PHOTOS: Consultant George Cuff, author of the City of St. Albert “inspection report,” at St. Albert City Hall after yesterday afternoon’s special council meeting. In the background, portraits of earlier, perhaps less fractious, St. Albert city councils. Below: Alberta Municipal Affairs Minister Shaye Anderson and St. Albert Mayor Nolan Crouse.
Continue readingAuthor: David Climenhaga
Alberta Politics: What does climate change mean for Alberta’s growing dependence on a pipeline to U.S. Gulf Coast refineries?
PHOTOS: U.S. Climate Change Denier in Chief Donald J. Trump. (Photo: White House.) A woman is rescued from her Houston area home (Photo: U.S. Department of Defense.) “Wow – Now experts are calling #Harvey a once in 500 year flood!” So said an apparently astonished Donald J. Trump, First Tweeter
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Time for a changeup? UCP Caucus’s money troubles are funny and ironic, but not enough to win an election for the NDP
PHOTOS: NDP Health Minister Sarah Hoffman. Is she the best person to hold Alberta’s finance portfolio as Alberta’s 2019 election edges nearer? Below: Finance Minister Joe Ceci and Jason Kenney, the conservative politician most likely to lead the United Conservative Party into the next provincial election. The pecuniary difficulties faced
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The Treasure by Alberta author Suzanne Lamontagne leads Audreys 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 Aug. 20, 2017, compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. EDMONTON FICTION BESTSELLERS 1. The Treasure – Suzanne Lamontagne* 2. Daimonion – J.P. Jackson* 3.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jim Dinning 6.0: how Jason Kenney is repeating the same failed Tory strategy, and expecting different results
PHOTOS: Singer k.d. lang (handout photo, via CBC). Below: Jim Dinning 1.0 and Jim Dinning 6.0. Is it just me, or is it mildly surprising that Jason Kenney turned down k.d. lang’s offer of free tickets to Calgary Pride on Sept. 3 and 4? Mr. Kenney, of course, is the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Hard to believe it’s been 6 years: Looking back to 2011, and Election Eve 2008, with happy memories of Layton, Jack
PHOTOS: NDP Leader Jack Layton, looking fragile and using a crutch, in Edmonton in April 2011. Below: Mr. Layton that day, again, and some of the mourners in front of the Alberta Legislature on Aug. 24, 2011. Don’t mourn! Organize! — Joe Hill, Swedish-American union organizer As happens each
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Breakup on the right? Naw, Canadian conservative politicians’ long romance with the Rebel isn’t over
PHOTOS: Wildrose-UCP MLA Drew Barnes, who still stands with and by Rebel Media, at a protest on the steps of the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton in December 2015. Below: Federal Conservative leader Andrew Scheer (Photo: Marcos Oliveira, Wikimedia Commons), UCP leadership candidates Jason Kenney and Brian Jean, and Alberta NDP
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Len Bracko, 74, was St. Albert MLA, city councillor, schoolteacher and respected community builder
PHOTOS: Len Bracko in his days as a St. Albert councillor at the site of the city’s wetland park on the east shore of Big Lake. Below: Mr. Bracko helping to build homes for people in need abroad, and being congratulated for his victory in the 1993 provincial election by
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP leaders edge away from Rebel Media after NDP House Leader rips their cozy past with alt-right group
PHOTOS: NDP House Leader Brian Mason, one of the fiercest fighters in Premier Rachel Notley’s government, ripped into UCP leadership contenders Jason Kenney and Brian Jean yesterday for their long association with Rebel Media. Below: Mr. Kenney, Mr. Jean, media accreditation report author Heather Boyd, and Alberta Legislative Press Gallery
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Paper Teeth, by Alberta author Lauralyn Chow, tops Audreys Books’ latest Edmonton faction bestsellers list
Here is the list of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold in Edmonton for the week ended Aug. 13, 2017, compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. EDMONTON FICTION BESTSELLERS 1. Paper Teeth – Lauralyn Chow*+ 2. The Late Show – Michael
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Guest Post: Fiscal hawks’ formulas for cutting spending don’t really fly in the face of reality
PHOTOS: The Alberta Government’s Dash-8, used and abused by Premier Ralph Klein so that he could smoke while in transit between Calgary and Edmonton (Photo: Wikimedia Commons). It’s not just what you spend, but what you spend it on, says Guest Post Author Bob Raynard, below. Below him: former Conservative
Continue readingAlberta Politics: High-profile MLA Derek Fildebrandt, embroiled in embarrassing revelations, falls on his sword, quits UCP caucus
PHOTOS: Derek Fildebrandt buying extra fuel for his big red Ford pickup truck on New Year’s Eve 2016 to illustrate how much more gasoline was going to cost after the NDP’s carbon tax took effect the next morning. (Photo from the politician’s Facebook page.) Prices immediately went down. It turns
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Guest Post: UCP polarization of Alberta politics neutralizes the language of right-wing extremism
PHOTOS: Young anti-Bill 6 protesters interviewed by a reporter at the Alberta Legislature in November 2015. Note the overheated genocide rhetoric in the sign at bottom right. Below: More extreme rhetoric from the same event; commentators Barret Weber, the author of this post, Naomi Lakritz, and Ricardo Acuña. Guest Post
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Candidate’s proposal to kick B.C. out of New West Partnership is likely to delight West Coast Dippers
PHOTOS: UCP leadership candidate Doug Schweitzer, grabbed from his campaign website. Below: B.C. NDP Premier John Horgan (Wikimedia Commons), Alberta NDP Premier Rachel Notley, and former WCP president Jeff Callaway. Supporters of United Conservative Party leadership candidate Doug Schweitzer shouldn’t get their hopes up that threatening to kick British Columbia
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Judge dismisses bid to have St. Albert Mayor Nolan Crouse removed from office
PHOTOS: St. Albert Mayor Nolan Crouse. Below: Mayoral candidates Cam MacKay and Cathy Heron. ST. ALBERT, Alberta An Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench Justice yesterday dismissed an application by a St. Albert resident to have Mayor Nolan Crouse removed from office based on allegations the mayor had violated provisions of
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Derek Fildebrandt’s mini-Skypalace: proof Tory entitlement is still a thing in Alberta
PHOTOS: A scene from Derek Fildebrandt’s mini-Skypalace, the taxpayer subsidized Fildepartment in downtown Edmonton, grabbed from his Airbnb listing. Note the binoculars to the right of the window, presumably used for spotting examples of taxpayer dollars being wasted in the high-rises beyond. Below: The Fildebed, the Fildecloset, the Fildepot and
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Thank goodness for people like Derek Fildebrandt, without whom the dog days of summer would be dreary indeed!
PHOTOS: Derek Fildebrandt in full rhetorical flight before, obviously, a friendly audience. (Screen shot from … wherever.) There goes the author’s theory that just using an Apple computer makes you a better person! Below: Your blogger’s overused photos of UCP leadership candidates Jason Kenney and Brian Jean, a stock shot
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The Late Show, police procedural by Michael Connelly, tops Audreys 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 Aug. 6, 2017, compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. EDMONTON FICTION BESTSELLERS 1. The Late Show – Michael Connelly 2. Ministry of Utmost Happiness
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Never mind apologies, it’s time for Canada’s Tories just to admit Jack Layton was right about talking to the Taliban
PHOTOS: Jack Layton in Edmonton in 2011. Below: Forgettable Harper Government foreign minister Lawrence Cannon (Photo: Abigail Veronneau, Wikimedia Commons) and Peter MacKay, who took some of the cheap shots at Mr. Layton in 2006 (Photo: Department of National Defence, via the Wikimedia Commons). Never mind the apologies. That ship
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Would Jason Kenney kill the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion for short-term political gain in Alberta? Just askin’
PHOTOS: Jason Kenney, at left, in his fevered imagination, visits the Alberta Army on the B.C. front. (Photo of an actual event, heaven only knows what, grabbed from Mr. Kenney’s Twitter feed.) Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, B.C. Premier John Horgan, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, all of them keeping
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