PHOTOS: The little Post Office in downtown St. Albert, where your blogger lives, which Canada Post is anxious to close as soon as possible. Below: The U.S. Post Office in Fallon, Montana, the Canadian Post Office in Dewberry, Alberta (villageofdewberry…
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Alberta Politics: We frown on smiles! The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is unhappy to learn public-sector workers are happy
PHOTOS: Canadian public sector employees like these workers are just too darned happy and must be made to stop smiling, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation believes. Actual Canadian public sector workers may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: CTF …
Continue readingAlberta Politics: NDP moves to rein in Tory patronage and boondoggles at Alberta’s many boards, agencies and commissions
PHOTOS: NDP Finance Minister Joe Ceci on the day he was sworn in. Below: The full list of agencies to be amalgamated or eliminated by the government in the first round of its “ABC” review; NDP Environment Minister Shannon Phillips; and Tory health …
Continue readingAlberta Politics: If the Wildrose Party can’t unite the right on its terms, maybe there’s another way to skin that particular conservative cat
PHOTOS: Don’t look for a happy occasion like this any time in the near future of the Alberta Progressive Conservative and Wildrose parties (grabbed from FashionEra.com). Below: Wildrose Party Leader Brian Jean, Progressive Conservative Party Presiden…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: What makes sense for pill presses in Alberta doesn’t make sense for firearms: Discuss
PHOTOS: An illegal pill press, with illegal firearms (Australian Broadcasting Corporation photo). Below: Progressive Conservative MLA Mike Ellis and NDP MLA Deb Drever (Edmonton Journal photo). Hmmmm… Canada’s conservative parties – first among t…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Former AUPE president Dan MacLennan elected to party post to get Alberta Liberals back on radar
PHOTOS: A famous – and famously controversial – photo of Dan MacLennan playing golf with premier Ralph Klein (source not indicated). Below: Mr. MacLennan and Mr. Klein in conversation on the lawn of the Legislature; Mr. MacLennan as a union leader …
Continue readingAlberta Politics: RCMP turn a blind eye to abandoned firearms in Fort Mac – manna to the gun lobby but a worry to the rest of us
PHOTO: RCMP officers like these in High River during the flooding to 2013 were subjected to a vicious campaign of vilification by some Alberta gun enthusiasts for seizing abandoned weapons in the Southern Alberta town (CBC photo). QUEBEC CITY We know f…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: A complaint about a former politician’s coal industry advocacy yields more significant results than expected
PHOTOS: Coal mining in Alberta (CBC photo). Below: Former Tory finance minister Robin Campbell, president of the Coal Association of Canada, on his way to Ottawa this morning; Duncan Kinney of Progress Alberta; and Alberta Ethics Commissioner Margaret …
Continue readingAlberta Politics: It’s official: Departure of oil sands and hockey billionaire Murray Edwards had nothing to do with taxes
ILLUSTRATIONS: Alberta’s terrifying Temple of Tax, found on the media midway. So scary it even frightens billionaires away. Really! Below: Dr. Samuel Johnson, noted wit, N. Murray Edwards, oil sands billionaire (CBC photo), and Mr. James Boswell, bio…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Victory Day in Moscow: some thoughts about the wisdom of messing with Russia
PHOTOS: A scene for last year’s May 9 Victory Day Parade in Moscow. The red banner visible in the centre is one of the Soviet victory flags hoisted over the Reichstag in Berlin in May 1945. Below: My military history professor, Reginald H. Roy and Br…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Notley Government navigates a profound crisis with grace and empathy, as even some conservatives begin to recognize
PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, who has risen to the challenge of a difficult moment in Alberta’s history. Below: Municipal Affairs Minister Danielle Larivee and a scene from the Fort McMurray fire catastrophe, which continues to burn. The lat…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Fort Mac fire overshadows an earthshaking political anniversary – the NDP’s election one year ago today
One year ago today, Premier Rachel Notley and her New Democratic Party government swept in to power in Alberta. But celebration of Alberta’s unexpected and historically earthshaking Cinco de Mayo moment – and, of course, other emotions too on the p…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: St. Albert Catholic school board has spent more than $367,000 to defend firing of transgender teacher
PHOTOS: Transgender teacher Jan Buterman (Metro Newspapers photo). Below: Duncan Kinney of Progress Alberta, the former Pope Benedict, and David Keohane, Superintendent of Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools. ST. ALBERT, Alberta The St. Albert Catholic…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Votaries of right-wing unity gather in Red Deer, vote to form yet another conservative party
PHOTOS: Progressive Conservative interim Leader Ric McIver and Wildrose Leader Brian Jean in a rare recent moment of amity at, but of course, the Manning Centre’s Ottawa beanfest for right wingers in February 2016. This snapshot, the only one of its …
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Don’t blame loudmouth extremist Craig Chandler for PC Leader Ric McIver’s troubles – they’re all his own
PHOTOS: Tory Dream Team, 2014 edition. From left to right, Jim Prentice, Ric McIver and Thomas Lukaszuk. You’ve got to admit, from the perspective of 2016, Mr. Lukaszuk is lookin’ pretty good, and not just because of the orange tie! Below: Extreme …
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Where’s the beef? Alberta’s cattle industry is only getting what it ordered from Earls
PHOTOS: Where’s the beef? Not in Alberta, if this province’s beef industry can do anything about it. One thing this story has nothing to do with is small-time ranchers like the guy on the steer or independent restaurants like the one run by the mom…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Insightful Parkland Institute study of how media covers workplace injuries helps put yesterday’s tragedy in perspective
PHOTO: An Alberta Occupational Health and Safety officer on the job. (Government of Alberta illustration.) Below: Athabasca University labour relations professors Bob Barnetson and Jason Foster, authors of a new study on how media coverage distorts our…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Preston Manning is now publicly, openly at the centre of Alberta’s latest ‘unite-the-right’ effort
PHOTOS: The Ambassadors reimagined. Actual unite-the-righters appearing with Preston Manning may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: The real Preston Manning, Wildrose Opposition Leader Brian Jean, “united alternative” Ambassador Rick Orman, …
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Shakeup? Lobby firms launch new publications to compete in a previously comfortable niche under the dome
PHOTOS: Glimpses of two lobby firms’ new publications about Alberta’s government. Below: Lobbyist, lawyer and former Wildrose MLA Shayne Saskiw, journalist Samantha Power, lobbyist and former Stelmach political advisor Elan MacDonald, and lobbyist …
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Same old same old at the CPC: The Conservative boss hasn’t gone crazy, and he may even be the same guy …
PHOTOS: The Conservative Party of Canada is still singin’ the same old tune – Stephen Harper’s. (CBC photo.) Below: Senator Mike Duffy, former Conservative cabinet member Jason Kenney, Manitoba Tory MP Candice Bergen, Ontario Court Judge Charles …
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