A leadership race and a membership surge to trying to make Alberta more accessible, it was a whirlwind of a year for Alberta's NDP, and one that leaves St. Albert MLA Marie Renaud hopeful for the future.
When looking back on 2024, the St. Albert MLA was particularly proud of the private member’s bill she proposed, which will be called the Accessible Alberta Act. With the current legislature session over, there wasn’t any time for the bill to be tabled and debated this sitting. But Renaud says it will come up “for sure when we go back in February.”
Renaud said the bill is “comprehensive legislation that looks at everything from built environment, information and technology, education, employment, procurement. So every aspect in every area of life and the primary function is to identify, remove and prevent barriers for people with disabilities.”
Renaud says Alberta and Prince Edward Island are the only provinces in Canada that do not have accessibility legislation, making this bill one of particular importance.
“I think without it we’re just sort of wandering aimlessly in the dark,” she said. “Alberta does make some significant investments in support for people’s disabilities or inclusions for people in disabilities, but we don’t really have a framework that allows us to identify the goals and then identify ‘are we actually progressing? Are we moving towards the goal which is a barrier-free Alberta?’”
She hopes that if passed, the bill will create a barrier-free Alberta by 2040 and measure any progress they’re making at improving accessibility.
“Let’s say we’re asking questions about officials in jobs and economy and trade. And they’re talking about the fact that they’re going to create 10,000 apprenticeship spots over the next three years,” she said. “One of my questions would be ‘How many of those spots will be accessible to people with disabilities?’”
“I have no doubt that some of those spots will be accessible. We just don’t have a framework that we can measure any progress that we’re making. And we know that people with disabilities in Alberta are unemployed at twice the rate that their non-disabled peers are," Renaud said.
Private members bills don’t normally pass, but Renaud is hopeful that this one will and that both parties will come together to pass what she calls a “completely nonpartisan” piece of legislation.
Renaud is also proud of her work with individuals at the constituency level, and wants to continue work to help get more people involved in politics.
“We tried to demystify some of the things that we do,” she said. “Some people aren’t very aware of some of the things we do, whether it’s the formal budget processes that happen, or the throne speech.”
“I’ve been trying to let some of our constituents know what we’re doing and trying to create some access for them to get involved and understand what we’re doing,” she continued.
Looking forward into the new year, Renaud is watching for growth in the NDP movement across Alberta.
“We have 86,000 New Democrats in Alberta and that’s amazing to me. So we feel a lot of hope going into the next session and into the future. It’s sad we said goodbye to our leader, but we have a new leader, so, we’re really excited about the future,” she said.
Naheed Nenshi took over as leader of Alberta’s NDP following the party’s leadership election on June 22, 2024. With 62,746 votes, he replaced former leader Rachel Notley and became the party’s ninth leader.
In a media roundtable held on Dec. 20, 2024, Nenshi talked about his view of the governing United Conservative Party as he’s spent more time within the legislature.
“A lot of what I’ve learned has confirmed a lot of my suspicions,” he said. “That we largely have a provincial government that is not interested in being a government. They’re a political movement.”
He pointed out that although he hears lots of common worries from Albertans, including the cost of living, jobs, healthcare, education, and public safety and crime, he feels the provincial government hasn't done anything to address these concerns.
“We had a legislative session this fall where the government put forward 13 bills. There was nothing about cost of living, there was nothing about jobs, there was nothing about public safety and crime,” he said. "And the only things they had to say about healthcare and education were their anti-trans hate bills pushing down on vulnerable children."
Nenshi spoke a little bit about the province's aims to cut photo radar sites. While acknowledging that he understands photo radar can be frustrating for many Albertans, he criticized Transportation and Economic Corridors Minister Devin Dreeshen's announcement, during which the Minister wore a "no cash cow" apron. He also said that the province ignored potential safety issues when making its decision to reduce photo radar sites.
The Alberta NDP will have lots of work to do if they hope to win the next election in 2027. And Nenshi sees St. Albert as an opportunity for the NDP to further grow its supporter base. St. Albert saw NDP voters grow from 12,336 in 2019 to 15,021 in 2023, the last provincial election. Morinville-St. Albert saw the number of NDP voters increase from 8,908 in 2019 to 11,728 in 2023.
“There really is an opportunity for us to be more relevant to people in communities like that. And it’s a fascinating riding because you’ve got some people who are Edmonton commuters,” he said. “And then have folks who are living a much more rural lifestyle. You’ve got incredibly vibrant entrepreneurs and small businesses. I learned a lot about agriculture, agricultural tourism, and what we can do to support agricultural tourism,” he said about a recent visit to Morinville-St. Albert.
“Not only is it a political target but it is a terrific place to spend time to really understand a lot about Alberta,” he said.
