[calgarygeologist]

That NDP vote has passed.

Alberta’s New Democratic Party has voted overwhelmingly to cut traditional membership ties with its federal counterpart.

Delegates in Edmonton voted Saturday to allow provincial members to opt out of joining the federal NDP, a move Leader Naheed Nenshi campaigned on last year.

In adopting the measure, the party is shedding what many considered a political albatross.

Nenshi told reporters the party’s longtime practice of automatically signing up members to the federal party was a sticking point that scared some potential voters and members away.

The change, he said, will allow his NDP to build a bigger tent.

“It’s a great movement for the very, very many thousands and thousands of Albertans who really like what the Alberta NDP have to say, but don’t necessarily agree with the federal party — and this now gives them that choice,” he said.

“We will welcome those people into our movement. While you’ll still have the option of joining the federal New Democrats, if you join the provincial New Democrats, you don’t have to,” he said.

Nenshi said his NDP is financially independent and dictates its own policy, but party candidates spoke out, saying they needed a better answer when voters at the door tied them to the federal party’s positions during the 2023 provincial election.

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada...awa-membership