Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) President Gil McGowan confirmed he will be joining the NDP leadership race. AlbertaPolitics.ca reported Monday McGowan made his intentions clear in a series of direct social media messages to potential supporters on Saturday. “I haven’t officially announced yet, but I’m going to join the NDP leadership race,” said McGowan. “I think it’s time we have a worker leader leading the workers’ party.”Unlike other campaigns, he said his “will NOT be run by party insiders or self-styled strategy gurus with podcasts who too often look down their noses at ordinary working people — and who have never actually run for office themselves.”He ran as the NDP candidate in Edmonton Centre in the 2015 election, placing third in the race won by Liberal MP Randy Boissonnault. McGowan has served 10 consecutive terms as AFL president. As president, he led union efforts to gain full independence for Alberta’s public sector pension plans — a change granted by the NDP but withdrawn by the United Conservative Party. He served as co-chair of Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley’s Energy Diversification Advisory Committee. The AFL launched a Diversify Alberta campaign that argues it should “skate to where the puck is going.”At the 2016 NDP Convention, he was harsh in his criticism of activists who supported the Leap Manifesto, which called for significant changes to the Canadian economy to respond to climate change. “These downtown Toronto political dilettantes come to Alberta and track their garbage across our front lawn,” he said. The next leader will be announced on June 22. The other NDP leadership candidates are MLA Kathleen Ganley (Calgary-Mountain View), MLA Rakhi Pancholi (Edmonton-Whitemud), MLA Sarah Hoffman (Edmonton-Glenora), and MLA Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse (Edmonton-Rutherford). McGowan was floated as a potential Alberta NDP leadership candidate when Notley resigned on January 16. READ MORE: Potential contenders to replace Notley as Alberta NDP leaderHe might not be an NDP MLA at the moment, but he has made it known he wants it to form government.He has served as AFL president since 2005, which followed him being its communications director for 10 years. Moreover, he has written three books on unions and the Alberta economy.
