Rachel Notley

Background

Notley was born on April 17, 1964, in Edmonton, Alberta, and was raised outside of the town of Fairview, Alberta, the daughter of Sandra Mary "Sandy" (Wilkinson) and Alberta NDP Leader and MLA Grant Notley. She is the first Alberta Premier to be born in Edmonton. Notley is the sister of Paul Notley and Stephen Notley, author and illustrator of Bob the Angry Flower. Her mother, a devout Anglican, was born in Concord, Massachusetts, and moved to Alberta as an adult.

Notley was reportedly "largely unimpressed" by Tommy Douglas when he visited their home and is said to have spoken disparagingly of Ed Broadbent as an adolescent. While at an Alberta NDP public meeting in Grande Prairie discussing poverty and student debt, she publicly challenged her own father, asking for his advice as a poor student whose parents made too much money for her to get a loan while at the same time being too cheap to give her enough money to buy food. Her infuriated father waited until the meeting was over to give her a lone twenty dollar bill to tide her over until the end of the month.

Notley credits her mother Sandy with getting her involved in activism, taking Notley to an anti-war demonstration before she was even ten years old. She remained unsure about whether or not to enter public office until she was in her 30s. Alongside her own family background, Notley has also cited her high school social studies teacher Jim Clevette as having made a lasting impact when it comes to her interest in politics. She has also claimed Jack Layton as being a personal hero.

Notley was a twenty year old undergraduate at the University of Alberta when her father died on October 19, 1984. After attending a large party she received a call at four in the morning from Tom Sigurdson, her father's executive assistant, stating that there had been a plane crash and that she should return home. This was not the first accident her father had been in; as part of his frequent trips across the province he had already been in several other plane accidents as well as an automobile collision with an elk. Fellow NDP MLA and future Alberta NDP leader Ray Martin later called to confirm to Notley that her father was indeed dead. It was then left up to Notley to inform her mother of the news. A day after her election as Alberta NDP leader, she would lead the 30th anniversary memorial of her father's death.

Notley earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Political Science at the University of Alberta, and a law degree at Osgoode Hall Law School. While at Osgoode Hall she became active in the 1989 Federal NDP leadership convention where she endorsed second-place finisher and former B.C. Premier Dave Barrett.

She is married to Lou Arab, a Communications Representative for the Canadian Union of Public Employees and a campaign strategist for the party. She lives with him and their two children in the historic district of Old Strathcona located in south-central Edmonton.

Notley is a cyclist, jogger, and skier, as well as a reformed smoker.

Activism

After law school, Notley articled for Edmonton labour lawyer Bob Blakely, and went on to work for the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees representing members with Workers' Compensation cases.

In 1994, Notley moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, where she worked for the Health Sciences Association of BC as their occupational health and safety officer. During her time in BC, she worked for one year as a ministerial assistant to Attorney General Ujjal Dosanjh. In this role, she was part of the team that first expanded the application of BC's family relations laws to same sex couples, several years before the Government of Canada took similar initiatives.

Notley acted as a representative of the provincial labour movement in the negotiation and drafting of new workplace health and safety standards.

During her time in Vancouver, Notley was active with "Moms on the Move", an organization that advocated for the rights of special needs children. She is also a past board member of the Vancouver Community College. Notley returned to Edmonton in 2002. She worked for a short time for the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE), worked at Athabasca University, acted as volunteer co-ordinator for the Friends of Medicare "Romanow Now" campaign, and finally as a labour relations officer for the United Nurses of Alberta.

Notley did volunteer work with the Strathcona Community League in 2006, assisting with a drive to garner support for the installation of sidewalks in east Strathcona.

Entry into provincial politics

Notley headed the election-planning subcommittee for the Alberta NDP in 1991, two years before the 1993 provincial election which shut the party out of the legislature. She became involved again with Alberta provincial politics in 2000 following the resignation of Pam Barrett as both Alberta NDP leader and the MLA for Edmonton-Highlands. Notley traveled to Edmonton to help Brian Mason successfully retain the seat for the Alberta NDP in the face of a concerted effort by the Alberta Liberal Party to take it back.

In October 2006, she was nominated by acclamation as the Alberta NDP candidate in the provincial constituency of Edmonton-Strathcona, succeeding former Alberta NDP leader Raj Pannu. The event was attended by then Federal NDP leader Jack Layton. Notley had previously considered running in the 2004 provincial election, but had refrained from doing so because her two children were still toddlers at the time. She was subsequently elected as an MLA in the 2008 Alberta provincial election. She was re-elected in the 2012 Alberta provincial election with the highest share of the vote of any MLA in Alberta at that time.

One month after her election in 2008 two Greenpeace protesters sneaked into the Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton during a fundraising dinner for then Progressive Conservative premier Ed Stelmach to unfurl a banner that read "Stelmach: The Best Premier Oil Money Can Buy" in protest of his government's environmental polices. One of the protesters, a woman by the name of Denise Ogonoski, worked two days a week in Notley's constituency office. Notley described the issue as being a "personnel matter", saying that it was something she was "going to discuss with her in person and not through the media."

During her early days in office, Alberta NDP leader Brian Mason found her to be quick on her feet with an outgoing and warm personality. He also described her as being very nervous immediately after she was first elected as an MLA, not wanting to be left alone as the party's sole member in the legislature even when Mason was only leaving to go to the washroom. Despite these initial problems, Mason said she would go on to become "an articulate and passionate politician, a parliamentarian and a very, very effective communicator."

On October 18, 2014, Notley won the leadership of Alberta's New Democratic Party with 70% support, succeeding Brian Mason and becoming the 9th leader of the party. She defeated fellow MLA David Eggen and union leader Rod Loyola on the first ballot.

In addition to serving as party leader, Notley was critic for Health, International and Intergovernmental Relations, Status of Women, Justice, and Executive Council.

2015 election

Notley's first leadership test was in the May 5, 2015 provincial election. Following the reveal of a budget that slashed social spending, raised taxes and fees, and held the line on low corporate taxes, the incumbent Progressive Conservative premier, Jim Prentice, called the election. With the Official Opposition Wildrose Party reeling from a series of floor crossings and mass defections, most pundits and commentators felt that the PCs had a good shot at winning their thirteenth consecutive majority in the Legislature. With strong polling in Edmonton, some felt the Alberta NDP would form the official opposition.

By the middle of the campaign, however, pollsters began predicting a three-way race between the Progressive Conservatives, the Alberta NDP, and the Wildrose Party. Notley had managed to capitalize on the unpopularity of the PCs' budget, stating that she would instead raise corporate taxes and rollback fees and cuts. The sole televised leaders' debate proved to be a turning point, with Notley largely viewed as having the best performance. Jim Prentice also came under fire for saying "I know math is difficult" to Notley, in reference to the embarrassing miscalculation in the proposed NDP budget released two days prior, a remark which was widely seen as sexist and patronizing. Despite her strong performance, Notley herself admitted to having been extremely nervous leading up the event.

By the final week, the NDP emerged as the front runner. Notley herself said that she first realized she would be Alberta's next premier when she took a break in her hotel room a week before the election to read a credible poll that put the NDP solidly in first place. While she initially planned a whirlwind schedule to close out the campaign, she realized that this would have not only left her looking extremely haggard during her victory speech, but also would have left her without time to make plans for a transition.

On election night, the NDP won 54 seats, re-electing their four incumbents as well as 50 new members to the Legislative Assembly. The NDP had been expected to make a strong showing in Edmonton, which has traditionally been much friendlier to centre-left candidates than the rest of Alberta. However, they took every riding in the capital, all by very large margins—a result that exceeded even the most optimistic NDP projections. Even more surprisingly, the NDP took 15 seats in Calgary, long reckoned as the power base for both the provincial and federal Tories. This was mainly due to massive vote splitting between the Tories and Wildrose—a phenomenon which allowed the NDP to sweep Red Deer. The NDP also swept the city of Lethbridge in its own right and won 16 seats in the rest of Alberta, mostly in the northern and central parts of the province.

Premiership

Notley held her first caucus meeting as Premier-designate on May 9, 2015. Three days later, Notley announced that she would be retaining the previous head of the Alberta public service, Richard Dicerni, as well as appointing NDP party strategists Brian Topp and Adrienne King as her chief of staff and deputy chief of staff, respectively. She also met with outgoing Premier Jim Prentice that same day, in addition to extending the deadline for the province's school boards to submit their budgets, her first major deviation from the previous PC government's financial commitments as Premier-designate.

On May 22, 2015, Notley suspended Calgary-Bow MLA Deborah Drever from the Alberta NDP caucus after a series of controversial postings by Drever were discovered on social media websites such as Instagram and Facebook. Notley had previously announced that she had directed Drever, as a result of the media attention, to create a plan to improve education on violence against women, particularly outreach to groups working with vulnerable young women. This was before a later image surfaced which was considered to be homophobic, something which Notley apologized for on behalf of the party.

Swearing-in

Notley was sworn-in as the 17th Premier of Alberta along with her cabinet on May 24, 2015. When she took office she ended an 80-year streak of centre-right governments in Alberta (Social Credit from 1935 to 1971 and the Tories from 1971 to 2015). Her twelve-member cabinet is the smallest in the country, containing only 14% of the legislature's members. The slimmed down cabinet was met with a mixed response from pundits; some said it showed the NDP's lack of experienced people while others felt that it brought a much needed sense of economy and individual importance to the various positions.

The swearing-in ceremony was an unusually public event, held on the steps of the Alberta Legislature Building in front of a large crowd of spectators while a folk band played the national anthem and free popsicles and food were distributed from food trucks. The Alberta NDP was criticized, though, for using the event as a part of its party fundraising, for which they later apologized. The ceremony cost $19,298; more expensive than the swearing-in ceremonies of the previous two premiers, but still less than the expenditure for the swearing-in of Alison Redford in 2011.

Speech from the Throne

The government's first throne speech was read by newly appointed Lieutenant-Governor Lois Mitchell on June 15, 2015. The speech announced three bills intended to ban corporate and union donations to political parties and to increase taxes on large corporations and high income earners, ending the flat tax rate that had been in place since the premiership of Ralph Klein. Both of these proposals were promised as part of the Alberta NDP's election platform. That same day Notley also announced the creation of a seventeen-member all-party committee tasked to look into ways to improve government accountability in areas such as whistleblower protection, electioneering, and conflicts of interest. The government also reached out to the Opposition benches by having the committee be initiated through a joint motion with Wildrose Party leader Brian Jean, with Liberal leader David Swann also being tasked with helping conduct a review of provincial mental health policy along with NDP MLA Danielle Larivee.

Aboriginal relations

On June 22, 2015, Notley apologized to the Aboriginal community of Alberta for a long history of neglect by prior governments. In particular she apologized for the province not addressing the issue with decades of abuse at government- and church-operated residential schools. Notley pledged that her government would engage and improve living conditions of Alberta's Aboriginal community.

Notley has joined the chorus of Canadian premiers demanding a federal inquiry into the issue of missing and murdered Aboriginal women. The inquiry is intended to prevent abductions with early intervention and investigations of root issues affecting high-risk Aboriginal females. On December 8, 2015, Notley tweeted out her support of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's announcement that a national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls would be immediately launched. On December 15, 2015, Notley expressed her support for the recommendations outlined in the Truth and Reconciliation Committee's final report.

100M was budged in the budget of 2017 to upgrade the provincial and federal waterworks facilities that provide drinkable water for Albertan First Nations Communities. 13 communities have endured chronic boil water advisory conditions for 2 decades.

Climate Change/Environment

On November 22, 2015, Notley unveiled Alberta's updated climate change strategy, in time for the COP 21 conference in Paris. In doing so, Notley acted upon one of the NDP's central campaign promises: for years, the NDP had criticized the former PC government's inaction on the climate change file. The plan was described in multiple media outlets as bold and far-reaching. This policy shift came about partly because of the characterization of Alberta oil as 'some of the dirtiest in the world' by US President Barack Obama, which the Premier likened to a "kick in the teeth".

The plan includes an economy-wide carbon tax starting in 2017 and a cap on emissions from the oil sands. The plan also includes a phase out of coal-fired electricity by 2030, a 10-year goal to halve methane emissions, as well as incentives for renewable energy. The plan won plaudits from both environmental groups and oil executives, who were present behind Notley at the announcement in Edmonton. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers also applauded the plan, saying it "provides direction that will allow the oil and natural gas industry to grow, further enhance its environmental performance through technological innovation, and is expected to improve market access to allow Canadian oil to reach more markets." The carbon tax is expected to raise $3-billion annually by 2018. Although Notley initially indicated that the carbon tax would be revenue neutral, similar to the structure imposed in neighbouring British Columbia, the plan did not cut any personal taxes, bringing into doubt Notley's assertion of revenue neutrality. Notley acted on the recommendations of a five-member panel appointed by Shannon Phillips, the Minister of Environment.

In November 2016 $1.4 billion was paid to compensate three major Albertan power producers: ATCO, Capital Power, and Transalta to expedite the transition caused by the closure of six coal fired power plants. The compensation will be derived from the Carbon Tax and will be paid over a period of 14 years.

In 2017, The Notley government resumed to address the proliferation of abandoned wells by budgeting $235M for the Orphan Well Association to begin land reclamation and rehabilitation of thousands of abandoned wells in the province. The plan is expected to carry through 3 years and create jobs.

Affordable Child care

Notley's government enacted campaign promised pilot project to fund $25/day per child into 18 Early Learning Child Care services (ELCC) for daycare services. It is expected that 1000 spaces and 230 professional jobs for ELCC trained staff will be available by 2017. The project also seeks to research ways to provide for children with specialized needs. If the economy improves Notley intends to expand the program with additional 10 Million in funding.

Economy and Labor

Alberta's minimum wage was raised to $15/hr with gradual increments to full implementation by 2018. However smaller business owners are concerned in light of a recovering economy.

Notley's Government revised Labor regulations with the implementation of the 'Fair and Family-friendly act' (Bill 17) to be enacted in 2018. The revisions have since been updated 3 decades ago.

Education

Notley's government seized rising tuition in 2015. Initially the policy was effective for two years in 2017, but it was extended until 2018. Base funding for institution increased to 2% from 1.4% .

In 2016, to fulfill her campaign promise Notley's government implemented a pilot program aimed at providing Alberta's neediest children with nutritious sustenance. The program is expected to expand in coming years.

Key events in Premiership

In 2016 a wild fire devastated the township of Fort McMurray. In October 2016 Notley surveyed the construction site of the first rebuilt home since the permission to return was granted. She rededicated an overpass crossing Alberta highway 63 as 'Responders Way Bridge' the site where first responders welcomed residents home.

Notley welcomed former PC MLA Sandra Jansen into her party in November 2016. Jansen withdrew her membership and party leadership candidacy which she took to challenge the candidacy of Jason Kenney. She claimed that she was harassed over her position on human rights issues such as LGBTQ rights and abortion by Kenney's supporters. She warned of a hostile take over of democratic values by Kenney's campaign. Notley granted Jansen with a security detail as reports of vulgar death threats threatened Jansen.

Notley and Ma Xingrui, governor of Guangdong Province of China signed a provincial sistering agreement in 2017 during an economic trade mission to Asia.

Opiate Fentanyl epidemic

Since 2016 Notley's government was tasked with a fatal opiate epidemic as Fentanyl emerged on the street narcotic market. Notley's government responded with harm reduction counter measures such as the distribution of Naloxone injection kits and Naloxone spray for Edmontonian and Calgarian police and EMS.

Albertan Liberal Opposition leader David Swann petitioned the Notley government to issue a state of emergency. Neighboring Province BC issued a state of emergency as did the Blood Tribe and Nakota nations as frequent and close succession fatal overdoses on these First Nations communities as well throughout Alberta. However, as of November 2016 the Notley government views the measure inappropriate as Albertan medical facilities were already established and gained experience through epidemics such as SARS. However the health ministry is showing great interest in the prospect of establishing safe sites in Edmonton and is reviewing the data for the harm reduction approach.Associate health minister NDP MLA Brandy Payne granted $230K to the 'Access to Medically Supervised Injection Services Edmonton' to apply for permission to establish a 'safe site' in Edmonton. Increased funding was allocated to treatment and for the communities to explore the prospect of operating 'safe sites'. However, Fentanyl is usually ground and inhaled or ingested and not injected.

To further compound and aggravate the situation more potent Opiates such as W-18 and Carfentanil are emerging on the menu of illicit narcotics in Alberta. These compounds may be resistant to harm reduction counter measures such as the antidote Naloxone.

Threats against Notley

After becoming Alberta's 17th premier, Notley started to encounter abuse from Albertans who did not align with her values. As stated by the Edmonton Sun, "The statistics show that from 2003 to 2015, Alberta sheriffs recorded 55 security incidents involving six premiers. Nineteen of those came in the last half of 2015, which happened to be current Premier Rachel Notley's first months in office. At least three of those incidents required police intervention." Most of the threats against Notley proliferated online with photos and posts, encouraging violence against the premier. According to statistics in 2016 from Alberta Justice Notley is the Alberta premier with the most death threats. She was the subject of 412 harassment communiques, of which 26 were investigated by law enforcement.

Even a member of the Official Opposition expressed violent sentiments towards Notley. Wildrose Party Leader Brian Jean in late August 2016 said, "I've been beating this drum for 10, 11 years. I will continue to beat it, I promise. But it's against the law to beat Rachel Notley." This comment does not exist in isolation as there have been growing trends of violence against female politicians.