The leader of the Alberta NDP, Rachel Notley, announced her resignation as head of the party on Tuesday, ending months of speculation of whether she would remain in charge after 2023’s failure to regain a majority in the legislature.

Notley said that she would not be leading the party into the next election, but would remain until the election of the next leader of the Alberta NDP.

She said that she has not made a decision on remaining as an MLA.

“I’m here today to announce that I will not be leading Alberta’s NDP into the next election,” Notley said at a noon news conference.

Notley said she’s informed senior party leaders of her decision.

She said that she made the decision to remain as leader after April 2019 after pundits declared that the Alberta NDP was finished as a party.

“Too many people were declaring that the Alberta NDP was done and more importantly, that Alberta was destined to revert back to being a one party conservative state, and I knew that wasn’t true,” Notley said.

“I also knew that it would be awful for Albertans if they came to believe that it was, so four years later, last spring, we came so close to earning the right to lead Alberta again.”

Notley described the job as leader a privilege to move forward on policy that mattered personally to her.

“It’s remarkably meaningful. The fact that every day it’s such a privilege to be in a position to make positive change, and maybe you don’t get exactly what you want every day. In fact, what I learned in government that for every one decision you look forward to making you had to first swim through nine other ones,” she said.

Responding to questions about whether her resignation meant a switch to federal politics, Notley bluntly shot down any possibility of that occurring.

“I think I’ve done a good amount of time, and so I think my focus is on leading the caucus through this session and supporting the new leader,” she said.

Increased NDP support leading in to leadership race

Notley touted the increased percentage of Alberta’s voters who cast their ballot for NDP candidates—44 per cent and 777,397 votes in 2023, versus 33 per cent and 619,147 votes in 2019.

“I think it makes sense for any leader after an election to take stock and make a decision about what’s best for them and also the party that they lead, depending on the outcome of an election,” she said.

“There’s no question that part of what drove my decisions around timing was the desire to lead our caucus through their procession to ensure that there was stability as 19 of the most credible and and talented new MLAs that this legislature has ever seen.”

She didn’t indicate when she made the decision to resign as leader, but said that the decision had not been made in the days leading up to the announcement.

Notley described the upcoming leadership race was as an opportunity to refresh the party.

“The leadership race that is to follow is a tremendous opportunity to showcase the strength of our party. The strength of our convictions and the talent of our of our caucus, as well as all those who call themselves members of the party,” Notley said.

“Healthy debate is fine; it’s good, it’s renewing, and it’s good for the party. The key is that what I would say to everybody is to respect the membership and to talk about the forward offer to the people of this province.”

Notley didn’t endorse anyone as a successor for leader of the Alberta NDP, instead saying that the leadership race would be an exciting one.

“At the end of the day, the membership will be who makes that decision, and I respect that. So, I feel that I look forward to the healthy conversations that I know are going to come,” she said.

Notley led historic Alberta NDP win, return to opposition status

Notley, who was first elected as leader of the Alberta NDP in October 2014, served as the party’s only elected Premier of Alberta after forming a majority government in 2015.

She served as the leader of the official opposition after elections in 2019, and in 2023—the first time the party had official opposition status since a devastating 1983 election under then leader Ray Martin, which saw the Alberta NDP elect no members to the legislature.

Her tenure as Premier was focused on recovering from the blow dealt to Alberta’s economy by the collapse of world oil prices, and the government took steps to address the transport of oil including the purchase of pipelines and a controversial oil-by-rail program.

“We secured Alberta’s first pipeline to tidewater in over 50 years, ensuring that the return to Albertans for the sale of the resources that we all own is permanently increased,” Notley said.

Notley also joked about the near-constant blame that she has faced by conservative commentators, about the election of the NDP as the cause of Alberta’s economic woes during that period.

“We eliminated coal fired electricity in Alberta, thereby increasing the health of countless citizens and at the same time, kickstarting our renewable energy industry to be the fastest growing on the continent, all while significantly reducing our emissions in one fell swoop,” she said.

“In the midst of a recession caused by the international collapse in the price of oil, and seriously folks, I did not cause that.”

The Alberta NDP also introduced Alberta’s first general carbon pricing levy—more commonly known as the carbon tax—during her term as Premier. A decision that would, in 2016, cause then federal Conservative Party MP Jason Kenney to begin a campaign to unite the Progressive Conservative Party and the Wildrose Party as a United Conservative Party.

Notley touted some of the successes that her party had in government for labour and health in the province, highlighting the $15 minimum wage increase and then starting the work on the now completed Calgary Cancer Centre.

She was also candid about not getting every decision right throughout her time in office.

“We didn’t get it all right, and Albertans told us so in April of 2019,” she said.

Notley described her legacy as leader as shaping the political future of the province for “progressive, forward looking Albertans.”

“Probably the singular most important issue, from which all others flow, is the fact that Alberta is not a one-party province or a two-party province, with two different shades of conservative,” she said.

“We are now a province where progressive, forward looking, diverse Albertans can can see and pursue their political aspirations and their their public policy goals. Not with a view to having other people just hear them, but with a view to winning government and seeing those policies are turned into real action by their government.

“And that’s not something we’ve seen in this province for almost a century.”