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
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Alberta 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 readingAlberta Diary: Alberta government confused by plan to give ‘non-essential’ workers paid time off at Christmas, New Year’s
The children of unionized Alberta public employees enjoy Christmas at home. Unfortunately, Mom and Dad had to be at work because the jobs they do are essential. Below: One of the great minds of the Alberta government scratches his head as he puzzles out the problem. (Edmonton Sun photo.) The
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Redford Government resorts to bush-league law breaking as talks with civil servants hit another impasse
Members of the Alberta Government plan their latest strategy to hold the unionized civil service’s approximately 44,000 feet to the fire in negotiations. Actual government officials may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: William Aberhart. Bargaining with the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees at an impasse again, so the government
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Revelation CAPP paid Mansbridge, defender of Murphy’s speaking fees, brings simmering controversy back to boil
CBC Chief Correspondent Peter Mansbridge, back in the day before he could seriously contemplate receiving a $28,000 speaking fee just for flapping his gums over dinner. (Photo found on the Internet.) Below: Similarly compensated CBC commentator Rex Murphy, presumably at about the same moment in history. Below that: Wildrose Party
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Shocker: Canadian Taxpayers Federation suffers 17-per-cent membership slump!
Riley Climenhaga, who has some duties as an actual watchdog despite being one of the Canadian Taxpayer Federation’s 70,000 “supporters,” watches suspiciously. Below: CTF Alberta mouthpiece Derek Fildebrandt and Operations VP Shannon Morrison. In a stunning development, membership in the Canadian Taxpayers Federation has slumped close to 17 per cent
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Women hit by Redford Government’s pension cuts entitled to ask: ‘What are we? Chopped liver?’
Finance Minister Doug Horner and Alberta Premier Alison Redford attempt to skate around opposition to their planned cuts to public service pensions. Points have not yet been awarded for the maneuver. Actual Alberta politicians may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: The real Mr. Horner as he slipped past media
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Advice to Canadian politicians and media: Proceed with caution on your support for Ukraine’s rebels
Anti-Government Ukrainians prepare to fight police in Kiev. Below: Rioters throw gasoline bombs at police in Ukraine; Alberta Labour Minister Thomas Lukaszuk. (Wikimedia photos.) You can bet money that when trouble is brewing abroad things are always far more complicated than local enthusiasts for one side or the other make
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Future bleak for Brent Rathgeber’s CBC disclosure bill; perhaps less so for Rex Murphy’s commentaries
Your blogger with CBC commentator Rex Murphy, quite possibly on his way to a speaking engagement with the oil industry. Below: the same blogger with Edmonton-St. Albert Member of Parliament Brent Rathgeber, who has a date with history next week; the controversial Press Progress Rex Murphy info-graphic. ST. ALBERT, Alberta
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