PHOTOS: Members of the Press Gallery mark the end of the session in the Alberta Legislature by showering paper on MLAs. That, of course, was back in the day when the press still used presses, and wrote their reports on paper. Below: Premier Rachel Notley and Environment Minister Shannon Phillips
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Alberta Politics: Government by sneak: the preferred Harper Conservative response to thorny issues and hard-fought elections
PHOTOS: Poultry farmers not exactly like these, and dairy farmers as seen below, are facing sneaky attacks by the Harper Government. And speaking of the chickens coming home to roost, below them is a screen shot of former Peterborough MP Dean Del Mastro. VICTORIA, B.C. Same sex marriage advocates and
Continue readingIn This Corner: Rachel Notley skilled at the art of the non-answer answer.
So, I’ve been watching Question Period in the Alberta Legislature since the bright orange dawn of the NDP government began. People sometimes ask me why I watch ‘QP’, as those in the know call it. The political answer would be that I watch it as my civic duty as a
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Perfesser Dave explains ethics in lobbying and how to manage political marriages
VICTORIA, B.C. Some stories are just too confusing for ordinary bloggers to explain. That’s when we turn to the expert knowledge offered by such distinguished academics as Perfesser Dave, The Answer Guy ™, Canada’s No. 1 expert in politics, now at the Observatory of Political Phenomena in Victoria, B.C. As
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Notley NDP waste no time implementing popular progressive agenda in former conservative heartland
Banning corporate and union donations: Check. Restoring funding to health, education and human services: Check. Increasing corporate taxes: Check. Introducing a new climate change strategy: Coming soon. Phasing in a $15 per hour minimum wage: Coming soon. Reviewing Alberta’s natural resource… Continue Reading →
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Rachel Notley offers a dignified argument for healing and acknowledgement of past wrongs against First Nations citizens
PHOTOS: The damage done by residential schools is part of every Canadian’s legacy and the sooner we acknowledge that, the better off we all will be. Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, B.C. Premier Christy Cark, singer Raffi Cavoukian, Opposition Leader Brian Jean and Tory MLA Sandra Jansen. VICTORIA, B.C. From
Continue readingIn This Corner: Here’s why the NDP doesn’t need union money anymore.
The NDP government’s first bill is designed to renew democracy in Alberta. It must, right, because it says so right there in the title — An Act To Renew Democracy in Alberta. Essentially, it imposes a ban on corporate and union donations, which pretty much everyone (except PC interim leader,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: ‘Alberta is not Greece yet’ … Why do we have to pay for Jack Mintz’s mythmaking?
PHOTOS: Calgary in the near future, as fancifully described by the usual suspects at the University of Calgary, if the NDP doesn’t start delivering Conservative polices with alacrity. Below: U of Calgary Professor Jack Mintz, grabbed from Imperial Oil’s annual report; former Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge. VICTORIA, B.C.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Timing of NDP election finance bill’s planned implementation a direct shot at foundering Tories
PHOTOS: NDP Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley at yesterday morning’s press conference on Bill 1, An Act to Renew Democracy in Alberta. Below: Premier Rachel Notley, PC Leader Ric McIver. With Bill 1, An Act to Renew Democracy in Alberta, there can be no question that Alberta’s NDP government is playing
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: First NDP Throne Speech on message. McIver Tories totally tone deaf in opposition.
The NDP throne speech was predictable and on message The first Speech from the Throne of Alberta NDP Premier Rachel Notley‘s administration included many of the key promises made during the recent provincial election. The 604,515 Albertans who voted NDP should be pleased… Continue Reading →
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The Speech from the Throne: NDP’s new political funding rules turn the Tories’ world upside down
PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley gives a thumbs up in the Legislature for her government’s Speech from the Throne yesterday. Below: Lieutenant Governor Lois Mitchell reads the speech (Government of Alberta photos). There weren’t any real surprises in the Notley Government’s first Speech from the Throne yesterday, although the ban
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Something new, and probably something old too: Reflections on the meaning of Alberta throne speeches, NDP and Tory
PHOTOS: Now that’s a throne speech! The Queen addresses Parliament in the Senate Chamber in Ottawa in 1957 as prime minister John Diefenbaker, on her right, listens to his government’s plans, no doubt with a great sense of satisfaction. Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and Alberta Lieutenant Governor Lois Mitchell,
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: June 15 marks the end of the NDP’s trek through Alberta’s political wilderness
On June 15, 2015, Alberta’s new government will present its first Speech from the Throne. Read by new Lieutenant Governor Lois Mitchell, the speech will represent the first official major statement made by Premier Rachel Notley’s NDP government since its stunning… Continue Reading →
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Banning corporate and union election cash: not just the right thing for the NDP to do, but the smart thing too
PHOTOS: A group of Albertans studies the effects of corporate cash on the conservative domination of North American politics. Actual Albertans may not appear exactly as illustrated. Regardless, Alberta’s NDP government may be about to try to fix this problem. Below: Parkland Institute charts showing the percentage of election campaign
Continue readingIn This Corner: Stuff Happens, week 22: A death in Edmonton; Peter MacKlown strikes again; an NDP miscue
A dark week in Edmonton. Const. Daniel Woodall, performing what should have been a fairly routine arrest at a west Edmonton home, was greeted with a hail of gunfire that took his life, and injured another officer. It’s an oft-repeated cliche (that’s what makes it a cliche) that cops never know when the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Inside baseball: Legislature picks Speaker; Albertans to get first glimpse of NDP policy Monday
PHOTOS: Opposition Leader Brian Jean, at left, and Premier Rachel Notley, far right, drag the new Speaker, Medicine Hat MLA Bob Wanner, to his chair, a tradition dating to the days when chairing the Legislature wasn’t as desirable a job as it is today. Below: Another shot of Mr. Wanner,
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Notley’s NDP should ban corporate and union donations in municipal elections
One of the main promises made by the NDP before their win in the May 2015 provincial election was a commitment to ban corporate and union donations in provincial politics. Current campaign finance laws allow individuals, corporations and labour unions to… Continue Reading →
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Grim Athabasca University report says ‘future is now,’ but faces a different future than the one its authors anticipated
PHOTOS: Athabasca University’s spooky headquarters in the forest near the town of Athabasca. Below: Athabasca-Sturgeon-Redwater NDP MLA Colin Piquette, AU President Peter MacKinnon and Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre Wildrose MLA Jason Nixon, once a member of Dr. MacKinnon’s task force on AU sustainability. Athabasca University’s three-day convocation begins today, but what
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Alberta’s new political insiders mostly come from outside Alberta
Edmonton Journal report Karen Kleiss published a story this week naming the new Chiefs of Staff hired to advise Alberta’s twelve NDP cabinet ministers and manage their offices at the Legislature. The new government has faced criticism for hiring too many staff from outside… Continue Reading →
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The Annals of Government Relations: B.C. lobbyists with faint Dipper links keep turning up in Alberta
PHOTOS: A line of “government relations” specialists with packs full of resumes mentioning past NDP connections make their way over a mountain pass from British Columbia into Alberta. Actual lineups of B.C.-based lobbyists may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Brad Zubyk, principal of Vancouver-based Wazuku Advisory Group, which is
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