TweetShort on specifics, Premier Alison Redford‘s much-hyped televised address may have ended up leaving more question unanswered. 1) Referring to a “bitumen bubble”, the Premier announced that the provincial government’s revenue shortfall is now projected to be six billion, up from the three billion budget deficit recently projected by Finance Minister Doug Horner. This is
Continue readingTag: Alberta Politics
daveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Will Premier Redford’s TV message address Alberta’s tax dilemma?
Tweet“Our party was elected to keep building Alberta — to focus our spending on the priorities that you told me were important, and that is exactly what we’ll do.” – Premier Alison Redford in an email to Progressive Conservative Party supporters on January 23, 2013 Premier Alison Redford will star
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Uh-oh! Premier Alison Redford wants to have a ‘conversation’ with us
Fireside chats? Alberta Premier Alison Redford as she’ll likely see herself while softening up the province’s citizens for the March 7 Budget Speech on CTV tonight. Below: Ms. Redford as Albertans may see her. Below that: the real Ms. Redford; Conference Board Chief Economist Glen Hodgson. Oh dear. Premier Alison
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Why is Alberta studying seniors’ care at the same time as it’s privatizing it?
Coming soon to seniors’ centres in Alberta, a new model of elder care? Below: Health Minister Fred Horne. On Monday, Alberta Health Minister Fred Horne announced a year-long project to study seniors’ residential centres and figure out the best way to fund and run them. Sounds good, lots of Albertans
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Where in the world are Tory cabinet ministers?
TweetBrussels, Bucharest, and Juneau are three international destinations where Tory MLAs were scheduled to visit during Government of Alberta sponsored trips today. Environment and Sustainable Resources Minister Diana McQueen and Intergovernmental and International Relations Minister Cal Dallas have embarked on a pan-European tour, meeting with business and government leaders in
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Idle No More protests successfully wind up Alberta solicitor general
Alberta Solicitor General and Justice Minister Jonathan Denis, right, reacts to word of an Idle No More road blockade while Calgary Sun columnist Rick Bell looks on. Actual Alberta politicians and commentators may not appear precisely as illustrated. Below: the real Denis the Menace before he popped a gasket and
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Inquiry testimony suggests pricey private clinics – nudge-nudge, wink-wink – really can engineer preferential access
Wheeling and dealing: Staff of private clinics use advanced clinical techniques to decide which patients go to the front of the line for quick medical tests. Alberta medical insiders may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Retired judge John Vertes, Alberta Health Minister Fred Horne. What appears to be the
Continue readingAlberta Diary: The Redford Tories’ conundrum: Progressive reason versus Conservative passion
They kissed us once. Will they kiss us again? Alas, in Alberta right now, there’s no way to be cert- cert- certain. Alison Redford chats with a typical Alberta voter last spring – although, Alberta politicians and their supporters may not turn out to be exactly as illustrated. Below: The
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Misleading with statistics: the Fraser Institute on health care and ‘value for money’
This just in! The latest mainstream media news straight from the Vancouver studios of the Fraser Institute, complete with no fact checking! No sooner noted than illuminated – yesterday morning mainstream media was credulously reporting another “Fraser Factoid,” this one a report by the far-right political lobby group purporting to
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Big turnover in Premier’s communications office.
TweetAfter staff departures, Ontarians hold two top roles in Alberta Premier’s Office. Last week it was announced that Jay O’Neill is departing his job as Director Communications under Premier Alison Redford‘s. Although Mr. O’Neill only joined the Premier’s office in late 2011, it is not uncommon for individuals to only fill these types
Continue readingIn This Corner: Queue jumping inquiry shocker: rich and famous have connections!
Your provincial government is spending the somewhat staggering sum of $10 million on a public inquiry into “queue jumping” in the health care system. In light of what we’ve heard so far, I would like to propose to the province that the inquiry is shut down immediately. For a mere
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Rogue party activists to discuss ‘collaboration, and cooperation.’
TweetThe latest episode of Alberta’s ongoing “cooperation on the centre-left” saga will continue on January 23, when rogue activists from the Liberalberta Party, the New Democratic Party, and the Alberta Party will host a “Soapbox, Suds, and Wings” night in Edmonton. The event, which is being organized by Edmonton-Mill Creek
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Alison Redford’s revenue problem will define 2013 budget fight.
TweetThe low price of oil and natural gas and an election promise of “no new taxes, no service cuts” has put Alberta’s Tories in an unenviable political bind and set the tone for this year’s provincial budget debate. This week, Lee Richardson, Principal Secretary to Premier Alison Redford, released a
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Three investigations kick-off 2013 in Alberta politics.
TweetDespite winning a large majority in last spring’s provincial election, Alberta’s long-governing Progressive Conservatives had a rough ride in the media and on the floor of the Assembly last year. If Tory MLAs hoped for a reprieve in 2013, they may have to wait for a few months. Starting off
Continue readingAlberta Diary: A tsunami of Tory troubles? Naw, the Alberta universe is unfolding as it should…
All we want are the facts, Ma’am. A couple of investigators hired by Alberta Chief Electoral Officer O. (for Olaf) Brian Fjeldheim prepare to go through the files of friends, relatives and employees of billionaire Daryl Katz who may or may not have donated money to the Redford Tories. Actual
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Governing myself accordingly, five years later – edstelmach.ca.
TweetFive years ago today, on January 8, 2008, I sent out an email that changed my life, and this blog, in more ways than I would have ever imagined: Right before Christmas, I received a letter in the mail from Tyler Shandro, a lawyer from the Calgary-based law firm Walsh
Continue readingAlberta Diary: With the NHL back on the ice, why not let Chinese taxpayers subsidize Canada’s billionaires?
The Great Leap Forum: what Edmonton’s luxurious new ice hockey palace could look like with a little gesture of internationist solidarity from Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Communist Chinese friends. Conceptual art by Dave Cournoyer used with permission. It’s a moment of such perfect convergence that it’s astonishing Alberta’s Wildrose Party,
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Wildrose rink lotto scheme: a new tax on the prodigal and the poor
Imagine the millions we can scoop up from the foolish and the intoxicated! Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith extemporizes on the advantages of using gambling to subsidize billionaires. Below: Drugstore and hockey billionaire Daryl Katz; former Wildrose candidate Pastor Alan Hunsperger. It was almost a relief yesterday when Danielle Smith, leader
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Wildrose KENO-Arena lottery gambles with future of charities and non-profits.
TweetWildrose Official Opposition leader Danielle Smith re-injected herself into the latest round of news coverage about how to fund the Katz Group’s on-again, off-again arena north of Edmonton’s downtown. At a press conference this afternoon, Ms. Smith proposed that the provincial government should examine using the “KENO gambling model” to
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Why wait? Read 2013’s shocking political headlines right now on Alberta Diary!
The Dagny Taggarts, a synchronized skating team from Ottawa get ready to do their popular routine, “Where Is John Galt?” Defence Minister Joan Crockatt is in the front row, second from right. Below: Senator Tom Flanagan; U of C economics student Kim Jong-un, in full Calgary drag; Deputy Premier Thomas
Continue reading