PHOTOS: Opposition Leader Brian Jean addresses foes of Bill 6 on the steps of the Alberta Legislature. (Photo grabbed from his Facebook page.) Below: Alberta premiers Ralph Klein, Alison Redford, Ed Stelmach and Rachel Notley. It seemed pretty rich for…
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Accidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading.- Matthew Yglesias rightly points out the absurdity of monetary policy designed to rein in at-target inflation at the expense of desperately-needed employment. And Joseph Stiglitz reminds us that we can instead …
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: What new laws did Alberta’s NDP Government pass in 2015?
The fall session of the Alberta Legislature ended last week and MLAs will now spend the next few weeks working in their constituencies until the Assembly returns in early 2016. The Assembly passed nine pieces of legislation introduced by Alberta’…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Sorry Wildrose, but recall legislation has no place in a representative democracy
PHOTOS: A man with a pitchfork at a protest by a group of farmers and their supporters in front of the Alberta Legislature this week. We’re going to chalk this up to over-enthusiasm, but if someone had brought a pitchfork to a labour rally, you can c…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Bill 6 Update: With the NDP in damage control mode, has the storm passed?
PHOTOS: The crowd outside the Westerner Centre in Red Deer, photo grabbed from the Twitter feed of Mary MacArthur, the Western Producer’s Alberta correspondent. Below: Labour Minister Lori Sigurdson and Agriculture Minister Oneil Carlier. Alberta’s…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Wildrose Recall Bill would let 20% of voters overturn a fair and democratic election
A private members bill proposed by Chestermere-Rockyview Wildrose Party MLA Leela Aheer would allow 20 percent of eligible voters – a significant minority of eligible voters – the ability to overturn the results of a previously held fai…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Never mind the ‘Fuddites,’ Alberta needs Bill 6, although Bill 6 needs fixes
PHOTOS: NDP Labour Minister Lori Sigurdson chats with anti-Bill-6 protesters in front of the Legislature on Friday. Below: The crowd of protesters at its zenith and members of the Legislative Press Gallery interviewing a turkey, not for the first time,…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Alberta NDP should tap the brakes on its new Farm and Ranch Safety law
The Alberta government needs to rethink its approach to overhauling safety laws on family farms and ranches. Since it was introduced in the Legislature on Nov. 17, confusion about Bill 6: Enhanced Protection for Farm and Ranch Workers Act has trigge…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: New board in; CEO Vickie Kaminski out … just another day at Alberta Health Services!
PHOTOS: Outgoing AHS CEO Vickie Kaminski at an Edmonton news conference last year. Below: Redford-era health minister Fred Horne, PC premier pro tem Dave Hancock, NDP Health Minister Sarah Hoffman and Premier Rachel Notley’s just-appointed deputy chi…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week.- Mariana Mazzucato discusses the futility of slashing government without paying attention to what it’s intended to accomplish. And Sheila Block and Kaylie Tiessen are particularly critical of Ontario’s short-term sell…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading.- George Monbiot discusses the inherent conflict between consumption and conservation:We can persuade ourselves that we are living on thin air, floating through a weightless economy, as gullible futurologists pr…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta’s PCs may not survive the damage done by Alison Redford; NDP faces risk of collateral damage from CBC revelations
PHOTOS: Alison Redford in 2011, as she was running for the leadership of the Alberta Progressive Conservatives. Below: Alberta Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley and CBC investigative reporter Charles Rusnell. The Alberta Progressive Conservative Party m…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Assorted content to start your week.- Upstream offers a summary of the Canadian Institute for Health Information’s latest report, with particular emphasis on growing inequality in health metrics due to social factors despite increased funding into the …
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta’s climate-change strategy: Rachel Notley builds a coalition of big business, environmentalists and civil society
PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley with leaders of the remarkable coalition on climate change her NDP government has built (Government of Alberta Photo). Below: Brian Jean, Alberta’s complaint-of-the-day Opposition leader; Gary Doer, three-term ND…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Who said what about the NDP’s ambitious Made-in-Alberta Climate Change Plan
Pigs continued to fly in Alberta politics today as energy industry leaders and environmental groups joined Premier Rachel Notley and Environment and Parks Minister Shannon Phillips at a press conference to release Alberta’s much anticipated plan…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week.- Roderick Benns interviews Scott Santens about the effect of a basic income:Benns: Why is the concept of a basic income guarantee so important at this point in our societal development? Santens: We’re living in a pa…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Big Tobacco’s doubtful claim high taxes encourage cigarette smuggling finds support on Alberta’s Wildrose benches
PHOTOS: Young cigarette smokers in 1910. The tobacco industry and its friends on the Opposition benches think high tobacco taxes are a problem. Below: Wildrose Party Finance Critic Derek Fildebrandt, an advocate of this view; NDP Finance Minister Joe C…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: End of exile seems likely for Calgary MLA Deborah Drever, expelled from NDP caucus for tasteless social media posts
PHOTOS: Calgary-Bow MLA Deborah Drever around the time of her banishment from the NDP caucus for tasteless social media posts she had published before her political career (CBC Photo). Below: Lethbridge-East MLA Maria Fitzpatrick and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley. A welcome effort to rehabilitate Independent Calgary MLA Deborah Drever, pilloried
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Bill 6, Alberta’s new farm safety legislation, will be a test both for the NDP Government and the Wildrose Opposition
PHOTOS: Down on the Alberta farm, successive Conservative governments have made sure farm animals had more rights than farm workers. Below: Alberta Labour Minister Lori Sigurdson and Agriculture Minister Oneil Carlier, who may be about to fix this. It’s an embarrassing blot on the record of successive Progressive Conservative governments
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