I happened to be leaving the Edmonton EXPO Centre at the same moment as Alison Redford in the wee hours of the morning she was declared the winner of the race to lead the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta, Oct. 2, 2011. It’s hard to believe that a decade –
Continue readingTag: Alison Redford
Alberta Politics: Jason Kenney, wounded by UCP Caucus dissent, manages to kick out two rebellious MLAs
Can Alberta Premier Jason Kenney remain in officer longer than Alison Redford was premier? Until yesterday, I would have answered that despite his current unpopularity, Premier Kenney’s rule would obviously last longer than Ms. Redford’s short, unhappy tenure. Former Alberta premier Alison Redford (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). Now I am
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The short, unhappy reign of Alison Redford nevertheless showed a better Alberta was possible – and still is
Seven years ago today, Alison Redford resigned as premier of Alberta. Her rise and fall were swift. Unexpectedly chosen to replace the departing Progressive Conservative premier, Ed Stelmach, in the wee hours of Oct. 2, 2011, she was sworn in six days later. She survived an election the PCs had
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The Ides of March: an appropriate moment to mark the end of Alison Redford’s Conservative leadership seven years ago
Today is the seventh anniversary of the day the Progressive Conservative Party Caucus in the Alberta Legislature gave its leader and premier, Alison Redford, a “work plan” to get her foundering government back on track, or else. Four days later Ms. Redford formally announced her resignation and by March 23
Continue readingAlberta Politics: AlbertaPolitics.ca marks its 13th anniversary today as 2020, annus horribilis, nears its end
Today marks the 13th anniversary of the first post published on this blog, known at the time as St. Albert Diary, and later, for a spell, as Alberta Diary. So, by the standards of the Internet, this makes AlbertaPolitics.ca an institution. Premier Jason Kenney, striking an avuncular pose himself (Photo:
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Corporate lobbyist and former aide to two Conservative premiers named University of Alberta external relations VP
A high-profile lobbyist with connections to past Alberta Conservative governments and involvement in a controversial effort to open a large private hospital in Edmonton has been named as the University of Alberta’s new vice-president of external relations. U of A leadership, presumably, concluded lobbyist Elan MacDonald has the connections necessary
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Forever chaste? Or just chased? Former Reform MP and Kenney comrade Rob Anders faces new challenges
Rob Anders’ recent trouble with the law reminds us of the former Reform Party and Conservative MP’s past thoughts about the laws of nature. Twenty-one years ago, Mr. Anders made up half of the party’s much-remarked-upon Parliamentary chastity caucus, of which Jason Kenney was the other half, or the only
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Thanks to a public-spirited leaker, a risky health-care privatization scheme is exposed
Panicky sounding United Conservative Party “issues managers” were frantically insisting yesterday everything is copacetic and above board with secret plans to build a $200-million private orthopedic surgical hospital in Edmonton. No way will this result in two-tier health care, they contended, often shrilly calling anyone who suggested otherwise a liar,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Whatever it is, former PC MLA Dave Rodney apparently has what it takes to be Alberta’s agent general in Houston
There may have been peaks and valleys along the way, but thanks to a hand up from Alberta Premier Jason Kenney this week, it looks as if Dave Rodney has finally ascended to the summit of his career. That is to say, for some reason Mr. Rodney was the recipient
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Are cracks appearing in the wall of the Kenney Kremlin over Health Minister Tyler Shandro’s fight with Alberta’s docs?
Have the first hairline cracks started to appear in the Kenney Government’s hitherto solid front in its war with the province’s physicians, which is inexplicably being carried on in the midst of the global coronavirus pandemic? Is someone inside the Kenney Calgary Kremlin signalling it’s almost time for Health Minister
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Ted Morton, worst premier Alberta never had, has had another big idea, this time about a sales tax
From time to time it’s worth reminding ourselves that Ted Morton is the worst premier Alberta never had. That’s because now and then Dr. Morton, now 71, pops up like the proverbial bad penny with some scheme so ridiculous we need to give our heads a shake and recall this
Continue readingAlberta Politics: April Fool aftermath: UCP says it’s broke, AUPE job protections back on, spill reporting suspended, Greens choose leader, and more
Whether or not Bob Buckle meant it to be an early April Fool’s joke when he posted his deep thoughts on public education on social media, opining that “perhaps it’s time to reduce our physical plant and footprint with large structures and move to virtual online learning,” he’d be smart
Continue readingAlberta Politics: War Room will return, vows energy minister Sonya Savage, after government slashes propaganda unit’s budget for three months
Is it possible the United Conservative Party has a conscience? I know, I know, this seems highly unlikely. Even if it were true, like the Grinch’s heart, it’s bound to be a shriveled organ, at least two sizes too small. Canadian Energy Centre Ltd. Managing Director Tom Olsen (Photo: David
Continue readingThe Daveberta Podcast: Episode 48: An urban agenda in Alberta. Municipally Speaking with Mack Male
More than half of Albertans live in Calgary and Edmonton, so why does it feel like the provincial government rarely takes big city issues seriously? Mack Male joins Dave Cournoyer on this episode of the Daveberta Podcast to discuss the state of local media in Edmonton, Municipal Affairs Minister Kaycee
Continue readingAlberta Politics: For the 12th anniversary of AlbertaPolitics.ca, here’s a Top Ten List of Alberta political stories in 2019
Today marks the 12th anniversary of the first post published on this blog, known at the time as St. Albert Diary. Later, for a long spell, it was Alberta Diary, and still retains that name on Rabble.ca, where it is also published. By the standards of the Internet, this makes
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Is a ‘fair deal’ or a fare deal behind Jason Kenney’s Christmas flight to Ottawa with his entourage?
Nobody flies to Ottawa at this time of year expecting to get anything done with the government of Canada. This is axiomatic. Remember that if you’re wondering about that planeload of Alberta Conservative cabinet ministers, deputy ministers and assorted spear-carriers led by Jason Kenney jetting off to the nation’s capital,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Fifty-four forty or what? Is this Wexitopia’s last territorial demand in British Columbia?
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any nuttier out here in Wexitopia, former Wildrose Party leader Danielle Smith took to the Twittersphere to promote a territorial corridor from Alberta to the B.C. Coast. I know what you’re thinking, but as regular readers of this blog well understand, I never
Continue readingAlberta Politics: First reading of Bill 207 reveals zero UCP votes for women’s reproductive rights
Here are two important statistics about the United Conservative Party’s Bill 207, the Conscience Rights (Health Care Providers) Protection Act, which was introduced in the Alberta Legislature yesterday … Just a minute, you say, Bill 207 is a private member’s bill, brought forward by Peace River UCP MLA Dan Williams,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Federal election results show why abandoning ‘social license’ was a dumb idea for Alberta’s oilpatch
Seeking “social license” for Alberta’s fossil fuel industry was said by the NDP government of former premier Rachel Notley to be a way to win approval for more pipeline capacity to Canada’s ocean ports. This was true enough as far as it went, and the idea getting such approval required
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Tom Olsen and the Wreckage: Jason Kenney’s ‘War Room’ is going to need more than just hurtin’ songs!
Former journalist Tom Olsen, for much of the past decade a self employed PR man who rarely strayed far from the gravitational field of Conservative power in Alberta, was named yesterday by Energy Minister Sonya Savage as the successful candidate to lead the United Conservative Party’s “War Room.” Perhaps Mr.
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