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

by Sydney Sharpe (Author), Don Braid (Author)

#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.

Author Biography

Sydney Sharpe is a journalist, anthropologist, and author or co-author of eight books, including The Gilded Ghetto: Women and Political Power in Canada. She was a senior columnist for the Calgary Herald and Calgary Bureau Chief for the Financial Post, and has written for numerous magazines, newspapers, and anthologies. She lives in Calgary.

Don Braid has been a political reporter and columnist for more than forty years in Ottawa, Montreal, Edmonton, and Calgary. He has written about every Alberta and federal government since Peter Lougheed's in the days of the original Trudeau. With Sydney Sharpe, he co-wrote two previous books on politics. He lives in Calgary.