With the Alberta NDP leadership race’s internal membership deadline just days away, ex-Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi looks well-positioned to become the party’s next leader — having reportedly doubled its membership base in just a week after entering the fray last month.

Taking the helm of a party that, per its own constitution, exists to “promote the existence of democratic socialism in Alberta” would certainly be an unorthodox career move for a man who cut his teeth with a firm that has arguably hurt workers more than any other in recent decades.