Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi has chosen MLA Christina Gray (Edmonton-Mill Woods) to serve as Official Opposition leader and MLA Rakhi Pancholi (Edmonton-Whitemud) as deputy leader. Since Nenshi does not hold a seat in the Alberta Legislature, he said he cannot be Official Opposition leader. “But I am thrilled Christina Gray has agreed to take on the mantle of leader of His Majesty’s Official Opposition here in Alberta in addition to her work as house leader for the Alberta NDP,” said Nenshi at a Monday press conference. “She’s amazing.” After much begging and pleading on his part, he said Pancholi has agreed to become deputy leader. He added people are “going to see a lot more of these folks running things internally here in the legislature and being the face of the Alberta NDP with me out in the community as well.” At the moment, he said the NDP will not be making any changes to the critic roles. However, he said he would be spending some time with his MLAs to talk about working together better. He will hold meetings with every NDP MLA in the next week. It will hold a caucus retreat soon to set itself up as the government in waiting. Nenshi followed up by saying these leadership appointments were an easy decision. “Christina has conducted herself with incredible grace,” he said. “She is beloved by people on all sides of the aisle for her legislative knowledge and her remarkable work as house leader.” Ever since he met Pancholi, he said she “has a secret sauce that is so rare in politics.” This secret sauce is she can go into any room and talk to people about what matters to them. Nenshi won the Alberta NDP leadership race on the first ballot with 62,746 out of 72,930 votes (86%) on Saturday, demolishing his competition. READ MORE: UPDATED: Nenshi crowned new Alberta NDP leaderAlberta NDP MLA Kathleen Ganley (Calgary-Mountain View) came in second place with 5,890 votes (8.1%), MLA Sarah Hoffman (Edmonton-Glenora) finished third with 3,063 (4.2%), and MLA Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse (Edmonton-Rutherford) came fourth with 1,222 (1.7%). He said he was living a great life five months ago.
