TweetLearning how to be an effective opposition MLA in Alberta includes a very steep learning curve and the constant challenge of facing a governing party that despises opposition. As any observer of Alberta politics can point out, the Progressive Conservatives have not sustained 41 uninterrupted years in government by being
Continue readingTag: Alberta Politics
Alberta Diary: The Annals of Law Enforcement: Yeah, Alberta’s Tories are sleazy, but now and then they get it right anyway
Just a year ago, it seemed likely police recruits like these would soon be lounging around the dusty streets of Fort Macleod, where not much has changed since the Mounties pounded in their first tent pegs in 1874. Alas, it shall not be. Below: Col. James Macleod; former MLA Evan
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: alberta liberals hire new brunswick resident as new executive director.
TweetThe Alberta Liberals quietly announced on their website this week that New Brunswick-based writer and consultant Gerald McEachern would take over as the party’s executive director on September 4. Following the Liberal Party’s disastrous showing in the May 2012 election, the position had been filled on a temporary basis by
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Hurricane Isaac makes landfall in New Orleans; Hurricane Joan hits Calgary
A prophet laments the unwillingness of the people to heed warnings from on high. Alberta political bloggers may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Nominated federal Tory candidate “Hurricane Joan” Crockatt. At the risk of going all Old Testament on readers, when Hurricane Isaac slammed into New Orleans last night,
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: a narrow focus on downtown won’t help edmonton.
TweetA new report released by Edmonton’s Downtown Business Association shows the downtown may potentially be on the verge of some significant development. The report, which included speculation about rumoured investment, also noted potential residential development. I have always been very supportive of Edmonton’s downtown and I was pleased to see
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: conservatives choose joan crockatt. liberals still hoping for a star?
TweetPolitical commentator Joan Crockatt was chosen as the Conservative Party candidate in the yet to be called by-election in the federal riding of Calgary-Centre. Ms. Crockatt bested five other candidates, including the heavily endorsed lawyer Greg McLean and former MLA Jon Lord. According to a report from the Calgary Herald,
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: is edmonton’s former capital health board being targeted by a calgary-led witch-hunt?
TweetAre executives of the former Calgary Health Region, now comfortably occupying senior positions at Alberta Health Services, campaigning to discredit the work done by executives of Edmonton’s now-defunct Capital Health Region? AHS President and CEO Chris Eagle announced earlier this week that, following the Allaudin Merali expense-claims scandal, an Ernst
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: calgary-centre conservatives and liberals choosing their by-election candidates.
TweetOn Saturday, August 25, Conservative Party members in the riding of Calgary-Centre will choose a candidate to carry their party’s banner in an upcoming and yet-to-be called by-election. Six candidates are contesting the nomination. The Conservative candidate is widely expected to win the by-election in this moderate conservative voting downtown
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Anti-union Wildrose Party’s fund-raising pitch piggybacks on union’s heavy lifting
Closed? Open? With Alberta Diary you can have it all. This blog is closed for a few days while your blogger takes a short break from writing stuff all the time. This means there can likely be no post on the Conservative Party’s Calgary Centre by-election nomination on Friday, Aug.
Continue readingAlberta Diary: ‘Anybody But Crockatt’ Update: Calgary Centre by the Numbers
Anybody But Crockatt? Redford Tory cabinet Christine Cusanelli slams Calgary Centre Conservative nomination candidate Joan Crockatt. Actual Alberta politicians may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: Ms. Crockatt. Seems as if an Anybody But Crockatt effort is afoot among some of the federal (or is that provincial?) Conservatives in the
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: guest post: evan berger and the politicization of the alberta public service.
TweetBy Jerry MacDonald As we observe the farce of a defeated former MLA & Agriculture Minister, Evan Berger, being hired by the Deputy Minister of his former department, we must take a long and serious look at the politicization of the Alberta public service caused by over 40 years of
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Departed MP’s endorsement, big donations by candidate’s firm, complicate complicated Conservative nomination race
Candidates for the Conservative Party’s nomination in the Calgary Centre constituency prepare for next Saturday’s vote. Below: Candidates Greg McLean, Joan Crockatt and Jon Lord. Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to … get elected. The contest to find a federal Conservative candidate to replace
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: carmangay confusion puts tory southern alberta prospects to the torch.
TweetConfusion about the closure of the Little Bow Continuing Care Centre in the tiny southern Alberta village of Carmangay has triggered a backlash by local residents against the Progressive Conservative government. The closure of the facility, which houses local residents and is the main employer in the community, has also
Continue readingAlberta Diary: The Annals of Alberta Labour Relations: Redford Government goes boldly where no Tory’s gone before
Some of the AUPE members who work at the Revera Riverbend facility in Edmonton, which ended yesterday when the Alberta government imposed a first-contract binding arbitration process and ordered an end to the strike. (AUPE Photo.) Below: Former AUPE President Dan MacLennan hams it up with former premier Ralph Klein.
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Ethical Oil charity complaint sparks Alberta corporate complaint
Commentator Ezra Levant lets go a broadside at Tides Canada on his Sun News Network program. Below: Researcher Tony Clark; Jamie Ellerton, executive director of Mr. Levant’s Ethical Oil Institute; National Revenue Minister Gail Shea. As is well known, the “Ethical Oil Institute,” the Edmonton-based organization founded by Sun News
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Distilled democracy: Tory 2% to vote on Aug. 25 in Calgary Centre nomination race
Candidate Rick Billington serenades well-heeled Conservative residents of the Calgary Centre federal riding during Stampede week back in July. Actual Alberta politicians may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Departed MP Lee Richardson and busy candidates Joan Crockatt and Jon Lord. I’d throw in a photo of the real Mr.
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: it’s getting a little more crowded on the ndp tarp.
TweetThe Alberta NDP ad in the 2012 Edmonton Folk Music Festival program.
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Tales from the political root cellar: Alberta’s liberal War on Spuds and the Harper election strategy
David Swann in Alberta’s political root cellar, contemplating all those potatoes. Actual Alberta politicians may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: The real David Swann, Alberta’s likely reaction to his quixotic efforts. Perhaps it’s just as well that Dr. David Swann, former leader of the Alberta Liberals still toiling away
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Alberta’s Expensesgate scandal: Just saying it’s over doesn’t mean it’s over
Transparency, Alberta style, with Gloria Stuart as Alison Redford, William Harrigan as Dr. Chris Eagle and Claude Rains as Fred Horne. Below: Don Scott, yesterday’s Invisible Man. Alberta’s mainstream media finally got around yesterday to acknowledging the obvious, that Alberta Health Services may have left itself (and the rest of
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Pure milk or pure ideology? Alberta MP attacks supply management
Milking it for all that it’s worth – not how it’s done any more. Below: Edmonton-St. Albert MP Brent Rathgeber. ST. ALBERT, Alberta Brent Rathgeber, Member of Parliament for Edmonton St. Albert, has launched a third “attack” on the policies of the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. But
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