Shannon Phillips targeted climate and parks action. Then she got targeted. The NDPer is now leaving office
CBC
The Rachel Notley government's consumer carbon tax wound up becoming a weapon the UCP wielded to drum the Alberta NDP out of office. But that levy-and-repayment program, and the wide-ranging "climate leadership plan" around it, also stood as the NDP's boldest, provincial-reputation-altering move in their single-term tenure.
And as the party reignites its bid to return to government this summer with a new leader, New Democrats will do so without the veteran MLA who led the party's push to make the world take Alberta more seriously on climate action.
Shannon Phillips, the party's former environment minister, has decided to leave office July 1.
Her departure comes barely one year after she was elected to a third term as MLA for Lethbridge-West. It will also pose a serious test for her party and its next leader, in a byelection later this year to defend the NDP's only seat outside of the Calgary and Edmonton regions.
Phillips insisted in an interview that her departure has nothing to do with the June 22 leadership vote to replace Notley, the only leader Phillips has served alongside.
It's personal reasons — a sense that she's accomplished enough in politics, some unnamed opportunities in the private sector and a desire to spend more time with her two teenage sons.
But she also has a less typical personal reason to resign: the long shadow of the improper surveillance that Lethbridge police officers conducted on her while she was minister — photographing her, following her and looking her up on police databases.
What's followed that 2017 snooping has been discipline for two officers, her own bids for more police accountability, a $400,000 lawsuit she filed in 2022, and recent word that Alberta's police watchdog recommended charges against the police members, though the Crown declined to prosecute.
The saga has taken its personal toll on her.
"It is an absolutely deplorable situation, and there's no question that it grinds on me," Phillips told CBC News.
"I don't feel solid at all in my own community, and it's been years now."
Phillips said she considered not running again in 2023, but a longtime friend and adviser told her: "Don't let these f--kers win," she recalled.
She was also motivated to run again with the hopes her NDP could win again, beating then-rookie Premier Danielle Smith. The disappointment of the party's defeat, and four more years on the Opposition benches, led both Notley and Phillips to both decide to step down (though Notley has no plans yet to resign her seat).
Phillips has endorsed former justice minister Kathleen Ganley in this month's leadership vote, although former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi is widely perceived to be the front-runner. "I am perfectly comfortable with any leadership outcome," Phillips said.
The notion that home ownership guarantees financial security in old age is being challenged by a recent survey.
The family of Nash Prystie has identified him as the man who died in an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) shooting earlier this month north of Kenora, and is calling for more and quicker help for people with mental health challenges.
Playoff action in the Ontario Hockey League gets underway Thursday night for Guelph and Friday in Kitchener.
UPEI wants its faculty to sign on to an updated version of its sexual assault and discrimination policy, but the union that represents the school's academic staff says it wants the policies to be part of its collective agreement.
In Texas this week for a global energy conference, the federal natural resources minister is proclaiming "Canada is back" and ready to bolster its energy sector and grow exports.
Members of Parliament last year went on the fewest sponsored international trips in the last 15 years, excluding the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ontario is running out of time to beef up rules that would crack down on negligent and misbehaving municipal politicians ahead of the next civic election, some experts and opposition critics warn.
Six London teens are each facing multiple charges following a break-and-enter spree at homes in the city's southwest end early Sunday, police said.
The Department of Transportation and Infrastructure is putting the finishing touches on completing the Team Gushue Highway, but it means drivers might have to change their routes until later this summer.
Passage of the Nova Scotia government's budget bill stalled late Tuesday night when a group of singing protesters shut down the final vote to approve the budget.
Health Minister John Dornan said Woodstock-based eVisitNB will continue to provide virtual health-care services to New Brunswickers for another 90 days after March 31.
The head of Canada's largest airline has been summoned to Ottawa to explain why he spoke only in English when he offered his condolences to the families of those killed or hurt in the collision between a plane and a fire truck at a New York City airport on Sunday.
Manitoba is bucking a national trend by promising to slash its deficit, while boosting health care spending by nearly $1 billion and delivering modest affordability measures, including a PST cut that will save you money next time you buy a soda and bag of chips.