Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith: in trouble with her party’s social conservatives. Below: House Leader Rob Anderson. And so it begins: Rob Anderson, an ambitious social-conservative in the Wildrose Opposition’s shadow cabinet has publicly fired a rocket at his leader after she changed her tune on whether a Wildrose government would
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Alberta Diary: Premiers’ private parley – a summit so secret if you knew what they’d talked about, they’d have to kill you!
B.C. Premier Christy Clark, left, meets Alberta Premier Alison Redford, in snap-brim hat at right, to discuss things too secret for the Western Canadian public to know about. Actual Western Canadian politicians may not appear exactly as illustrated, nor may the vehicle at the front of the Legislature, or the
Continue readingAlberta Diary: It’s summertime, and the livin’ is easy – especially if you’re Alison Redford
It’s just one long summer vacation for Alberta’s Tory family. Premier Alison Redford, possibly not exactly as illustrated, can be seen in the front seat of the Edsel at left. Below: The Wildrose Party on their way to summer school at Chestermere Slough; Kelley Charlebois; Thomas Lukaszuk. It’s summertime, and
Continue readingAlberta Diary: It’s semi-official… the Enbridge Northern Gateway project is kaput!
Enbridge Inc., as seen and described by the U.S. National Transportation Board. Below: Federal Opposition Leader Thomas Mulcair, Alberta Opposition Leader Danielle Smith and B.C. Opposition Leader Christie Clark. No! Wait! Ms. Clark’s still the premier! If you thought NDP Opposition Leader Thomas Mulcair was mistaken – or, worse, just
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Yes Minister MacKay! Perfesser Dave explains the French role in the War of 1812
One of our heroic French allies, armed with a bassoon, holds off a Russian soldier near Niagara on the Lake some time during the War of 1812 with the Russians and the Taliban. Below: Perfesser Dave; Defence Minister and amateur historian Peter MacKay. Was he overtired? Elmer MacKay, at right,
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Preston Manning is no saint, as secretive Carleton University scheme illustrates
Preston Manning and his then-protégé Stephen Harper back in the day. Below: Mr. Manning as he now appears (United Church Observer photo): Alberta premier E.C. Manning, Preston Manning’s father; Mr. Harper as a Reform Party candidate. Nowadays, folks think of Preston Manning as a benign force in Canadian politics –
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Does Bizarre Bethune brouhaha signal ideological rift within Harper Conservatives?
Communist physician Norman Bethune, left, and a comrade from the Red Chinese Army speak with Canadian Treasury Board President Tony Clement, right, in a vignette as imagined by Sun News Network. Below: Dr. Bethune, looking weirdly contemporary with a fashionable goatee; far-right ideologue Rob Anders; the real Mr. Clement. Is
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Chuckwagon carnage: Three horses die and Calgary Stampede blames the lead horse!
A chuckwagon race at the Calgary Stampede in 1957. Canada’s greatest city? Below: One resident of Canada’s greatest city camps it up for the occasion. “Autopsy shows lead horse in chuckwagon accident died of ruptured aortic aneurysm,” shouts a headline in yesterday’s Calgary Herald. So… what? The Calgary Stampede’s going
Continue readingAlberta Diary: What kind of Canadian signs Jason Kenney’s petition for Jason Kenney? (Answer below)
“Gotta do something about those infernal refugees!” Some of Hon. Jason Kenney, PC, MP’s supporters get together for an evening of poker and political talk. Below: Riley Climenhaga. I recently received the following disturbing communication via email from someone named R.R. Climenhaga under the heading “Hon. Jason Kenney, PC, MP.”
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Unsuccessful at the polls, Alberta market fundamentalists want the courts to impose two-tier health care
What heath care for the rest of us will look like if the market fundamentalist right’s battle for insurance companies’ “rights” ever succeeds. Below: Private health-care advocate John Carpay; Alberta Health Minister Fred Horne; Alberta Liberal Health Critic David Swann. Not satisfied with their failure in the Alberta provincial election,
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Edmonton Journal, Calgary Herald to shed more staff as newspapers struggle to survive
Peering through the fence at the newspaper business in 2012. Canadian newspapers may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: Edmonton Journal editor in chief Lucinda Chodan. The newspaper industry was officially pronounced a dead man walking on Sunday, July 8, 2012. The declaration was made by no less an authority
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Politics ain’t beanbag: Stephen Harper is attacking the most vulnerable Canadians
Politics ain’t beanbag, people, and it’s not NERF ball either. But Liberal leaders Michael Ignatieff and Stephane Dion both played it that way, so it was easy for Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Reform Party bullyboys to walk all over them. As for Paul Martin, that guy’s own Liberal
Continue readingAlberta Diary: She’s no Charles Tupper: Alison Redford has been Alberta premier too long to be prime minister
A youngish Charles Tupper at his desk. “I knew Charles Tupper and Alison Redford is no Charles Tupper” – and a good thing for her, too! Below: Sir Charles as prime minister; Frank McKenna; Robert Stanfield in the photo that put paid to his political career. Alison Redford has been
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Question for regulators: Can Sun News Network be trusted to keep inconvenient agreements?
Promises, promises: It’s not a musical, and it’s not funny. What confidence can Canadian broadcast regulators have that Sun News Network will abide by the agreements it makes? Below: Broadcaster Ezra Levant. Whatever one may think of the value of obscenity to public discourse, the debate over the use on
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Is nothing sacred? Turbulent pastor jumps to the front of Calgary’s Stampede Parade!
Pastor Artur Pawlowski and members of his flock march at the head of the Calgary Stampede Parade on Friday. Below: Pastor Pawlowski with Alberta Solicitor-General Jonathan Denis. Below that: Pastor Pawlowski with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. All photos grabbed from Facebook pages belonging to Pastor Pawlowski or his Calgary Street
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Message to Alberta’s doctors: Newton’s Third Law applies to politics too
A couple of Alberta doctors contemplate the state of the Alberta Medical Association’s latest negotiations with the province. Actual Alberta physicians may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: AMA President Linda Slocombe, Sir Isaac Newton, Alberta Health Minister Fred Horne. Just wondering, but is Newton’s Third Law no longer part
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Big money speaks quietly to the recalcitrant Calgary Stampede on its 100th anniversary
Cowboys in the aftermath of a bad chuckwagon spill at the 1937 Calgary Stampede. Below: Chuckwagon races as they’re supposed to appear; Stampede Programming VP Paul Rosenberg; Bell Canada logo of yore. Money talks, and what money is saying now, the day before the 100th opening of the Calgary Stampede,
Continue readingAlberta Diary: The coda to Oda was writ bright with orange juice
Bev Oda, foreground, enjoys a celebratory dinner at the Savoy, her orange juice just visible under her right arm. Departing Canadian politicians may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: Ms. Oda in happier times; Ms. Oda has a last cigarette before barking out the order to the firing squad. Bev
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Risky theories… Dangerous economic experiments…. Can we afford Harper’s Conservatives?
Prime Minister Stephen Harper… (Creepy Voice): “Dangerous experiments and risky economic theories. Can we afford these Conservatives much longer?” Below: Leo de Bever and a youthful Paul Krugman. The Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and its Alberta branch plant known as the Wildrose Party continue to push risky
Continue readingAlberta Diary: The National Post on union kids’ camps: Threat or menace?
Kids from Friedrich Engels Cabin at Camp Solidarity think about ways to seize control of the means of production at the National Post and establish the Information Dictatorship of the Proletariat. Well, they’ll never get the chance, because they never worked for Ted Byfield! The National Post says union kids
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