Saskatoon MLA Betty Nippi-Albright considering Sask. NDP leadership

At least one hat is in the ring to become the Saskatchewan NDP’s next leader.

In a series of tweets posted Sunday, Saskatoon Centre MLA Betty Nippi-Albright says she’s considering leadership after now-interim leader Ryan Meili announced he was stepping down last week. Meili will continue as interim leader for the upcoming spring session.

The first-term lawmaker highlighted healthcare, education, infrastructure and reconciliation as among her top priorities, and added she intends to announce a final decision in the coming weeks on whether or not she’ll seek party approval at a leadership convention.

The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations endorsed Nippi-Albright as a leadership candidate last week, calling her “bold, charismatic, and a strong Treaty First Nations Indigenous voice.”

In her tweets, Nippi-Albright mused on the challenges of running for office in Saskatchewan as a First Nations woman.

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“I know because racism is so firmly engrained and because I do not come from a privileged background — it would be extremely difficult to run for leader. And ultimately, for Premier,” she wrote.

No other sitting NDP MLA has publicly announced ambitions to run for leader after Meili made his announcement last week.

“There just comes a moment when you know,” Meili said Friday of his decision to resign from party leadership.

“It’s really that larger question about what kind of a voice we need going forward.”

NDP MLA for Regina Rosemont Trent Wotherspoon also announced last week that he would not be seeking leadership after running for the role in 2013, and in 2018 when Meili was elected leader.