly should get an applause. The MLAs who topped the Best Sense of Humour list come from the NDP Opposition benches: Edmonton-Glenora MLA Sarah Hoffman, Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood MLA Janis Irwin and Edmonton-Gold Bar MLA Marlin Schmidt. I wouldn’t dare try to tilt the vote on this one but if you haven’t already I encourage you to check out Schmidt’s series of unique politics videos.
Who is the Up and Coming MLA to Watch in 2026?
Looking ahead is an important part of politics and watching who the rising stars are in the Legislature is part of that. Nominations for this year’s Up and Coming MLA to Watch in 2026 were split between three first-term MLAs: Edmonton-West Henday NDP MLA Brooks Arcand-Paul, Chestermere-Strathmore UCP MLA Chantelle de Jonge, and Lethbridge-West NDP MLA Rob Miyashiro.
Thank you for voting
Thank you for subscribing to Daveberta and voting in this year’s Best of Alberta Politics Survey. The results will be announced on Thursday, December 4.
For the past nine years this annual survey has been all about celebrating the best in Alberta politics, so if there is a person who didn’t make the list who deserves some kudos and recognition, please leave a comment below.
Thanks again,
Dave