PHOTOS: Former federal Conservative cabinet minister Jason Kenney looks like he’s describing how he’ll capture the Alberta PC Party, then the Wildrose, and unite them whether they like it or not, in this shot grabbed from his Parliamentary Flickr a…
Continue readingAuthor: David Climenhaga
Alberta Politics: Albertans hear the same old same old as fast-food restaurant owners grow hysterical over minimum wage
PHOTOS: Alberta Labour Minister Christina Gray, who is sticking to her guns on the provincial government’s plans to raise the provincial minimum wage to $15 by 2018. Below: Notable fair wage campaigners, Joe Ceci, finance minister of Alberta; Frankli…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Ottawa won’t say if former Ukrainian prime minister is now a Canadian citizen, as Russian media report
PHOTOS: Former Ukrainian prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and former Canadian PM Stephen Harper in their July 13, 2015, news conference announcing a Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement. (Screen shot of CBC broadcast.) Below: Former Conservative immigra…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Standard & Poor’s downgrades Saskatchewan’s credit rating and The Anger Machine falls silent
PHOTOS: Like a flock of starlings, the entire Canadian Perpetual Outrage Industry knows when to wheel and turn instantly. Since they do it electronically, it’s almost as if they’re … a machine! Below: Brad Wall, the crumbling Colossus of the Prai…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: A spectre is haunting Alberta, and Wildrose Leader Brian Jean wants to assure you it’s not him!
PHOTOS: The plot thickens … like the gravy at a certain truck stop restaurant. The spectral presences of Jason Kenney and Stephen Harper eating breakfast are not quite visible in the booth. Below: Mr. Jean, plus the real Mr. Kenney and the real Mr. H…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jason Kenney’s bizarre ‘Brexit’ broadsides: the explanation is in the dog-whistle
ILLUSTRATION: Press Progress’s take on Jason Kenney’s “Brexit” broadsides Thursday night and yesterday morning (Press Progress image). Below: The Acme Professional Dog Whistle, now commanding attention all over the world. It is made in U.K. You…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: You take the high road and we’ll take the low road: The Kenney Cabal’s strategy to grab back power in Alberta for the right
PHOTOS: Jason Kenney with Preston Manning. Below: Likely Kenney opponents Sandra Jansen, another possible PC candidate, and Brian Jean, leader of the Wildrose Party in happier times. In many ways, as was said here two days ago, Jason Kenney is a miscas…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The tragedies we ignore: Recent Wildrose gaffe won’t end right’s bogus equivalencies in Canadian political discourse
PHOTOS: The Famine Memorial in Dublin. The Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s and ’50s is ignored in current Canadian political discourse while the Ukrainian Famine of the 1930s is frequently evoked. Both are real historical events with ideological roo…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jason Kenney: Conservative saviour or a guy with the appeal of a trip to the dentist?
PHOTOS: Jason Kenney at a NATO do, looking positively Nixonian (from his Facebook page). Below: The only shot I ever managed to get of Mr. Kenney myself; former Progressive Conservative saviour Jim Prentice; Mr. Kenney letting his hair down at Toronto
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Explaining how the right wing echo chamber operates … operates … operates … The Strange Case of the Canada Pension Plan
PHOTOS: “Alright, everyone, here’s what we’re gonna say: ‘Expanding the CPP is a solution in search of a problem.’ Everybody got that? Fraser? Check! APEC? Check! CFIB? Check! Taxpayers? Check! … ” Actual right-wing echo chamber conferenc…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Time for parties of the Canadian and Alberta right to deal with the violent extremists in their midst
PHOTOS: Nigel Farage, leader of the extremist U.K. Independence Party, at the 2013 Manning Conference in Ottawa. That’s former Australian prime minister John Howard with his back to the camera, for what it’s worth. Below: The target picturing Alber…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: When Tories, the Fraser Institute and media team up to attack plans to improve the CPP, you have to know it needs fixing!
ILLUSTRATIONS: A luxurious retirement? Do you get the feeling that ship may have sailed? Well, rich conservatives and their flunkies want you to think that a better Canada Pension Plan is a bad idea anyway. Below: Conservative Party of Canada Finance C…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Appalling gun lobby press release begs Canadians not to blame the gun used in massacre
PHOTOS: Retired Quebec Liberal Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette (Alchetron.com), whose Senate bill would make a sensible model for government gun-control legislation. Below: Conservative British Columbia MP Bob Zimmer, an advocate of lifting all Canadi…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: After the fall: The world needs more Meat Loaf
PHOTOS: My only, terrible, mobile phone photo of Meat Loaf on stage, before the fall. Below: The author and his daughter in their Meat Loaf T-shirts, likely to become a collectors’ item if the remaining dates in the concert tour are cancelled. Reader…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Athabasca University documents suggest institution’s leadership remains out of sync with Alberta’s NDP government
PHOTOS: Athabasca University’s headquarters in the Town of Athabasca, 145 kilometres north of Edmonton. Below: Alberta Advanced Education Minister Marlin Schmidt and AU Interim President Peter MacKinnon. Two recently completed reviews springing from …
Continue readingAlberta Politics: OMG! Energy industry faces ‘existential threat’ from Hollywood, ‘ever-growing matrix of activists’
PHOTOS: Brad Wall, increasingly the Mr. Disagreeable of Confederation. Below: Calgary’s Glenmore Reservoir as dreamed of by supporters of the Saskatchewan Party of Alberta. Actual Calgary beaches may not appear exactly as illustrated, either with reg…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Government’s dismissal of Crown corporation’s board indicates NDP is paying attention to Alberta’s ABC sector
PHOTOS: Alberta Agriculture Minister Oneil Carlier seen walking through an angry crowd of Bill 6 protesters last fall, chatting with participants. Below: Brad Klak, suspended president of Alberta’s Crown-owned Agriculture Financial Services Corporati…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: We need a referendum on electoral reform? No! We need a national referendum on the TPP!
PHOTOS: Justin Trudeau, back in 2015 before he was prime minister, promising Canadians real change, including electoral reform, if we gave him the chance. We gave him the chance. Below: Opposition Conservative interim Leader Rona Ambrose (CBC Photo) an…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Wilting Roses: Wildrose ‘coup’ bid pushes party toward social conservative fringe, former leader Danielle Smith says
PHOTOS: Danielle Smith leads Wildrose Party members in the 2014 Calgary Pride Parade, with then-MLAs Kerry Towle is on her right and Jeff Wilson on her left. She was punished for this defiance by the party’s social conservative wing. Below: Ms. Smith…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: A Tale of Two Parties: NDP stages slick post-victory convention while Wildrose Opposition tears itself to pieces
PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley addresses the provincial NDP Convention in Calgary yesterday. (Photo from Ms. Notley’s Facebook page.) Below: Wildrose Leader Brian Jean, his supporter, MLA Pat Stier, and NDP party first VP candidates Ann Wilson…
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