Estabrooks seeking Alberta NDP nomination in Edmonton-Strathcona

The former public school board trustee and federal candidate is seeking the seat after Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi said he would seeking election in a Calgary riding in the next province-wide vote in 2027.

Former federal New Democratic Party (NDP) candidate, journalist, and public school board chair Trisha Estabrooks announced Friday that she is seeking the nomination for the Alberta NDP’s nomination in Edmonton-Strathcona, replacing the riding’s current MLA and NDP party leader Naheed Nenshi. Nenshi announced Thursday that he would forego seeking re-election in the central Edmonton riding he has represented since June of last year, and would instead run in a Calgary riding, a city he served as mayor of for three terms between 2010 and 2021. He won the riding’s seat in a byelection last year with more than 80 per cent of the vote.

Estabrooks will have to potentially contest the nomination and said in a news release Friday that she is eager to take on the task. “After a decade of fighting for public education and public health care I am ready to join the fight for a new government in Alberta. People tell me all the time they’re tired of the corruption and the chaos of the United Conservative Party.

The Alberta NDP are the competent and caring leaders this province needs.” Estabrooks finished third and behind eventual winning Liberal candidate Eleanor Olszewski in seeking the Edmonton-Centre federal seat in the 2025 federal election. The results of the most recent provincial election in 2023 indicate that Edmonton Strathcona was the safest NDP seat in the province, with a 10,948-vote margin of victory, which was the sixth-highest in the province across all ridings.

The next provincial election is scheduled to be on or before Oct. 18 of next year. A committee with a majority of UCP MLAs is currently working to redraw the province’s electoral boundaries ahead of the next provincial election.