Having promised back in January that an interim report of the COVID-19 review panel for which former Reform Party Leader Preston Manning was to be paid $235,000 would be handed over to the Alberta government by the end of June, the UCP government had to say something. Alberta Premier Danielle
Continue readingTag: Alberta Politics
Alberta Politics: News coverage of B.C. port strike unfolds according to the usual predictable, misleading formula
The strike by 7,400 longshore workers in Vancouver, Prince Rupert, Nanaimo and Port Alberni is no exception to the rule that news reporting of labour disputes impacting West Coast ports tends to unfold according to a predictable, misleading formula. An ILWU member mans a mobile picket Sunday in Vancouver Harbour
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Departing Take Back Alberta finance boss takes aim at Take Back Alberta leader for ‘disgusting’ comments
Apparently disillusioned by the “disgusting” stuff said by Take Back Alberta’s founder and éminence grise about the president of the United Conservative Party’s board, TBA’s chief financial officer is splitting with the militant wing of the UCP and taking to mainstream media with his complaints. Take Back Alberta founder David
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Take Back Alberta leader’s Twitter rant casts some light on the war within the United Conservative Party
The internal workings of the United Conservative Party under Premier Danielle Smith are nowadays quite murky. But now and again we hear of wars, and rumours of wars, even if the end is obviously still to come. United Conservative Party Provincial Board President Cynthia Moore (Photo: Facebook/Cynthia Moore). So it
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP addiction to inflicting ideological solutions on real problems means plague of drug deaths is unlikely to abate
In a better world, the conveniently timed post-election release of statistics showing Alberta had the deadliest month on record in April for fatal drug poisonings would have discredited the “Alberta Model” for treating addiction. Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). Tragically, that is unlikely to happen. Alberta’s United
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Yes, Danielle Smith can just apologize and shrug off her ethical failings – so it’s time for a new NDP strategy
Irfan Sabir, the NDP Opposition’s justice critic, wasn’t wrong when he complained on Saturday that Danielle Smith shouldn’t be able to rattle off a meaningless apology in the Legislature and then just sashay away from any consequences for breaking the law. Alberta NDP Justice Critic Irfan Sabir – his outrage
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Deena Hinshaw can’t be called a hero, but she is a victim of vindictive UCP retribution for things she did right
The enemy of mine enemy is my friend and all that, but it’s not clear that supporters of sound public health policy are on the right track if they decide to portray Alberta’s former chief medical officer of health as a public health hero. Dr. Hinshaw with then agriculture minister
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jason Stephan, temporarily missing MLA, suggests he had no idea in March there would be an election in May
Jason Stephan, the Red Deer-South electoral district’s absentee MLA, apparently now wants us to believe he had no idea in March that there was an Alberta election scheduled at the end of May. Christina Gray, the NDP MLA for Edmonton-Mill Woods, who is acting as the Opposition party’s spokesperson in
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Red Deer-South MLA Jason Stephan, on ‘previously planned trip out-of-province with family,’ a no-show for swearing-in
Silly me. I simply assumed that Alberta Premier Danielle Smith didn’t pick Jason Stephan as her justice minister because he showed signs of being too much of a wingnut. Opposition NDP House Leader Christina Gray (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). Turns out that probably wasn’t it. He may have been one
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Smith to Legislature: Sorry/Not sorry!
Sounding about as sincere as the proverbial used-car salesman and not as convincing, Premier Danielle Smith whipped through an apology to the Alberta Legislature yesterday for breaking the Conflicts of Interest Act back in January when she talked to former justice minister Tyler Shandro about extremist street preacher Artur Pawlowski’s
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Former MLA’s request for investigation of premier’s dishwashing post blown off by office of Ethics Commissioner
The office of the Alberta Legislature’s Ethics Commissioner has blown off a request by a former MLA for an investigation of what he sees as Premier Danielle Smith’s use of her office to further a private gain by tweeting about her shift washing dishes in her husband’s restaurant hours before
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Turns out Facebook didn’t censor or ban Alberta’s premier, but Danielle Smith’s complaint raises a legitimate policy question
It should be well known to everyone now that the claim Alberta Premier Danielle Smith was censored or banned by Facebook is nothing more than a tall tale. Premier’s Office Executive Director Rob Anderson back in the day when he was a Wildrose MLA (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). On Wednesday,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The boss is going crazy! She’s practically giving her restaurant away! Plus, big tech is censoring her!
Premier Smith in a flattering photo published by Postmedia along with its flattering story about her restaurant in High River (Photo: Source not identified, via National Post). Yesterday morning, Internet sleuths noticed the notorious High River railcar restaurant owned by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and her hubby has been put
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Rachel Notley is no Jim Prentice or Danielle Smith, so she’s not about to quit in a tantrum or a snit
Bored reporters were trying to gin up a little post-election excitement yesterday speculating about whether Rachel Notley will stay or go now that her New Democrats are back in Opposition, albeit with a significantly larger caucus than before May 29. The late Alberta premier Jim Prentice, just before the election
Continue readingAlberta Politics: With half of UCP Caucus in cabinet, more MLA perks to come, we get a glimpse of Danielle Smith’s unity strategy
As of right now, fully half of Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party Caucus is in cabinet. Health Minister Adriana LaGrange (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). A cabinet with 24 members (25 if you count the premier) for a Canadian provincial government is arguably excessive, wasteful and inefficient – at exactly 50
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Danielle Smith names her cabinet – not all the omens are good ones
CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – Back home in Wild Rose Country, Premier Danielle Smith has named her cabinet, so the Internet and airwaves will naturally soon be rife with speculation about What It All Means. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). This is normally a fool’s errand, since less than 24
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Historical facts – so confusing! In case you missed it, World War II didn’t start 79 years ago Tuesday
CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – It took a long time for word of the outbreak of war in Europe to reach this isolated island in the North Atlantic. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). I speak, lest there be a misunderstanding about current events, of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s revelation on
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Consequence culture strikes! Former health minister Tyler Shandro finds himself out of a job
CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – By any reasonable standard, Tyler Shandro was an appalling minister of the Crown. Calgary-Acadia’s new MLA, Registered Nurse Diana Batten (Photo: Alberta NDP). It’s hard to think of any file he handled well, although it’s fair to say that it was during his tenure as minister of
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Despite complaints from the left the NDP shifted too far right, it was a left policy blunder that lost the Alberta election
CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – It’s ironic how, despite complaints from the left about the Alberta NDP’s undeniable shift to the right, it was the party’s sole left-wing policy concession that appears to have sunk its chance to win the election. This may well have been meant as a gesture to placate
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Rachel Notley’s unforced error – that 3% corporate tax increase – probably cost the NDP the election
SAINT JOHN, N.B. – The principal unforced error that most likely cost the Alberta NDP the May 29 election was the foolish decision to blab about a 3-per-cent tax increase for the largest corporations. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). When Rachel Notley said that, with an explanation that
Continue reading