NDP Edmonton Centre Candidate, Trisha Estabrooks, speaks with Alberta Primetime host Michael Higgins about her campaign.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length
Michael Higgins: A lot of focus at the moment on polling and where your party stands nationally. Nanos research puts the NDP at roughly eight per cent, a 25 year low. What kind of pressure does that put on campaigning at the local level?
Trisha Estabrooks: Campaigns do matter and in a race as critically important as Edmonton Centre, when I look at the polls, I know that those polls are actually a snapshot of what’s happening nationally, and not encapsulating what is happening on the ground here in Edmonton Centre.
I think folks only need to drive around the beautiful riding of Edmonton Centre and see firsthand that in fact, this is a race between the Conservatives and the New Democrats. National polling is not capturing what my team and I are experiencing and hearing and seeing on the ground here in Edmonton.
MH: Edmonton Centre has had a rotation of both Liberal and Conservative representation the past two decades, even longer. What do you bring to the table as a New Democrat to break through that wall?
TE: You’re right, this riding has flip flopped back and forth between Conservatives and Liberals, and lots of folks that we have been connecting with for the past year and a half are saying that they’re ready to elect, for the first time, a New Democrat MP.
The reason for that is that we are talking about the issues that matter to folks in Edmonton Centre, and of course, we can’t talk about anything but Trump in this election. I recognize that, but undercutting all of that are issues around affordability, issues around strengthening our health care, and I hear a lot in Edmonton Centre specifically around affordable housing.
Edmontonians know that New Democrats will fight for them on those particular issues, and so our message is resonating, and certainly has been resonating for the past year and a half. The way you break through in a riding that has again flip flopped between Conservatives and Liberals is you do the hard work, you listen to people, you take the time, and you knock on every single door in the riding, and that’s exactly what we’ve done.
MH: A year and a half of door knocking, what’s made that degree of effort necessary? What’s the payoff?
TE: I’m just one of these people that genuinely loves talking to people, and maybe it’s my previous experience as a journalist with CBC for two decades, but again, if I want the honour of representing folks in Ottawa, that’s a big responsibility that I take quite seriously.
So the way in which my team and I have engaged and made sure that we are hitting every single door, and now, going back to doors two or three times, it’s been incredibly rewarding.
I think people know that we’re listening, and folks want to send someone to Ottawa that’s going to represent them with heart, with integrity, with passion, and that’s what I bring to this campaign, and that’s what I’ll bring to the job as your Member of Parliament.
MH: How do you address voter concerns of uncertainty over the chaos triggered by Trump tariffs?
TE: Chaos is the right word. Even today, we’re like a puppet on a string depending on the mood of the bully to the south of us, and so I think it’s really hard. I hear this on the doors all the time with folks in Edmonton Centre, this uncertainty that people are feeling.
We know that Trump tariffs will impact families. People are worried about their jobs. They’re worried about the increase to gas prices, increase to grocery prices. We’re already seeing that, and again, when you think about those issues of affordability, Edmontonians know that it’s New Democrats that will have their back on those issues of affordability and increase in rent.
So of course, we’re all talking about Trump, it’s what everybody wants to talk about, but again, undercutting that is, ‘How is it going to affect the average family’s bottom line?’ And again, the NDP are the ones that are delivering strongly on that message.
MH: Speaking of the NDP, former Premier Rachel Notley has publicly endorsed you. In terms of synergies, how much are you relying on support from the provincial NDP?
TE: Having that endorsement from a well-loved and deeply respected premier of our province, Rachel Notley, means a lot. I’ll be honest with you, there are federal Liberals who live in Edmonton Centre who support former Premier Notley. And so when they see that endorsement, and see that we have her support on this campaign, that, in my mind, is continuing to build the momentum.
It’s that kind of momentum that progressive voters, folks who tell me consistently, ‘We cannot elect another Conservative. MP, we cannot add to Pierre Poilievre’s seat count’.
So there really is a rallying point that’s happening around progressives in Edmonton Centre, and so for our team to feel that momentum, to be at the heart of it, for voters to trust us to be that strong voice in Parliament for progressive voters and to stop Conservatives from getting that seat here in Edmonton Centre, is certainly something that we’re hearing.
MH: What do you expect will determine the outcome in Edmonton Centre, if not the election overall?
TE: This is an election that the ballot box question is about Trump, but I also think undercutting that is ‘Who will protect you in tough times?’ I think folks in Edmonton Centre, they want good representation, and I think that they know my experience on the school board, they know that I’m a fighter, they know that I’ll go to Ottawa and bring that strong voice for Edmonton to the House of Commons in Ottawa.
In my mind, here in Edmonton Centre, this is a race between the Conservatives and New Democrats, and I, quite frankly, think that this is a race that we can see some good momentum, and potentially we can win.
