Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi hasn’t disappeared.  It just seems that way sometimes. After running a high-energy, anti-Danielle Smith campaign to win NDP’s leadership race last June, Nenshi’s profile dropped below the radar, a victim of waning public interest and a government flooding the zone with headline-grabbing contentious legislation.

Nenshi’s NDP is still a blank slate. Will the real NDP please stand up? Because I’m not sure what you look like. Come to think of it, I’m not sure the NDP itself knows what it looks like.

After his overwhelming victory to become Alberta’s opposition NDP leader in June, Naheed Nenshi abruptly turned into something of a political Bigfoot. There were few sightings of him as he all but disappeared into a summer of backyard barbecues and backroom party confabs with members. Last week, he reemerged.

It was a bloodless coup. Alberta’s opposition New Democratic Party is now being led by a man who wasn’t even a member of the party until entering the leadership race in March. Naheed Nenshi, noted for his “purple revolution” as Calgary mayor from 2020-2011 where he blended Liberal red and Conservative blue ideals, has gone full NDP orange. Or has…

Voting has begun in the leadership race to choose a new leader of Alberta’s NDP. During the first 48 hours of voting from Monday to Wednesday, more than 27,000 party members cast a ballot. That’s a record for Alberta New Democrats. In fact, everything about the race is record-setting for a party that, with 38 MLAs, is the largest official…