Rachel Anne Notley (born April 17, 1964) is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who was the 17th premier of Alberta from 2015 to 2019 and leader of the Alberta New Democratic Party (NDP) from 2014 to 2024. Notley was the member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Edmonton-Strathcona from 2008 to 2024.
The daughter of former Alberta NDP leader Grant Notley, she was a lawyer before entering politics; she focused on labour law, with a specialty in workers' compensation advocacy and workplace health and safety issues.
Notley was first elected to the Legislative Assembly in the 2008 provincial election, succeeding former NDP leader Raj Pannu. Six years later on October 18, 2014, Notley won the Alberta New Democratic Party leadership election on the first ballot with 70% of the vote and went on to lead the party to a majority victory in the 2015 provincial election, ending 44 years of rule by the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta. In the 2019 provincial election, the NDP government was defeated by the United Conservative Party, making Notley the Opposition leader. In the 2023 provincial election, the NDP made large gains but failed to form government, with Notley continuing as Opposition leader.
On January 16, 2024, Notley announced her plans to step down as leader of the Alberta NDP, but she would remain leader until a successor was elected on June 22. On June 22, Notley was succeeded as leader of the Alberta NDP by Naheed Nenshi, and was succeeded as Leader of the Opposition by Christina Gray on June 24. On December 12, Notley announced her intention to resign as an MLA, effective December 30. She returned to practising labour law following her resignation.
Background
Notley was born on April 17, 1964,Legislative Assembly of Alberta Library 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.Legislative Assembly of Alberta 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 unafraid to challenge older political leaders as a college student, even asking her father at an Alberta NDP public meeting on poverty and student debt for his advice to 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."
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 BC premier Dave Barrett.
In August 1997, she married Lou Arab, a communications representative for the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and a campaign strategist for the party. The wedding ceremony was conducted by Tim Stevenson on Indian Arm. She lives with him and their two children in the historic district of Old Strathcona 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.The Report: Newsletter of the Health Sciences Association of BC Safety concerns in your workplace? See your Safety Steward! 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),NUPGE website Nationwide campaign targets Liberal inaction on medicare worked at Athabasca University,Athabasca University 2004/05 Calendar 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.
Early political career (1991–2015) Entry into provincial politics
In 1991, Notley led the election-planning subcommittee for the Alberta NDP. However, the party lost in the 1993 provincial election and was shut out of the legislature. In 2000, after the resignation of Pam Barrett as the Alberta NDP leader and MLA for Edmonton-Highlands, Notley re-entered Alberta provincial politics. She travelled to Edmonton to assist Brian Mason in retaining the seat for the Alberta NDP.
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. She was subsequently elected as an MLA in the 2008 Alberta provincial election.
She was re-elected in the 2012 Alberta provincial election.
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.
By the final week, the NDP emerged as the front runner. 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 took all of Edmonton's ridings with large majorities, while massive vote-splitting allowed them to take 15 seats in Calgary. This ended the longest unbroken run in government at the provincial level in Canada.
Notley later told the Canadian Press that she had been sitting in a hotel room in either Calgary or Lethbridge when she saw a very credible poll showing the NDP was poised to rebound from a mere four seats in the legislature – the minimum for official party status – to an outright majority. She dropped her plans for a whirlwind schedule to close out the campaign. Not only would she have looked haggard in her first speech as premier-elect, but she needed time to begin a transition.
Premier (2015–2019) 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.Alberta Government. "Premier Designate Notley retains the current head of the Alberta public service", May 12, 2015. 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 Progressive Conservative 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."Here's the image that finally got NDP MLA Deborah Drever suspended from caucus". Calgary Herald, May 22, 2015. 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."MLA Deborah Drever, under fire for 'highly inappropriate' photo, to work with outreach groups" . Metro, May 20, 2015. 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."Rachel Notley sworn in as Alberta premier, reveals cabinet," CBC News May 24, 2015. Her twelve-member cabinet was the smallest in the country, containing only 14% of the legislature's members.
The swearing-in ceremony was a 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.