PHOTOS: Jim Prentice during his time as premier of Alberta. Below: Premier Rachel Notley, Prentice co-author Jean-Sébastian Rioux (Twitter), and journalist Jason Markusoff (Twitter). The revelation that the moderate and thoughtful energy policy proposed by the late Jim Prentice soon after he left politics in 2015 was very similar to
Continue readingTag: Alberta NDP
Alberta Politics: Canada’s Conservative Party, a once-great national organization, is being overwhelmed by its own extremists
PHOTOS: Federal Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi, a hard-working and talented former Edmonton Transit bus driver. Below: Alberta Infrastructure Minister Brian Mason, a hard-working and talented former Edmonton Transit bus driver. Mr. Sohi, a Liberal, and Mr. Mason, a New Democrat, are both used to cheap conservative shots about their former
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Appalled maybe, but no one should be surprised by the ugly threats against Rachel Notley
PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley. She has been threatened more than any other Alberta premier, and she reacts with aplomb. Below: British politician Jo Cox, murdered last year by a right-wing extremist for her beliefs; federal Conservative leadership candidate Chris Alexander while a right-wing crowd chanted “lock her up” about
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Portrait unveiling stands in for the fond official farewell former premier Dave Hancock never had from his PCs
PHOTOS: Former Alberta Premier Dave Hancock in a typical pose, as he addresses the crowd at the unveiling of his official portrait yesterday. Below: The portrait, by artist Tom Menczel, former Tory cabinet ministers Doug Horner and Richard Starke. The unveiling of Dave Hancock’s portrait in the Legislature yesterday may
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Leduc No. 1 and all that: Was February 13, 1947, Alberta’s unluckiest lucky day?
PHOTOS: Dignitaries stand around and have their photos taken at the Leduc No. 1 well near Devon on – if the Internet is to be believed – this day in 1947. Not sure if I believe that, seeing as the first photo below was supposed to have been taken on
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Brian Jean makes it clear, any new Alberta conservative party will be the Wildrose Party
PHOTOS: Hate to burst your balloons, Tories, but Brian Jean says any new new united right-wing party will be the Wildrose Party, and nothing else. (Wildrose.ca photo.) Below: Wildrose Finance Critic Derek Fildebrandt, front-running Progressive Conservative leadership candidate Jason Kenney and a group of smokers … actual young Alberta tobacco
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta public employees, subject to constant Wildrose and media vilification, win national award for effective service
PHOTOS: An image of the May 2016 Fort McMurray fire taken by Alberta Government photographer Chris Schwarz. Below: The Wildrose Party sees government workers like forest fire fighters (GoA photo) and Licensed Practical Nurses (AUPE photo) as “union bosses.” Just guessing, but you probably won’t read much news coverage about
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Why Canadians are lucky Rona Ambrose was hanging around the Caribbean with a billionaire
PHOTOS: The scene abroad N. Murray Edwards’ yacht imagined. Actual Canadian bitumen billionaires and their onboard guests may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: The real N. Murray Edwards, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau aboard a helicopter, although not the Aga Khan’s, Opposition Leader Rona Ambrose in a yacht harbor, and
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Wildrose reaction to proposed raise for front-line health workers illustrates the party’s rightward shift
PHOTOS: Rob Anderson, on the right, the Wildrose Party’s finance critic under Danielle Smith, at a rally supporting public sector workers in 2012. With him are AUPE President Guy Smith, left, and Alberta Liberal Leader David Swann, centre. Below: The Wildrose Party’s intemperate current finance critic, Derek Fildebrandt, Ms. Smith,
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Setting the stage for Wildrose 2.0: Moderates need not apply
“We must also ensure that a new, united party will be built on a solid foundation of conservative principles and policy. The left-liberal clique that managed to slowly highjack the PC Party must never again be allowed to seize control of Alberta’s conservative movement.” This call for ideological purity came
Continue readingAlberta Politics: For a mild-mannered guy, Stephen Khan’s farewell to the PC leadership race was remarkably blunt
PHOTOS: Former Progressive Conservative Leadership candidate Stephen Khan in the Legislature as St. Albert’s MLA in February 2012. Below: PC leadership candidate Jason Kenney, former candidate Sandra Jansen, now a member of the NDP caucus, and St. Albert NDP MLA Marie Renaud. What’s remarkable about Stephen Khan’s farewell to the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Ted Byfield’s back, cyber-crusading for Jason Kenney’s bid to lead Alberta back to the Fifties!
PHOTOS: Ted Byfield at the microphone (Edson leader photo). Below: Alberta Education Minister David Eggen, the late Link Byfield, Mr. Byfield’s son, and a cover from the bad old days of Alberta Report magazine. Like the proverbial bad penny, Ted Byfield is back. It should come as no surprise that
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Progressive Conservative leadership campaign rattles uncomfortably toward a seemingly inevitable Jason Kenney victory
PHOTOS: Surprise! I don’t have a unite-the-right plan after all, but I’ll quit if you’ll let me run to lead the new party. Wildrose Leader Brian Jean, presumably, was thinking something along those lines when he made his announcement yesterday (Photo from Wildorse.ca). Below: PC leadership race participants Richard Starke,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta’s right doubtless dismayed as The Economist boots the U.S.A. off its list of ‘full democracies’
PHOTOS: Democracy has been downgraded in the U.S.A. … (Azerbaijan Press Agency photo). Below: A recent copy of The Economist, U.S. President Donald Trump and Wildrose Alliance Leader Danielle Smith in her political heyday. Hmmm… The venerable Economist Magazine’s research arm yesterday booted the United States off its list of
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Support by Rachel Notley for Donald Trump’s Keystone XL Pipeline decision may be unnerving, but it’s politics
PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley at yesterday’s news conference in Edmonton (Government of Alberta photo by Chris Schwarz). Below: Greenpeace Canada campaigner Mike Hudema, U.S. President Donald Trump (who may not appear exactly as illustrated), and Otto von Bismarck (who, actually, often pretty much did). Premier Notley just pledged to
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Others sure to suffer as Sudden Apocalyptic Deficit Syndrome strikes affluent, older, white males from Saskatchewan
PHOTOS: The economic landscape nowadays in Saskatchewan. Below: Economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman (Twitter), Canadian economists Jim Stanford (Twitter) and Toby Sanger, and, of course, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall. Saskatchewan appears to be suffering from a serious economic malady. Nobel Prize-winning economist and journalist Paul Krugman calls
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Seriously? Tories about to dump candidate Jason Kenney, columnist predicts …
PHOTOS: Members of the Progressive Conservative Party executive get ready to send Jason Kenney down the old skid road. … Actual Tory executive members may not appear exactly as described in some publications. Below: Calgary Herald political columnist Don Braid and PC leadership candidate Jason Kenney. “Faced with the end
Continue readingAlberta Politics: ‘Real Leader’ Brad Wall’s government feeds the fluctuations of a boom-bust economy as Alberta stays the course
PHOTOS: The Saskatchewan economy … where it sits right about now. It’s not Brad Wall’s fault!!! Below: Mr. Wall, the “Real Leader” of Western Canada; Saskatchewan Deputy Premier Don Morgan; Saskatchewan Finance Minister Kevin Doherty; and Saskatchewan Federation of Labour President Larry Hubich. OTTAWA What a pleasure it is here
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta Liberals launch leadership race as Tory contest takes an acrimonious turn
PHOTOS: The Alberta Liberal Party executive. From left to right: Vice-President Fundraising John Roggeveen, Secretary Alyssa Moore, Treasurer Greg Springate, President Karen Sevcik, MLA David Swann, VP David Khan, VP Policy David Gamble and VP Constituencies Dan MacLennan. Below: Potential candidates Nolan Crouse, Mr. Khan and Nirmala Naidoo. OTTAWA Optimistically
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Oilsands phase-out freak-out explained: Conservatives see the road back to Ottawa going through Edmonton
PHOTOS: G7 leaders including Canada’s then prime minister, Stephen Harper, wander down the garden path in Schloss Elmau, Germany, in June 2015. Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, Alberta Federation of Labour leader Gil McGowan, Opposition Leader Brian Jean and would-be Progressive Conservative Leader Jason Kenney. OTTAWA “Funny,” Alberta Federation of
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