Former Premier Peter Lougheed surveys the troubled scene in Alberta before endorsing Alison Redford. Some gods may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: Mr. Lougheed and Premiers William Aberhart and E.C. Manning. The Big Guy has spoken. And he says: “Vote for Alison Redford.” I don’t mean God. Bigger than
Continue readingAuthor: David J. Climenhaga
David Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Last night’s TV leaders’ debate: Alison Redford won – but nothing’s that simple
The 2012 Alberta leadership debate’s dull set. From left to right: Brian Mason, Danielle Smith, Alison Redford, Raj Sherman. Below: Ms. Redford and Ms. Smith as they appeared on the debate. (Main phpoto grabbed from the Globe and Mail; the little ones from Daveberta.) I call it for Alison Redford
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Go figure! Elections Alberta demands group with no ads on website register for ads on website
A group of typical Albertan soccer moms thinks about whom to vote for. Their rifles are, of course, unregistered. But what about the opinions on their web page? Alberta Chief Electoral Office O. (for Olaf) Brian Fjeldheim. We may not have to register our rifles in Alberta, but folks out
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Explaining the F-35 fiasco: the ‘Yes Minister Defence’
Yes Minister! Senior civil servants advise Defence Minister Peter MacKay, holding the Globe and Mail at right, on the F-35 purchase: “Confidentially Minister MacKay, everything you tell me about the F-35 is in complete confidence, so equally, and I am sure you appreciate this, and by appreciate I don’t actually
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: One True Conservative Party and Other One True Conservative Party now said in dead heat
A typical Alberta soccer mom contemplates the differences between the province’s two conservative parties. The one on the left has indicated stronger support for public health care. According to the latest poll, Alberta’s election race has tightened significantly, and the province’s One True Conservative Party is now in a statistical
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Does one third add up to more than two thirds in Wildrose democratic arithmetic?
The Fathers of Confederation, 1967: Referenda? Fixed election dates? Recall votes? Not very likely! Let me get this straight: If two thirds of the electorate in a given constituency elect an MLA, the Wildrose Party proposes that one third of that electorate should be able to have her recalled? I
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Wiebo Ludwig, environmental activist and religious leader, dead at 70
Wiebo Ludwig last year in Edmonton. Below: John Brown, in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington; David York, director and writer of the NFB production Wiebo’s War; Richard Boonstra. Environmental activist and religious leader Wiebo Ludwig has died of cancer, the Edmonton Journal reported at 7:09 this evening. He was
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Easter Weekend Campaign Update: Apparently 41 years in power makes you stupid!
Alberta’s listless governing Conservatives are getting creamed in the sign battle by the Wildrose Party, and even by the impoverished NDP. Above and below: NDP signs in Edmonton. Below: Yogi Berra, evidently as puzzled about this as the rest of us. We know that being in power for more than
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Danielle Smith can’t toss the abortion furor under the bus along with Jeffrey Trynchy
The crew of the Wildrose lays smoke to obscure their exact position. Below: Jane Cawthorne (Writers Guild of Alberta photo). Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith can pass off reports of her party’s (half) hidden abortion agenda as scare mongering, and she can try to throw the party official who apparently accidentally
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: ‘Don’t be messin with Mr. T,’ Part II
Mr. T: Don’t be messin’ with him! That was then. This just in: Alberta Education Minister Thomas Lukaszuk allegedly assaulted by resident while door knocking in Edmonton-Castle Downs! What’s more, according to the CBC, the house attached to the door in question had a Wildrose sign on the lawn. The
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Ambiguous Wildrose abortion statements emerge as NDP support jumps in Edmonton
Wildrose Apocalypse? Abortion chatter sparks new fears about Wildrose as poll shows NDP mini-surge in Edmonton. Below: NDP Leader Brian Mason. Are residents of the Edmonton region, as disgusted with the antics of the long-ruling Progressive Conservatives as other Albertans, starting to have second thoughts about far-right Wildrose Party’s largely
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Wildrose leader openly lays out plan for privatizing health care
Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith in Promises, Promises, the Medical Comedy. The trouble is, it’s not funny. Real Alberta politicians may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: Ms. Smith as she really, really appears. There’s not much need for scare tactics by supporters of public medicare: Yesterday the Wildrose Party laid
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Albertans deserve a straight answer: Where does Danielle Smith stand on ‘conscience rights’?
Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith. (Photo by Dave Cournoyer.) Where does Danielle Smith stand on ‘conscience rights’? With Ms. Smith’s Wildrose Party quite possibly in a position to win a majority government on April 23, Albertans deserve an unequivocal answer to this question. Right now, they’re not getting it. Instead, Ms.
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Wildrose strategists snarl at media to keep their overextended bubble unpricked
A bubble of Wildrose Party support hovers over Edmonton Journal political columnist Graham Thomson. Actual Alberta political writers may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: The real Mr. Thomson; Dave Cournoyer. Sitting atop an unexpectedly huge bubble of public support with only three weeks to go before Alberta’s provincial election,
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Who wins if the Alberta Legislature’s fit to be tied?
Strange Bedfellows: Danielle Smith and Brian Mason imagined discussing voting strategy in the Legislature… Alberta politicians may not be exactly as illustrated … or as weird as reality! If you think the Alberta election campaign has been exciting up to now, just wait. Any minute now, someone’s going to start
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Why aren’t heterosexual couples from Alberta good enough for the Wildrose Party?
Happy heterosexual families from Alberta: May not be exactly as illustrated (see below). Just the other day, Wildrose Party Leader Danielle Smith was assailing Premier Redford for not loving Alberta sufficiently, you know, ’cause she wants to change it.So if the Wildrosers love Alberta so much, how come they used
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Wildrose offers same old same old as Alison Redford’s fitted up for the Iggy treatment
Former federal Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff stands in front of the Reform-o-Con propaganda steamroller moments before it lurched forward. Flattened federal politicians may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: The real Dr. Ignatieff; Alison Redford. Does anyone remember Iggy? I couldn’t help but recall former federal Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Floundering Redford Tories’ fecundity fiasco no April Fool’s joke
When are they gonna learn? Loose Tweets Sink Fleets! Below: An agenda item from the Conservative brain trust’s emergency meeting yesterday. Actual Tory agendas may not be exactly as illustrated, and are unlikely to involve shotguns. Below that: Premier Alison Redford, campaign strategist Stephen Carter. Tempting as it may be
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: On Milton Acorn, on his birthday, Canada’s People’s Poet
The Silver Dollar Room at the Waverly Hotel, where Milton Acorn lived on Spadina Avenue in Toronto. Below: Milton Acorn (drawing found on the Internet). Today was the birthday of Milton Acorn, the People’s Poet, who lived rough, and died before he was eligible for the Old Age Security, even
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Thomas Mulcair? We can’t spare that man. He fights!
Ulysses S. Grant, exactly as he appeared. Below: Thomas Mulcair (from a Toronto Star photo), for comparative purposes; President Lincoln. I like Thomas Mulcair for the same reason Abraham Lincoln liked Ulysses S. Grant. As President Lincoln famously said of Gen. Grant, the Commanding General of the Union Army in
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