Notley Nation : How Alberta's Political Upheaval Swept the Country

When Alberta conservatism came to an end after forty-three years with a stunning left-wing victory in 2015, it was clear that Rachel Notley and the NDP had achieved the impossible. But was this victory so unprecedented? Sydney Sharpe and Don Braid explore the NDP breakthrough and how it affected the later federal election.

#1 Edmonton Journal Bestseller! • 2017 Alberta Literary Awards, the Wilfrid Eggleston Award for Nonfiction — Winner

Rachel Notley’s dramatic triumph over Alberta’s Conservative regime was an early rumble before the Trudeau landslide.

Alberta has long been seen as politically paralyzed. But it has always been a cauldron of discontent, producing the Reform Party, the Wildrose movement, the modern Conservative Party of Canada, and Stephen Harper. Notley Nation tells how this pent-up energy exploded in an unexpected direction with Rachel Notley’s NDP victory.

Stereotypes of redneck Alberta have long been at odds with the province’s growing progressive streak. The political upheaval that swept conservatism out of office in 2015 had shown its first tremors there five years earlier. Progressive mayors were elected in Calgary and Edmonton, and soon it became clear that the province’s PC government was falling out of touch with modern Alberta.

Political journalists Sydney Sharpe and Don Braid explore how the Alberta NDP ended a forty-three-year Conservative dynasty that proved incapable of adapting to forces beyond its control or understanding. That wave would soon spread across the country, sweeping Justin Trudeau into office.