Danielle Smith renounced and denounced Danielle Smith’s health care policy objectives at a United Conservative Party at a press conference yesterday in the Edmonton suburb of Sherwood Park. Former Alberta premier Jason Kenney at a similar stunt in 2019 (Photo: Twitter). The Danielle Smith doing the renouncing is the one
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Alberta Politics: Ethics Commissioner says she’ll investigate Smith’s conversation with rebel pastor; Premier’s Office clams up
In a terse statement this morning, the office of Danielle Smith said Alberta’s premier “was recently contacted by the Ethics Commissioner, who is undertaking an investigation into whether or not the Premier has interfered with the administration of justice in relation to a COVID prosecution. NDP Justice Critic Irfan Sabir
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Premier changes Pastorgate story again, claiming she thought preacher facing charges just wanted to talk politics
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has changed her story again about her controversially congenial telephone conservation with street preacher Artur Pawlowski about the criminal charges against him. Controversial street preacher Artur Pawlowski (Photo: Independence Party of Alberta). This time, using the Saturday morning Your Province, Your Premier call-in radio program provided
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Happy Easter! Danielle Smith doesn’t apologize, but she certainly does explain!
Happy Easter! Canadian Press reporter Dean Bennett in a typical pose in 2018 (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). Astonishingly, a full week after the CBC broke the story, the brouhaha continues unabated over Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s inappropriate chitchat in January with unsavoury anti-vaxx preacher Artur Pawlowski and the criminal charges
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Embarrassed by premier’s telephone tête-à-tête with extremist facing criminal charges, UCP retreats to its safe space: Law ’n’ Order rhetoric
Sounding a mite panicked by the negative public response to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s willingness to bend rules to help political allies in trouble with the law, the United Conservative Party has retreated to its ideological safe space: Law ’n’ Order, with a side of dog-whistles and urban crime stereotypes.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: On Monday Danielle Smith quoted government lawyers; now Alberta’s premier says the UCP is paying for her to sue the CBC
Can you imagine the almighty hoo-ha that would break out across this country if the Alberta NDP ponied up the dough for its leader to sue Postmedia or the Western Standard for defamation? Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). Don’t worry. It’s not going to happen. And
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta premier hides behind lawsuit that hasn’t happened to dodge reporters’ difficult questions
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith hid behind a lawsuit that doesn’t exist yesterday to avoid answering reporters’ questions about her sympathetic telephone chat with an unsavoury political ally facing criminal charges. Premier Smith’s controversial telephonic interlocutor, Artur Pawlowski (Photo: Facebook/Artur Pawlowski). If this gambit proves anything, I suppose, it’s that there’s
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Last week wasn’t a good one for Alberta’s UCP – this week holds the promise of more … snow
They say a week is a long time in politics, but last week must have felt like eternity to the United Conservative Party brain trust. Deputy Premier Kaycee Madu (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). Its efforts to make the revelations of that leaked phone call between Premier Danielle Smith and anti-vaxx, pro-Convoy
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Biden offers to send election observers to Canada to oversee Alberta vote in May
During his Ottawa visit last week, U.S. President Joe Biden told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau he was sure the respected Carter Center would be willing to send a team of international election observers to Alberta for the provincial election expected on May 29. An international election observer from the Carter
Continue readingAlberta Politics: If you’re not talking to a Crown prosecutor, it doesn’t count as interference – that’s the UCP’s story, and they’re stickin’ to it!
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith never spoke directly to a Crown Prosecutor when she set out to interfere in the administration of justice on behalf of pandemic public health scofflaws, and nothing else matters. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith with the giant sausage statue in Mundare, Alberta (Photo: Facebook/Danielle Smith). That’s the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Premier threatens CBC for reporting her own words in phone conversation with anti-vaxx pastor facing criminal charges
It may not be Lake of Fire 2.0, but you wouldn’t think Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s blustering response yesterday to the CBC’s release of a recording of her telling an anti-vaccine pastor facing criminal charges that she was talking to Justice officials “almost weekly” about his case is going to
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP plans to let private medical corporations provide some surgeries without qualified anesthesiologists in the Operating Room
I bet you didn’t know the United Conservative Party Government plans to let private medical corporations operating their own facilities perform surgeries even if the person delivering the anesthesia is not a physician specializing in anesthesiology. Alberta Health Minister Jason Copping (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). Alberta political blogger and corporate and
Continue readingAlberta Politics: So what kind of UCP candidates will replace Finance Minister Travis Toews and Environment Minister Sonya Savage?
Friday’s revelation that neither Finance Minister Travis Toews nor Environment Minister Sonya Savage would be running for re-election in the expected May 29 provincial vote quickly gave way to speculation about who, or at least what kind of candidate, would replace them in the short spell remaining till the election
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Finance Minister Travis Toews and Environment Minister Sonya Savage won’t seek re-election on May 29
I’d like to say the rats are leaving the sinking ship, but I don’t think Travis Toews or Sonya Savage are rats, and I’m not certain the United Conservative Party is sinking. Departing Environment Minister Sonja Savage (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). With that caveat, it is a fact that Finance
Continue readingAlberta Politics: You can never believe anything until it’s been officially denied: The UCP just denied it wants to privatize health care
If it is truly an axiom of practical politics that you can you can never believe anything until it’s been officially denied, we now have confirmation Danielle Smith’s government is bent on privatizing health care in Alberta. Home of the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy, publisher of Premier
Continue readingAlberta Politics: China’s spending money to undermine Canadian democracy? If they’ll just leave us alone, we’ll take care of it ourselves!
If the People’s Republic of China is trying as hard as the Conservative Party of Canada insists it is to undermine Canadian democracy, it’s hard to understand why they’re bothering. Retired Canadian national security advisor Wesley Wark (Photo: Centre for International Governance Innovation). After all, if they’ll just leave us
Continue readingAlberta Politics: ‘Tylenot’ is here at last, premier and health minister proclaim, just in time for no one to want to buy the stuff
Ridiculed for their weirdly incompetent response to last fall’s shortage of children’s fever medication, which has ended up costing Albertans $80 million for 750,000 bottles of a non-standard product that can’t be bought off the shelf, Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party Government decided to brazen it out instead. NDP Children’s
Continue readingAlberta Politics: MLA Dan Williams’ beer guzzling in the Legislature is just another episode in the UCP’s sophomoric obsession with alcohol
Peace River MLA Dan Williams’ distasteful display of beer guzzling on the floor of Alberta’s Legislature last week is just another embarrassing episode in the United Conservative Party’s sophomoric obsession with consumption of alcohol that seems to date back to the selection of Jason Kenney as the party’s first leader.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP now wants underwhelming minimum wage report, a typical Jason Kenney production, to be quickly forgotten
I suppose as good place as any to get back in to the swim of blogging is Friday’s release by Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party Government of the three-year-old report on the supposed impact of the $15 minimum wage brought in by Rachel Notley’s NDP Government in 2018. Alberta Premier
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Take Back Alberta, far right radical group, continues its effort to take over UCP
CALGARY – A clearer picture is starting to emerge of how Take Back Alberta – the anti-vaccine, pro-Convoy, Q-adjacent extremist group key to Danielle Smith’s victory in last year’s United Conservative Party leadership race – is now taking over her party one riding association at a time. Crowsnest Pass Herald
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