Photo: UCP leader Jason Kenney and Calgary-Fish Creek MLA Richard Gotfried (source: Twitter) MLA Richard Gotfried fended off a nomination challenge on September 7, 2018 against opponent Cindy Ross, becoming the United Conservative Party candidate in Calgary-Fish Creek. It was a contentious nomination race, with accusations of negative campaigning being
Continue readingTag: Alberta PC Party
daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: David Shepherd secures NDP candidacy in Edmonton-City Centre, Laurie Mozeson beats Steve Thompson in Edmonton-McClung UCP contest
Edmonton-Centre MLA David Shepherd secured the New Democratic Party nomination in the newly redrawn and slightly renamed Edmonton-City Centre district at a packed nomination meeting last night in downtown Edmonton. Shepherd was first elected in 2015 after unseating five-term Liberal MLA Laurie Blakeman, and in 2017 he was voted “MLA
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: When it comes to Sandra Jansen, it’s a grudge match for the UCP
It was supposed to be an event highlighting an effort to recruit more conservative women into politics in Alberta, but it was overshadowed by the news that former Prime Minister Stephen Harper plans to personally campaign against New Democratic Party MLA Sandra Jansen in the next provincial election. Laureen Harper
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Sixth MLA leaves the UCP. Prab Gill resigns from caucus following ballot-stuffing investigation.
The polls suggest the United Conservative Party is poised to form government in 2019, but how united the caucus actually is remains questionable. Calgary-Greenway UCP MLA Prab Gill issued a statement yesterday announcing that he has left the UCP caucus to sit as an Independent MLA following the conclusion of
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Death threats and restraining orders – What the heck is happening to the UCP in Chestermere-Strathmore?
Photo: Chestermere-Rockyview MLA Leela Aheer and former Wildrose Party leader Brian Jean, who she endorsed in the 2017 UCP leadership contest (source: Facebook) The contest for the United Conservative Party nomination in the new Chestermere-Strathmore district turned nasty this week when it was revealed that MLA and UCP Deputy Leader Leela Aheer
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: UCP draws huge crowds, huge controversy to its first policy convention
(Photo credit: @Alberta_UCP on Twitter) With more than 2,500 party members in attendance, this weekend’s United Conservative Party founding convention was one of the biggest political events in Alberta’s recent memory. It was a big show of force for the official opposition party, which continues to dominate in the polls
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Will April 2018 mark a breakthrough for Alberta Party fundraising?
As anyone who is on a political party email list will be well aware of, March 31 marked the end of the first quarter of fundraising for Alberta’s political parties. The years since the 2015 election have shown a tough competition between the governing New Democratic Party and the Wildrose
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Best of Alberta Politics 2017: Formation of the United Conservative Party
It was the clear winner in the first round of voting in the Best of Alberta Politics 2017 survey. With a solid 59 percent of votes, readers of this blog and listeners of The Daveberta Podcast chose the formation of the United Conservative Party as the biggest political play of 2017.
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: March 3, 2008 was an optimistic day to be a Liberal supporter, at least up until 8:22 p.m.
Photo: Liberal Party leader Kevin Taft speaks to a rally of supporters on the weekend before the 2008 election. Taft, in my opinion, was one of the best premiers Alberta never had. March 3, 2008 was an optimistic day to be a Liberal Party supporter, at least up until 8:22
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Total Votes in Alberta political party leadership races from 1998 to 2018
Photo: Ed Stelmach (elected leader of the PC Party in 2006), Danielle Smith (elected leader of the Wildrose Alliance in 2009), Kevin Taft (elected leader of the Liberal Party in 2004), and Alison Redford (elected leader of the PC Party leader in 2011). Following the announcement this week of the
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Three new right-wing candidates challenge Jason Kenney in Calgary-Lougheed by-election.
Photo: Calgary-Lougheed by-election candidates Jason Kenney (UCP), David Khan (Liberal), Lauren Thorsteinson (Reform), Phillip van der Merwe (NDP), Romy Tittel (Green) and Wayne Leslie (Independent/AAPPA). Not pictured: Larry Heather (Independent) In addition to the four candidates I mentioned in my previous post about the Calgary-Lougheed by-election – United Conservative Party candidate Jason Kenney, New
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: How much influence does the oil industry have over Alberta politics?
Way too much, according to author and former Edmonton-Riverview MLA Kevin Taft. Taft takes a deep dive into the influence of big oil on the politics and policy direction of our province in his new book, Oil’s Deep State: How the petroleum industry undermines democracy and stops action on global
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: UCP merger kickstarts another summer of politics in Alberta
Photo: Wildrose leader Brian Jean formally launches his campaign to lead the United Conservative Party (source: Facebook) It has been a busy week in Alberta politics, and it is only Tuesday. On Saturday, 95 percent of Wildrose and Progressive Conservative Party members who cast ballots voted in favour of amending
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Wildrose-PC merger a big deal, but not a silver bullet for 2019
Albertans will find out on July 22 whether members of the Wildrose and Progressive Conservative parties have voted to amend their party constitutions in order to abandon their existing parties and form a new party named the United Conservative Party. For the vote to pass, it will need the support
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: NDP tops political fundraising in Alberta for second quarter in a row
Elections Alberta released the financial disclosures showing the results of political party fundraising in the second quarter of 2017. Combined party and constituency fundraising results show the governing New Democratic Party in the lead in for the second consecutive quarter of 2017, having fundraised $553,733 between April 1, 2017 and
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Two weeks until decision day for Conservatives in Alberta
On July 6, 2016, Jason Kenney officially launched his campaign to capture the leadership of Alberta’s Progressive Conservatives and lead them into a merger with the right-wing Wildrose Party. After 19-years as an Ottawa politician, Kenney was easily able to stage a hostile take-over the broken and battered former governing party.
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: All roads lead to Red Deer and the Alberta Party for homeless politicos
Red Deer and the Alberta Party are frequent destinations for disaffected politicos in search of a new political home. Katherine O’Neill Led by former Progressive Conservative Party president Katherine O’Neill and backed for former cabinet minister Stephen Mandel, disaffected Tories are booking their flights to the central Alberta city this weekend to discuss bringing centrists
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: All roads lead to Red Deer and the Alberta Party for homeless politicos
Red Deer and the Alberta Party are frequent destinations for disaffected politicos in search of a new political home. Led by former Progressive Conservative Party president Katherine O’Neill and backed by former cabinet minister Stephen Mandel, disaffected Tories are booking their trip to the central Alberta city this weekend to discuss bringing
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Alberta Conservatives now appear less united than they have in years
Progressive Conservative leader Jason Kenney took aim at the New Democratic Party and Alberta’s teachers this week, claiming that both groups are planning to hijack the July 22 vote to fold his party and the Wildrose Party into a new United Conservative Party. Kenney’s claims are unsubstantiated and are likely
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: NDP finally introduce their Labour Law modernization bill
Labour Minister Christina Gray introduced Bill 17, the Fair and Family-friendly Workplaces Act, into the Legislative Assembly today. This bill includes long-awaited reforms to modernize Alberta’s Labour Code and Employment Standards Code. Some parts of Alberta’s labour laws have remained untouched since the 1970s. The 249-page bill includes a wide-range of amendments from
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