PHOTOS: The question isn’t just whether Alberta’s students are getting the information they need, but whether media is giving the rest of us all the facts we require when we read news stories about education policy. Below: Former Edmonton Public Schools curriculum director Stuart Wachowicz, a frequent source used in
Continue readingAuthor: David Climenhaga
Alberta Politics: Oil Change at Rath’s Garage by Shari Narine leads Audreys Books Edmonton Bestseller List this week
Here is the list of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold in Edmonton for the week ended May 21, 2017, compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. EDMONTON FICTION BESTSELLERS 1. Oil Change at Rath’s Garage – Shari Narine* 2. Paper Teeth
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Wildrosers and Progressive Conservatives act as if fighting the NDP’s workplace fairness law is their hill to die on
PHOTOS: Edmonton labour lawyer Andrew Sims and Alberta Labour Minister Christina Gray at yesterday’s technical briefing on the NDP Government’s new labour legislation. (Photo: CBC) Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, and Alberta Liberal interim Leader David Swann and Alberta Party Leader Greg Clark, both of whom supported introduction of the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: ‘Foreign influence’ had nothing to do with Tory Joan Crockatt’s Calgary Centre election defeat in 2015
PHOTOS: Joan Crockatt, during her brief spell as Conservative Member of Parliament for Calgary Centre. Below: Liberal Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr, who beat Ms. Crockatt in 2015; environmentalist Chris Turner who ran against her for the Greens in 2012 and did very well; and environmentalist Harvey Locke, who ran
Continue readingAlberta Politics: There’s no life like it! Alberta’s right-wing troll army is recruiting
ILLUSTRATIONS: Poster thanks to the U.S. Army, circa 1941-42 or whenever they finally got around to joining the fight, with a little help from PhotoShop. Below: Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi – is he the target of the Troll Army’s latest Alberta campaign? The ad in question. Alberta’s right-wing Troll Army
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Don’t look for dramatic change to Alberta labour laws in revisions NDP will likely introduce this week
PHOTOS: Alberta Labour Minister Christina Gray (Photo: Chris Schwarz, Government of Alberta). Below: Labour Lawyer Andrew Sims and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley (Photo: Dave Cournoyer, Wikimedia Commons.) Alberta’s New Democratic Party Government is expected to introduce changes to the province’s main labour relations laws this week, quite possibly on Wednesday.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Tories, Wildrosers agree to call new entity United Conservative Party … without ever speaking the initials aloud
PHOTOS: Wildrose Leader Brian Jean and Progressive Conservative Leader Jason Kenney pose uncomfortably in this Wildrose Party photo. Below: A CBC shot by Terry Reith may have captured the real mood better. Below that: Twitterist Edwin Mundt’s take on the You See Pee. Question: What happens when Alberta Can’t Wait?
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Madmen in the White House … this time it’s a thing, not just a ‘strategy’
PHOTOS: U.S. President Richard Nixon pointing the way to the exit for Donald Trump’s benefit. Below: Mr. Nixon about to board the helicopter that would take him away from Washington for the last time in an official capacity; a recent photo of President Trump; the sinister Dr. Henry Kissinger, then
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Berlin-Warszawa Express by Eamon McGrath tops latest Audreys Books Edmonton bestseller list
Here is the list of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold in Edmonton for the week ended May 14, 2017, compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. EDMONTON FICTION BESTSELLERS 1. Berlin-Warszawa Express – Eamon McGrath* 2. Fifteen Days – André Alexis
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Rachel Notley’s tough talk on pipelines evokes the Peter Lougheed Era of energy policy confrontation
PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley at yesterday’s news conference in Edmonton. (Photo: Chris Schwarz, Government of Alberta) Below: Earth scientist David Hughes (Post Carbon Institute photo), B.C. Premier Christy Clark (B.C. Government photo), and B.C. NDP Leader John Horgan. Using language that, intentionally or not, evoked the Peter Lougheed Era
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Worthwhile Canadian initiative … Rona Ambrose said to be departing politics to help out the Wilson Centre
PHOTOS: Outgoing interim federal Opposition Leader Rona Ambrose listens seriously to someone in this Government of Canada shot found lingering on the Internet. Below: Ms. Ambrose and her domestic partner, J.P. Veitch, grabbed from her Facebook page, and Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, plucked from the author’s vast collection of political
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Who needs old-time climate change deniers when we’ve got the ‘New Climate Denialism’?
PHOTOS: Shannon Daub, associate director of the CCPA’s British Columbia office and co-director of the Corporate Mapping Project, at the mapping project’s 2017 Summer Institute at the University of Victoria this week. Below: CCPA B.C. Director Seth Klein (Twitter) and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. VICTORIA, B.C. Just because there are
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta authors Linda Phillips and Janice MacDonald top Audreys Books fiction and non-fiction bestsellers lists
Here is the list of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold in Edmonton for the week ended April 30, 2017, compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. EDMONTON FICTION BESTSELLERS 1. Alphabet Stage (Children’s) – Linda M. Phillips* 2. Only Leave a
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Liberals propped up by a tiny Green caucus may be worst outcome of B.C. election for Alberta’s NDP
PHOTOS: B.C. Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver (CBC photo), who seems to have found his tiny three-member caucus holding the balance of power in the province’s Legislature. Below: B.C. Premier Christy Clark (Wikimedia Commons: Kris Krug), Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, B.C. NDP Leader John Horgan, and B.C. Lieutenant Governor Judith
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Dispatches from British Columbia: This is what you call a close election
VICTORIA, B.C. This is what you call a close election. When your blogger gave up and packed it in for the night, the vote in the British Columbia general election was still essentially a tie: B.C. Liberals 42, B.C. New Democrats 42, and Greens 3. By morning a lot may
Continue readingAlberta Politics: It’s weird to see Alberta’s Wildrose Party paying tribute to (Pierre) Trudeau’s National Energy Program … but what the heck!
PHOTOS: Prime minister Pierre Trudeau, at right, and Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed looking friendly enough in this file shot taken back in the 1980s. Below: Wildrose Economic Development Critic Prasad Panda and former Manitoba (shhhhhh … NDP) premier Gary Doer. VICTORIA, B.C. While we await the results of today’s British
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Message to the media and conservatives about Alberta’s NDP: Read their lips, no early election!
PHOTOS: Opposition Wildrose Leader Brian Jean and Progressive Conservative Leader Jason Kenney. Below: A clear-eyed Premier Rachel Notley, former British Columbia NDP premier Dave Barrett and the late Jim Prentice, former premier of Alberta. TORONTO “Two years after Alberta NDP win, critics see signs of early election call,” a headline
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Re-stating the obvious: elections matter, and the Alberta NDP victory on May 5, 2015, proves it
PHOTOS: Rachel Notley celebrates her victory on the night of May 5, 2015. Below: Ms. Notley again, the same night, still celebrating; defeated Progressive Conservative Premier Jim Prentice as seen via TV at NDP headquarters conceding to the NDP; a small corner of the crowd at NDP election headquarters in
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Into the Fire by Jerron Hawlwy, Graham Hurley, and Steve Sackett tops Edmonton non-fiction bestseller list
Here is the list of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold in Edmonton for the week ended April 30, 2017, compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Associations of Alberta. EDMONTON FICTION BESTSELLERS 1. Wenjack – Joseph Boyden 2. A Wake for the Dreamland –
Continue readingAlberta Politics: As the temperature rises, so will the risk – some thoughts on the Fort Mac Wildfire, one year ago today
PHOTOS: Cars full of refugees from the Fort McMurray Wildfire flee the flames on May 3, 2016. (Wikipedia) Below: Premier Rachel Notley, then Municipal Affairs Minister Danielle Larivee, and Opposition leader Brian Jean. Today is the anniversary of the moment one year ago when the Fort McMurray Wildfire tore through
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