(Edmonton, AB) February 24, 2026: Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi has emerged from hiding and is once again trying to spin his own disastrous record as mayor of Calgary – this time on financial management.
When asked how he’d balance the province’s books at a presser yesterday morning, Nenshi said he’d use the same strategy he did in Calgary – taxes and user fees. But Albertans aren’t interested in tax hikes, which were a hallmark of his time as mayor of this province’s largest city. In 11 years, he held the pen on an eyewatering 81 per cent increase to municipal property taxes and a 78 per cent increase to charges on city services.
And what did hardworking Calgarians get for draining their bank accounts on his poor planning? A water system that was neglected for well over a decade and is now costing the city billions of dollars to fix, Nenshi’s own pockets lined with a 20 per cent pay raise, and vanity blue-ring art projects.
While United Conservatives are lowering taxes for Albertans, saving individuals up to $750 a year and families up to $1,500, Nenshi gobbled up an additional $974 in taxes from the average homeowner in Calgary between 2010 and 2021.
“Nenshi drove Calgary into the ground like a typical tax-and-spend Liberal. Calgarians couldn’t afford an 81 per cent tax increase when he was in power and Albertans can’t either,” said Chief Government Whip Justin Wright. “Naheed Nenshi and the Alberta NDP have absolutely no business lecturing United Conservatives on how to balance the books and need to be kept far away from this province’s coffers.”
Later in the press conference, he was quick to suggest that if he were in charge, he’d run a deficit in his first year as Premier – only to follow up those comments by calling deficits a “coward’s way out” and “just taxes on the future”.
“Who needs deficits in year one when you can run a deficit for all four years like the Alberta NDP did under Rachel Notley,” added Wright. “Joe Ceci racked up over $90 billion in debt when they were in power after inheriting a $1 billion surplus. The only thing Nenshi and the NDP know how to do is spend money without any consideration for Albertans, who’re the ones left paying the bill.”
As the Alberta NDP pick through the rubble of Nenshi’s mayorship looking for anything of real value, United Conservatives are focused on what matters most – ensuring Alberta is prepared for today and generations to come.
