PHOTOS: B.C. Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver (CBC photo), who seems to have found his tiny three-member caucus holding the balance of power in the province’s Legislature. Below: B.C. Premier Christy Clark (Wikimedia Commons: Kris Krug), Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, B.C. NDP Leader John Horgan, and B.C. Lieutenant Governor Judith
Continue readingTag: Alberta NDP
Alberta Politics: It’s weird to see Alberta’s Wildrose Party paying tribute to (Pierre) Trudeau’s National Energy Program … but what the heck!
PHOTOS: Prime minister Pierre Trudeau, at right, and Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed looking friendly enough in this file shot taken back in the 1980s. Below: Wildrose Economic Development Critic Prasad Panda and former Manitoba (shhhhhh … NDP) premier Gary Doer. VICTORIA, B.C. While we await the results of today’s British
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Message to the media and conservatives about Alberta’s NDP: Read their lips, no early election!
PHOTOS: Opposition Wildrose Leader Brian Jean and Progressive Conservative Leader Jason Kenney. Below: A clear-eyed Premier Rachel Notley, former British Columbia NDP premier Dave Barrett and the late Jim Prentice, former premier of Alberta. TORONTO “Two years after Alberta NDP win, critics see signs of early election call,” a headline
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Two years later – Notley’s NDP victory and a reminder why Elections matter
Two years ago today Albertans voted to sweep out the old Progressive Conservative government by electing Rachel Notley’s New Democratic Party into government. It was a surreal election that topped off a tumultuous decade in Alberta politics. It used to be said that politics in our province was boring, and
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Re-stating the obvious: elections matter, and the Alberta NDP victory on May 5, 2015, proves it
PHOTOS: Rachel Notley celebrates her victory on the night of May 5, 2015. Below: Ms. Notley again, the same night, still celebrating; defeated Progressive Conservative Premier Jim Prentice as seen via TV at NDP headquarters conceding to the NDP; a small corner of the crowd at NDP election headquarters in
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Jason Kenney emerges from hiding at Conservative fundraising dinner in Vancouver
As Premier Rachel Notley returns from leading a ten-day economic trade mission to China and Japan, political watchers have been wondering where the recently elected leader of the Progressive Conservative Party has been? Jason Kenney appeared to go into hiding around a month ago after he sparked controversy with his comments about Gay-Straight Alliances and outing
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Missing Jason Kenney surfaces, safe and sound, speaking up for Christy Clark at chichi Vancouver steak house
PHOTOS: Alberta Progressive Conservative Leader Jason Kenney, from the days no so long ago he could still be found in in this province. Below, from various Twitter photos: Vancouver journalist Bob Mackin, “Liberal” B.C. Premier Christy Clark, and Conservative federal leadership candidate Andrew Scheer. Got questions for the elusive Jason
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Few hints about coming NDP workplace law reform in minister’s speech to Alberta Federation of Labour
PHOTOS: Alberta Labour Minister Christina Gray at the Alberta Federation of Labour Convention in Edmonton yesterday. (Photo: Dave Cournoyer.) Below: AFL President Gil McGowan and Labour Code review chair Andrew Sims. As you might expect, Labour Minister Christina Gray got a very warm welcome from delegates to the Alberta Federation
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Here we go again: Opacity not transparency characterizes Alberta’s right-wing merger talks
PHOTOS: Wildrose Opposition Leader Brian Jean and Progressive Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney uncomfortably shake hands in this obviously staged photo in what appears to be Mr. Jean’s office. (Wildrose Party photo.) Below: Tanis Fiss, chair of the insider committee working behind closed doors to unite the two parties (from
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Premier Rachel Notley’s NDP wins Alberta’s first-quarter fund-raising sweepstakes, continuing trend from 2016
ILLUSTRATIONS: Elections Alberta’s icon on a canola-yellow field. Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and Alberta Party Leader Greg Clark, just to pluck a couple of names out of the story. Alberta’s New Democratic Party outraised each of the province’s other political parties in the first quarter of 2017, ended March
Continue readingAlberta Politics: One big problem for Alberta’s ‘unite-the-centre’ effort: the NDP already occupies that space
PHOTO: Stephen Mandel, would-be uniter of Alberta’s “centre,” when he was a Tory minister. The effort by a group of politicians previously associated with the Progressive Conservative, Liberal and Alberta parties to “unite the centre” suggests divisive social conservative doctrines that increasingly dominate the Wildrose and PC parties are starting
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Premier Rachel Notley’s NDP wins Alberta’s first-quarter fund-raising sweepstakes, continuing trend from 2016
ILLUSTRATIONS: Elections Alberta’s icon on a canola-yellow field. Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and Alberta Party Leader Greg Clark, just to pluck a couple of names out of the story. Alberta’s New Democratic Party outraised each of the province’s other political parties in the first quarter of 2017, ended March
Continue readingAlberta Politics: One big problem for Alberta’s ‘unite-the-centre’ effort: the NDP already occupies that space
PHOTO: Stephen Mandel, would-be uniter of Alberta’s “centre,” when he was a Tory minister. April 19, 2017 – The effort by a group of politicians previously associated with the Progressive Conservative, Liberal and Alberta parties to “unite the centre” suggests divisive social conservative doctrines that increasingly dominate the Wildrose and
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: First quarter political party fundraising puts NDP in the lead
Elections Alberta released the financial disclosures showing the results of political party fundraising in the first quarter of 2017. Combined party and constituency fundraising results show the governing New Democratic Party in the lead in early 2017, having fundraised $373,060.23 between January 1 and March 31, 2017. The Wildrose Party raised $345,125.06 and
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Silence on the right and in the media about NDP role as Alberta adds an impressive 20,000 full-time jobs in March
PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, who is not getting any credit for her economic successes from the Opposition or the media. Below: Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci; Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall; and University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe (CBC photo). Alberta added an impressive 20,000 full-time jobs in March, according
Continue readingAlberta Politics: No redemption for the Wildrose, outed in a Lake of Fire five years ago today, and it’s Eastertime too
PHOTOS: Rev. Allan Hunsperger, whose beliefs about the eternal fate of people who live a gay lifestyle contributed mightily to the downfall of the Wildrose Party. (Wildrose Party photo, circa 2012.) Below: Then Wildrose leader Danielle Smith; Jason Kenney, leader of the Progressive Conservatives today; and former PC premier Alison
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The Week in Review: We know where the Wildrosers are, but where’s Jason?
ILLUSTRATIONS: Where’s Jason? If anyone spots PC Leader Jason Kenney, who doesn’t have to show up in the Legislature because he’s not an MLA, please let a responsible grownup know. Below: Education Minister David Eggen and Opposition Leader Brian Jean. There’s no doubt about where Mr. Jean will be found,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: NDP plan to change funding model for agricultural commissions is unlikely to much help farmers or the government
PHOTOS: Alberta Agriculture Minister Oneil Carlier with some of the members, staff and leaders of the province’s agricultural commissions at a sparsely attended news conference in Edmonton yesterday to announce the Marketing of Agricultural Products Amendment Act 2017. Below: Mr. Carlier, at left, chats with Alberta Beef Producers Chair Bob
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Alberta’s Conservatives are obsessed with Gay-Straight Alliances
Following Progressive Conservative Party leader Jason Kenney’s comments to the Calgary Postmedia editorial board fifteen days ago when he came out in favour of allowing schools to inform parents when students join a student-initiated Gay-Straight Alliance club, Alberta’s conservative politicians have tied themselves in knots over the issue. Gay-Straight Alliances are student-initiated clubs meant
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Cell phone video of Nazi comparison in Red Deer Catholic high school class on abortion should raise political questions
PHOTOS: A screen shot of the video at the moment it makes its controversial comparison. Below: Alberta Education Minister David Eggen, Progressive Conservative Leader Jason Kenney as a young man giving his views on women’s reproductive rights, Red Deer Catholic Regional School Board Chair Guy Pelletier, and U of A
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