PHOTOS: Joan Crockatt, during her brief spell as Conservative Member of Parliament for Calgary Centre. Below: Liberal Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr, who beat Ms. Crockatt in 2015; environmentalist Chris Turner who ran against her for the Greens in 2012 and did very well; and environmentalist Harvey Locke, who ran
Continue readingTag: Alberta Politics
daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: No, reforming Alberta’s Labour Laws will not kill democracy.
It won’t come as a surprise to many political watchers in Alberta that the most vocal critics of the NDP government’s yet to be announced reforms to Alberta’s outdated labour laws have strong ties to the province’s Conservative establishment. “Keep Alberta Working” is a campaign of the “Alberta Growth Initiative,” which is a
Continue readingAlberta Politics: There’s no life like it! Alberta’s right-wing troll army is recruiting
ILLUSTRATIONS: Poster thanks to the U.S. Army, circa 1941-42 or whenever they finally got around to joining the fight, with a little help from PhotoShop. Below: Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi – is he the target of the Troll Army’s latest Alberta campaign? The ad in question. Alberta’s right-wing Troll Army
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Don’t look for dramatic change to Alberta labour laws in revisions NDP will likely introduce this week
PHOTOS: Alberta Labour Minister Christina Gray (Photo: Chris Schwarz, Government of Alberta). Below: Labour Lawyer Andrew Sims and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley (Photo: Dave Cournoyer, Wikimedia Commons.) Alberta’s New Democratic Party Government is expected to introduce changes to the province’s main labour relations laws this week, quite possibly on Wednesday.
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Return of Stuff Happens, week 18: Will the right united; the ‘I’ word is spoken.
There was a seismic shift in Alberta politics this week. Only time will tell if it’s a real earthquake that brings down two (or maybe three) parties, or whether it just grunts and groans and nothing happens. On Wednesday, Wildrose party leader Brian Jean and new Progressive Conservative party leader
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Tories, Wildrosers agree to call new entity United Conservative Party … without ever speaking the initials aloud
PHOTOS: Wildrose Leader Brian Jean and Progressive Conservative Leader Jason Kenney pose uncomfortably in this Wildrose Party photo. Below: A CBC shot by Terry Reith may have captured the real mood better. Below that: Twitterist Edwin Mundt’s take on the You See Pee. Question: What happens when Alberta Can’t Wait?
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: The U-C-P: Jean and Kenney launch the United Conservative Party
Today’s announcement from Wildrose Party leader Brian Jean and Progressive Conservative Party leader Jason Kenney that they plan to create a new conservative political party has been expected for weeks. The press conference was filled with fairly nauseating partisan rhetoric about how awful and catastrophic the NDP are, but most importantly, we found
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Madmen in the White House … this time it’s a thing, not just a ‘strategy’
PHOTOS: U.S. President Richard Nixon pointing the way to the exit for Donald Trump’s benefit. Below: Mr. Nixon about to board the helicopter that would take him away from Washington for the last time in an official capacity; a recent photo of President Trump; the sinister Dr. Henry Kissinger, then
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Rachel Notley’s tough talk on pipelines evokes the Peter Lougheed Era of energy policy confrontation
PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley at yesterday’s news conference in Edmonton. (Photo: Chris Schwarz, Government of Alberta) Below: Earth scientist David Hughes (Post Carbon Institute photo), B.C. Premier Christy Clark (B.C. Government photo), and B.C. NDP Leader John Horgan. Using language that, intentionally or not, evoked the Peter Lougheed Era
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Edmonton Election Update: School Board Trustees Now Included.
We are now five months away from the October 2017 municipal elections in Edmonton. Here are some of the latest updates to the list of candidates running in Edmonton’s municipal election, now including candidates running for trustee positions on the Edmonton Public School Board and Edmonton Catholic School District. Edmonton
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Worthwhile Canadian initiative … Rona Ambrose said to be departing politics to help out the Wilson Centre
PHOTOS: Outgoing interim federal Opposition Leader Rona Ambrose listens seriously to someone in this Government of Canada shot found lingering on the Internet. Below: Ms. Ambrose and her domestic partner, J.P. Veitch, grabbed from her Facebook page, and Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, plucked from the author’s vast collection of political
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Who needs old-time climate change deniers when we’ve got the ‘New Climate Denialism’?
PHOTOS: Shannon Daub, associate director of the CCPA’s British Columbia office and co-director of the Corporate Mapping Project, at the mapping project’s 2017 Summer Institute at the University of Victoria this week. Below: CCPA B.C. Director Seth Klein (Twitter) and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. VICTORIA, B.C. Just because there are
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Pipelines, pipelines, pipelines – An Alberta view of the BC election
British Columbia voters reduced Christy Clark’s BC Liberals to minority status in the provincial election this week. The BC Liberals, who have formed government since 2001, elected candidates in 43 of the province’s 87 legislative constituencies (pending recounts). The official opposition New Democratic Party led by John Horgan boosted their numbers
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Liberals propped up by a tiny Green caucus may be worst outcome of B.C. election for Alberta’s NDP
PHOTOS: B.C. Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver (CBC photo), who seems to have found his tiny three-member caucus holding the balance of power in the province’s Legislature. Below: B.C. Premier Christy Clark (Wikimedia Commons: Kris Krug), Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, B.C. NDP Leader John Horgan, and B.C. Lieutenant Governor Judith
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Dispatches from British Columbia: This is what you call a close election
VICTORIA, B.C. This is what you call a close election. When your blogger gave up and packed it in for the night, the vote in the British Columbia general election was still essentially a tie: B.C. Liberals 42, B.C. New Democrats 42, and Greens 3. By morning a lot may
Continue readingAlberta Politics: It’s weird to see Alberta’s Wildrose Party paying tribute to (Pierre) Trudeau’s National Energy Program … but what the heck!
PHOTOS: Prime minister Pierre Trudeau, at right, and Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed looking friendly enough in this file shot taken back in the 1980s. Below: Wildrose Economic Development Critic Prasad Panda and former Manitoba (shhhhhh … NDP) premier Gary Doer. VICTORIA, B.C. While we await the results of today’s British
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Message to the media and conservatives about Alberta’s NDP: Read their lips, no early election!
PHOTOS: Opposition Wildrose Leader Brian Jean and Progressive Conservative Leader Jason Kenney. Below: A clear-eyed Premier Rachel Notley, former British Columbia NDP premier Dave Barrett and the late Jim Prentice, former premier of Alberta. TORONTO “Two years after Alberta NDP win, critics see signs of early election call,” a headline
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Two years later – Notley’s NDP victory and a reminder why Elections matter
Two years ago today Albertans voted to sweep out the old Progressive Conservative government by electing Rachel Notley’s New Democratic Party into government. It was a surreal election that topped off a tumultuous decade in Alberta politics. It used to be said that politics in our province was boring, and
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Re-stating the obvious: elections matter, and the Alberta NDP victory on May 5, 2015, proves it
PHOTOS: Rachel Notley celebrates her victory on the night of May 5, 2015. Below: Ms. Notley again, the same night, still celebrating; defeated Progressive Conservative Premier Jim Prentice as seen via TV at NDP headquarters conceding to the NDP; a small corner of the crowd at NDP election headquarters in
Continue readingAlberta Politics: As the temperature rises, so will the risk – some thoughts on the Fort Mac Wildfire, one year ago today
PHOTOS: Cars full of refugees from the Fort McMurray Wildfire flee the flames on May 3, 2016. (Wikipedia) Below: Premier Rachel Notley, then Municipal Affairs Minister Danielle Larivee, and Opposition leader Brian Jean. Today is the anniversary of the moment one year ago when the Fort McMurray Wildfire tore through
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