PHOTOS: Jeremy Corbyn on Sept. 5, campaigning in Margate. (Photo by Chris Beckett.) Below: A young Mr. Corbyn, always true to his principles; the catastrophic Margaret Thatcher; 1970s Labour prime minister Harold Wilson; NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair. If you’re one of those who imagines Alberta has embarked on a “dangerous
Continue readingAuthor: David Climenhaga
Alberta Politics: Fake news: Wildrose urges market-based breathing solutions to ease air-quality woes
PHOTO: The NDP Government refuses to fix Alberta’s air-quality problems with effective market-based solutions and instead wants to force Albertans to ride bicycles like these and be tied up in communist Red tape. If the people illustrated here had true freedom, they could choose the quality of air that suited
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Thomas Mulcair comes to Edmonton bringing the promise of flinty eyed fixes to our national malaise
PHOTOS: NDP supporters lined up to take selfies with the man they hope will be the next prime minister of Canada. And if Thomas Mulcair wasn’t available, as below, there was always his bearded visage on the side of a bus for a selfie. Bottom: Mr. Mulcair, still smiling, as
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Thomas Lukaszuk, once the Gorgeous George of Alberta politics, ponders an unlikely political resurrection
PHOTOS: Thomas Lukaszuk, at what was arguably the summit of his political career, launching his bid in May 2014 to lead the Progressive Conservative Party and become premier of Alberta. Below: Mr. Lukaszuk showing his flowing locks to advantage, 1950s wrestling star Gorgeous George, and Edmonton-Castle Down MLA Nicole Goehring.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Almost as beloved as Brad Wall, you’ll be shocked to learn the identity of Canada’s second most popular premier!
PHOTOS: The second-most popular premier in Canada. You know, what’s her name … Really! She’s in there somewhere! Below: B.C. Premier Christy Clark and Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger. A week ago, the Angus Reid polling company, which nowadays styles itself an Institute, released its regular poll of Canada’s premiers’ popularity.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Give some credit to Jerry Bance for improving the quality of Conservative public discourse
ILLUSTRATIONS: Is it time to give Jerry Bance a break? After all, he’s raised the tone of Conservative discourse in Toronto, and raised our national profile abroad. (Image grabbed from the CBC, just as Mr. Bance reaches for the cup.) Below: Mr. Bance in happier times, with both his hands
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Labour Day 2015: Analyzing Europe’s refugee crisis through the lens of labour rights
PHOTOS: The Za’atari camp for Syrian refugees in Jordan. Below: International studies scholar Vijay Prashad; former Conservative Senator Hugh Segal. On Labour Day 2015, the world’s attention is focused on the great migration of desperate human beings streaming into Europe from the economic and military catastrophes of North Africa and
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The refugee crisis: Harper Conservatives just can’t spin it both ways
PHOTOS: Refugees from the Syrian civil war clog a road near the Syria-Iraq border. (UNHCR photo.) Below: Saskatchewan Conservative MP Kelly Block’s constituency leaflet; Ms. Block herself; Immigration Minister Chris Alexander. For several years, the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper has played to the worst instincts of a significant
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Wildrose Party wins Calgary-Foothills by-election, and fairly decisively, but leaves plenty of grist for the mill
PHOTOS: Wildrose Party candidate Prasad Panda celebrates his victory last night in the Calgary-Foothills by-election with Wildrose Leader Brian Jean. (Photo from Mr. Panda’s Twitter account.) Below: NDP candidate Bob Hawkesworth and PC candidate Blair Houston. Within moments of Wildrose Party candidate Prasad Panda emerging as the winner in the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Controversial Wildrose leaflet had similarities to B.C. Liberals’ Chinese-language ads smearing NDP
PHOTOS: Wildrose Leader Brian Jean, at right, appeared on a Calgary talk radio program yesterday. (Grabbed from Twitter.) Mr. Jean failed to repudiate accusations made in a Chinese-language party leaflet that the Alberta NDP advances communist ideology. Below: The late U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, anti-communist witch-hunter; former B.C. NDP candidate
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Will Wildrose Leader Brian Jean repudiate his Calgary-Foothills candidate’s ‘communist’ characterization of the NDP?
PHOTOS: Part of the Wildrose Chinese-language brochure that compared the NDP to communists. Below: Wildrose Calgary-Foothills candidate Prasad Panda, former Tory education minister Thomas Lukaszuk, NDP candidate Bob Hawkesworth, former Wildrose House leader Rob Anderson and former Wildrose leader Paul Hinman. What words should we use to describe the Chinese-language
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Conservatives have to tie themselves in knots to sustain their narrative about Alberta’s fiscal situation
PHOTOS: Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci, dressed in a sombre blue suit, delivers the fiscal report to predictable reactions from the opposition. Below: Wildrose finance critic and chief sloganeer Derek Fildebrandt as he appeared yesterday. Given the history of this province and its current goings on, our various stripes of
Continue readingAlberta Politics: On this day in 1971, Alberta woke up to an unexpected PC government that turned out to be a dynasty
PHOTOS: Peter Lougheed addresses his supporters immediately after winning the 1971 Alberta election. Below: The front page of the Calgary Herald, 44 years ago today. Readers with eagle eyes will notice that the lead story carries the byline of Kevin Peterson. Mr. Peterson went on to be managing editor, editor-in-chief
Continue readingAlberta Politics: ‘Event logisticians’? Give us a break! They’re bouncers! What’s that tell you about the Tories?
PHOTOS: Prime Minister Stephen Harper meets a group of foreign event logistics consultants while travelling abroad (Government of Canada photo). Below: Pierre Trudeau does suppressed fury the right way; Mr. Harper does it with considerably less appeal. Clearly, the continuing uproar about Stephen Harper’s “event logistics team members” tells us
Continue readingAlberta Politics: NDP deftly picks royalty review panel while media freaks out about low-key welcome for ‘lightweight’ U.S. politicians
PHOTOS: U.S. President Lindsey Graham, left, is welcomed by a Wildrose Government colour party of Alberta Legislature security officers sometime in the imagined future. Actual circumstances may not unfold exactly as illustrated. Below: Former finance deputy minister Annette Trimbee, energy economist Peter Tertzakian and Beaverlodge Mayor Leona Hanson, as they
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Now that CAPP’s president has called for quick energy royalty review, Wildrose and PC leaders can be expected to fall into line
PHOTOS: Never mind the Opposition parties, guys like these want Alberta’s energy royalty review to get cracking right now! Below: CAPP President Tim McMillan, Wildrose Opposition Leader Brian Jean, Progressive Conservative Party Leader Ric McIver and NDP Labour Minister Lori Sigurdson. While Alberta’s New Democratic Party government has been pushing
Continue readingAlberta Politics: NDP strength in Calgary-Foothills riding suggests May 5 election was no fluke – and could rattle federal Tory narrative
PHOTOS: A Chinook arch moves across the sky of Calgary in 2007, bringing warmer temperatures and, for some people, headaches. The same kind of thing happens in politics. Below: NDP Calgary-Foothills candidate Bob Hawkesworth, Conservative Blair Houston and Wildroser Prasad Panda. So, what happens if the Alberta NDP wins the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Give a thought to Alberta’s approaching budget day: there’s little to gain and plenty to lose from ‘debt free’ government
PHOTOS: Former premier Ralph Klein, now elevated to sainthood by the neoliberal cargo cult, celebrating the retirement of Alberta’s debt in 2004, never mind the mess the infrastructure was in. Below: Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci, Canadian economist Jim Stanford and Wildrose Finance Critic Derek Fildebrandt, with, bottom, his old
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Desperate measures for desperate times: Eighty years ago today, Bible Billy had a plan to pay …
PHOTOS: The Edmonton Bulletin reports the stunning result of the Aug. 22, 1935, Alberta general election. It’s striking to observe how well-written and informative the Bulletin’s coverage was, compared to the quality of the prose in the popular press 80 years later. Below: Social Credit premier William Aberhart, British economist
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Code Crossover: How long before the Edmonton Journal and the Edmonton Sun are merged?
ILLUSTRATIONS: Sun Journal, or Journal Sun? Hyphen or no hyphen? Broadsheet or tabloid? Now that Journal subscribers are being pitched the Sunday Sun, and the two papers’ staffs will soon be working at the same address, amalgamation is only a matter of time. With apologies to the Lewiston, Maine, Sun
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