Bring it on, Naheed Nenshi dares the UCP. Call an early election.

The NDP leader feels the government is ripe for an almighty defeat.

Scheduled timing for a provincial vote is fall 2027, but rumours have flown for months about an early call.

Premier Danielle Smith said recently she’ll stick with the official date. Nenshi isn’t buying it.

“In the Opposition, we’re ready if they call an election in spring,” he said in a year-end interview.

“We’ll go if they call in the fall, we’ll go if they wait until 2027.

“Let’s never forget, this is the smallest majority Alberta has ever had. If any of the recalls are successful, it’s going to destabilize their government in a very big way.”

Smith’s UCP currently holds 47 seats and the NDP has 38.

Two former UCP members — Peter Guthrie and Scott Sinclair — could vote against the government in a confidence matter.

That’s why the recall movement across the province is a much bigger deal than the UCP lets on, Nenshi argues.

Currently, 26 official recall movements are afoot — 24 against UCP members and two that challenge New Democrats.

Thirteen full cabinet ministers, including the premier, face recalls at the signature stage.

“There are a number of ministers who are very vulnerable,” Nenshi says.

One might be Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides, whose use of the notwithstanding clause in the teachers strike triggered the mass recall movement.

If a few UCP members were to lose recall elections (the next step after signatures), the government would suddenly be shaky.

Of course, the UCP would love to knock off the two New Democrats facing recall — Peggy Wright in Edmonton and Amanda Chapman in Calgary.

Will any recalls get that far? Smith has signalled that she might legislate a halt if recall becomes a “threat.” Obviously, she means a threat to the government.

Nenshi’s larger point is that the political climate is unstable for a variety of reasons beyond recall.

They include the possibility of a separatist referendum, and the success or failure of Smith’s memorandum of agreement with Ottawa.

Nenshi notes that after slamming the former federal NDP-Liberal alliance for years, the premier was booed at her party convention “for signing a UCP-Liberal alliance.”

He also challenges Smith to put Thomas Lukaszuk’s Forever Canadian question to a vote.