One of the enduring myths of our era is that Albertans (or Canadians, or whomever) don’t like negative political advertising, and therefore that political attack ads won’t work here. Now that Alberta’s New Democratic Party has published a website attacking Opposition Leader Jason Kenney’s record as a federal Conservative MP,
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Alberta Politics: Happy Valentine’s Day! Don’t worry, even with a fair minimum wage, you can take your sweetie to a restaurant tonight!
Readers whose hearts are breaking at Restaurants Canada’s tale of woe supposedly caused by increases in the minimum wage and other calamities can take some Valentine’s Day comfort from the fact that despite all the tears Albertans have been dining out in record numbers. Last fall’s annual report on the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Restaurant lobby launches campaign to elect UCP, roll back $15-per-hour minimum wage
Alberta’s perpetually dissatisfied restaurant owners find themselves in such difficult straits they’re investing their hard-earned dollars in a high-profile PR campaign to make sure we all understand just how tough they have it – and while they’re at it, maybe they can get us to elect a right-wing government that
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Now, about that unconstitutional dog that ate Stephen Mandel’s homework …
It’s time for something completely different: a podcast! Don’t worry, it’s not mine. We’re not about to start podcasting here at AlbertaPolitics.ca, where old-timey newspaper columns that have a beginning, a middle, an end, and usually make a fairly strong point are our thing. Normally at this blog we strive
Continue readingAlberta Politics: What was John Carpay’s goal when he in effect withdrew his apology for comparing Pride flags to swastikas?
John Carpay is a clever man. The high-profile Alberta social conservative leader puts careful thought into what he says and how he says it. A lawyer by profession, he constructs his sentences precisely and deliberately. He knows exactly what he is saying when he says something. So one has to
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Former CBC journalist John Archer acclaimed as NDP candidate in Edmonton-South West
Former CBC journalist John Archer was acclaimed as the NDP candidate in the Edmonton-South West riding last night. Mr. Archer may not have surprised everyone, but he certainly surprised me in 2015 when he left what had been a very successful career with the national broadcaster to work for Premier
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Mr. Mandel Regrets: Political drama, Alberta Party style … this may be theatre, but it ain’t no masterpiece!
Alberta Party Leader Stephen Mandel now says he regrets missing the deadline for filing his nomination candidate expense paperwork, but nevertheless expects the courts to make the problem go away! Well, good luck with that. He blames a retired party financial functionary for the filing fiasco that resulted in six
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Paperwork SNAFU! Elections Alberta says Stephen Mandel can’t run! Alberta Party lawyers say he can! Stand by for video!
This just in! Elections Alberta’s updated list of candidates ineligible to run as candidates or serve as chief elections officers includes at least one name most Albertans will recognize. To wit: Stephen Mandel. Yes, that Stephen Mandel. That is, the Stephen Mandel who leads the Alberta Party. The former Edmonton
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Has anyone thought about the impact regime change in Venezuela will have on Alberta’s oilpatch? It won’t be pretty!
In the stampede by Canadian politicians of all ideological stripes to support Venezuela’s self-declared “interim president,” has anyone given even a nanosecond’s thought to the impact the handover of the troubled South American petrostate’s government to Juan Guaido would have on Alberta’s oilpatch? It won’t be pretty. The federal government’s
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Former Alberta immigration minister asks federal immigration minister for investigation of UCP candidate’s alleged immigration practices
Former Alberta employment and immigration minister Thomas Lukaszuk has written federal immigration minister Ahmed Hussein urging him to open a formal investigation into serious allegations a temporary foreign worker was improperly treated by a business person who is now a United Conservative Party candidate in Calgary. Mr. Lukaszuk, who was
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Unveiling of portrait of Jim Prentice, premier of Alberta, accompanied by warm words and a non-partisan moment
A dignified official portrait of Jim Prentice, last Progressive Conservative premier of Alberta, was unveiled in the Alberta Legislature yesterday. It’s a very nice piece of official portraiture that does justice to the beautiful third-floor hallway of the Alberta Legislature’s Rotunda where portraits of the province’s former premiers hang. Its
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP Leader Jason Kenney, political lifer elected at 29, mocks 29-year-old NDP candidate with sophomoric and offensive joke
I hear, “a gay 19 year old.” Quite clearly. I speak, of course, of Jason Kenney’s notorious cheap shot in Cochrane last Thursday, in which he mischaracterized the NDP’s newly acclaimed candidate in the Airdrie-Cochrane riding for a few laughs. Speaking at a United Conservative Party rally at an upscale
Continue readingAlberta Politics: What gives? Polite crowd, no visible security, no official UCP critics at Edmonton open house for Bighorn Park proposal
I can’t tell you about the one in Drayton Valley on Friday, but everything seemed copacetic at the Bighorn Wildland Provincial Park proposal open house in Edmonton yesterday afternoon. But what would you expect? As is the case in most of Alberta, one suspects, support is pretty strong in Alberta’s
Continue readingAlberta Politics: NDP governments’ approaches to health care funding characterized by fiscal prudence, new study says
Who knew? The facts don’t support the myth that New Democratic Party governments always try to break the bank with health care spending! Just as NDP governments have a better fiscal record than all other Canadian political parties that have formed governments, a new study by the Edmonton-based Parkland Institute
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Supreme Court says bankrupt corporations’ assets must pay for environmental cleanup first, pay off debtors later
CALGARY Stand by for a veritable tempest of wailing about “activist judges” from banking, oil industry and conservative quarters, now that the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled bankrupt fossil fuel companies can’t use federal bankruptcy law to walk away from their environmental responsibilities as set out in provincial laws.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Supreme Court ruling tomorrow could leave Albertans on the hook for corporate toxic mess cleanup
The Supreme Court of Canada will announce its ruling tomorrow morning in a case that could leave taxpayers on the hook for a toxic mess left by a bankrupt oil company – and by extension a whole raft of corporate polluters, not just in the oil industry. If the Supreme
Continue readingAlberta Politics: A little homily for churchgoers: Thou shalt do no tweeting from thy pew!
Preachers of many faiths wonder if anyone in their congregations ever pays attention to what they have to say. That complaint was common in clerical circles long before everybody had a direct line to the Internet, instead of God, right in their pocket or purse. Could social media be about
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Justice Minister needs to ask for RCMP investigation of Election Commissioner’s concerns, and quickly
Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley needs to ask the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to investigate concerns raised by Alberta Election Commissioner Lorne Gibson that someone is trying to interfere with his office’s inquiry into alleged irregularities in the 2017 United Conservative Party leadership race. Mr. Gibson expressed his alarm in a
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP leader’s tweet fumbles response to Islamophobic group’s harassment of worshipers at Edmonton mosque
Perhaps United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney needs to engage someone new to compose his tweets for him. Mr. Kenney is a bright guy, so I’m assuming for reasons that will soon become apparent he doesn’t come up with his own contributions to Twitter, the antisocial medium. Last fall, when
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Liberal MP Jennifer O’Connell keeps the pot boiling under Jason Kenney and his questionable housing expense claims
Just when you thought it was about to fade away over the coming weekend, the saga of Jason Kenney’s dubious House of Commons housing expense claims got a new lease on life yesterday thanks to a Liberal Member of Parliament from Ontario. Jennifer O’Connell, MP for Pickering-Uxbridge, breathed new life
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