In his first day on the job as new Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi announced some changes to party leadership.
Nenshi appointed Rakhi Pancholi as deputy leader on Monday, and also named house speaker Christina Gray is now leader of the official opposition since Nenshi does not currently have a seat in legislature.
The new leader also discussed his plans for his first few months as leader, saying he’s doing a lot of work within the party.
“We’ll have some more announcements in due course over the coming weeks and months,” he said in reference to working more effectively with the 38-member caucus.
He also discussed his attention to visit communities across the province.
“We have to re-win every single vote,” he said. “We have to reach out to the people in the suburban communities surrounding Calgary and Edmonton, we have to be in the midsize cities, and we have to be in the more agricultural smaller communities.”
“We’ve got to show up everywhere.”
The reaching out will include heading to some big events across the province, including the Calgary Stampede and Ponoka Stampede.
“What you’re going to see is an 87-seat strategy,” Nenshi said. “It’s not going to be top down, it’s going to be something that is organically built.”
Nenshi stepped into the role on Saturday after sweeping the lengthy leadership race, garnering about 85 per cent of the votes.