MLA Bridget Pastoor According to a tweet from Calgary Herald columnist Don Braid, Liberal MLA Bridget Pastoor will cross the floor and join the Progressive Conservative caucus today. Ms. Pastoor is currently serving her second term as the MLA for Lethbridge-East, a constituency represented by Liberal MLAs since 1993. She
Continue readingAuthor: daveberta
daveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: alberta’s second fall sitting starts today with redford’s tories on a high.
Premier Alison Redford Part two of the Fall sitting of Alberta’s Legislative Assembly begins today for a short two-weeks of business. Aside from the two-day speech driven sitting held last month, this will be the first time that new Progressive Conservative Premier Alison Redford and her cabinet will gather in
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: alberta candidate nomination update – november 2011 (part 2).
With a fixed election “period” expected to be set for sometime between March 1 and May 31, 2012, Alberta’s political parties are still in the process of nominating candidates in the 87 new constituencies that will be contested in the next provincial election. Total Nominated Candidates AP: Alberta Party 8/87 LIB: Liberal 20/87 NDP: New
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: ndp leadership candidates attending edmonton kitchen table talks.
Three federal NDP leadership candidates: Nathan Cullen, Paul Dewar, and Brian Topp Home of Alberta’s only NDP Member of Parliament, Linda Duncan, the Edmonton-Strathcona NDP Association is hosting a series of “Kitchen Table Talks” with NDP leadership candidates (named in honour of Jack Layton and his penchant for addressing the kinds
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: josipa petrunic – the liberal party’s next great hope in edmonton-gold bar?
If there was a Liberal Party heartland in Alberta, it would be located in the boundaries of Edmonton-Gold Bar. The east central Edmonton constituency is the longest Liberal held constituency in the province, having elected Liberal MLAs since the 1986 election. Represented by popular Alderman Bettie Hewes from 1986 until 1997, Gold Bar’s current MLA […]
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: why i was thinking about australia on this remembrance day.
Having spent the better part of April 2011 travelling across Australia, I had the opportunity to visit many historical sites dedicated to preserving the memory of that country’s War history. This Remembrance Day, my thoughts were primarily on the Canadians who have served and continue to serve in defence of our country, but I could […]
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: alberta candidate nomination update – november 2011.
The Progressive Conservatives have opened their nomination process, leading a number of candidates to declared their interest in opposition held constituencies. This first wave out of the floodgates have allowed me to update the list of declared and nominated candidates for the next provincial election: Calgary-Buffalo: Dawna Haslam announced on her Facebook profile that she […]
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: in alberta politics, what was once old is new again.
Premier Alison Redford is expected to introduce new fixed-election date legislation in the postponed fall sitting of the Assembly, expected to sit in late November. In 2009, I wrote: “In April 2008, St. Albert PC MLA Ken Allred introduced a Private Member’s Bill, Bill 203: Election Statutes (Fixed Election Dates), in the Legislative Assembly of […]
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: ‘budget dialogue’ survey really an online monologue.
In the pantheon of poorly written and meaningless online surveys, the Government of Alberta’s new ‘Budget Dialogue’ online survey now rests upon a high pedestal (other recent polls belong in their own pantheon). If you were not so lucky to have been invited to join Premier Alison Redford, Finance Minister Ron Liepert, or Treasury Board President […]
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: wildrose behind mysterious ‘push poll’ attacking alison redford.
Politics in Alberta got a little meaner this week when word of a new ‘push poll’ attacking Premier Alison Redford began to circulate among political circles. In typical push poll fashion, the automated telephone survey asks participants to answer a series of loaded negative questions about Premier Redford, and then respond to whether they would […]
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: redford’s ‘change from within’ is a nice slogan, but when you take a closer look…
Despite the narrative of “change from within” that was made popular after the October 1 leadership vote, the wave of change has not spilled far into the Progressive Conservative ranks since Alison Redford was elected into her new role one month ago. – The Globe & Mail is reporting that the controversial Kelley Charlebois is […]
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: former fort saskatchewan mayor jim sheasgreen seeking pc nomination.
Jim Sheasgreen, former Mayor of the City of Fort Saskatchewan, has announced his intention to seek the Progressive Conservative nomination in the Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville constituency. Mr. Sheasgreen served as Mayor from 2004 until 2010 and on City Council from 2001 until 2004. In 2010, Mr. Sheasgreen was defeated by current Mayor Gale Katchur. Also seeking […]
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: alberta candidate nomination update – october 2011 (part 3).
I have updated the list of candidates who have been nominated or declared their intentions to stand as candidates in Alberta’s next provincial election expected in 2012. Please email comment below or email me at david.cournoyer@gmail.com if there are additions to the list. Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock: CUPE activist Trudy Grebenstein is seeking the NDP nomination scheduled for […]
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: signed, sealed, and not delivered: the new royal alberta museum.
Hastily prepared in the final months of Premier Ed Stelmach‘s term in office, the construction of the new Royal Alberta Museum had political legacy project written all over it. This is why it should not come as such a shock that the funding for the project is in jeopardy since Mr. Stelmach left office in […]
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: alberta’s 48 hour legislative lightning round
The two-day sitting of Alberta’s Legislative Assembly has come and gone with little fan fare. Despite the continental shift in the Assembly seating plan – the entire back row of the Tory caucus was sitting in the front bench this time last year – little appears to have actually changed over the past 48 hours. […]
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: why would the government of alberta help fund the proposed Katz group arena?
This week Edmonton’s City Council is holding hearings and holding a vote to purchase the lands underneath the proposed Katz Group Arena on 104th Avenue north of downtown Edmonton. This vote will take place despite the $100 million which is still missing from the funding formula that has been negotiated by Mayor Stephen Mandel, the […]
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: sunrise at the alberta legislature and high level bridge.
The truncated fall sitting of Alberta’s Legislative Assembly begins today and breaks tomorrow. The fall sitting will reconvene in late November, conveniently scheduled for the convenience of the spouses of rural Tory MLAs, who can make their annual Christmas shopping trek into the city. Tweet This Post
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: tick tick tick… defusing ed stelmach’s tory time-bomb.
Restoring $107 million into the provincial Education budget, committing to hold an inquiry into the intimidation of doctors, promising increased consultations on water management, and halting (after some fumbling) the approval of two controversial electrical transmission line projects through rural Alberta, Premier Alison Redford is quickly moving to defuse the electoral time bomb of unpopular […]
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: fall legislative sitting: scheduled, cancelled, restored, and now broken up.
After cancelling and restoring the already scheduled fall sitting of Alberta’s Legislative Assembly only days after becoming Premier, Alison Redford and Government House leader Dave Hancock defended a decision yesterday to hold a two day sitting on October 24 and 25 and then break to reconvene for a longer sitting later in November. This rescheduling will allow Premier […]
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