As flames from the massive forest fire in Jasper National Park ripped into the west side of the town of Jasper Wednesday night, Edmonton broadcaster Courtney Theriault plaintively tweeted that “we should probably have a grown-up talk about wildfires now.” In what has quickly become an iconic early photo of
Continue readingAuthor: David Climenhaga
Alberta Politics: Now that we know about those skybox tickets for UCP insiders, did anyone provide free corporate flights to out-of-province NHL playoff games?
There’s another shoe that needs to drop before the United Conservative Party’s embarrassing Skybox Scandal goes quiet and Alberta can go back to sleep as Premier Daniel Smith and her political advisors doubtless profoundly wish we would. Ms. Smith and Deputy Premier Mike Ellis at the same event, looking none
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Danielle Smith, the Sky Palace, and those Skybox freebies: What a difference a decade makes!
When word leaked out in the spring of 2014 about a plan by the Progressive Conservatives to build a penthouse suite for premier Alison Redford atop a government office building in downtown Edmonton, Wildrose Party leader Danielle Smith excoriated the scheme dubbed the Sky Palace by its critics. Premier Alison
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Tyler Shandro, controversial former UCP health minister, found not guilty of unprofessional behaviour by Law Society panel
Albertans are within their rights to wonder if it’s OK for any Alberta lawyer to throw a tantrum in their neighbour’s driveway in light of the ruling by the Alberta Law Society yesterday that former United Conservative Party health minister Tyler Shandro was not behaving unprofessionally when he melted down
Continue readingAlberta Politics: What did Danielle Smith say after the shooting at Edmonton City Hall? Nothing! She was too busy chatting with Tucker Carlson!
That startling sound you heard yesterday was probably just a co-worker spitting their coffee over their smartphone after Alberta Premier Danielle Smith clutched her pearls and advised progressive politicians to take it easy on their MAGA Canada counterparts lest someone get hurt. A screenshot of security camera footage of the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: That bid to create a separate Sheriffs Branch officers’ union can’t succeed without help from the UCP Government – so what’s up?
Despite media coverage Thursday about a group of Alberta Sheriffs Branch officers who say they’d like to break away from the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees and form their own union, that could not happen without support from the United Conservative Party Government. Sheriff Branch Officers Association President Dornubari Tornwe
Continue readingAlberta Politics: ‘Tubby’ Black, palaverous peer who forfeited Canadian citizenship for plush seat in House of Lords, booted by that chamber
Conrad “Tubby” Black, the palaverous peer who forfeited his Canadian citizenship for a plush seat in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster, has been booted by that august chamber, poor thing. Baron McFall of Alcluith, Speaker of the House of Lords (Photo: Roger Harris, U.K. Parliament, Creative
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta launches grizzly bear hunt, government says; it’s ‘not a bear hunt,’ government also says
Alberta has launched a grizzly bear hunt, the province said in a news release yesterday. Alberta Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen (Photo: Facebook/Todd Loewen). But don’t worry, the same government also said in the same news release, “this is not a bear hunt.” It’s “a measure to ensure the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Calling all moderate U.K. Tories: You can’t tame the alt-right; the alt-right will tame you
My friend “Art Sifton,” the social media gadfly found at @ArtSifton, is one of the sharpest political observers I’ve ever met, and not just of Alberta politics. The night I was writing the previous post on this blog about the July 4 election in the United Kingdom, Art emailed me
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The chickens come home to roost in Britain, cause for both schadenfreude and concern
As the world reeled from the unexpected outcome of the United Kingdom’s disastrous Brexit vote on June 23, 2016, Jason Kenney notoriously tweeted: “Congratulations to the British people on choosing hope over fear by embracing a confident, sovereign future, open to the world!” Former Alberta premier Jason Kenney, soon after
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Justice minister reverses course, says funding will be extended while negotiations with Legal Aid Alberta continue
Alberta United Conservative Party Government late yesterday reversed course on its decision to terminate its agreement with Legal Aid Alberta, promising in a statement from Justice Minister Mickey Amery to extend the current funding arrangement while negotiations for a new deal continue. NDP Justice Critic Irfan Sabir (Photo: David J.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP ends funding deal with Legal Aid Alberta; province’s legal aid system could cease operations next Tuesday
Alberta’s Justice Ministry has halted negotiations with Legal Aid Alberta and the Alberta Law Society for a new governance agreement and terminated its current agreement, leaving the legal aid system in Alberta broke and on the brink of collapse. The Supreme Court of Canada, which sooner or later gets involved
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Happy Canada Day! Collective bargaining worked, the WestJet strike is over, and the UCP will need a new reason to complain about Ottawa
Happy Canada Day! Federal Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan (Photo: Facebook/Dave Chan, Music Publishers of Canada). And what happy Canada Day news that the mechanics’ strike at WestJet is over already! That didn’t take long at all to resolve, did it? The strike, while supposedly unexpected, almost certainly would have taken
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Bombs away? UCP, apparently panicking, fires broadside at NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi, misses
There was definitely a whiff of panic in the United Conservative Party’s announcement last week that they’d now be going after Naheed Nenshi, for sure, big time, no mercy, now that the former three-term Calgary mayor had been chosen as the leader of the NDP. Premier Danielle Smith in the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: How does Alberta ‘opt out’ of a national dental program it’s not in, doesn’t fund, doesn’t administer, and doesn’t control in any way?
According to the much-publicized letter sent by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday, Alberta plans to opt out of Ottawa’s new Canadian Dental Care Plan by 2026 because the plan replicates programs the province already has in place. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr).
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jeremy Nixon, former UCP cabinet minister, loses Calgary Signal Hill federal Conservative nomination in squeaker
Between Naheed Nenshi’s stunning victory over his challengers to lead the Alberta NDP and the Oilers’ heartrending loss last night that had even the skies over Edmonton weeping this morning, an interesting little yarn about how all politics is local has barely managed to get on Alberta’s political radar. David
Continue readingAlberta Politics: In sure-footed move, NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi names Christina Gray as leader of the Opposition and Rakhi Pancholi as deputy NDP leader
In a sure-footed move, Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi today named Christina Gray as Leader of the Opposition until he wins a seat in the Legislature. Mr. Nenshi and his predecessor as NDP leader, Rachel Notley, in their Oilers jerseys (Photo: Twitter/Naheed Nenshi). Ms. Grey, who has represented the Edmonton-Mill
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Slam dunk! Naheed Nenshi posts crushing 86% victory in Alberta NDP leadership race
The Alberta NDP isn’t the same party today it was yesterday. Not after former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi’s crushing 86-per-cent victory in the race to replace former premier Rachel Notley as leader of the provincial NDP. That’s practically unanimous! Consider the tally: Naheed Nenshi – 62,746, 86%Kathleen Ganley – 5,899,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Are you alright, Alberta? The rest of Canada wants to know! If you’re not, they’ll be happy to take your doctors!
When at least five United Conservative Party MLAs turned up for an “Injection of Truth” vaccine misinformation town hall last Monday sponsored by their party’s Calgary-Lougheed Constituency Association it sparked an immediate uproar on social media. Calgary-Lougheed UCP MLA and town hall organizer Eric Bouchard (Photo: United Conservative Party). Seemingly
Continue readingTantrum over Bill C-59 displays two key flaws of the UCP – no clue how to govern, or how to negotiate
Yesterday’s official tantrum over the rather weak and limited truth-in-environmental-advertising provision of Ottawa’s Bill C-59 by the triumvirate of Danielle Smith, Brian Jean, and Rebecca Schulz illustrates two troubling truths about the current version of the United Conservative Party. Alberta Energy Minister Brian Jean doing his recent Yosemite Sam thing
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