Who is Rachel Notley? Meet Alberta's NDP history-maker

NDP leader Rachel Notley speaks on stage after being named Alberta's new Premier in Edmonton on Tuesday, May 5, 2015. (Nathan Denette / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

If you don’t know who Rachel Notley is, you soon will. She’s the Alberta NDP leader who has just made history in the province.

The Progressive Conservative Party was resoundingly voted out of power Tuesday night, ending a 44-year political dynasty that began with Peter Lougheed in 1971.

The one to shatter the PCs hold on power? The 51-year-old daughter of the man considered the founding member of Alberta’s New Democratic Party.

After the votes were in on election night, she was greeted with exuberant chants of “NDP, NDP” and “Rachel” as she took the stage at NDP headquarters.

“I don’t know, I think we might’ve made a little bit of history tonight,” she said.

Born to political family

Notley was born in Fairview, Alberta, in 1964.

Her father Grant was elected to the Alberta legislature in 1971, after being selected as Alberta’s NDP leader in 1968. Until the 1982 election, he served as the only NDP representative in Alberta provincial politics. In the 1982 election, he led the NDP to the status of Official Opposition.

However, Grant died in a 1984 plane crash at the age of 45. His constituency was later renamed in his honour, marking his contribution to Alberta politics.

Her mother Sandra was also a formative figure politically, as Notley has credited her with introducing her to activism at an early age.

“I know that my mother would be completely over the moon about this,” Notley told her supporters on election night. “I think my dad would be too. I’m sorry he couldn’t see this, this really was his life’s work.”

Getting started

Before getting her start in politics, Notley attended the University of Alberta and later earned a law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto.

She went on to work in Alberta and B.C., where she got her first taste of government work as ministerial assistant to then attorney general Ujjal Dosanjh. Notley also worked as a representative of the B.C. Labour movement.

Returning home to Alberta, she kept active in the labour movement, working for the United Nurses of Alberta.

Then, in 2008, she followed in her father’s footsteps.

"I would not have said it was inevitable," she told The Canadian Press about her rise to the leadership of the Alberta NDP last year.

"Maybe inevitable that I would get into politics," she added, explaining her calling to public office didn’t become clear until she was in her 30s.

Notley was elected as an MLA to represent Edmonton-Strathcona in March 2008, as one of two NDP members. She was re-elected in 2012 with a comfortable 6,000 vote margin.

In October 2014, she was elected to replace outgoing NDP leader Brian Mason.

In her speech, she urged voters to look to the future and emphasized she is in for the long haul.

“I’m deeply humbled and I want to pledge to you, the people of Alberta, we’ll work every day to earn your trust.”

With files from The Canadian Press