Admiral Horatio Nelson gives up his life in the service of his country on the deck of HMS Victory on Oct. 21, 1805. Below: Horatio Nelson; his famous signal to his fleet: “England expects that every man will do his duty.” Surely, Canada should expect no less! NEW YORK “England
Continue readingAuthor: David Climenhaga
Alberta Diary: A very Albertan coup: Alison Redford fell victim to her own hubris, as well as that of her Progressive Conservative Party
Alison Redford announces her resignation moments after 6 p.m. yesterday while Deputy Premier Dave Hancock looks on grimly in the background. Below: Mr. Hancock, the man thought most likely to become the PC Party’s interim leader and premier, as the crisis played out last week. Alberta Premier Alison Redford, who
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Important fake news: Canada, Alberta to erect huge ‘Mother Oil’ statue near Fort Mac?
Screenshot of the WTFAlberta.ca fake news site. Below: Publisher David Climenhaga in his misspent youth, when he still had hair. Painting by Ryn Climenhaga. Alberta Diary is pleased to announce a new website in the vast and growing Alberta Diary online publishing empire: WTFAlberta.ca. WTFAlberta.ca, which can also be found
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Electoral math is calculus, not arithmetic, so 15 more Tory defectors won’t necessarily bring down Alison Redford’s shaky government
Alberta Premier Alison Redford and her crack team of Tory political strategists consult the Billion Dollar Brainiac, the Alberta government’s carbon- and vote-capture supercomputer, to figure out how many members must remain in her shrinking caucus for the party to survive a non-confidence motion. Actual crack Alberta political strategists may
Continue readingAlberta Diary: If Alison Redford won’t voluntarily step aside, Alberta’s Tories are likely finished
Alberta Premier Cruella de Vil brings some of her rebellious MLAs to heel. Actual Alberta politicians may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: High-profile caucus rebel Donna Kennedy-Glans; Stephen Mandel, former mayor of Edmonton and about the only person who could unseal the Alberta Tories’ doom at this late hour.
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Vladimir Putin’s strategic crisis in 2014 sure looks a lot like John F. Kennedy’s in 1962
President John F. Kennedy signs the proclamation of the “Interdiction of the Delivery of Offensive Weapons to Cuba” on Oct. 23, 1962. The order imposed the U.S. naval blockade on Cuba that Mr. Kennedy had announced during his televised address the night before. Below: Soviet Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev, Russian
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Worst political strategy ever: Alison Redford put on probation by Tory party big shots
Alberta Premier Alison Redford, as her party used to see her. (In the background, an ecstatic Thomas Lukaszuk.) Sad to say, this is another example of actual politicians not appearing exactly as illustrated. Below: Alison Redford, as Cruella de Vil, the way her party sees her now. Below her: Red
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Allaudin Merali files suit against Fred Horne, Alberta Health Services for breach of contract, defamation
Health Minister Fred Horne: target of defamation, breach of trust, loss of income suit by former Alberta Health Services CFO. Below: Allaudin Merali. Allaudin Merali filed a statement of claim today in the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench against Alberta Health Services and Alberta Health Minister Fred Horne. “The statement
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Tory caucus rebellion threatens Alberta premier? Nobody here but us chickens!
Alberta Premier Alison Redford departs Government House in Edmonton at 11:32 yesterday morning, all alone. No one else came out and the door quietly closed behind her. Then her security detail whisked her away in a big, black SUV. Below: Deputy Premier Dave Hancock blathers on, mostly about nothing in
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Payment of $45,000 travel bill by Alberta Premier raises as many questions as it answers
There will be no more scenes like this aboard Government of Alberta aircraft, thank you very much! Actual Alberta cabinet ministers and cabin crew may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: a screenshot of Alberta Premier Alison Redford’s news conference yesterday. Fresh from her public relations triumph in Edmonton’s Churchill
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Lousy polls? Redford Tories execute screeching reversal on southbound Edmonton LRT tracks
Fresh off a train in Edmonton’s Churchill LRT station, Alberta Premier Alison Redford announces $600 million surprise funding for an Edmonton LRT less than a week after her finance minister tabled a budget that didn’t mention it. Below: Finance Minister Doug Horner explains how the spending is really in the
Continue readingAlberta Diary: The Ides of March: Alison Redford under ‘friendly fire’ from coup plotters in her own caucus
Premier Alison Redford and an aide, at right, look on as Progressive Conservative caucus coup plotters try to remember if the signal to make their move is “Toga! Toga! Toga!” or “Tory! Tory! Tory!” Actual Alberta politicians may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Rumoured Redford replacements Gary Mar, Stephen Mandel
Continue readingAlberta Diary: PKP to run for PQ: Why PKP, with SNN and CPC PMO spell SOS for Canada, which could be FUBAR
Impressionable English Canadian youngsters tune in to SNN for sinister ideological conditioning by RWN (right-wing nuts) on the staff of the PMO-favoured network. Below: PKP and his now-ex wife (NXW), grabbed from the Internet; SNN broadcaster Ezra Levant. Oh, H-E-double-hockey-sticks, PKP wants another D-I-V-O-R-C-E! This time, having just given his
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Understanding Alberta’s 2014 budget: the deviltry’s in the details
Budget 2014: let the good times roll. Life’s great nowadays if you’re a Tory insider in Alberta – like these happy political staffers from the Premier’s Office. Actual political advisors to Premier Alison Redford may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Former Premier Ed Stelmach as he counted up ways
Continue readingAlberta Diary: The flight log: Alison Redford would be better off if she’d paid attention to sensible Alberta Public Service vehicle use policy!
Thinking of bringing your friends and relations along? Don’t bring them in the government truck, Mr. Civil Servant! OTTAWA “Good afternoon,” began a recent email from an assistant deputy minister to government employees of the humbler sort who don’t get to travel first class to faraway places but who may
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Flights of fancy: 11 days to the Ides of March and the knives are already out for premier
Alison Redford’s party awaits the Alberta Premier’s arrival before boarding their Government of Alberta aircraft. Actual Alberta big shots may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Pompeia, the wife of Caesar, who divorced her; and Marie Antoinette, who didn’t say “let them eat cake” but came to a bad end
Continue readingAlberta Diary: The End is at Hand! Sure looks that way for Alberta’s PCs, anyway…
Members of the Alberta Tory caucus consider the latest poll results as they prepare for the 2016 provincial election. Actual Alberta Progressive Conservative MLAs may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Dave Hancock … leadership potential at last. OTTAWA It’s probably still possible for Alberta’s Progressive Conservative Party to crawl
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Alternate Universe: 2012 effort to merge Alberta NDP and Liberals may have come closer than we thought
A poster we won’t be seeing any time soon! Below: Liberals Kent Hehr and Corey Hogan. An effort to meld the Alberta New Democrats and the province’s Liberals into a single party may have come closer than many of us imagined in 2012, indeed it was “mind bogglingly close” one
Continue readingAlberta Diary: More than 2,000 people make a point about the Redford Government in deeply chilled downtown Edmonton
Some of the more than 2,000 people who protested the policies of the Redford Conservative Government in Edmonton’s Sir Winston Churchill Square today. When I was a cub reporter at the still-unhyphenated Victoria Daily Times – always a better paper than the Colonist, let it be noted – I was
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Can the Redford Government Survive Until 2016?
It’s unfortunate it’s illegal to say the word “str*ke” in Alberta, or you could write a great caption for this image. To be on the safe side, we’ll just stick to asking: “Can the Redford Government survive until 2016, or whenever the next provincial election is held?” Below: Alberta Premier
Continue reading