Trisha Estabrooks launches campaign to be next Edmonton-Strathcona MLA
Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi, who currently represents the riding, opened the door for the former public school board chair's campaign a day earlier, announcing his plans to run in Calgary.
The day after Alberta NDP leader and Edmonton-Strathcona MLA Naheed Nenshi announced that he plans to run for a Calgary seat in the 2027 provincial election, the former two-term chair of the Edmonton Public School Board (EPSB) announced her intention to seek the nomination for the province’s safest NDP seat.
Trisha Estabrooks, who worked as a CBC journalist for 17 years and ran for the federal NDP in Edmonton Centre in last year’s election, launched her nomination bid in Friday’s sweltering heat on a pub patio in the riding she’s seeking to represent.
“Nothing gets me more fired up than this separation bullshit and the panicked antics and dangerous policies at the UCP,” Estabrooks said of her decision to enter provincial politics at this time.
Former Alberta NDP leader Ray Martin, whom Estabrooks credited with recruiting her to run for the EPSB in 2021, Edmonton-Strathcona MP Heather McPherson and the riding’s former NDP MP Linda Duncan were in attendance, as were Lori Sigurdson — the only member of the Alberta NDP caucus to make an appearance — and Alberta Union of Provincial Employees president Sandra Azocar.
Estabrooks credited her journalistic work with influencing her decision to enter politics nearly a decade ago.
“Journalism was a really good fit until it wasn't,” she told the audience. “What happened was I started to develop pretty strong ideas and opinions, and so I felt compelled to express those in a more democratic way.”
Estabrooks resigned as board chair in October 2023 to run in Edmonton Centre in the next federal election.
She remained as a trustee until January 2025, when she resigned from the board to support striking educational assistants, making her the second trustee after Marcia Hole to do so.
Despite campaigning for 18 months, the former EPSB chair finished a distant third behind Liberal Eleanor Olszewski — now the minister of emergency management and community resilience — and Conservative Sayid Ahmed, although her 15.5% vote share was more than double the NDP’s disastrous nation-wide performance.
This time, Estabrooks, who’s been working for public health-care advocacy group Friends of Medicare for the past year, is running in a riding she can’t lose.
Ex-premier Rachel Notley’s former riding has been represented by the NDs for 36 of the past 40 years, with the brief interregnum occurring courtesy of Liberal MLA Al Zawriny, who defeated New Democrat Barrie Chivers in 1993.
Nenshi — famously not an Edmontonian — won the riding with 82% of the vote in the 2025 by-election following Notley’s resignation and his ascendancy to the party leadership.
Estabrooks passed vetting for the nomination a few weeks ago and has since already raised the maximum amount for an Alberta NDP nomination candidate — $5,000.
It’s no secret that Estabrooks is a vastly different flavour of New Democrat than the incumbent Edmonton-Strathcona MLA.
Nenshi has repeatedly sought to distance himself from the federal party while Estabrooks has made no secret of her affiliation — a significant fault line within the Alberta NDP.
“I'm looking forward to bold ideas from our party,” Estabrooks said, outlining some of her priorities as a candidate:
Public dollars for public schools. Let's fast-track renewable energy projects. This one's near and dear to my heart: keeping our public health care public and shutting down two tiers. Not just restoring AISH [Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped], but increasing it. On protecting workers and human rights, these are fundamental things government should be doing, and on making policy changes that put people first and their kids first.
Speaking to reporters, the nomination candidate identified these positions as aspirational, accepting that not all of them will necessarily make it to the party’s platform for the next election, scheduled for October 2027.
“When you run as a candidate, it's a chance to stand up for what you believe in, and so in my speech, you could hear what I stand for,” said Estabrooks.
“We're at a moment where the party is actively working on their platform, and I fully expect to see some strong policies come forward from the party as we get closer to that election.”
It’s unclear at this point whether there will be a competitive nomination for Edmonton-Strathcona.
Phil Johnston, who was widely rumoured to be pursuing the nod, was at the launch, with the confirmed candidate thanking him for his “support.”
Asked whether she anticipates competition, Estabrooks was cautious not to preclude the nomination outcome.
“I think competitive races are good for our party,” she said. “At the same time … if this goes to be an uncontested race, then that's the will of the membership and the will of the party.”
The original version of this story misstated the amount of money Estabrooks has raised. She raised the maximum amount a candidate is permitted to raise under Alberta NDP rules. Fundraising for nomination contests is no longer provincially regulated.
I thought she might be running in my riding when she invited me (and many others) to her gathering at Franks. I am glad she will probably be our new MLA. She is a hard worker and will do a great job. I plan to be on her team when the time comes. :)