PHOTO: Your blogger, at right, wearing the brand new string tie he just bought in Santa Fe, takes a whack at Derek Fildebrandt, the Wildrose Opposition’s finance critic. Actual Alberta politicians and political commentators may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: The real Derek Fildebrandt; Globe and Mail reporter Carrie
Continue readingAuthor: David Climenhaga
Alberta Politics: NDP brings to an end Alberta PCs’ bizarre experiment with one-person heath-care rule
PHOTOS: Alberta Health Minister Sarah Hoffman announces the restoration of normal board governance to Alberta Health Services at the provincial Legislature yesterday. Below: Newly appointed AHS Board members Linda Hughes, Glenda Yeates and Brenda Hemmelgarn. Below them: Premier Rachel Notley on the big screen at AUPE’s convention, as union President
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Guest Post by Mimi Williams: When the NDP abandoned its socialist principles, it abandoned its chance of winning
PHOTOS: Federal NDP leader Thomas Mulcair – whatever was he thinking? Below: Guest Post author Mimi Williams; Jeremy Corbyn, new leader of Britain’s Labour Party. Many New Democrats were shocked and dismayed at the outcome of Monday’s federal election, despite their relief that Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party government
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta’s NDP government gets serious about economic diversification, an overdue change
PHOTOS: Premier Rachel Notley with Economic Development and Trade Minister Deron Bilous and Municipal Affairs Minister Danielle Larivee moments after the two cabinet members were sworn into their new portfolios. Below: Labour and Advanced Education Minister Lori Sigurdson. A key part of the business of any government is the business
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Death threats and vile misogynist commentary about NDP politicians infest Alberta social media
PHOTOS: An organizer of a rally by the group Albertans Against the NDP, addresses a couple of dozen supporters in Calgary last Saturday. The horses are public art and were not technically part of the rally. Until recently, the group’s home page featured violent and offensive commentary about the Alberta
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The story thus far from Alberta: the Western Alienation narrative starts today
PHOTOS: A couple of typical alienated Westerners discuss what to do next now that another Trudeau is about to be sworn in as prime minister of Canada. Head for the hills, I guess. Below: The elder prime minister Trudeau, Pierre, and Alberta premier Peter Lougheed toast the mutually satisfactory deal
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Justin Trudeau’s victory speech was generous, but toughly repudiated Stephen Harper’s divisive rule
PHOTOS: Justin Trudeau addresses supporters in Montreal last night in this screen shot from the CBC’s broadcast of the prime minister elect’s victory speech. Below: the Trudeaus, son and father. Justin Trudeau’s victory speech last night touched a gracious note of tribute to the losers, especially the evening’s principal loser,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Where are the ‘good Conservatives,’ prepared to speak against their party’s race-baiting tactics?
PHOTOS: Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s tactics have sparked protests, but Conservatives who should know better have been astonishingly quiet. (CommonDreams.org photo.) Below: Former St. Albert MLA Mary O’Neill, Independent MP Brent Rathgeber and Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi. ST. ALBERT, Alberta The single most disheartening thing about this long 2015 federal
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Whatever happens next, Justin Trudeau has brought the Liberals back from the brink
PHOTOS: Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau addresses his supporters in Edmonton this morning. Below: Mr. Trudeau’s supporters line up in the pale morning light to get into his rally; Mr. Trudeau greets supporters as he bounded to the stage. Charisma matters. I don’t know if Justin Trudeau’s Liberals will win the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Eleven grinding weeks and this federal election comes down to a science question: momentum, or inertia?
PHOTOS: Federal NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair on stage in Edmonton Friday night (photo by Olav Rokne). The red signs say “Stop Harper.” Perhaps at this hour they should say “Stop Trudeau!” Below: Well-known Alberta pollster Janet Brown, Calgary Centre Liberal candidate Kent Hehr, former Mississauga, Ont., mayor Hazel McCallion, and
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Brothels? Neighbourhood injection sites? Have the Cons jumped the shark? Or is the nightmare just beginning?
PHOTOS: Trashy bars like this with free-injection sites and illegal card games out back could soon start popping up in cities like yours if we don’t re-elect the sternly upright Stephen Harper. Really! And if you think this story was easy to illustrate without straining the limits of good taste,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta’s Wildrose Opposition: just off the turnip truck … or what?
ILLUSTRATIONS: Edmonton’s Royal Alexandra Hospital, back in the day. Below: A newer version of the same hospital, one of the buildings that’s now falling apart. (From CardCow.com) Below that image: Wildrose Health Critic Drew Barnes; Richard Starke, MLA, and Richard Starkey, MBE. Anybody who’s been inside the Royal Alexandra Hospital
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Welcome to the Orwellian world of Wildrose, where keeping your promises makes you a liar
PHOTOS: Possibly the Globe and Mail’s best headline of the decade. Below: NDP Premier Rachel Notley, Wildrose Finance Critic Derek Fildebrandt, the sailboat known as French Kiss, shown just to prove I didn’t make that part up, the full Globe headline, shown for the same reason. Is Alberta ready for
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Lawyers, guns and money: Russia’s intervention in Syria offers a useful teaching moment for Canadians
PHOTOS: A Russian Su-34 bomber releases a bomb near the provisional ISIS capital of Raqqa in Syria. (Russian Ministry of Defence photo.) Below: Russian President Vladimir Putin, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Russia’s military intervention in the Syrian civil war has offered a unique teaching
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Independent MP Brent Rathgeber gives St. Albertans a former Tory insider’s take on the many sins of the Harper PMO
PHOTOS: Independent MP Brent Rathgeber, in a typical pose, chats with a couple of constituents at last night’s candidates’ forum in St. Albert, Alberta. Below: Conservative candidate Michael Cooper, Mr. Rathgeber again, New Democrat Darlene Malayko and Liberal Beatrice Ghettuba. ST. ALBERT, Alberta The only Independent candidate in Canada with
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Fortune favours the brave? Trudeau risks advocating sane gun laws and ripping PM’s dog-whistle bigotry
PHOTOS: Liberal Party Leader Justin Trudeau during a visit to Edmonton last year. Below: NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair and Prime Minister Stephen Harper. It should have been natural for the leader of the NDP to finally be the one who clearly called out Prime Minister Stephen Harper for his unprincipled
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Fireworks notably absent during final Edmonton royalty review public consultation
PHOTOS: Royalty review chair Dave Mowat, top left, addresses the small and polite crowd that showed up in Edmonton for the panel’s open house last night. Below: Mr. Mowat again and committee members Peter Tertzakian and Leona Hanson. The biggest challenge the Notley Government’s royalty review committee faces may turn
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Campaign Life website changes candidate’s answers to ‘no response’ – so what does Michael Cooper really think?
PHOTOS: St. Albert-Edmonton candidate Michael Cooper with his campaign manager, former St. Albert mayor Richard Plain. (Photo from Mr. Cooper’s campaign Facebook page.) Below: Screen shots of the Campaign Life questionnaire response page on Friday and the same page today. ST. ALBERT, Alberta A website operated by an extreme anti-abortion
Continue readingAlberta Politics: St. Albert-Edmonton Conservative candidate Michael Cooper must clearly state his position on women’s reproductive rights
PHOTOS: St. Albert-Edmonton Conservative candidate Michael Cooper, centre, with former Alberta Justice Minister Jonathan Denis, left, and Employment Minister Pierre Pollievre in a photo grabbed from Mr. Cooper’s campaign website. Below: A shot of Mr. Cooper snapped on my doorstep when he turned up campaigning for the Conservative nomination. ST.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: One day after his graceless departure, former Alberta ‘envoy’ to Washington lands lobbying gig
PHOTOS: Sour grapes! Actual former Alberta trade representatives may not appear exactly as illustrated. (Photo from Barkpost.com.) Below: Alberta Conservative-connected lobbyists Rob Merrifield, Hal Danchilla, Brian Storseth and Rick Orman. Rob Merrifield’s parting shot at the Alberta government: tacky. Canadian Strategy Group’s decision to hire Mr. Merrifield as a lobbyist:
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