Of all the clownish, bizarre, and cynical policies of the United Conservative Party, surely the most grotesque we have seen so far was today’s launch on social media by Premier Danielle Smith of what is sure to become known as the War on Trans Kids. University of Calgary political science
Continue readingTag: Alberta Politics
Alberta Politics: UCP claim it’s achieved a significant ‘red tape’ reduction goal isn’t backed up by meaningful facts
The United Conservative Party government patted itself on the back for eliminating one third of the province’s red tape at a poorly staged news conference yesterday in a part of St. Albert’s Arden Theatre usually reverved for the consumption of intoxicating beverages at intermission. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith (Photo: Alberta
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Inside baseball, but important: Alberta NDP announces leadership election campaign dates and details
As promised, the Alberta NDP has now announced the timing and basic rules for the leadership campaign and election to replace Rachel Notley. Candidate Kathleen Ganley (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). Thanks principally to Ms. Notley’s success in the 2015 general election, which saw the NDP elect a majority government, this
Continue readingAlberta Politics: It turns out Shoppers Drug Mart clinic plan does nothing to improve access to primary health care in Alberta
The plan announced Thursday by an Ontario-based drugstore chain to add new stores in Alberta and renovate older ones does nothing to improve access to primary health care in this province. A sign inside an Edmonton-area Shoppers store advertises pharmacy services offered (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). So why was it
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Danielle Smith struggles to pump up new drugstore ‘clinics’ as primary care – no slur on pharmacists, but that dog won’t hunt!
The sight yesterday of Premier Danielle Smith and two of her ministers struggling to pump up the tires of a corporate scheme to pass off pharmacists as practitioners of family medicine and their drugstores as clinics was as embarrassing as it was disturbing. Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. CEO Jeff Leger
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Danielle Smith, busy with Tucker Carlson and lesser far-right bloviators, has no time to comment on Edmonton City Hall shooting
From time immemorial it has been understood that when there is a crisis, or in the aftermath of one, leaders are expected to be there to provide hope, offer comfort, demonstrate understanding, and show they are in control. Pierre Trudeau, the 15th prime minister of Canada, admired, even if not
Continue readingAlberta Politics: If it is to be properly settled, the divisive argument over use of the Emergencies Act needs to go to the Supreme Court
Another day, another fatuous statement from Alberta United Conservative Party attacking the Trudeau Government. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). This time the news hook for the UCP’s fatuity was the ruling by a Federal Court of Canada justice that the Liberal Government’s use of the Emergencies Act on
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Minister’s letter to municipalities demanding an accounting of all federal money they receive is classic UCP red tape
The United Conservative Party Government’s demand that all of Alberta municipalities report any agreements they have in place with the federal government by the end of the month will be expensive and time consuming, especially for Alberta’s largest cities. Former Progressive Conservative Party deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk (Photo: David J.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: What does Alberta’s premier have to say about TBA founder’s call for UCP supporters to join NDP to mess up its leadership race?
It would be interesting to know what Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has to say about the call by the founder of her party’s influential Take Back Alberta faction to his supporters to use the NDP’s upcoming leadership race to infiltrate the Opposition party and try to elect its leader. Take
Continue readingAlberta Politics: With UCP support, police chief’s solution to homeless crisis moves ahead, whether Edmonton city council likes it or not
Edmonton’s police chief and the UCP ministers there to support him on his plan to clear Edmonton’s parks and avenues of hundreds of tents housing homeless people seemed antagonistic, annoyed and agitated at yesterday’s government news conference. Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). This is evident if you
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Rachel Notley: The woman who made Alberta democracy great again!
Say what you will about Rachel Notley, she made Alberta democracy great again! A steely eyed Rachel Notley on Oct. 18, 2014, moments after she was elected leader of the Alberta NDP (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). Ms. Notley, who yesterday announced her plan to step aside as Opposition leader in
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Rachel Notley, who made history as Alberta’s first NDP premier, announces she will step down as Opposition leader
Rachel Notley, who led the Alberta New Democratic Party to an unexpected majority government in 2015, announced today she will step down as Opposition leader. Ms. Notley wipes away a year, as her husband Lou Arab stands by (Photo: Screenshot of NDP video). Her noon announcement confirmed what has been
Continue readingAlberta Politics: That was the weekend that was: -38, grid on the brink, UCP flooding the zone, NDP all but struck dumb, and more
The United Conservative Party Government and its supporters appeared to be flooding the zone, Steve Bannon style, today to recover from the embarrassment of the near collapse of the provincial electrical grid during last weekend’s polar vortex deep-freeze. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). There was a stream of
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Online speculation about cold-weather electricity crunch highlights the UCP’s lack of credibility
Chances are vanishingly small that Alberta’s United Conservative Party Government somehow managed to intentionally cause last night’s cold-weather electricity crunch that led to every Albertan with a smartphone receiving an emergency alert pleading with them “to immediately limit their electricity use to essential needs only.” Somebody’s screenshot of Saturday’s emergency
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP minister tells Edmonton mayor he can forget about seeing anyone from the province at a summit on homelessness
Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi can forget about seeing Jason Nixon – Alberta’s minister of seniors, community and social services – at the summit on housing and homelessness he hopes to organize with provincial, city, First Nations, and federal leaders. Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). Indeed, Mr. Sohi
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Edmonton mayor to ask city councillors to declare housing and homelessness emergency on Monday, ruffling UCP feathers
In a blog post published yesterday, Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said he has called a special meeting of City Council Monday to ask for a declaration of a housing and homelessness emergency in the city. Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). The United Conservative Party Government was clearly
Continue readingAlberta Politics: A potentially deadly ‘Tyleonot’ gong show: Can Alberta’s UCP government be trusted to do anything right?
Prediction: Every remaining drop of the screwball Turkish children’s medicine bought by Alberta’s United Conservative Party last year for give or take $100 million just to own the Libs is going to have to be poured down the drain. Then deputy premier Nathan Neudorf, at left, and then health minister
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Judge upholds Canadian Taxpayers Federation’s $6,000 fine but the organization’s dubious credibility will likely survive
Back in January 2019, observers of the Alberta political scene wondered if the $6,000 administrative penalty levied against the Canadian Taxpayers Federation for failing to register as a third-party advertiser under Alberta’s election financing law would result in a long-overdue recognition of the partisan role the self-described “tax watchdog” clearly
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Expect more chaos in health care, already overwhelmed and at the brink, as AHS ‘senior leaders’ get orders to cut costs
With Alberta’s overwhelmed public health care system once again teetering at the brink, a memorandum from Alberta Health Services’ acting chief financial officer to its “senior leaders” telling them they must find ways to cut costs has surfaced. Michael Lam, Alberta Health Services acting chief financial officer and vice-president of
Continue readingAlberta Politics: As temperatures drop, police and city crews continue rousts of homeless encampments, government pitches winter camping
With temperatures falling and lows below minus-30 degrees Celsius forecast by the middle of next week, Edmonton police and city crews continue to break up homeless encampments in the city core. A Government of Alberta advertisement promoting winter camping (Illustration: Government of Alberta). Police in black uniforms and city employees
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