Naomi Rankin

Naomi Rankin (born 1951 or 1952) is a Canadian politician who has served as the leader of the Communist Party – Alberta since 1992. She is the longest-serving party leader in Alberta, and has been a perennial candidate in the province's federal and provincial elections since 1982.^[2][3]

Naomi Rankin
Rankin in 2015
Leader of the Communist Party – Alberta
Incumbent
Assumed office 1992
Preceded by	Norman Brudy
Personal details
Born	1951 or 1952 (age 72–73)[1]
Political party	Communist
Residence(s)	Edmonton, Alberta
Profession	Politician, programmer

Political career

Rankin became leader of the Communist Party in Alberta in 1992, after the collapse of the Soviet Union sent the party into crisis.^[2] Since 1982, she has run in every provincial and federal election for the Communist Party – Alberta and the Communist Party of Canada respectively. Rankin herself usually fields around 100 votes.^[4]

In a typical election campaign, Rankin goes door-to-door and distributes pamphlets, as she tries to engage voters in discussions about the party's main platforms.^[4] In the 1980s, these included the nationalization of transnational oil and gas companies, and making Alberta a nuclear weapons-free zone.^[5] Since then, issues on the Communist Party agenda have included opposing privatization,^[6] doubling the corporate tax rate, and making drastic cuts to military spending.^[4] She also appears in forums, debates, and media interviews, in which she tries to debunk popular myths about the Communist Party and socialism.^[6] As a candidate, Rankin has aimed to spread her message beyond the party's traditional targets such as trade unions, environmental groups, women's organizations, and farmers.^[7]

Personal life

Rankin is widowed with two children, and is retired from her career as a computer programmer.^[4] She has lived in Edmonton since 1963.^[8] A social activist since her teens, she has been active in peace and women's organizations.^[5] Rankin sings in the "Notre Dame des Bananes” choir,^[9] which performs songs about social justice,^[7][9] and has also sung as a tenor with the Richard Eaton Singers.^[10]

Electoral record

Federal

2021 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Tim Uppal	18,392	37.9	-12.4	$93,973.02
	Liberal	Ben Henderson	16,499	34.0	+0.4	$76,933.26
	New Democratic	Nigel Logan	10,553	21.8	+9.7	$2,274.37
	People's	Paul Edward McCormack	2,898	6.0	+4.2	$1,732.00
	Communist	Naomi Rankin	172	0.4	-	$0.00
Total valid votes/Expense limit			48,514	–	–	$109,498.31
Total rejected ballots			380
Turnout			48,894
Eligible voters			77,062
	Conservative hold		Swing		-6.4
Source: Elections Canada[11]

v t e 2019 Canadian federal election: Edmonton Strathcona
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Heather McPherson	26,823	47.27	+3.30	$91,753.90
	Conservative	Sam Lilly	21,035	37.07	+5.79	$88,211.43
	Liberal	Eleanor Olszewski	6,592	11.62	-9.11	$91,354.39
	Green	Michael Kalmanovitch	1,152	2.03	-0.27	$8,919.41
	People's	Ian Cameron	941	1.66	-	none listed
	Communist	Naomi Rankin	125	0.22	-	none listed
	Marxist–Leninist	Dougal MacDonald	77	0.14	-0.03	none listed
Total valid votes/expense limit			56,745	99.56
Total rejected ballots			250	0.44	+0.05
Turnout			56,995	72.26	+1.27
Eligible voters			78,876
	New Democratic hold		Swing		-1.24
Source: Elections Canada[12][13]

v t e 2015 Canadian federal election: Edmonton Mill Woods
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Amarjeet Sohi	20,423	41.24	+29.52	$136,379.94
	Conservative	Tim Uppal	20,331	41.06	-17.88	$126,472.41
	New Democratic	Jasvir Deol	6,330	12.78	-12.61	$55,302.53
	Green	Ralph McLean	1,096	2.21	-0.78	$1,671.63
	Independent	Colin Stubbs	560	1.13	–	$5,091.44
	Libertarian	Allen K.W. Paley	396	0.80	–	–
	Christian Heritage	Peter Downing	285	0.58	–	$3,798.53
	Communist	Naomi Rankin	96	0.19	–	–
Total valid votes/expense limit			49,517	99.54		$206,234.63
Total rejected ballots			227	0.46	–
Turnout			49,744	67.84	–
Eligible voters			73,323
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing		+23.70
These results were subject to a judicial recount,[14] and modified from the validated results in accordance with the Judge's rulings. The margin of Sohi over Uppal increased from 79 votes to 92 votes as a result of the recount.[15]
Source: Elections Canada[16][17]

2011 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Mike Lake	27,857	61.04	+0.72	$44,902
	New Democratic	Nadine Bailey	10,875	23.83	+8.71	$11,236
	Liberal	Mike Butler	5,066	11.10	-7.40
	Green	Christa Baxter	1,364	2.99	-2.69	$1,705
	Pirate	Brent Schaffrick	374	0.82	*	$2,461
	Communist	Naomi Rankin	100	0.22	-0.16	$562
Total valid votes/Expense limit			45,636	99.58
Total rejected ballots			191	0.42	+0.07
Turnout			45,827	53.13	+1.03
Eligible voters			85,259	–	–
	Conservative hold		Swing		-4.00

2008 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Mike Lake	25,130	60.32	+1.70	$80,034
	Liberal	Indira Saroya	7,709	18.51	-2.64	$82,941
	New Democratic	Mike Butler	6,297	15.12	+0.57	$4,620
	Green	David Allan Hrushka	2,366	5.68	+1.21
	Communist	Naomi Rankin	157	0.38	+0.19	$395
Total valid votes/Expense limit			41,659	100.00	$84,984
Total rejected ballots			146	0.35	+0.07
Turnout			41,805	52.0	-10.3

2006 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Mike Lake	27,191	58.62	+16.13	$67,482
	Liberal	Amarjit Grewal	9,809	21.15	-21.67	$73,522
	New Democratic	Neal Gray	6,749	14.55	+4.85	$10,297
	Green	Kate Harrington	2,073	4.47	-0.19	$1,347
	Independent	Kyle McLeod	477	1.03	N/A	$8,055
	Communist	Naomi Rankin	85	0.18	-0.15	$280
Total valid votes			46,384	100.00
Total rejected ballots			131	0.28	+0.16
Turnout			46,515	62.3	-2.6

2004 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	David Kilgour	17,555	42.82	–	$65,152
	Conservative	Tim Uppal	17,421	42.49	–	$66,701
	New Democratic	Paul Reikie	3,975	9.70	–	$4,138
	Green	Michael Garfinkle	1,911	4.65	–	$788
	Communist	Naomi Rankin	135	0.33	–	$751
Total valid votes			40,997	100.00
Total rejected ballots			181	0.44
Turnout			41,178	59.67

2000 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Alliance	Peter Goldring	17,768	42.43	-2.14	$58,345
	Liberal	Sue Olsen	14,323	34.20	-0.38	$57,858
	New Democratic	Ray Martin	7,304	17.44	+5.65	$56,287
	Progressive Conservative	Kevin Mahfouz	2,252	5.37	-1.93	$1,688
	Communist	Naomi Rankin	222	0.53	–	$238
Total valid votes			41,869	100.00		–
Total rejected ballots			156	0.37	+0.15
Turnout			42,025	53.42	+1.73

Note: Canadian Alliance vote is compared to the Reform vote in 1997.

v t e 1997 Canadian federal election: Edmonton—Strathcona
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Reform	Rahim Jaffer	20,605	41.30	+1.95	$58,003
	Liberal	Ginette Rodger	17,654	35.38	−3.12	$58,244
	New Democratic	Jean McBean	7,251	14.53	+9.48	$42,936
	Progressive Conservative	Edo Nyland	3,614	7.24	−4.05	$10,183
	Green	Karina Gregory	406	0.81	+0.23	$520
	Natural Law	Maury Shapka	153	0.30	−0.29
	Independent	Naomi Rankin	115	0.23	+0.05	$1,732
	Canadian Action	J. Alex Ford	92	0.18	–	$845
Total valid votes			49,890	100.00
Total rejected ballots			101	0.20
Turnout			49,991	62.74

v t e 1993 Canadian federal election: Edmonton—Strathcona
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Reform	Hugh Hanrahan	19,531	39.35	+17.10
	Liberal	Chris Peirce	19,113	38.50	+20.61
	Progressive Conservative	Scott Thorkelson	5,604	11.29	−22.17
	New Democratic	Rita Egan	2,508	5.05	−20.27
	National	Adrian Greenwood	2,131	4.29
	Natural Law	Maury Shapka	292	0.59
	Green	Harry Garfinkle	287	0.58	+0.28
	Independent	Naomi Rankin	90	0.18
	Canada Party	Oran K. Johnson	83	0.17
Total valid votes			49,639	100.00

1988 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Ross Harvey	15,051	38.20	+15.14
	Progressive Conservative	William Lesick	14,394	36.53	-11.95
	Liberal	Peggy Blair	7,167	18.19	+0.14
	Reform	Elaine Sim	1,728	4.39
	Christian Heritage	Ron Romanow	798	2.03
	Communist	Naomi Rankin	123	0.31	-0.07
	Independent	Bernie Sawatzky	88	0.22
	Confederation of Regions	Robert J. Yanew	53	0.13	-0.59
Total valid votes			39,402	100.00

Provincial

v t e 2023 Alberta general election: Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Janis Irwin	9,491	71.46	+8.01
	United Conservative	Nick Kalynchuk	3,350	25.22	-0.26
	Green	Kristine Kowalchuk	339	2.55	+1.01
	Communist	Naomi Rankin	102	0.77	+0.11
Total			13,282	99.01	–
Rejected and declined			133	0.99
Turnout			13,415	45.22
Eligible voters			29,665
	New Democratic hold		Swing		+4.13
Source(s) Source: Elections Alberta[18]

v t e 2019 Alberta general election: Edmonton-Strathcona
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Rachel Notley	14,724	72.10	−8.79
	United Conservative	Kulshan Gill	3,481	17.05	+2.56[n 1]
	Alberta Party	Prem Pal	1,139	5.58	+5.35
	Progressive Conservative	Gary Horan	297	1.45	−12.41
	Liberal	Samantha Hees	239	1.17	−3.11
	Green	Stuart Andrews	227	1.11	+1.08
	Alberta Independence	Ian Smythe	86	0.42	–
	Alberta Advantage	Don Edward Meister	62	0.30	–
	Communist	Naomi J. Rankin	61	0.30	–
	Wildrose	Dale Doan	57	0.28	-0.35
	Independent	Gord McLean	49	0.24	–
Total valid ballots cast			20,422	99.09	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			188	0.91
Turnout			20,610	65.03
Eligible voters			31,695
	New Democratic hold		Swing		−5.67
Source(s) Source: "44 - Edmonton-Strathcona, 2019 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved June 21, 2025.

1. Change from combined Progressive Conservative and Wildrose

v t e 2015 Alberta general election: Edmonton-Mill Woods
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	New Democratic	Christina Gray	9,930	64.86%	50.72%
	Progressive Conservative	Sohail Quadri	2,920	19.07%	-16.14%
	Wildrose	Baljit Sall	1,437	9.39%	-11.21%
	Liberal	Roberto Maglalang	850	5.55%	-15.74%
	Independent	Aura Leddy	129	0.84%	–
	Communist	Naomi J. Rankin	44	0.29%	–
Total			15,310	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			55	30	22
Eligible electors / turnout			28,130	54.70%	0.10%
	New Democratic gain from Progressive Conservative		Swing		17.09%
Source(s) Source: "41 - Edmonton-Mill Woods, 2015 Alberta general election". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020. Chief Electoral Officer (2016). 2015 General Election. A Report of the Chief Electoral Officer (PDF) (Report). Edmonton, Alta.: Elections Alberta.

v t e 2012 Alberta general election: Edmonton-Mill Creek
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Gene Zwozdesky	6,623	55.06%	4.28%
	Wildrose	Adam Corsaut	2,193	18.23%	–
	Liberal	Mike Butler	1,640	13.63%	-16.42%
	New Democratic	Evelinne Teichgraber	1,336	11.11%	-2.39%
	Alberta Party	Judy Wilson	194	1.61%	–
	Communist	Naomi Rankin	43	0.36%	0.05%
Total			12,029	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			117	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			25,250	48.10%	2.44%
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		8.05%
Source(s) Source: "Elections Alberta 2012 General Election". Elections Alberta. Retrieved May 21, 2020. "40 - Edmonton-Mill Creek". officialresults.elections.ab.ca. Elections Alberta. Retrieved June 4, 2020.

v t e 2008 Alberta general election: Edmonton-Mill Creek
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Progressive Conservative	Gene Zwozdesky	6,857	50.78%	8.70%
	Liberal	Aman Gill	4,058	30.05%	-5.55%
	New Democratic	Stephen Anderson	1,822	13.49%	-0.69%
	Green	Glen Argan	726	5.38%	–
	Communist	Naomi Rankin	41	0.30%	–
Total			13,504	–	–
Rejected, spoiled and declined			90	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			29,773	45.66%	-3.89%
	Progressive Conservative hold		Swing		7.12%
Source(s) Source: The Report on the March 3, 2008 Provincial General Election of the Twenty-seventh Legislative Assembly. Elections Alberta. May 28, 2020. pp. 320–323.

2004 Alberta general election results[19]			Turnout 45.04%		Swing
Affiliation		Candidate	Votes	%	Party	Personal
	Liberal	Weslyn Mather	5,012	48.01%	-0.96%
	Progressive Conservative	Naresh Bhardwaj	2,992	28.66%	-15.15%
	New Democratic	Lloyd Nelson	1,565	14.99%	7.77%
	Alberta Alliance	Charles Relland	829	7.94%
	Communist	Naomi Rankin	42	0.40%	*
Total			10,440
Rejected, spoiled, and declined			62
Eligible electors / Turnout			23,319	%
	Liberal hold				Swing −8.06%

v t e 2001 Alberta general election: Edmonton-Centre
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Laurie Blakeman	5,095	44.01%	0.06%
	Progressive Conservative	Don J. Weideman	4,446	38.41%	4.91%
	New Democratic	David Eggen	1,959	16.92%	-0.08%
	Communist	Naomi Rankin	76	0.66%	–
Total			11,576	–	–
Rejected, spoiled, and declined			74	–	–
Eligible electors / turnout			22,648	51.44%	-0.66%
	Liberal hold		Swing		-2.43%
Source(s) Source: "Edmonton-Centre Official Results 2001 Alberta general election". Alberta Heritage Community Foundation. Retrieved May 21, 2020.

1997 Alberta general election: Edmonton-Riverview
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Linda Sloan	6,066	42.12
	Progressive Conservative	Gwen Harris	5,122	35.57
	New Democratic	Donna Fong	2,261	15.70
	Social Credit	David Prenoslo	805	5.59
	Communist	Naomi Rankin	61	0.42
Total valid votes			14,402
Rejected, spoiled and declined			56
Registered electors			23,040
Turnout			14,458	62.75
	Liberal pickup new district.
Source(s) "1997 General Election". Elections Alberta. Archived from the original on February 14, 2012. Retrieved January 26, 2012.

1993 Alberta general election results[20]			Turnout 63.02%		Swing
	Affiliation	Candidate	Votes	%	Party	Personal
	Liberal	Al Zariwny	6,542	39.41%	15.30%
	New Democratic	Barrie Chivers	5,121	30.85%	-21.91%
	Progressive Conservative	Don Grimble	4,071	24.52%	8.33%
	Social Credit	Patrick Ellis	460	2.77%	0.37%
	Greens	Betty Paschen	253	1.52%	-3.02%
	Natural Law	Benjamin Toane	108	0.65%
	Communist	Naomi Rankin	47	0.28%	*
Total			16,602
Rejected, spoiled and declined			60
Eligible electors / Turnout			26,440	%
	Liberal pickup from NDP				Swing 18.61%