PHOTOS: Young cigarette smokers. Youthful menthol smokers in Alberta may not appear exactly as illustrated, although it’ll stunt their growth just the same. Below: Health Minister Sarah Hoffman and former health minister Stephen Mandel. HALIFAX, N.S. What next? Apparently Alberta’s NDP government is now making decisions based on the best
Continue readingTag: Alberta Politics
daveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Wildrose MLA Jason Nixon faces expulsion motion from students’ union
While the mainstream media has spent an inordinate amount of time focusing on the social media indiscretions of Calgary-Bow MLA Deborah Drever, newly elected Wildrose Party MLA Jason Nixon faces an expulsion motion from members of an organization he used to lead. According to the student newspaper The Voice Magazine, members of… Continue Reading →
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta’s shattered Tories have a tougher task ahead than the ‘inexperienced’ NDP
PHOTOS: A really smart guy tries to figure out a way back to power for Alberta’s post-Prentice Progressive Conservatives. Actual PC strategists may not appear exactly as illustrated. Doesn’t look like it’s going that well. Below: NDP Health and Seniors Minister Sarah Hoffman; Bill Moore-Kilgannon, her new chief of staff.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: There’s no way the Broadbent Institute should have hired a high-profile strikebreaker to moderate a panel on Alberta’s election
PHOTOS: A striker, at right, confronts a security guard during one of the dark days of the 1999-2000 labour dispute at the Calgary Herald. Below: Calgary Herald political columnist Don Braid and Broadbent Institute Executive Director Rick Smith. I was genuinely shocked when I learned a few days ago that
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Is anyone seriously surprised Alberta’s books might be in worse shape that we were told?
PHOTOS: Uh-oh! Newly appointed NDP chiefs of staff start to check the books left by the now-departed Prentice Government, and they don’t like what they’re finding. Actual government political staffers may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Finance Minister Joe Ceci and Provincial Gadfly Joe Anglin. Can anyone honestly say
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Does advertising plagiarism suggest Harper Government’s running on intellectual fumes?
PHOTOS: A screen shot from the new Harper Government anti-Tom-Mulcair advertisement. Actual Harper government plagiarism may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Scenes from the nearly identical 2011 Manitoba NDP 30-second spot and 2015 Harper Con spot. If political ads were popular songs, the Manitoba NDP would probably be getting
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Navigator hires Notley’s press secretary. Former NDP, Wildrose, PC MLAs go into business.
The realm of government relations and lobbying is a world that most Albertans will never be exposed to. The industry of influencing elected officials and government policy as practiced by private lobbying companies and government relations departments has been turned on its head by… Continue Reading →
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Sunshine, ice cream and a mellow multitude of 10,000 or so usher in the NDP era in Alberta
PHOTOS: Here’s my shot of the crowd as it began to break up after the ceremony had ended and I’d managed to run upstream to the steps of the Legislature. The Canadian Press photo below shows what the crowd looked like as Premier Rachel Notley and her cabinet were sworn
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Notley’s Crew: Alberta’s First NDP Cabinet
Thousands of Albertans packed the Legislature Grounds for the swearing-in ceremony of Premier Rachel Notley and Alberta’s first NDP Cabinet. This marked the first time in 44 years that a party other than the Progressive Conservatives were sworn-in to office… Continue Reading →
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Was Lake of Fire 2.0, the 2015 edition, averted by an incompetent Tory war room?
PHOTOS: Former premier Jim Prentice, left, asks a member of his opposition research and strategy team what the heck went wrong on May 5. Actual Alberta politicians and their flunkies may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Pastor Allan Hunsperger, whose blog post ignited Lake of Fire 1.0; Deborah Drever,
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Alberta NDP draft outsiders from Manitoba, BC and Ottawa for Transition Team
Despite this current historic period in Alberta politics as a new party transitions into government for the first time in 44 years, almost no public focus has been directed at the team who are managing the Alberta NDP move into government. We have heard that former Saskatchewan… Continue Reading →
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Bitter Twitter commentators battle Dippers: Apparently size matters after all! Who knew?
Back in February 2013, then-Alberta-premier Alison Redford announced that, “recognizing the impact of falling resource revenues on our bottom line, my government will lead by example with a smaller, more focused cabinet.” At the time, the usual suspects in the provincial news media seemed to think her reduction of the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Rachel Notley sets transition schedule for NDP government, gives impression grownups are in charge in Alberta again
Premier Designate Rachel Notley addresses reporters in the Alberta Legislature Building’s media room yesterday. (CBC photo.) Below: MLA Deborah Drever, new Lieutenant Governor Lois Mitchell. If Alberta’s Conservatives weren’t worried about the long-term effects of their surprise defeat in the May 5 general election, by gosh they should be now!
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: List: What’s happened since Alberta’s historic election
It has been an incredible 15 days since Alberta’s historic 2015 election. Here is a quick look back at what has happened in the past two weeks and what will happen in the months ahead. May 5: Rachel Notley‘s New… Continue Reading →
Continue readingAlberta Politics: How weird is this? Calgary Chamber of Commerce spokesperson praises Rachel Notley’s NDP government
PHOTOS: Premier Designate Rachel Notley, in orange shoes, with her caucus. Below: Scott Crockatt, the Calgary Chamber’s communications and marketing director; Manning Centre polemicist Colin Craig. Well, these are strange times indeed when the official spokesperson for the Calgary Chamber of Commerce can extol the potential for Alberta’s just-elected New
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Sources say Karen Leibovici to run for federal Liberals in Edmonton-West
Numerous sources report that former Edmonton city councillor Karen Leibovici is preparing a jump into federal politics by seeking the federal Liberal Party nomination in the new Edmonton-West riding. Ms. Leibovici is a long-time local politician who was first elected as a Liberal MLA… Continue Reading →
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Picking a cabinet is never an easy job – it’ll be tougher, with higher stakes, for Rachel Notley
It’s a pretty safe bet these four MLAs will be in the Notley Government’s first cabinet. From left to right, Deron Bilous, Brian Mason, David Eggen and, of course, Premier Designate Rachel Notley, who together made up the entire NDP caucus before the May 5 election. Below: Three other possible
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: What the NDP platform said about ethics in government
After 44-years of one-party government, Alberta voters stampeded to the polls to remove the Progressive Conservatives from office in the May 5 election. The defining narrative of the election was accountability and ethics in government and on this issue voters coalesced around Rachel… Continue Reading →
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Inexperienced? Says who? Complaints about NDP caucus composition only show how weak the right wing is just now
ILLUSTRATIONS: “You voted for whom? Are you mad, man?” … No way to win friends and influence people. (Historic illustration from Punch – no idea what point the artist was trying to make.) Below: Calgary-Bow MLA Deborah Drever (Metro Newspapers photo). Below her, an illustration from the author’s Facebook page
Continue readingAlberta Politics: So many premiers, so little time, so little space – it’s time to end the tradition of commissioning their portraits in oils
PHOTOS: Your blogger’s proposal for a portrait of outgoing premier Jim Prentice. Below: The modest photographic gallery of premiers in the B.C. Legislature in Victoria; a detail from the same wall showing, clockwise from top left, premiers W.A.C. Bennett, Bill Bennett, Bill Vander Zalm and Dave Barrett; the remaining space
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