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
Continue readingAuthor: David Climenhaga
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
Continue readingAlberta 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
Continue readingAlberta 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.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP now wants underwhelming minimum wage report, a typical Jason Kenney production, to be quickly forgotten
I suppose as good place as any to get back in to the swim of blogging is Friday’s release by Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party Government of the three-year-old report on the supposed impact of the $15 minimum wage brought in by Rachel Notley’s NDP Government in 2018. Alberta Premier
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Take Back Alberta, far right radical group, continues its effort to take over UCP
CALGARY – A clearer picture is starting to emerge of how Take Back Alberta – the anti-vaccine, pro-Convoy, Q-adjacent extremist group key to Danielle Smith’s victory in last year’s United Conservative Party leadership race – is now taking over her party one riding association at a time. Crowsnest Pass Herald
Continue readingAlberta 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
Continue readingAlberta 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)
Continue readingAlberta 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
Continue readingAlberta 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
Continue readingAlberta 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.
Continue readingAlberta 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
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Ron Liepert, colourful former Alberta cabinet minister who unseated ‘Canada’s Worst MP,’ is set to retire
When Calgary Signal Hill Conservative MP Ron Liepert announced on social media on Feb. 17 that he is about to retire, no one seems to have thought to thank the man for his greatest service to Canada. Rob Anders when he was “Canada’s Worst MP,” in a typical pose (Photo:
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Budget 2023: Smoke, mirrors, sleight of hand, and promises that don’t have to be kept
Finance Minister Travis Toews got up on his hind legs in the Alberta Legislature yesterday, promised to spend more on health care and education, set up a billion-dollar special projects fund, pay down debt, and still leave the province with a $2.4-billion dollar surplus. Bolstered by record royalty revenues, Mr.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Astonishing! It’s Budget Day and suddenly there’s no health care crisis, and Alberta Health Services is A-OK!
It’s a shocker! But it turns out there is no crisis at Alberta Health Services! NDP Seniors and Housing Critic Lori Sigurdson (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). No need to take my word for this. It comes straight from the lips of Dr. John Cowell, the sole Administrator appointed by Premier
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Guest Post: Researcher Regan Boychuk digs deep into the history of the RStar scheme
Like other commentators, in the past few weeks I’ve paid a lot of attention to the United Conservative Party’s so-called RStar scheme to forgive multibillion dollar oil corporations at least $100 million of their royalty payments to clean up oil and gas wells they’re already legally and financially obligated to
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Like the proverbial bad penny, Raj Sherman keeps turning up – this time as UCP candidate in Edmonton-Whitemud
Just like the proverbial bad penny, Raj Sherman always turns up. Dr. Sherman in 2011 during his tenure as as Alberta Liberal leader, trying to make a very small crowd look like a big one (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). Now he’s turned up as the United Conservative Party’s candidate in
Continue readingAlberta Politics: AG on AB continuing care COVID response: lack of preparation, not enough staff, outdated infrastructure
It’s not exactly news that Alberta needs a staffing strategy for continuing care homes to prevent worker burnout and the kind of deaths seen the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Health Minister Jason Copping (Photo: Legislative Assembly of Alberta). That thought led the news just the same in Alberta
Continue readingAlberta 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
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Our annual Family Day toast to Don Getty, whose best-known achievement was one for the ages
The winters around here are long. Even with social media Canadians need a February holiday. Mr. Getty on the gridiron with the Edmonton Elks, then known by another name (Photo: Found on Pinterest). Come to think of it, given what the Internet has turned into in the few years since
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