Wildrose Party leader Danielle Smith and her candidates across Alberta will be cheering this morning when they see the results of a Forum Research poll showing their party with 41% support province-wide. Another poll, released by Leger Marketing this morning, shows the Wildrose Party with 34%, closely trailing Premier Alison Redford‘s Progressive Conservatives,
Continue readingTag: Alberta Politics
daveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: alberta election day 2: health care, balanced budgets, and benitomania.
Premier Alison Redford with PC candidates John Barlow and Evan Berger (photo from Alison4Premier Facebook Page). Campaigning in the same constituency yesterday, it is interesting to wonder what Premier Alison Redford and Wildrose Party leader Danielle Smith would have said to each other if their paths had intersected. Close polls,
Continue readingBlunt Objects: ThinkHQ #AbVote Poll: 36% PC, 33% Wildrose
Another pollster has put out this week showing another close race as compared to the trend from earlier this month and before, with the Wildrosers clearly benefitting. PC – 36% – 48 seats WRP – 33% – 30 seats NDP – 13% – 7 seats Lib – 13% – 2
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: alberta election day 1: campaign kick-offs and legalizing prostitution.
Alberta's political leaders are off to a slow start on the first day of the 2012 election. With hours of the election being called yesterday, Premier Alison Redford kicked-off the Progressive Conservative campaign at the campaign office of Edmonton-Glenora MLA Heather Klimchuk. First-term MLA Ms. Klimchuk is facing one of the
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: alberta election called for april 23, 2012.
Alberta’s provincial election will be held on April 23, 2012. In this election, the number of constituencies are increasing from 83 to 87 (the first time increase in seats since the 1986 election). As of today, the Progressive Conservatives, NDP, and Wildrose Party are the only parties to have nominated
Continue readingIn This Corner: Two good men: Hugh McDonald and Kevin Taft.
Just before we get into full election mode, with all the name calling and accusations and all that stuff that makes politics such a classy profession, I’d like to take a few moments before I launch into 28 days of name calling and accusations to say a few nice words
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: alberta’s tories could have already won another election.
Alberta Premier Alison Redford Premier Alison Redford is expected to call a provincial election today. Had Premier Alison Redford‘s Progressive Conservatives followed conventional political wisdom and dropped the writ shortly after tabling the 2012 provincial budget on February 10, they may have already secured their next majority government. Danielle Smith
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: i missed the orange wave.
Around 1:30 am on May 2, 2011, I returned to Edmonton after a month travelling across the vast continent of Australia. That day also happened to be Election Day in Canada. On a social media detox while I was out of the country and suffering from severe jet lag from
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: alberta election candidates update – march 2012.
With a provincial election expected to be called early next week, three of Alberta’s main political parties – the Progressive Conservatives, New Democrats, and Wildrose Party – have nominated full-slates of 87 candidates. The official opposition Liberal Party, with 60 candidates nominated, is rushing to fill their remaining 17 candidacies. Expected
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: tories scramble into damage control mode over no-work committee pay.
Alberta MLA's are scrambling to control the monster that has become the "Pay for No Work Committee." Scrambling to balance damage control with party unity on the eve of an election call, MLA’s in Premier Alison Redford‘s Tory caucus are returning pay earned over the past six months from the Standing
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: alberta election 2012: ian urquhart for senate.
Ian Urquhart for Senate Bringing some political diversity to the race, University of Alberta Political Science Professor Ian Urquhart has announced that he will run as an Independent candidate in the upcoming Senator-in-Waiting election. Active with the Alberta Wilderness Association, Dr. Urquhart is the first openly centre-left candidate to join the contest. His candidacy gives
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: pimp my ride: alberta election wheels.
With an election call expected in the next week, Alberta’s political parties are loading up their campaign vehicles and hitting the road. Here is a look at some of their sweet rides: Wildrose Party leader Danielle Smith is featured prominently on her party's election campaign bus. Wildrose Party: The first
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: trying to go viral: pre-election youtube videos.
With a provincial election expected to be called within the next week or two, candidates representing Alberta’s political parties have been hoping to grab voters attentions by uploading campaign videos on YouTube. The best YouTube video I have seen so far in this pre-election period belongs to Edmonton-Beverly-Clareview NDP candidate
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: alberta politics: stormy waters ahead.
A Sun News Network commissioned poll looks good for the Wildrose Party and bad for the Progressive Conservatives. Global leaders were shocked yesterday when a new poll commissioned by QMI-Sun News Media showed Danielle Smith‘s Wildrose Party has made significant headwaters against the governing Progressive Conservatives. There are serious questions being raised about
Continue readingIn This Corner: Unraveling the mystery of MLA pay.
Ever since the news emerged that a number of MLAs were paid a grand a month to sit on a committee that never met, the subject of MLA pay has been a matter of much discussion. When it comes to politics in Alberta, about the only thing the average voter
Continue readingBlunt Objects: PCs Still Dominate Alberta – For Now
Continuing with 2011’s incumbent-friendly trend, 2012 seems to be pretty incumbent-friendly as well – so far. Nowhere is this more exemplified than Alberta, which will need to go to the polls before May 31st, where the Progressive Conservative’s still dominate the scene and look set for another majority government, at
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: more on alberta mla extra pay and the privileges & elections committee.
Alberta MLA's at a meeting of the Privileges and Elections Committee. More information has been relvealed about controversial $1,000 monthly payments made to Alberta MLA’s for being members of a committee that has not met for three years. Retiring Edmonton-Gold Bar Liberal MLA Hugh MacDonald revealed late last week that
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: gary mar ordered to take unpaid leave pending investigation. alberta pc party releases leadership campaign audited financial reports.
Gary Mar Premier Alison Redford has ordered former cabinet minister Gary Mar, now the Government of Alberta’s representative in Asia, to take an unpaid leave of absence during an ethics investigation of a recent fundraiser held in Edmonton. Mr. Mar, who placed second in the 2011 PC leadership, hosted a
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: tgif! alberta election candidate update – march 2012 (part 2).
I have updated the list of Alberta election candidates to include some of the following individuals: Farouk Adatia and Premier Alison Redford Calgary-Shaw: Following a surprising announcement by three-term PC MLA Cindy Ady that she would not seek re-election, lawyer Farouk Adatia has been appointed to replace her at the
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: tory attack ad tame by all standards.
Alberta's culture of negative attack ads began with this nasty Social Credit Party newspaper ad during the 1971 election. Alberta’s political twitterati were atwitter yesterday after a Progressive Conservative radio advertisement was leaked to the Calgary Herald. The ad defend the new law passed by Premier Alison Redford‘s government that
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