If the federal government thinks its various subsidies to Canadian newspapers are doing much to uphold democracy, it needs to take a clear-eyed look at Postmedia’s paid circulation numbers. The Calgary Herald’s newsroom before the move, when journalism was still fun and major metropolitan newspapers were still downtown (Photo: Bob
Continue readingTag: Alberta Politics
Alberta Politics: Guest Post: Michael Janz says sales data indicate suburban sprawl has created profits of $1B for Edmonton developers over a decade
Ward papastew City Councillor Michael Janz (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). In recent months, a lot of ink has been spilled and hot air vented on the housing crisis being experienced everywhere in Canada. Meanwhile, as leaders at every level of government blame others for the crisis, our municipalities continue to
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Sorry, but we’re still on the royalty roller coaster! Budgetary sleight of hand notwithstanding, Alberta is in deficit already
Good morning, Alberta! It’s March 2024, and we’re still on the royalty roller coaster! Premier Danielle Smith congratulates her finance minister in the Legislature yesterday (Photo: Legislative Assembly of Alberta/Flickr). It feels as if we’re easing back into the bust portion of the formula, and it’s still no fun. Well,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Will Take Back Alberta’s sinister supremo meekly submit to the premier’s command to quit tweeting?
Now that he’s been ordered by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith shut the heck up and stop slagging federal Conservative boss Pierre Poilievre and his lovely wife, will Take Back Alberta’s founder and sometime executive director David Parker meekly do as he’s told or will he make like Darth Vader and
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP opposition to pharmacare deal encounters stiff headwinds from an unexpected quarter; Edmonton hospital gets put on the shelf
The United Conservative Party’s knee-jerk vow to opt out of the national pharmacare program agreed to by the Liberal and NDP caucuses in Parliament last week is encountering stiff headwinds from an unexpected point of the political compass. Calgary Chamber of Commerce President Deborah Yedlin (Photo: Calgary Chamber of Commerce).
Continue readingAlberta Politics: A national pharmacare program at last? Forget about it, says Alberta’s UCP – just give us the cash!
No sooner did the federal Liberal and New Democratic parties say they’d reached a deal on a national pharmacare program at the end of last week than Alberta’s United Conservative Party Government insisted it wanted no part of the plan. Friends of Medicare Director Chris Gallaway (Photo: David J. Climenhaga).
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Edmonton-Rutherford MLA Jodi Calihoo Stonehouse and AFL President Gil McGowan join NDP leadership race
Two more high-profile candidates said over the weekend they are joining the NDP leadership race: Edmonton-Rutherford MLA Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse and Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan. Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan, who says he is joining the race to lead the Alberta NDP (Photo: David J.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Danielle Smith keeps saying she’s going to ‘de-risk’ natural-gas-fired electricity generation – what exactly does she have in mind?
According to the Council of Europe, “de-risking” means “the phenomenon of financial institutions terminating or restricting business relationships with clients or categories of clients to avoid, rather than manage, risk.” Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, pretty much the arch-fiend the way Ms. Smith describes him (Photo: UN Biodiversity, Creative Commons).
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The premier’s speech: A spectre still isn’t haunting Alberta, the spectre of fair taxes
I’ve never actually heard that there’s a ghost in the Premier’s Office at the Alberta Legislative Building, but apparently there’s a dusty old speech that was left in a drawer by some forgotten premier in the distant past, Peter Lougheed, probably. The late premier of Alberta, Peter Lougheed (Photo: Government
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Don’t imagine for a moment the UCP has lost interesting in getting its paws on your pension
Just because Albertans have overwhelmingly rejected the idea, don’t imagine for a moment Alberta’s United Conservative Party Government has lost interest in getting its hands on its citizens’ share of the Canada Pension Plan fund, whatever that may turn out to be. Lac Ste. Anne-Parkland UCP MLA Shane Getson (Photo:
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: About Alberta’s Proposed Ban On Trans Athletes
Among the heartless and cruel things that Danielle Smith announced in her "policy package" about parental rights (anti-transgender policy, really), was an absolute ban on transgender women competing in sports in Alberta. The rationale being that somehow "transgender women have massive advantages in athletics", and somehow that having transgender women
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Rakhi Pancholi’s notion Alberta’s NDP should split from the federal party is a risky idea that should be left undisturbed
Leadership candidate Rakhi Pancholi has proposed disaffiliating the Alberta NDP from the federal party to deprive the province’s Conservatives of a talking point they’ll use anyway. NDP leadership candidate Kathleen Ganley is open to talking about the idea (Photo: Facebook/Kathleen Ganley). “Membership in one political party should not require membership
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Amazingly, there’s actually a debate within the Alberta NDP about tax policy!
OTTAWA – I suppose you could conclude that the spectacle of two leadership candidates actually arguing over tax cuts – with, shockingly, one of them not even in favour! – suggests that the Alberta NDP hasn’t fully transitioned into being a mere progressive conservative party. NDP leadership candidate Sarah Hoffman
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Is denigrating women in politics by mocking their appearance OK with the UCP? If it isn’t, the silence is deafening
Even before former health minister and deputy premier Sarah Hoffman’s NDP leadership campaign launch was over Sunday, the first tweets insulting her physical appearance began to appear on the social medial platform previously known as Twitter. Take Back Alberta’s David Parker, who’s now setting the tone for the entire United
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Sarah Hoffman knows who she is and has no apologies – and she wants to lead an Alberta NDP true to its New Democratic roots
First of all, Sarah Hoffman knows who she is and she has no apologies. “Women like me aren’t supposed to be in politics, right? I’m fat. I’m sassy. And I have a really hard time pretending to be somebody that I’m not.” The former NDP health minister calls the completion
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Let’s Talk About Protecting Children
The ostensible reason for the UCP government's recently announced bundle of policies around transgender youth (actually, all trans people – but we'll come back to that) is to "protect children". I'm going to speak to this from a professional and therapeutic perspective, because I have relevant training and experience in
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Citing health issues, David Shepherd announces he won’t be joining the NDP leadership race
Citing health challenges, Edmonton-City Centre MLA David Shepherd has announced he will not be joining the Alberta NDP leadership race after all. Mr. Shepherd on the campaign trail shortly before the 2015 election in which he was elected for the first time and the NDP formed government (Photo: David J.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: MLA Rakhi Pancholi formally joins NDP leadership contest, says she could drop consumer carbon tax
Edmonton-Whitemud MLA Rakhi Pancholi formally joined the NDP leadership race yesterday. Candidate Kathleen Ganley (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). This was not exactly a surprise, as Ms. Pancholi, an Edmonton lawyer before starting her career in politics, has made her interest in the province’s top political job quite clear for weeks.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: CTV gets hammered for credulous reporting of dodgy poll by deceptively named company
Sooner or later, every news organization gets sucked in by a questionable story. Reporter Duncan Kinney of The Progress Report (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). Best practice suggests the appropriate way to deal with this is to admit everything as soon as you realize what happened, say you’re really, really sorry,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Former justice minister Kathleen Ganley makes her bid to lead Alberta NDP official; others to follow soon
Yesterday was the official start of the Alberta NDP leadership race and Kathleen Ganley was the first to make official what pretty well everyone in political Alberta already knew – to wit, that, yes, the former justice minister is running to replace Rachel Notley as the leader of the Opposition
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