PHOTOS: Jason Kenney, leader of the United Conservative Party and, if things go as expected on Thursday, leader of the Opposition soon thereafter. Below: Alberta commentators Susan Wright, a blogger, and Graham Thomson, one of Postmedia’s political columnists, and U.S. political essayist Frank Rich (Photo: Twitter). There’s a growing discomfort
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daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Vote in the Best of Alberta Politics 2017 Survey
In our latest episode of The Daveberta Podcast we asked you to help us shape our final episode of 2017, which we will be recording in a few weeks. We want to hear from you about the big political players and issues of 2017 – fill out the survey and we
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: On Honesty In Politics
Politicians have always played fast and loose with the idea of truth. Facts get weighted certain ways to support a narrative, creative “spin” is applied to manipulate the public perception of events and policy announcements and so on. I get it – everybody is trying to make their version of
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Saskatchewan’s War on Licence Plates: Is Brad just mad because he’s been upstaged by a woman, and an NDP woman at that?
PHOTOS: No press releases about Texas plates? Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall didn’t used to have a problem with out-of-province tags on work trucks, at least when they were being used to undermine publicly owned Crown corporations, as this photo posted on social media by Saskatchewan Federation of Labour President Larry
Continue readingAlberta Politics: It was wall-to-wall Brad Wall as premier exits, stage right, before wheels fall off Saskatchewan Party bus
PHOTOS: Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall, smiling like old times, says farewell in this video screenshot to an adoring media on his last day in the provincial Legislature in Regina yesterday. Below: U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and Alberta Trade Minister Deron Bilous. Political coverage was wall-to-wall Brad Wall yesterday as mainstream
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Calgary-Lougheed by-election update and a chat with NDP candidate Phillip van der Merwe
Photo: Premier Rachel Notley and Calgary-Lougheed NDP candidate Phillip van der Marwe. (Photo from Facebook) I had a chance to chat with New Democratic Party candidate Phillip van der Merwe on the phone this week about the December 14, 2017 by-election in Calgary-Lougheed. The first-time political candidate practices family medicine in
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The Great Alberto-Saskatchewanian Licence Plate War of 2017: Everything you need to know …
PHOTOS: Tough talk from Alberta Economic Development and Trade Minister Deron Bilous, above, was directed at Saskatchewan’s cranky government. Below: Saskatchewan’s lame duck premier, Brad Wall (Photo: Jake Wright, Wikimedia Commons); Alberta United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney, who calls Mr. Wall “the real leader of Western Canada”; Saskatchewan Highways
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Dave Hancock, Alberta’s second-to-last Progressive Conservative premier, named by NDP as Provincial Court judge
PHOTOS: Dave Hancock as premier, in pink shirt at left, at the Edmonton Pride Parade in June 2014. With him are former Edmonton City Councillor Michael Phair and City Councillor Scott McKeen. Below: Mr. Hancock speaks with the media at Government House in Edmonton on one of the darkest days
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: City Council needs to get it right on Northlands Coliseum redevelopment
It has been about 10 years since the City of Edmonton seriously began studying the concept of funding the construction of a downtown arena, and 6 years since City Council voted to approve a financial deal with the Edmonton Oilers and its billionaire owner, Daryl Katz, to construct a new arena.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: In Bill 32, NDP’s latest tweaks to Alberta election financing laws, Notley Government takes aim at PACs
PHOTOS: Democratic Renewal (and Labour) Minister Christina Gray. Below: Alberta Liberal Leader David Khan and Alberta Party MLA Greg Clark. The most controversial omission in new Alberta legislation restricting the activities of so-called political action committees released yesterday afternoon by the NDP Government of Premier Rachel Notley will likely be
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: NDP expands Third Party Advertiser law to cover ‘Political Action Committee’ activities
Photo: Labour Minister Christina Gray. (Photo from premierofalberta on Flickr) Labour Minister Christina Gray , who is responsible for the Alberta NDP government’s democratic renewal initiatives, introduced Bill 32: An Act to Strengthen and Protect Democracy in Alberta into the Legislative Assembly on December 4, 2017. The bill pulls ‘Political Action Committees’
Continue readingAlberta Politics: NDP set to introduce legislation to control ‘Political Action Committees’ today in wake of Liberal private member’s bill
PHOTOS: Liberal Leader David Khan, left, and former leader and sole MLA David Swann in front of the Alberta Legislature last week. Below: NDP Labour and Democratic Renewal Minister Christina Gray, Alberta Chief Electoral Officer Glen Resler (Photo: Elections Alberta), Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley, and ethics and accountability committee chair
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Did the Alberta Party, the political party about nothing, just have a Seinfeld coup?
PHOTOS: Former Alberta Party leader – and current Alberta Party House Leader, I guess, maybe even interim Alberta Party leader – Greg Clark. Below: Former NDP MLA Karen McPherson, now the second member of the Alberta Party Caucus, former St. Albert PC MLA Steve Khan, who says he won’t be
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Alberta Liberals deserve credit for pushing PAC issue onto the agenda
Photo: Liberal Party leader David Khan and Liberal MLA David Swann (photo from Facebook) Political Action Committees will be back up for debate before MLAs depart Edmonton for the Christmas break at the end of next week. Last week, Calgary-Mountain View Liberal MLA David Swann tabled Bill 214: An Act
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: 2017 Short Story Advent Calendar tops Audreys Books Edmonton Bestseller List for third consecutive week
Here is the list of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold in Edmonton for the week ended Nov. 26, 2017, compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. EDMONTON FICTION BESTSELLERS 1. Short Story Advent Calendar 2017 – Michael Hingston, Ed.*+ 2. Christmas
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jim Hole, high-profile Alberta horticulturalist, does his bit to make cannabis cultivation respectable in Canada
PHOTOS: Hole’s Greenhouses co-owner Jim Hole at yesterday’s news conference at his store in St. Albert. Below: Atlas Growers President and CEO Sheldon Croome. Below him: Mr. Hole tests the light in his pot-growing enclosure for a group of mildly bemused reporters. As readers can see, the unit can also
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Finance Minister Joe Ceci’s call for no wage hikes for public-sector unions a risky strategy for New Democrats
PHOTOS: Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci at yesterday’s news conference in Edmonton (Photo: Government of Alberta). Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, her former chief of Staff, Brian Topp, and former NDP premiers Dave Barrett (Photo: The Tyee), Roy Romanow, and Bob Rae (Photo: Wikimedia Commons). Alberta’s NDP Government can’t say
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Lack of information and weak enforcement let private health care clinics fudge public-private health-care line
PHOTO: Parkland Institute researcher Dr. Rebecca Graff-McRae. Below: The cover of the Parkland Institute Report, Blurred Lines, Private Membership Clinics and Public Health Care. It doesn’t exactly come as a surprise that so-called “private membership health care clinics” in Alberta have been fudging the line between public and private health
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Bill 30, Alberta NDP’s workplace safety and Workers Compensation legislation, steps bravely into 21st Century
PHOTOS: Alberta Labour Minister Christina Gray, in a shot taken by the author at last summer’s Premier’s Pancake Breakfast on the Legislature grounds. In the background, media camera crews mob Premier Rachel Notley as she flips pancakes on the griddle. Below: UCP leader Jason Kenney and Joe McCarthy, some guy
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
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