We got the band back together for the final episode of the Daveberta Podcast. That’s right, folks. We are going on a semi-permanent hiatus. And to help mark this announcement, our good friend Ryan Hastman joined Dave Cournoyer and Adam Rozenhart for a trip down memory lane, reminiscing and reflecting
Continue readingTag: Alberta NDP
Alberta Politics: ‘It’s time for this lawlessness to end’ – Rachel Notley rips Jason Kenney’s inaction on illegal border blockade
The 10-day blockade of the main border crossing between Alberta and the United States had damaged the provincial economy to the tune of about half a billion dollars by yesterday. Yet Jason Kenney – the self-described premier of jobs, economy, pipelines – has done nothing about the illegal blockade on
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Danielle Larivee, nurse and former NDP cabinet minister, announces plan to return to public life
After all the grim, disturbing and strangely familiar Groundhog Day news yesterday, it was nice to learn this morning of a positive development in Alberta politics – the return of Danielle Larivee to public life. Ms. Larivee, a public health nurse and capable former NDP cabinet minister, said in a
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Convoys, COVID and Conservative discord dominate Jason Kenney’s return from Washington governors’ clambake
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, back from an ill-timed and seemingly mostly fruitless trip to Washington D.C., pleaded for federal Conservative Party Leader Erin O’Toole’s political life yesterday at a typical Alberta Government news conference about nothing in particular. “I would just say this to my friends in the federal Conservative
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP MLAs on Legislature committee block Auditor General from reporting findings on how government handled COVID-19
Alberta’s Auditor-General has completed six performance audits of the United Conservative Party Government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. But as you may already have seen on social media, Doug Wylie won’t be allowed to tell anyone about them. Alberta Auditor General Doug Wylie (Photo: Office of the Auditor General). That
Continue readingAlberta Politics: With ‘red alerts’ plaguing Alberta ambulance calls, health minister Jason Copping forms advisory committee to search for a fix
With EMS “red alerts” spiking in Alberta and both Calgary and Edmonton running out of ambulances to respond to emergencies roughly every 90 minutes, Health Minister Jason Copping yesterday announced he’s forming an advisory committee to study how to improve ambulance services in Alberta. To be fair, Mr. Copping also
Continue readingAlberta Politics: No more dancing or snooker, but bars can remain open and unvaccinated Albertans are still welcome at house parties
Premier Jason Kenney was back on camera yesterday afternoon to plead with Albertans to hasten to get their third shot of COVID-19 vaccine to blunt the fifth wave of the disease now barrelling into Alberta. If we don’t, he grimly told a news conference theoretically called to announce that any
Continue readingThe Daveberta Podcast: Episode 82: Best of Alberta Politics with Adrienne King and Matt Solberg
Adrienne King and Matt Solberg join the Daveberta Podcast for our year-end episode of 2021. We delve into Premier Jason Kenney‘s leadership challenges, the fireworks at the end of Alberta’s longest legislative session on record, and the upcoming Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche by-election. Adrienne King works for the Now Group,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Why the UCP won’t use Bill 81’s nomination-stacking provisions to mess with the NDP
There’s been some online chatter since the passage of Bill 81 about the possibility the United Conservative Party might use the Election Statutes Amendment Act, 2021, to seed the NDP with lunatic candidates who could destroy the Opposition party or secret neoliberals who would switch their allegiance once elected. Since
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Touting it as a winner, UCP picks hydroponic pea shoot producer for optimistic jobs announcement
Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Alberta’s United Conservative Government has been reduced to doing what market fundamentalists like Jason Kenney usually vow they’ll never contemplate: picking winners and losers. Or, the way these things often seem to turn out, picking winners and discovering later that they’re actually losers.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta’s UCP may not be all that united, but Jason Kenney’s position is more secure than it was a week ago
The agenda for the final day of the United Conservative Party annual general meeting yesterday showed “Catholic and Protestant Service” at 9 a.m., followed by election readiness training for the rest of the day. Presumably delegates who took part in the devotions prayed hard for providence to smile on their
Continue readingThe Daveberta Podcast: Episode 81: Taking ideas and turning them into action. An interview with City Councillor Michael Janz.
Newly elected Edmonton City Councillor Michael Janz joins the Daveberta Podcast to talk about the recent municipal election, his experiences during his first month on City Council, what he hopes to accomplish in the years ahead, and how ordinary Edmontonians can have an impact on decisions at City Hall. We
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Brian Jean, the Bonnie Prince Charlie of the Alberta conservative movement, takes up residence in Jason Kenney’s head
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney insists his former leadership rival Brian Jean’s planned palace coup to snatch away the crown of the United Conservative Party isn’t about to distract him from his duty to restore Alberta’s swagger. But despite tweeting his agreement Wednesday with a fatuous National Post article claiming “Alberta’s
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP bill will allow big money and dark money back into election financing, restrict free speech rights, NDP Opposition says
Alberta’s United Conservative Party introduced new election financing legislation yesterday that appears likely to allow big money and dark money to start flowing back into provincial politics as well as restricting the free speech rights of groups that disagree with the government. So it seems on brand for the UCP
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Rachel Notley’s NDP raises more cash than Jason Kenney’s UCP for third consecutive quarter
Alberta’s Opposition New Democratic Party led the United Conservative Party in fund-raising for the third consecutive quarter of 2021, although not by the dramatic margins seen in the first two quarters. This leaves Rachel Notley’s NDP far in the lead for year-to-date contributions from Albertans, but it contains a warning
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Minister’s claim his chief of staff’s troubles were news to him, raises eyebrows, prompts doubts
Judging from the reaction on social media, not a lot of Albertans believed Jobs, Economy and Innovation Minister Doug Schweitzer when he told a news reporter last week it wasn’t his decision in February to fire his former chief of staff, Ariella Kimmel. After the story broke last Thursday that
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP Government imploding? Sexual harassment scandal hits Premier’s Office hours after supposed referendum victory
Premier Jason Kenney had less than 24 hours to savour his dubious victory in Alberta’s anti-equalization referendum before a serious scandal involving accusations of sexual-harassment, heavy drinking in the office, and the firing of a victim hit the headlines. It’s not clear if the revelation a former ministerial chief of
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The obvious lessons from Alberta’s municipal election will be hard for Jason Kenney and the UCP to learn
Many of Alberta’s highest-decibel conservative loudmouths were by turns appalled and furious yesterday at the outcome of Monday’s province-wide municipal elections. The votes saw progressive mayors and councils elected in the province’s two largest cities and many other signs this place is changing for the better. Edmonton Mayor-elect Amarjeet Sohi
Continue readingThe Daveberta Podcast: Episode 79: Everything you wanted to know about Equalization * But were afraid to ask
University of Alberta political scientist Dr. Jared Wesley joins Dave Cournoyer on the Daveberta Podcast for a deep dive into Alberta’s October 18 Equalization Referendum, why it is being held, what Premier Jason Kenney hopes to accomplish (and why he’s been absent on the campaign trail), and what the ramifications
Continue readingAlberta Politics: What d’ya know? 2021 Nobel economics prize awarded for research directly relevant to political discourse in Alberta
It’s not every day they award a Nobel prize in economics on a topic directly relevant to the political discourse of Alberta, so it is our duty to note Monday’s announcement that Canadian-born economist David Card was accorded the honor for his pioneering work using “natural experiments” to show that
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