Zain Velji: Behind the Naheed Nenshi leadership campaign

Alright, you Herle Burly-ites. A pretty cool show we’ve got for you today. We’re doing a bit of pod crossover, and here’s the reason:

Naheed Nenshi became leader of Alberta’s NDP, just 2 weeks ago. Not just by a large margin. Or an extra-large margin. Landslide may not even be a strong enough a word. Mr. Nenshi’s win was first ballot. 86% of the vote. More than 10 times that of the runner up. So we’re going to talk about how that happened.

And there’s few better to do that with than his campaign co-director … a man who also happens to be a co-creator, and 1/3 of “The Strategists” Podcast, Zain Velji. Hence, it’s a Canadian Political Pod crossover today, Herle Burly-ites!

Zain is the man behind Nenshi’s powerful political brand. He’s a vice-president and partner with Northweather, a strategy and marketing firm, focusing on charities, non-profits, causes, and advocacy. He helped lead Nenshi’s successful mayoral campaigns and he played a big part in the Alberta NDP campaigns in 2019 and 2023.

Zain is a regular political commentator with the CBC, his work has also appeared in the Toronto Star, and Globe and Mail and in 2019 was a panelist on CTV’s National federal election coverage. So, lots of bona fides there. Alberta and beyond.

We’re going to talk about it all today:

  • Nenshi.

  • Alberta Politics provincial and federal.

  • And the federal scene more generally.

Thank you for joining us on The Herle Burly podcast. Please take a moment to give us a rating and review on iTunes or your favourite podcast app.

iTunes  Spotify  Stitcher  GooglePodcast

Watch this conversation on YouTube.

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail.

Previous
Previous

Dan Gardner: Elections in the modern era and what matters in them

Next
Next

The Pursuit of Happiness with Peter Nicholson