The situation may have felt normal to the cadre of Opposition United Conservative Party MLAs there, but I imagine some of the NDP backbenchers huddled on the steps of the Legislature in Edmonton yesterday afternoon felt pretty uncomfortable. If not, they darn well should’ve. I’m not talking about the effects
Continue readingTag: Alberta Politics
Alberta Politics: Despite NDP stamp of approval, pipeline rally on Legislature’s steps looked and sounded like a UCP event
PHOTOS: Part of the pro-pipeline crowd in front of the Alberta Legislature Thursday afternoon, with a couple of brave Indigenous counter-protesters visible in the foreground. Below: Federal Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi endured jeers, and Alberta Trade Minister Deron Bilous tried to fire up the crowd. The situation may have felt
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Through the Looking Glass – NDP cabinet ministers awkwardly join pro-pipeline, pro-UCP rally
Today’s rally at the Alberta Legislature in support of the expansion of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Pipeline was one of the strangest rallies in recent memory. Maybe it was because the first speaker introduced himself by bragging about having confronted actor Jane Fonda in a parking lot outside a Moxie’s
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The Kinder Morgan pipeline brouhaha shows why it’s time for Canada to pull the plug on NAFTA
PHOTOS: Kinder Morgan Inc. headquarters in Houston Tex. (Photo: H-town-visually.blogspot.ca). Below: Author and journalist Andrew Nikoforuk, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, and lighter-than-air Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. We’ve got the chance, thanks be unto Donald J. Trump. Obviously, it’s time to get the heck out of NAFTA! Why would I say
Continue readingAlberta Politics: University top brass salaries capped; David Suzuki to get honourary degree from U of A! Stand by for fireworks!
PHOTOS: High-profile B.C. environmentalist, scientist, author and broadcaster David Suzuki. Below: Alberta Advanced Education Minister Marlin Schmidt, University of Alberta President David Turpin (Photo: The Gauntlet), and United Conservative Party Opposition Leader Jason Kenney. The Alberta government has put a much-needed cap on the salaries of top university administrators, providing
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Why demanding Ottawa intervene to bend B.C. to Alberta’s will is probably a terrible idea … from Alberta’s point of view
PHOTOS: Perfidious Pierre, villain of the National Energy Program, as the late prime minister is understood by all good Albertans to have been (Photo: Wikimedia Commons). Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Alberta Opposition Leader Jason Kenney, and British Columbia Premier John Horgan (Photo: B.C. NDP).
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Kinder Morgan threatens to pull plug on Trans Mountain Pipeline; Alberta goes wild
PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley in an old file photo of the author’s. Below: Opposition leader Jason Kenney, B.C. Premier John Horgan, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and a famous flag of the Texas Revolution. Remember “peak oil”? Don’t worry about it. Nobody else does either. But last night on social
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Episode 9: Rachel Notley, Jason Kenney and 12 months until the next election
This episode includes exclusive interviews with Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and Official Opposition leader Jason Kenney. Dave Cournoyer and Ryan Hastman asked both leaders a few questions they thought would provide a glimpse into the party building, political issues and political narratives that will define the next 12 months until
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Kinder Morgan drops a Sunday afternoon bombshell in the never-ending Trans Mountain Pipeline dispute
“Alberta is prepared to do whatever it takes to get this pipeline built” – Rachel Notley It was a busy Sunday afternoon in Alberta politics. We appear to have reached another stage in what feels like a never-ending political dispute over the expansion of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Pipeline from
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Innisfail-Sylvan Lake and Fort McMurray-Conklin by-election updates
The United Conservative Party has announced the nomination period to choose a candidate for the upcoming Innisfail-Sylvan Lake by-election. The deadline for candidates to enter the nomination contest is April 16 and a vote will held on April 28. The by-election must be called by August 5, 2018. Seven candidates have
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Was the Russian Embassy’s press secretary expelled from Canada for telling the embarrassing truth? Sure sounds that way!
PHOTOS: Kirill Kalinin, former First Secretary and Press Secretary of the Russian Embassy in Canada. Below: Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, and the Russian Embassy in Ottawa. Was Kirill Kalinin some kind of intelligence operative, as the Trudeau Government and the Globe and Mail now want us to think, or
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Friday Night Nomination Candidate Update
Photo: Nicole Williams, Sarah Hoffman, Maryann Chichak, and Lisa Wardley. Here are some of the latest updates to the list of candidates running for party nominations ahead of Alberta’s expected 2019 provincial general election: Calgary-North East – Nate Pike is seeking the Alberta Party nomination. Pike is a paramedic who
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Changes are coming to AlbertaPolitics.ca – don’t panic if it looks different or new copy fails to appear for a few days
PHOTO: Some repairs needed to what we used to call the information highway. Expect delays. Notice to readers of AlbertaPolitics.ca … the time has nearly arrived for some design changes and technical updates, which have the potential to disrupt publication of this blog, perhaps over the weekend or maybe a
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Small money can sometimes go a long way in Edmonton’s municipal elections
Photo: Jon Dziadyk spent $9,950.00 on his campaign and unseated a two-term city councillor who spent $119,937.69. Released this week, the financial disclosures from Edmonton’s municipal elections detail how much each mayoral and councillor candidate raised and expensed during the October 2017 campaign. The most notable race in terms of money spent was
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Forget Postmedia’s paranoid propaganda: Becoming an environmental pariah won’t restore the ‘Alberta Advantage’
PHOTOS: An Alberta oilsands operation (Photo: Kris Krug, Creative Commons). Below: Calgary Herald political columnist Don Braid, Calgary Sun political columnist Rick Bell, and United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney. According to the United Conservative Party and its media echo chamber, there’s “a growing national push to suppress Alberta’s economy.”
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Watch for so-con ‘free speech advocates’ to attack NDP’s bill to create safe zones around abortion clinics
PHOTOS: Alberta Health Minister Sarah Hoffman. Below: United Conservative Party House Leader Jason Nixon. Later this week, Alberta’s NDP Government will introduce Bill 9, the Protecting Choice for Women Accessing Health Care Act. The legislation will ban demonstrations within 50 metres of an abortion clinic, as is already the case
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Best of Alberta Politics 2017: Rachel Notley, MLA for Edmonton-Strathcona (and Premier of Alberta)
Photo: Ryan Hastman, Rachel Notley and Dave Cournoyer (photography by Chris Schwarz/Government of Alberta) With more than 1,200 votes cast, Premier Rachel Notley was chosen as the Best Alberta MLA of 2017 in the Best of Alberta Politics 2017 survey. Daveberta Podcast co-hosts Dave Cournoyer and Ryan Hastman were thrilled
Continue readingAlberta Politics: O Fildebrandt! No more taking orders from some Ottawa snowflake! A personal anthem for Derek
PHOTO: Derek Fildebrandt, as he sees himself (Photo: Derek Fildebrandt Facebook page). Gone are the days when Derek Fildebrandt had a party whip to tell him not to say dumb things on social media. Nope, the former Wildrose and United Conservative Party MLA for Strathmore-Brooks nowadays sits in splendid isolation
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The Vriend Case has been closed for 20 years, but the Alberta political story continues
PHOTOS: The front page of the Toronto Globe and Mail on the day after the Supreme Court’s historic ruling in the Vriend case. Below: A screenshot of Delwin Vriend taken from a recent CBC video; the late Ralph Klein, premier of Alberta (Photo: Chuck Szmurlo, Wikimedia Commons); Jason Kenney, circa
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Will April 2018 mark a breakthrough for Alberta Party fundraising?
As anyone who is on a political party email list will be well aware of, March 31 marked the end of the first quarter of fundraising for Alberta’s political parties. The years since the 2015 election have shown a tough competition between the governing New Democratic Party and the Wildrose
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