PHOTOS: Beggars and bazillionaires, not really as far apart as you think, the Fraser Institute insists. Top 100 Canadian corporate executives may not appear exactly as illustrated. Minimum wage workers, though? Not so different. Below: CCPA researcher …
Continue readingAuthor: David Climenhaga
Alberta Politics: Short-term jobs and profits notwithstanding, Canada’s interests are not served by Saudi armoured vehicle sale
PHOTOS: A Canadian LAV III similar to the armoured vehicles to be sold by General Dynamics Land Systems (Canada) of London, Ont., to the Saudi National Guard. Below: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Foreign Minister Stéphane Dion, former MI6 head Sir Ri…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: As widely predicted, Calgary-Bow MLA Deborah Drever invited to rejoin New Democratic Party Government’s caucus
PHOTOS: Surrounded and supported by NDP House Leader Brian Mason, Calgary-Varsity MLA Stephanie McLean and Finance Minister Joe Ceci, Calgary-Bow MLA Deborah Drever addresses the media in Calgary yesterday after being welcomed back into the Government …
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Shredding the public interest! Albertans will never know what Tory secrets were purged by the PCs last May
PHOTOS: Privacy Commissioner Jill Clayton and Public Interest Commissioner Peter Hourihan (CBC photo). Below: Results of some of the shredding that took place in the basement of the Alberta Legislature on May 6; Service Alberta Minister Danielle Larive…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta NDP defies voters by continuing to govern as if it won the election that put it in power: political scientist
PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, running the province as if she had a majority government! What next? Below: University of Calgary political scientist and Calgary Herald columnist Barry Cooper, Broadbent Institute Director Rick Smith and Wildrose…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Progress Alberta, new progressive advocacy group, will make waves … not just with opponents but maybe on own side too
PHOTOS: The Alberta Legislature, suitably decorated for the province’s progressive and proudly diverse population. Below: Progress Alberta Executive Director Duncan Kinney. Progress Alberta, a new group that describes itself as “a multi-issue, inde…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Why Canada’s belligerent Conservatives are likely praying for peace in the Persian Gulf
PHOTOS: The nuclear powered American aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush in the Persian Gulf in in 2014. (U.S. Navy photo.) Mighty warships are the carriers, but in the constricted waters of the Gulf, vulnerable nevertheless. Below: A map of the Gulf…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Newsletter publisher apologizes and takes full responsibility for wrong MLA message – but Team Angry’s still angry at NDP
PHOTOS: Spokespeople for the Wildrose and Progressive Conservative parties stand by to comment in the media on the latest manufactured Alberta political crisis. Actual opposition politicians may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Independent MLA…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Calgary Sun, angry conservatives try to spin a glorified typographical error into the first political brouhaha of 2016
PHOTOS: Independent Calgary-Bow MLA Deborah Drever in a recent shot grabbed from her Facebook page. Below: Wildrose Finance Critic Derek Fildebrand (grabbed from Facebook) and PC interim Leader Ric McIver (from Wikipedia). The Calgary Sun called it “…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Happy New Year! In 2016, let’s improve workplace safety, forgive student loans and pull the plug on daylight savings
PHOTOS: Happy New Year! Wouldn’t 2016 be a great time to start allowing the sale of beer, wine and liquor in safe, clean and unionized Alberta grocery stores? Below: Saskatchewan CCF Premier Tommy Douglas and Canadian Prime Minister Lester Pearson, w…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Year in review: from plunging oil to rising hope, the Top Ten news stories of 2015
PHOTOS: Cameras try to follow a nearly invisible Rachel Notley through the crowd at an Edmonton hotel on May 5, 2015, moments after she had been declared the winner of the Alberta election. No one could quite believe that the NDP had just won a majorit…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: New Year’s resolutions: Time for Alberta’s conservative leaders to speak out against violent and misogynistic political speech
ILLUSTRATIONS: Counting down to New Year’s. Three days to go is plenty of time for the leaders of Alberta’s conservatives to resolve to speak out in the New Year against threatening and misogynistic commentary by their supporters. Below: Former PM …
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Baked Alaska and the Fraser Institute: what changes, and what doesn’t, when oil prices fall and the money melts
PHOTOS: Alaska Governor Bill Walker illustrates about how much is left in the northern state’s budget now that oil prices have gone south. (Alaska Dispatch News photo.) Below: The wild rose, official flower of both Alaska and Alberta; baked Alaska, g…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Christmas in Wildrose Country: That noise on the roof may not be Santa Claus! It could be the UN, here to steal your turnips!
ILLUSTRATIONS: Will Santa have to come armed and armoured like this to be safe on Alberta rooftops in case the province’s loony right mistakes him for a UN trooper bent on world government and turnip confiscation? Below: Wildrose MLA Rick Strankman a…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Eight months of the NDP in review: Main themes pretty much as predicted on Day 2
PHOTOS: Premier Rachel Notley gives her victory speech on the historic evening of May 5, 2015, moments after the Alberta NDP’s victory was declared. Below: Former British Columbia NDP premier Dave Barrett, former Ontario NDP premier Bob Rae, later a …
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Canadian market-fundamentalist right looks to ‘Super PACs’ like so-called Alberta Prosperity Fund to grab back power
PHOTOS: ‘Super PACs’ have access to corporate vaults, and very little control or oversight of what they do with the money they’re given. Below: Alberta Prosperity Fund Director Barry McNamar, APF Advisory Council members Dave Rutherford and Camer…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: NDP environment minister, premier blamed for withdrawal of Senator Lindsey Graham from presidential race
PHOTOS: South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham dropped out of the race to become the Republican Party’s presidential candidate this morning. Well-informed sources point to Environment Minister Shannon Phillips and the rest of Alberta’s NDP governmen…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Former Tory labour minister and deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk enters the farm safety fray with ‘Bill 6 Taskforce’
PHOTOS: Thomas Lukaszuk in the summer of 2014 when he was running for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta. Below: A group of farmers and their supporters unhappy with Bill 6, the Enhanced Protection for Farm and Ranch Worker…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Dec. 17, 2014 – Defection Day – an Alberta anniversary to remember … and to forget!
PHOTOS: Defecting Opposition leader Danielle Smith, looking uncomfortable, gets an awkward and apparently unwanted hug from then-premier Jim Prentice at Government House in Edmonton as they announced their plans to merge the two parties’ caucuses. Be…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Are moderate Alberta conservatives likely to find themselves waking up to a Wildrose nightmare?
ILLUSTRATIONS: It’s a nightmare alright – but whose? Actual Alberta voters may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Wildrose Leader Brian Jean and NDP Premier Rachel Notley. (Both shown in CBC photos.) The prevailing narrative in the Alberta m…
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