Does the United Conservative Party Government’s intention to create a “specialized prosecution unit to address deteriorating safety in Alberta’s major urban centres” indicate there’s problem with the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service? Alberta Justice Minister Mickey Amery (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). If so, what is it? If not, why is the government
Continue readingAuthor: David Climenhaga
Alberta Politics: Once more unto the breach, public sector lab workers save medical test system from collapse in Calgary after privatization fiasco
With its latest medical lab privatization scheme in a shambles, Premier Danielle Smith’s market-fundamentalist government has turned to the public sector in a desperate bid to keep the system from collapsing in Calgary, Alberta’s largest city. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). Or, to put it more colourfully, as
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Forget that stuff about decentralizing health care, AHS directed to consolidate all mental health and addictions programs in one silo
Mental Health and Addictions Minister Dan Williams has issued a directive to Alberta Health Services giving the provincial agency 90 days to consolidate all of its mental health and addiction programs, services, and operations under a single administrative silo, the government announced yesterday. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith with Postmedia political
Continue readingAlberta Politics: RCMP to stay? CPP to go? Who knows? The Dance of the Thousand Mandate Letters continues
Danielle Smith’s Dance of the Thousand Mandate Letters continues. Now you see something; now you don’t. Then again maybe you just thought you saw something, and really saw nothing at all. It’s all very confusing. It’s intended to be. And it’s rather clever, giving the impression the government is doing
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Cabinet was ignoring the law when it ordered Dr. Hinshaw around during the pandemic! Who knew?
You can blame Jason Kenney, principal author of the United Conservative Government’s clown-show response to COVID-19, if Alberta’s many pandemic scofflaws manage to wiggle off the hook for their violations of public health restrictions, such as they were in this province. Then chief medical officer of health Deena Hinshaw (Photo:
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Canada is facing a grave crisis, and it needs courageous leaders, but brutal street-clearing operations won’t help
There’s no question Canada is facing a grave social crisis on multiple fronts. Howard Anglin (Photo: Twitter/Howard Anglin). The homeless crisis, the housing crisis, the deadly drug poisoning crisis, and the crisis of our overburdened health care system are all real, and they share a common cause. Forty years of
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Why saying Alberta Health Services’ original mandate was only running acute care hospitals is dangerous and false
A dangerously misleading statement appeared in an op-ed story under Health Minister Adriana LaGrange’s byline Thursday in the Calgary Herald. To wit, “that Alberta Health Services has evolved beyond its original acute-care hospital system mandate.” Alberta Health Minister Adriana LaGrange (Photo: Facebook/Adriana LaGrange). Everyone makes mistakes and most politicians spin
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta medical clinic’s ‘membership’ billing scheme won’t hurt a bid by PM to attack Pierre Poilievre through Danielle Smith
There must have been a moment of pure delight in the Prime Minister’s Office in Ottawa when the story broke about Dr. Sally Talbot-Jones’s plan to get her patients to pay thousands of dollars a year to become “members” of her Calgary medical practice. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith (Alberta Newsroom/Flickr).
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Statement by premier and health minister on clinic’s plan to charge membership fees implies there’s nothing to see
Albertans concerned about the preservation of public health care should not be overly reassured by the statement issued yesterday by Premier Danielle Smith and Health Minister Adriana LaGrange in response to a plan by a Calgary medical clinic to make patients pay up to $4,800 a year for timely access
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Calgary medical clinic tells patients they’ll need to pay up to $4,800 a year for timely access to physician
Since the Alberta government has the power to outlaw fees like those about to be charged by a Calgary medical clinic for patients to get timely access to their physician, it’ll have to exercise it if Premier Danielle Smith wants anyone to believe her election claim no Albertan would ever
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Smith to Alberta: ‘Of course I’m going to take advice from CEOs; who else would I take advice from?’
Irritated by a question from an impertinent reporter about the makeup of her “expert panel” on Alberta’s energy future led by former Wildrose Party president David Yager, Premier Danielle Smith snapped back last week. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith at Thursday’s Edmonton Chamber of Commerce speech (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). “Look, he
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Stuff Danielle Smith says: Apparently Alberta Health Services decentralization can make the law of supply and demand go away!
According to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, apparently all we need to do to find anesthesiologists willing to work in rural Alberta is hand the power to hire them over local hospital managers. Former Wildrose Party MLA Rob Anderson, now Danielle Smith’s office manager, long ago on a snowy day in
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta Health Services ordered back to the future: A catastrophe in the making, or just ideological window dressing?
The premier who centralized the management of Alberta Health Services under a single administrator who answers only to her now says she wants to decentralize the province-wide public health agency “to enhance local decision-making authority”? Alberta Premier Danielle Smith (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). What’s wrong with this picture? According to Danielle
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Better late than never, one supposes, NDP hammers Smith Government’s scandalous RStar scheme
It’s not a bad thing for Alberta’s NDP Opposition to hammer the Smith Government’s scandalous RStar scheme, as they did yesterday, but it’s frustrating to have to wonder where they were on the issue during last spring’s election campaign. Alberta Energy Minister Brian Jean (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). RStar, which
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Kaycee Madu is the third former Conservative justice minister subject to an Alberta Law Society investigation
On Thursday, without fanfare, the Law Society of Alberta posted a notice stating that one “Kelechi Madu, KC engaged in conduct that undermined respect for the administration of justice when he contacted the Edmonton Police Services Chief of Police regarding a traffic ticket he received on March 10, 2021, and
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Sounds like the UCP’s terrible Alberta pension scheme is right back on the front burner
Given the wide unpopularity of the idea of taking Alberta out of the Canada Pension Plan, it’s simply astounding that Alberta voters, the province’s professional commentators, and an Opposition party that had a shot at forming government allowed Premier Danielle Smith to get away with saying she just didn’t want
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Mission Impossible, Conservative style: Making the B.C. port strike settlement look like a disaster for Justin Trudeau
Good morning, Mr. Poilievre, your mission, should you choose to accept it … Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Photo: Justin Trudeau/Flickr). … is to make the settlement of the Vancouver port strike yesterday after less than two weeks look like a disaster for Justin Trudeau. This will not be easy. Indeed,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta Labour Board ruling yesterday in response to 2020 wildcat strike could cost AUPE $1.6 million
The Alberta Labour Relations Board has ruled that the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees broke the law when some of its health care members took part in a short illegal strike in the fall of 2020 and yesterday ordered Alberta Health Services to stop collecting union dues, assessments and other
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Stephen Harper – he haunts us still!
Stephen Harper is having a bit of a moment lately, thanks to his instantly notorious selfie last week with Hungarian neofascist Viktor Orbán, which both of them proudly tweeted about. Justin Trudeau – the anti-Harper (Photo: Justin Trudeau/Flickr). Mr. Harper is the former Conservative prime minister of Canada who is
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Premier’s meeting with PM sparks petulantly hyperbolic ‘readout,’ Postmedia hysteria
Danielle Smith’s petulant afternoon “readout” from Friday’s Calgary Stampede meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggests Alberta’s premier didn’t get very far trying to bully the feds into abandoning their energy emissions targets. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, looking steely eyed (Photo: Liberal Party of Canada). In other words, my assessment
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