Alberta Health Minister Fred Horne: it’s hard to imagine how he can come out of this fight with Alberta Health Services Chair Stephen Lockwood not looking foolish or weak. Below: Mr. Lockwood in a screen grab from his first news conference as AHS chair. Whatever happens next, it seems certain
Continue readingAuthor: David Climenhaga
Alberta Diary: Journalists found guilty of ethical breaches really shouldn’t lecture on journalistic ethics
People who live in glass houses next door to used car lots shouldn’t … Below: Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente, the Globe’s disclaimer. S’cuse me! We ex-journalists are permitted to do whatever we like! And if Prime Minister Thomas Mulcair wants to appoint me to the Senate, I’m taking
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Stephen’s even: Brent Rathgeber’s out; Peter Goldring’s back, all’s right with the world
Independent MP Brent Rathgeber takes aim at Tory opacity. Now that he’s incurred the PM’s wrath, though, it’s not so likely they’ll let him dress up as a sailor in a real Canadian Navy uniform. Below: Mr. Rathgeber tries out another branch of service, Restored Tory Peter Goldring and Alberta
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Did he jump or was he pushed? Outspoken Alberta Conservative MP goes over the side
Your blogger with Edmonton-St. Albert MP Brent Rathgeber, who is a Tory no more, back in the day when he still was. TORONTO From Rob Ford to Brent Rathgeber in a single day – talk about going from the sublime to the ridiculous! Or is that the other way around?
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Cashing in on Disaster Tourism: Rob Ford’s a boon to bloggers, if no one else
Your blogger drops pearls of political wisdom on the Toronto City Hall media. Below: Same fellow, outside the office of Mayor Rob Ford. Below that: Conservative Calgary talk radio host Dave Rutherford, said to be musing about running against Naheed Nenshi for mayor of Calgary. TORONTO If you ask me,
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Alberta Tories respond to protests by disabled citizens with instinctive diversionary attack
An Albertan protests the Redford Government’s cuts to “persons with developmental disabilities” at the Legislature in Edmonton on Friday. Below: Associate Minister of Services for Persons with Disabilities Frank Oberle. The optics of a government like Alberta’s Progressive Conservatives cutting $42 million from programs designed to help the province’s most
Continue readingAlberta Diary: The Doctor of Panama: a strange tale of Harperite politics and national security
Positive vetting? Where’s George Smiley when you really need him? Not in Canada, by the sound of it. Below: Dr. Arthur Porter with his former pal Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Globe and Mail photo). It’s almost bizarre, and almost certainly driven by political expediency, that no one seems to have
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Tories try new union-bashing gambit to divert attention from their daily scandals, fiascos
Federal Treasury Board President Tony Clement, left, makes Duffygate disappear, while two reporters and Prime Minister Stephen Harper, at right, look on. Actual Canadian politicians and media personalities may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: The real Tony Clement, Arthur Porter. Desperate to divert public attention from Mike “The Puffster”
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Expect Joe Anglin – potential problem for Danielle Smith – to be in for a talking to
Walter Sobchak, played by John Goodman, explains some of the harsh realities of life to the Dude and other characters from The Big Lebowski. In Alberta, when we crave this kind of frank talk, we listen to MLA Joe Anglin, the Wildrose representative for Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre. Below: The real
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Evil twins: Alberta Progressive Conservatives assail Wildrosers, and vice versa
This is not a photograph of Alberta Premier Alison Redford and Alberta Opposition Leader Danielle Smith. For one thing, these two are far too friendly with one another. But you get the point I’m trying to make, I’m sure. Below: The real Ms. Redford and the real Ms. Smith. I’ll
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Wildrose deftly defuses robo-call crisis while federal Cons suffer Scotch verdict
Members of the Wildrose Party try out their new robo-calling technology, which should avoid future problems with the CRTC. Right-wing Alberta politicians may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Wildrose Party Executive Committee President David Yager. You don’t have to agree with Alberta’s right-wing Wildrose Party to admire the skill
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Viva Con! Hasta la Victoria Siempre con Conrad – putting the ‘cross’ back in Crossharbour!
Lady Black and Lord Black of Crossharbour contemplate the future of our fair Dominion, or something. Below: The real Conrad Black, in happier times, lectures a gangrenous limb as his bodyguard ponders his boss’s remarkable vocabulary; the House of Lords. Oh dear! Poor old Tubby Black, welcomed back home after
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Pack the Senate with cheats, then call for reform, then take off for Peru? Good plan!
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, not pictured because he’s pretty well disappeared, has heeded the touristic lure South America, illustrated above. Below: Canadian Parliamentarian Joan Crockatt and U.S. Representative Davy Crockett. Note to Globe and Mail: There is a difference! Below them: Allaudin Merali. Prime Minister Stephen Harper was apparently grinding
Continue readingAlberta Diary: (Prime) ministerial responsibility and all that … surely the wrong man has quit!
The home of Canada’s Parliament, held in contempt by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Reform Party, doing business under the name of the Conservative Party of Canada. Below: former chief of staff Nigel Wright, Mr. Harper and Senator Mike Duffy. Surely the wrong man has quit! Nigel Wright, Prime
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Schadenfreude, evidence and politics: a half-hearted defence of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford as he might have appeared in ancient Rome, whence comes the idea that in politics public figures and their associates must be above suspicion. Below: The real Rob Ford; Caesar’s wife. Schadenfreude is all very well, but this whole Rob Ford video scandal has me feeling
Continue readingAlberta Diary: CBC journalist Charles Rusnell: slaying Alberta’s Tory dragon, one scandal at a time …
Your blogger with CBC investigative reporter Charles Rusnell. Below: Edmonton-Manning MLA Peter Sandhu; Mr. Sandhu with Alison Redford in a Tory Party photo grabbed from the Daveberta.ca blog. The photo-bomber is Calgary-Fort MLA Wayne Cao. You’d think it would be easy to run a petroleum-soaked, cash-rich jurisdiction like Alberta, but
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory: lessons from B.C. for NDPers everywhere
Just to set the mood, it’s Left-Leaning B.C. Premiers Day on Alberta Diary. Here’s your blogger with some former NDP premiers from that province – Dave Barrett above, Mike Harcourt and Ujjal Dosanjh below. No one can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory quite like the New Democrats in
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Who leaked the Alberta government’s response to AUPE’s Labour Board complaint, and why?
AUPE President Guy Smith in a characteristic pose. Who leaked the Alberta government’s response to the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees’ unfair labour practices complaint to an Edmonton Journal political reporter, and why? This is an important question because at the time the leak took place, the government document questioning
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Democracy, Alberta-style: Voters can have any policy they want, as long as it’s Conservative
The Alberta government bargaining team on their way to talks with the Alberta Teachers Association in their Model-T, coloured black. Actual Alberta labour relations specialists may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Education Minister Jeff Johnson and industrialist Henry Ford. In Alberta, it appears you now have more power as
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Athabasca University board to Athabasca University Faculty Association: Drop dead
The Athabasca University board meets to discuss its vision for the future of the distance-learning institution. Actual visioning board members may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: History Professor Alvin Finkel, AU Faculty Association President Mark McCutcheon. It took Athabasca University’s rubber-stamp board less than 48 hours to tell the
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