Alberta Politics: You can never believe anything until it’s been officially denied: The UCP just denied it wants to privatize health care

If it is truly an axiom of practical politics that you can you can never believe anything until it’s been officially denied, we now have confirmation Danielle Smith’s government is bent on privatizing health care in Alberta.  Home of the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy, publisher of Premier

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Alberta Politics: China’s spending money to undermine Canadian democracy? If they’ll just leave us alone, we’ll take care of it ourselves! 

If the People’s Republic of China is trying as hard as the Conservative Party of Canada insists it is to undermine Canadian democracy, it’s hard to understand why they’re bothering.  Retired Canadian national security advisor Wesley Wark (Photo: Centre for International Governance Innovation). After all, if they’ll just leave us

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Alberta Politics: ‘Tylenot’ is here at last, premier and health minister proclaim, just in time for no one to want to buy the stuff

Ridiculed for their weirdly incompetent response to last fall’s shortage of children’s fever medication, which has ended up costing Albertans $80 million for 750,000 bottles of a non-standard product that can’t be bought off the shelf, Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party Government decided to brazen it out instead. NDP Children’s

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Alberta Politics: MLA Dan Williams’ beer guzzling in the Legislature is just another episode in the UCP’s sophomoric obsession with alcohol

Peace River MLA Dan Williams’ distasteful display of beer guzzling on the floor of Alberta’s Legislature last week is just another embarrassing episode in the United Conservative Party’s sophomoric obsession with consumption of alcohol that seems to date back to the selection of Jason Kenney as the party’s first leader. 

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Alberta Politics: Growing consensus that Alberta NDP’s communications strategy is failing prompts calls for tougher approach

Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley gave a rip-roaring speech to the party faithful in Edmonton Saturday, but a consensus is emerging among the commentariat and many voters that the Opposition party’s communications strategy is failing and time is short to fix it.  Former Progressive Conservative deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk, who

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Alberta Politics: Rachel Notley vows reinvestment in health and education, hammers UCP record, after accepting riding nomination

Vowing to reinvest in education, make “bold reforms” necessary to fix health care, and put an end to plans to fire the RCMP and gamble with Albertans’ pensions, NDP Leader Rachel Notley accepted the nomination for her Edmonton-Strathcona riding yesterday.  NDP MLAs Rakhi Pancholi (Edmonton-Whitemud) and Marie Renaud (St. Albert)

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Alberta Politics: Federal environment minister spoke softly about that unreported toxic sludge leak, but Ottawa carries a big stick

Ottawa can afford to speak softly on constitutional matters because it carries a big stick. One of Imperial Oil Resources Ltd.’s drainage ponds at its Kearl site north of Fort McMurray (Photo: Nicholas Vardy). Readers following the federal reaction to the constitutional nonsense, starting with the Smith Government’s so-called Sovereignty

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Alberta Politics: With province awash in cash, premier makes no commitment to Edmonton’s mayor about help with city’s social woes

Danielle Smith’s office doesn’t really seem to have put a lot of effort into describing the Alberta premier’s meeting Tuesday with Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi. Community and Social Services Minister Jeremy Nixon (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). Ms. Smith was accompanied to her gab session with the mayor of Edmonton by three

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Alberta Politics: Alberta in 2023: COVID, Conservatives, and the plan to make the energy rollercoaster even scarier

“Conservative” governments never like to let a crisis go to waste. Dr. John Cowell, sole administrator of Alberta Health Services (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). Hence the concept of “disaster capitalism,” which author Naomi Klein so chillingly described in 2007 as the end result of the Shock Doctrine of modern neoliberal economics. 

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Alberta Politics: National Advisory Committee on Immunization recommends spring COVID boosters for groups at risk of severe illness

A new guidance on COVID-19 boosters issued yesterday by the National Advisory Committee on Immunization recommends that an additional booster dose be offered to people at increased risk of severe illness from the disease six months from their last vaccine dose or infection. Dr. Theresa Tam, Chief Public Health Officer

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Alberta Politics: COVID-19 haunts us still, but if your vaccinations and boosters are fully up to date, AHS won’t let you have another one

COVID is still killing people in Alberta, but if you’ve been careful about keeping vaccinated and think it might be time for another booster, chances are you’re out of luck.  COVID-19 vaccine (Photo: National Advisory Committee on Immunization). Obviously, whatever the United Conservative Party Government wishes, COVID-19 continues to kill

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