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

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Alberta 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,

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Alberta 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).

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Alberta 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.

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Alberta 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).

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Alberta 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

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Alberta 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

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Alberta 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. 

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