At a recent speech to international investors in Calgary, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley described the tar sands as “a tremendous asset” and an “international showpiece.” Hearing my premier and the leader of my party describe the tar sands as a tremendous asset makes me cringe. They are indeed an international
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A. Picazo: As Some Fight To “Take Alberta Back,” Others Work To Move It Forward
In 1954, when the U.S. Senate voted to censure Wisconsin Republican Joseph R. McCarthy, a man whose motivations were deemed “evil and unmatched in malice,” it closed the book on a particularly shameful chapter of American politics; One marked by relentless character assassinations, vicious demagoguery, and incessant partisan witch hunts.
Continue readingLeft Over: Corporate R & B: Get Over It…
Oilpatch could lose $100B without new pipelines, researchers warn Energy research firm suggests Western Canada producers won’t receive full value for oil exports By Kyle Bakx, CBC News Posted: Jun 22, 2015 11:41 AM ET Last Updated: Jun 22, 2015 12:11 PM ET Wah-wah-wah!!!! The whingeing of the rich
Continue readingAlberta Politics: ‘Alberta is not Greece yet’ … Why do we have to pay for Jack Mintz’s mythmaking?
PHOTOS: Calgary in the near future, as fancifully described by the usual suspects at the University of Calgary, if the NDP doesn’t start delivering Conservative polices with alacrity. Below: U of Calgary Professor Jack Mintz, grabbed from Imperial Oil’s annual report; former Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge. VICTORIA, B.C.
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Repeat after me: Alberta isn’t Greece
Last week it was Andrew Coyne; this week it’s Jack Mintz. Seems all the National Post’s favourite conservative commentators have suddenly decided to offer their Very Serious Advice™ to Alberta’s new government. While Coyne made a spurious comparison between raising the minimum wage and instituting a minimum income, Mintz outdoes
Continue readingIn-Sights: Change begins in Alberta
A new approach: “We can work together. We can disagree without being disagreeable. Today, our political and party system cries out for renewal. We can listen to each other and build on each other’s best ideas. We need to return to a respectful relationship with this land’s indigenous peoples.” Restore
Continue readingDemocracy wins one in Alberta
The new Alberta government has announced it will, as promised in its election platform, ban political funding by unions and corporations. Alberta will join the provinces of Manitoba, Quebec and Nova Scotia, as well as the City of Toronto and the federal government, with its ban. The government has also
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: “I wonder if she gets paid.”
I wonder if she gets paid. “@GreenpeaceCA: Arctic drilling is obscene. @Janefonda http://t.co/MRRx4vvo6o pic.twitter.com/2vAlfXhw5e” — Vivian Krause (@FairQuestions) June 12, 2015 I wonder if she gets paid, to ask that. In the same time frame, Krause received significant funding from the oil, gas and mining industries and has said 90
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Michael Hiltzig examines the evidence showing that austerity serves as a major obstacle to economic growth. And Ian Hussey argues that Alberta (like other jurisdictions) is out of budgetary balance due to a lack of income rather than any need to cut
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Nope, Alberta still needs to raise the minimum wage
Last night, Andrew Coyne published a column in which he champions introducing a minimum income over raising the minimum wage as a radical policy suggestion for Alberta’s new NDP government. Coyne couches the column in his typical pseudo-contrarianism. Here he is supposedly advocating socialism…gasp! In reality, however, Coyne gets it backwards: a minimum income in
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Alberta Getting a Climate Change Plan?
If they enact what is known to be good policy, but the previous government was afraid to do, that’d be a start anyway. I found it interesting that the newspaper had at least 1 line of comment from many minor party leaders, yet nothing from the PCs! They even had
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Hopes and Dreams Realized
Rachel Notley being sworn into office. Filed under: Politics Tagged: Alberta, Alberta Government, Canadian Politics, Politics
Continue readingRACHEL NOTLEY’S CABINET
NDP Caucus 2012-15, credit: rabble.ca Later today at a public celebration on the legislature grounds, Alberta’s new NDP government will be sworn in. With a large number of inexperienced MLAs elected, many are suggesting that the NDP doesn’t have a strong group for cabinet. The announcement earlier this week that the cabinet would only have … Continue reading RACHEL NOTLEY’S CABINET →
Continue readingRachel Notley’s Cabinet
Later today at a public celebration on the legislature grounds, Alberta’s new NDP government will be sworn in. With a large number of inexperienced MLAs elected, many are suggesting that the NDP doesn’t have a strong group for cabinet. The announcement earlier this week that the cabinet would only have
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The Death of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta
First off, WE DID IT!!!! The Notley Crew crashed a tidal wave of orange crush all across this province. They have secured a majority government and did the unthinkable – won as a progressive party in Alberta! While Arb has already posted about the victory, I want to post about the
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Podcast: What’s next for Alberta?
https://politicalehconomy.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/podcast150515-alberta-election.mp3 This episode focuses on what else but the recent Alberta provincial election that saw the social democratic NDP sweep into power after 44 consecutive years of Conservative rule. To gain some perspective on this rather remarkable result in Canada’s oil and gas heartland and see what lies ahead for
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Ontario Made $226.00 on Diamond Royalty
And I thought Saskatchewan/Alberta’s oil royalties were too low. I wonder how much we make on salt, compared to Ontario.
Continue readingNorthern Insight / Perceptivity: Myth busting
Andrew Nikiforuk wrote advice for Albertans in his recent article Eight Steps to Reform the Broken Petrostate: Behave like an owner: Alberta’s oil and gas resources belong to Albertans. The Tories’ “strip it and ship it” approach was not only wasteful, but also environmentally destructive. …Governments that run on taxes
Continue readingPolitical Eh-conomy: Calling capital’s bluff in Alberta
The votes had barely been counted in Alberta when stories purporting to herald capital flight, particularly from the oil sands, were already appearing in venues like the Financial Post. As if on cue, the TSX fell 2%,the day after the Alberta election. What are we to make of this? Is Notley’s Alberta in the
Continue readingBlevkog: It has come to this…
I have been placed in a very weird position. This week’s election results in Alberta, in which Rachel Notley handed Jim Prentice an historic electoral slapping, has made me agree, I think for the first time, with something said by Kevin O’Leary, the bloviating former CBC in-house tycoon. In his
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