EDMONTON — Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi says he has no issue stacking his political history next to Premier Danielle Smith's in a provincial election. "I'll put my record up against Danielle Smith's record any day of the week, and twice on my birthday," said Nenshi in a press conference on Monday, which was also his birthday. Nenshi's comments came after the UCP caucus, and Smith accused the NDP of pressing them about Alberta independence to distract Albertans from Nenshi's record as Calgary's mayor for 11 years. "Make no mistake, Mr. Naheed Nenshi sold out Calgarians and he will sell out his province if given the chance," reads a letter from Chief Government Whip Justin Wright on Friday. Wright cited issues such as mismanagement of the city's water system, a poor attempt to build the new Green Line LRT, and an inability to secure a new arena agreement with the Calgary Flames as examples of Nenshi's "decade of failure." .Nenshi said he was "happy to take responsibility" for his own mistakes. Saying that he had to deal with declining funding for infrastructure, and an economic crisis that made him want to limit tax rates for Calgarians."I'm happy to take responsibility for that. Danielle Smith won't take responsibility for anything," Nenshi said. "So if she wants to put her record up against mine, why don't we do it at the Peter Lougheed emergency room tomorrow?"Earlier in the conference, Nenshi, referring to issues such as employment, healthcare, Alberta's teachers' strike, and the use of the notwithstanding clause, said that the UCP has "a lot to be held accountable for.".Monday's comments come on the heels of a recent Leger poll that showed the UCP pulling ahead of the NDP, after the gap between the two narrowed in 2025.In a Postmedia article published on Monday, Smith said the NDP may be regretting their decision to choose the former Calgary mayor as their new leader."They got a guy who couldn’t manage the Green Line LRT so we had to step in and fix it. He couldn’t manage the water lines. He couldn’t manage the Flames arena deal and almost risked having the Flames leave the city,” reads a comment from Smith in the article.When asked about the recent polling, Nenshi suggested that the Leger poll is "a bit of an outlier.""If they were really confident that they were so far ahead, the premier wouldn't have done a series of interviews attacking me on tired old talking points," Nenshi said.
