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
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Alberta 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
Continue readingAlberta Diary: The Airline Ticketgate saga continued… Alberta’s Redford Tories, forever young, now have Young forever
Former Progressive Conservative Whip Steve Young gets ready to give it to his premier and party leader at yesterday’s caucus meeting in Edmonton. Actual unrepentant Tory MLAs may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: The actual Mr. Young, apparently yelling something; his friend Wildrose MLA Ian Donovan; Premier Alison Redford’s
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Olympic Hockey: It’ll take Grit to overcome Sisu – are Tories patriotic enough to let it happen?
Looks like Finnish hockey to me! Can’t understand what they’re saying, but, Canadians beware, they might have Sisu. Below: A Sisu truck; Lauri Rapala, inventor of the lure of Vaaksy. To heck with politics! Let’s talk hockey, a subject on which our physically unimposing prime minister is nevertheless supposedly an
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Time to change Alberta Labour Minister’s dual role, and maybe more, to ensure fair and equitable labour relations
Some roles just don’t seem to be a good match for the same person. Here are five examples. Perhaps Alberta Labour Minister Thomas Lukaszuk, below, finds himself in such a position? Can Thomas Lukaszuk properly fulfill his dual roles as Alberta’s Minister of Labour and chair of the all-but-secret Public
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Remembering Sue Higgins, Calgary alderman: a fiscal conservative, sure, but the real McCoy, not just some ideologue
Sue Higgins in a characteristic pose, grabbed from the Internet. Below: Her official City of Calgary mug, from back in the day. When I heard on the car radio yesterday afternoon that Sue Higgins had died, the first thing I thought of was that green pantsuit. This is a funny
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Will Alison Redford fire Thomas Lukaszuk? She needs to, but don’t count on it happening!
Alberta Labour Minister Thomas Lukaszuk, at right with Premier Alison Redford, argues with Deputy Premier Dave Hancock, in white suit and goofy glasses, about whether or not to appeal the court injunction against the use of Bill 46. Finance Minister Doug Horner is on the far left. Actual Alberta cabinet
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Valentine’s Day injunction all but massacres Redford Government’s credibility in fight with Alberta Union of Provincial Employees
Alberta Union of Provincial Employees President Guy Smith at the union’s news conference in Edmonton yesterday. Below: Alberta Labour Minister Thomas Lukaszuk. Mr. Justice Denny Thomas of the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench did not merely accept the arguments of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees when he slapped an
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Means tests: recommended for poor oldsters, not wealthy petro-provinces
The Firewall Five, prominent Western independantistes of another era, before they all started cashing in on their public pensions. Today, everything has changed, thank you very much, except the constant cries for tax cuts, austerity and means testing for old people. Below: the late Ralph Klein with one of the
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Back to the future with Guy Boutilier: a run to be Fort Mac’s MP looks to be in the cards
Guy Boutilier in his Wildrose caucus office in Edmonton back in 2009. Notice Ralph Klein peering over his shoulder. Below: Other Fort Mac politicians Brian Jean, the Conservative Crossword King, and Mike Allen, a saxophonist, in his St. Paul Police mugshot. Guy Boots, Member of Parliament? Why not? When you
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Dumber than a bag of Anders: Have gun-slingin’ Cowtown MP’s pistol-packin’ pals shot their patron in both feet?
The offending photo of MP Rob Anders and would-be MP Melissa Mathieson, which first turned up on a National Firearms Association Facebook page, then a political blog, then the mainstream media and has now entered the annals of idiocy. Below: the offending target; an example of a target Mr. Anders
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Pride flags over Alberta: for real, or a cynical commitment of convenience that’s a mile wide and an inch deep?
A rainbow banner flies alongside the city, Alberta and Canadian flags at the city hall of St. Albert, Alberta, last weekend. Below: A really great pride banner spotted during a recent Pride Week in Vancouver. Fourteen years ago, the Alberta provincial government led by Progressive Conservative premier Ralph Klein was
Continue readingAlberta Diary: That ‘market freedom’? What a surprise, it’s wiping out farmers and enriching the 1%!
Prime Minister Stephen Harper takes a group of Canadians for a ride on his fully privatized model railroad. This doesn’t actually work in real life, though. Actual Canadian prime ministers may not appear exactly as illustrated, although, if I may say so, the number on the engine comes close to
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Upstairs, downstairs in Alberta explained by Labour Minister Thomas Lukaszuk: ‘We’re dealing with different job descriptions’
Furious Alberta civil service “oranges” protest high-handed Tory “apples” during their illegal st**ke of 1980. Below: Provincial Treasurer Lou Hyndman in 1976; Labour Minister Thomas Lukaszuk, no longer missing in action. Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose! After a spell during which he appeared to be missing in
Continue readingAlberta Diary: High-speed rail in Alberta: a terrible idea that just won’t go away
“Modern high-speed passenger trains are not pushed forward on billowing sails…” Although, when we’re done paying for a multi-billion-dollar high-speed rail link between Edmonton and Calgary, this may be how many of us have to get around if we fancy using public transit. Below: William Cornelius Van Horne and the
Continue readingAlberta Diary: The view from Alberta: Nova Scotia premier assailed for embarrassingly low travel bill
A steward serves Alberta Premier Alison Redford as members of her entourage dine nearby during their return flight from South Africa. Don’t worry, this is satire, and actual Alberta politicians and their political advisors will never appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil, obviously suffering from a
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Small changes may signal glimmer of awareness of trouble ahead among rank and file Tory MLAs
Members of Alison Redford’s brain trust plan the latest hashtags in the Twitter war with AUPE … No! Wait! That’s Bob MacNamara telling LBJ about his plans for the war in Vietnam! What the hey? Below: That rude info-graphic; Red House Chief of Staff Farouk Adatia; White House Chief of
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Back to the future? Private-client opinion polls said to show big shift toward Alberta’s Wildrose Party
The future belongs, the future belongs, the future belongs to us… Peter Lougheed preaches to the converted in Calgary not long before the 1971 provincial election. After 42 years and counting, is there really another seismic shift under way in Alberta, or just more blundering by pollsters? Below: Mr. Lougheed
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Deputy Health Minister Janet Davidson’s compensation: glaring omission in Alberta Sunshine List coverage explained
Alberta Health Minister Fred Horne with Janet Davidson shortly after he announced her appointment as Deputy Minister in September 2013. Below: Service Alberta Deputy Minister Jay Ramotar; Lord Black of Crossharbour in his role as honourary lieutenant colonel of the Governor General’s Foot Guards. And the top paid Alberta civil
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Alberta’s ‘Sunshine List’ – let a little light shine in … but only a little, and only where we want it
Alberta’s ‘Sunshine List’ – mostly moonshine? Below: Premier Alison Redford. Today’s the day the government of Alberta is supposed to publish its “Sunshine List” of its supposedly most highly paid civil servants. It’s not appeared yet – so, it being a Friday and all, it’ll probably show up at about
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