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 readingTag: Alberta Politics
Alberta 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
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Inclusion of 1905 act in Constitution means Brad Wall’s ‘Notwithstanding Clause’ gambit is no slam-dunk
PHOTOS: Premier Brad Wall of Saskatchewan (Photo: CBC). Below: Edmonton lawyer Simon Renouf. If Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall thinks he can just snap his fingers and the Notwithstanding Clause of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms will make his Catholic school troubles go away, he may need to think
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Funny … not a peep on the right about Jason Kenney stumping for a Liberal
PHOTOS: Sandra Jansen, back in the day when she never imagined she’s be anything but a Tory. Below: Jason Kenney, leader today of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta; Rachel Notley, whose NDP Government was elected on May 5, 2017; and Brad Wall, the man with a plan to save
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Russia seeks international arrest warrant for former Ukraine PM, reported to now hold Canadian citizenship
PHOTOS: Arseniy Yatsenyuk, former prime minister of Ukraine, with then Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper in July 2015. (Screen capture of CBC news broadcast.) Below: Alberta Conservative Leader Jason Kenney, federal Conservative leadership candidate Chris Alexander (Wikimedia Commons) and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, all of whom figure in this
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Jason Kenney emerges from hiding at Conservative fundraising dinner in Vancouver
As Premier Rachel Notley returns from leading a ten-day economic trade mission to China and Japan, political watchers have been wondering where the recently elected leader of the Progressive Conservative Party has been? Jason Kenney appeared to go into hiding around a month ago after he sparked controversy with his comments about Gay-Straight Alliances and outing
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Missing Jason Kenney surfaces, safe and sound, speaking up for Christy Clark at chichi Vancouver steak house
PHOTOS: Alberta Progressive Conservative Leader Jason Kenney, from the days no so long ago he could still be found in in this province. Below, from various Twitter photos: Vancouver journalist Bob Mackin, “Liberal” B.C. Premier Christy Clark, and Conservative federal leadership candidate Andrew Scheer. Got questions for the elusive Jason
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Few hints about coming NDP workplace law reform in minister’s speech to Alberta Federation of Labour
PHOTOS: Alberta Labour Minister Christina Gray at the Alberta Federation of Labour Convention in Edmonton yesterday. (Photo: Dave Cournoyer.) Below: AFL President Gil McGowan and Labour Code review chair Andrew Sims. As you might expect, Labour Minister Christina Gray got a very warm welcome from delegates to the Alberta Federation
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Good news-bad news for Tory candidate Maxime Bernier as Boston Stranger packs up his carpet bag and heads home
PHOTOS: Kevin O’Leary, until yesterday a front-running candidate to lead the Conservative Party of Canada. (Photo: Ontario Chamber of Commerce.) Below: CPC candidates Maxime Bernier and Kellie Leitch (both from Wikipedia); and Ron Paul, the crazy uncle of the American Right, whose economic views are similar to Mr. Bernier’s. The
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Ed Gibbons and Ray Martin not seeking re-election
Two long-time Edmonton politicians announced this week that their names will not be on any ballot when the municipal elections are held on October 16, 2017. Ed Gibbons announced he will not be a candidate in this fall’s municipal elections. Gibbons has served on Edmonton City Council since 2001, first
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Please stand by … while AlbertaPolitics.ca fixes a problem with disappearing illustrations
The test pattern of the British Amateur Television Club, circa 1960. As regular readers of this blog will be aware, AlbertaPolitics.ca recently moved to a new web hosting service in response to some problems with the previous service provider. The transfer seems to have have resulted in a situation in
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Donald Trump helps build the case for Rachel Notley’s social license policy on energy exports
PHOTOS: U.S. President Donald Trump – he’s lookin’ at you, Canada. (Photo by Gage Skidmore, Flickr.) Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley. If Alberta’s conservatives imagined U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision immediately after his election last November to push the Keystone XL Pipeline project forward would provide an opening for them
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Make American Dairy Farms Great Again! Adopt supply management
PHOTOS: Dairy cows in a mass milking machine at a U.S. farm, a pretty well run one from the look of this photo from the Wikipedia. Below: Not what dairy farming looks like any more; U.S. President Donald Trump, hero to the Globe and Mail editorial board, giving Canada, or
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Here we go again: Opacity not transparency characterizes Alberta’s right-wing merger talks
PHOTOS: Wildrose Opposition Leader Brian Jean and Progressive Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney uncomfortably shake hands in this obviously staged photo in what appears to be Mr. Jean’s office. (Wildrose Party photo.) Below: Tanis Fiss, chair of the insider committee working behind closed doors to unite the two parties (from
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Holy smoke! Saskatchewan court’s Catholic education ruling is a bombshell
PHOTOS: Calgary Catholic School District headquarters (Screen grab from Google Street View). Below: Mr. Justice Donald Layh being sworn in in 2014 (Yorkton Today), Edmonton Catholic School District Headquarters, Edmonton Public School Trustee Michael Janz. Holy smoke! The ruling Thursday by a Saskatchewan judge that the province’s government may no
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Premier Rachel Notley’s NDP wins Alberta’s first-quarter fund-raising sweepstakes, continuing trend from 2016
ILLUSTRATIONS: Elections Alberta’s icon on a canola-yellow field. Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and Alberta Party Leader Greg Clark, just to pluck a couple of names out of the story. Alberta’s New Democratic Party outraised each of the province’s other political parties in the first quarter of 2017, ended March
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