PHOTOS: Shhhh! UCP voting in progress! (Photo: Wikimedia Commons.) Below: UCP leadership frontrunner Jason Kenney, and, like deer caught in the headlights, challengers Doug Schweitzer and Brian Jean. Former Wildrose leader Brian Jean must rue the day he ever agreed to take part in a leadership “contest” with Jason Kenney,
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Alberta Politics: Guest Post: Tales from the annals of inevitable right-wing political victories in Western Canada
PHOTOS: Parliament Hill in Ottawa, whence he came to save his province from socialism … Below: Guest post author John Ashton, Jason Kenney (Photo: Creative Commons, Michał Józefaciuk, Senat Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej), and Elwin Hermanson (Photo: Twitter). “It’s my belief that history is a wheel. ‘Inconstancy is my very essence,’ says
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Few and Far by Allison Kydd leads Andreys Books Edmonton Bestseller List this week
Here is the list of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold in Edmonton for the week ended Oct. 22, 2017, compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. EDMONTON FICTION BESTSELLERS Few and Far – Allison Kydd+ In the Cage – Kevin Hardcastle
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Desperation anyone? The clock runs out on Brian Jean’s campaign to lead the UCP
PHOTOS: UCP leadership candidate Brian Jean, with loyal MLAs Leela Aheer, Glenn van Dijken and Todd Loewen, in front of Premier Rachel Notley’s constituency office yesterday. (Screenshot of Jean Campaign video.) The wind was blowing. Below: Former Calgary MP Jason Kenney, whose coronation as leader of the UCP is expected
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Calgary polling fiasco leaves Postmedia, pollster with egg on their faces, critics furious, and mayor safely back in office
PHOTOS: Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi in the marbled hallways of the Alberta Legislature. He was reelected to his third term on Oct. 16. Below: Mainstreet Research pollster Quito Maggi (Photo: Mainstreet Research), Mainstreet Executive VP David Valentin (Photo: Twitter), Mount Royal University political science professor Duane Bratt (Photo: CBC), and
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Western Canada’s artificial alienation: Catalonia here we come! Then again, maybe not …
Right on schedule, us Western Canadians are feeling alienated. Really! Don’t just take my word for it! The digital editions of the gutter press are full of the complaints nowadays of such alienated Albertans as United Conservative Party leadership contenders Brian Jean and Jason Kenney. Likewise, we’re hearing lots of
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Right-wing propaganda instantly pivots to explain away progressive successes Monday in Alberta municipal elections
PHOTOS: Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, who overcame a full-blown attack by all the usual suspects on the right in Monday’s Alberta-wide municipal elections, addressing the biennial convention of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions in Calgary in June. Below: Bill Smith, Mr. Nenshi’s main conservative challenger, who didn’t do as
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Electoral Boundaries Commission calls for addition of three urban ridings, reduction of three rural constituencies
PHOTOS: A typical scene in voter heavy rural Alberta. Well, they’ve probably updated the sign on the truck trailer by now, or, if not, they will soon. (Photo: J. McPherson, Wikimedia Commons.) Below: Daveberta.ca blogger Dave Cournoyer. Stand by for an often-mentioned agricultural product to hit the fan. Alberta’s Electoral
Continue readingAlberta Politics: ‘This is All a Lie’ by Edmonton’s Thomas Trofimuk remains atop Audreys Bestseller List this week
Here is the list of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold in Edmonton for the week ended Oct. 15, 2017, compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. EDMONTON FICTION BESTSELLERS 1. This is All a Lie – Thomas Trofimuk* 2. Maybe This
Continue readingAlberta Politics: In a pragmatic move, Premier Rachel Notley appoints former Tory minister from Calgary to infrastructure portfolio
PHOTOS: Newly appointed NDP Infrastructure Minister Sandra Jansen speaks during yesterday’s swearing-in ceremony at Government House in Edmonton. With her are new Parliamentary Secretaries Jessica Littlewood and Annie McKitrick, left and right, and Premier Rachel Notley (Photo: Government of Alberta). Below: Pierre Trudeau and Peter Lougheed, looking pretty friendly for
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Wildrose-style insurgency smacked down in St. Albert as progressive Cathy Heron elected as mayor
PHOTOS: St. Albert Mayor-elect Cathy Heron with the author of this blog post last night at her victory celebration. Below: Newly elected councillors Natalie Joly, Ken MacKay, Ray Watkins, Jacqui Hansen, and re-elected incumbent Wes Brodhead. ST. ALBERT, Alberta Let’s start with the basic score: Cathy Heron, widely perceived as
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Cathy Heron is the candidate for mayor of St. Albert with a compelling and positive vision for the future
PHOTOS: St. Albert mayoral candidate Cathy Heron at her official campaign launch. Below: Candidates Cam MacKay and Malcolm Parker, and outgoing Mayor Nolan Crouse; St. Albert Place architect Douglas Cardinal, and first artistic director Maralyn Ryan. ST. ALBERT, Alberta In the first few moments of Wednesday’s mayoral candidates’ forum in
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Wildrose leader complains UCP voting system may be rigged, and not in his favour
PHOTOS: Then Wildrose Party leader Brian Jean, holding microphone, addressing an anti-carbon-tax, anti-Bill-6, anti-etc. rally on the steps of the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton in December 2016. The visible sign may or may not have represented the opinion of more than one participant in the event. (Photo grabbed from Daveberta.ca.)
Continue readingAlberta Politics: This is all a lie by Alberta author Thomas Trofimuk tops this week’s Audreys Books Bestseller List
Here is the list of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold in Edmonton for the week ended Oct. 8, 2017, compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. EDMONTON FICTION BESTSELLERS 1. This is All a Lie – Thomas Trofimuk * 2. Slow
Continue readingAlberta Politics: St. Albert politics in five Tweets: Trying to get a little illumination from an uninspiring mayoral forum
PHOTO: Your blogger’s lousy iPhone photo of St. Albert’s three mayoral candidates – from left to right, Cam MacKay, Malcolm Parker, and Cathy Heron – on the stage at the Arden Theatre last night. ST. ALBERT, Alberta OK, everyone here should at least be able to agree city council in
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta appoints new deputy minister of health to replace department’s controversial former top civil servant
PHOTOS: Milton Sussman, Alberta’s new Deputy Minister of Health, as president and CEO of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (Photo: CBC). Below: His controversial predecessor, Carl Amrhein, whose last day of employment with the Alberta Government was Friday (Photo: Government of Alberta). The Alberta government has appointed a new deputy
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Sitting through a three-hour candidates’ forum: painful, but a civic duty just the same
PHOTOS: All or part of 14 of the 25 candidates who took part in the City of St. Albert’s city council candidates’ forum last night. Below: Author Darryl Raymaker and the cover of his just-published book. ST. ALBERT, Alberta What’s worse than sitting through a three-hour city council candidates’ forum
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Municipal politics: If you choose to run with a slate, don’t complain when you’re asked about other members’ views
PHOTOS: St. Albert’s iconic city hall, site of the growing community’s only public library. Image grabbed from Councillor Wes Brodhead’s website. Below: Mayoral candidates Cathy Heron and Cam MacKay (photos grabbed from their campaign materials), and one side of the anti-branch-library leaflet published by a group of six candidates for
Continue readingAlberta Politics: TransCanada pulls the plug on Energy East: the fallout in Alberta will be measurable
PHOTOS: Protesters opposed to the Energy East Pipeline project in Montreal last summer (Photo: Radio Canada). Below: United Conservative Party leadership contender Brian Jean, Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, Canadian prime ministers Trudeau, Pierre and Justin, and sometime UCP leadership candidate Jeff Callaway. It’s been quite obvious
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Kevin Taft’s Oil’s Deep State tops Audreys Books non-fiction Edmonton Bestseller List this week
Here is the list of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold in Edmonton for the week ended Oct. 1, 2017, compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. EDMONTON FICTION BESTSELLERS 1. Miriam’s Secret (Childrens) – Debby Waldman* 2. This is All A
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