Are you sick of those ‘Just Not Ready’ commercials from Stephen Harper’s Conservatives? Tired of seeing that baggy-eyed old man, that mandatory immigrant with the heavy accent, and the generic woman looking over Justin Trudeau’s ‘resume’? And are you sick of hearing “Nice hair, though”? Well, get ready to get
Continue readingAuthor: mauricetougas
In This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 28: Your bribe is in the mail; Republicans are Trumped
So, have you received your bribe yet? Stephen Harper’s utterly shameless federal Conservatives are in the process of giving away $3 billion in tax dollars to “hard working Canadian families” (is there any other kind of Canadian family?) in the form of monthly cheques for families with kids. The benefit cheques
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 27: ‘Ice’ to see you; El Chapo el escapos; oil spill oops.
The big non-news in Edmonton this week was the announcement that the area surrounding the new arena, previously known by the rather prosaic ‘arena district’, has been renamed Ice District. (Apparently, it is just ‘Ice District’, not ‘The Ice District’, according to the pretentious PR hacks behind this rebranding.) The
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 25: Grexit explained; bike lanes deflated; Cowboyhatgate
The big international story this week continues to be the Greek debt, and the threat of Greece getting kicked out of the Eurozone, a situation called the Grexit (if this had been an American crisis, it would have been called Greekgate). As a service to my 27 regular readers, I
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 25: The great $15 debate; more McMania; new low for Tories
“The folks over there think it’s totally appropriate for a single mother of two or three to have to work 70 hours a week in order to earn a living wage. I say to you that they’re just wrong, and that’s why we are changing the minimum wage in Alberta.”
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 24: McMania; a flag flap; PACing it in
Connor McDavid, wearing the surprisingly bold Edmonton Oiler travelling suit. OMG! OMG! OMG! Connor McDavid is an Oiler! Connor McDavid is an Oiler! Connor McDavid is an Oiler! Sigh. Poor Connor. The hopes of an entire city are apparently resting on his muscled shoulders. This city’s infatuation with the Edmonton
Continue readingIn This Corner: Rachel Notley skilled at the art of the non-answer answer.
So, I’ve been watching Question Period in the Alberta Legislature since the bright orange dawn of the NDP government began. People sometimes ask me why I watch ‘QP’, as those in the know call it. The political answer would be that I watch it as my civic duty as a
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 23: And you wonder why the PCs lost; The Donald enters the race; atrocity of the week
Aside from a few staffing hiccups, things continue to go reasonably well for the New Democratic government. The Speech from the Throne, although limited to just two real bills, was almost universally well received. And the ‘almost’ part of that came from the stunningly clueless Ric McIver, the interim leader
Continue readingIn This Corner: Here’s why the NDP doesn’t need union money anymore.
The NDP government’s first bill is designed to renew democracy in Alberta. It must, right, because it says so right there in the title — An Act To Renew Democracy in Alberta. Essentially, it imposes a ban on corporate and union donations, which pretty much everyone (except PC interim leader,
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 22: A death in Edmonton; Peter MacKlown strikes again; an NDP miscue
A dark week in Edmonton. Const. Daniel Woodall, performing what should have been a fairly routine arrest at a west Edmonton home, was greeted with a hail of gunfire that took his life, and injured another officer. It’s an oft-repeated cliche (that’s what makes it a cliche) that cops never know when the
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff happens, week 21: The truth comes out; goodbye Sepp; hello, Caitlyn
The long-awaited Truth and Reconciliation Commission summary report on residential schools came out Tuesday, detailing the “cultural genocide” practiced by various Canadian governments against the First Nations. The report — actually, the summary report, with the full report coming later — made a staggering 94 recommendations, some of which make
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 20: red card for FIFA; love-in for NDP; McKay out
The week began with a love-in at the legislature, as Rachel Notley and her puny cabinet were sworn in on a beautiful sunny day in Edmonton. The crowd was huge and wildly enthusiastic, more evidence that the love affair with Notley remains in full bloom. She also introduced her cabinet,
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff happens, week 19: Debbie does disgrace; gold for Canada; Edmonton icon passes
For the third week in a row, Deborah Drever reigned as Alberta’s most talked-about NDP MLA. Or, more to the point, Alberta’s most talked-about former NDP MLA. The last straw. Drever finally shamed Rachel Notley to the point that she was kicked out of caucus, setting a possible world record
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 18: PCs put up the ‘closed’ sign; candidate kerfuffle II; Dave departs
Election fallout continues. On Friday, the formerly unbeatable PCs essentially threw in the towel. In a stunning housecleaning, the ex-dynasty fired all staffers except one and announced plans to close their Calgary and Edmonton offices. Remember, this is a party that raised $825,000 in the first quarter of 2015 (more
Continue readingIn This Corner: How to build a cabinet using mismatched pieces: pointers for Rachel Notley
Now that the euphoria of the election has worn off, I wonder if Rachel Notley is waking up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, wondering, “What the hell do I do now?” If she isn’t, she should. She has a big, big job ahead of her,
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 17: Freedom for Omar; a Facebook face plant; pollsters get it wrong (again)
At long last, a bit of justice for Omar Khadr. The so-called war criminal was finally released on bail in Edmonton this week, despite the best efforts of the despicable Harper government to portray him as an unrepentant terrorist who committed “heinous” crimes. Just to recap: Khadr was 15 years
Continue readingIn This Corner: An open letter to the new NDP MLAs from someone who has been there
Hello, Newbies Democratic Party MLAs! Welcome to the exciting world of provincial politics. No doubt many of you are still on a high (natural or otherwise) after your exciting and unexpected victories on Tuesday. I’m sure the Dippers who recruited you gave you assurances that you wouldn’t win, so you
Continue readingIn This Corner: Coming to grips the the ungrippable.
Sometimes, there are events that are so huge, it’s difficult to wrap your brain around all of the elements involved, and try to come up with some sort of reason as to why it happened. The Alberta election of 2015 is one of those events. For 43 years, we’ve had
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 16: Nepal crumbles, Mayweather rumbles, Prentice stumbles
The provincial election is mercifully into its dying days, and the PCs are finally awakening to the fact that they just might actually lose this thing. Jim Prentice has failed miserably to get the public excited about him or his party, as all of the attention has gone to the
Continue readingIn This Corner: Election roulette: picking winners in the impossible election
There is only one thing I can say with absolute certainty about the provincial election of 2015. Jim Prentice has made a terrible, terrible mistake. After that, all bets are off. Even if Prentice wins Tuesday’s election (and I think they will; more on that later), Prentice is a loser.
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