How fitting. The UCP will close 2017 with yet another bozo eruption. Bozo eruptions were mildly entertaining in the past, but they’re occurring with increasing regularity and have taken on a distinctly anti-democratic tone. Here are two recent examples. NDP shills! Last week the UCP attacked two well respected Alberta
Continue readingTag: andrew leach
daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: The Winter of Discontent over the Carbon Tax
Alberta’s carbon tax, lauded by economists and experts and derided by opposition conservatives, came into force on January 1, 2017. From photo-ops at gas pumps to outright climate change denial, opposition to the carbon tax has been nothing short of hysterical… Continue Reading →
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on how Brad Wall’s call for Canada to stop funding international climate change adaptation and mitigation reflects just one more example of his government’s tendency to kick down at the people least able to defend themselves. For further reading…– Gregory Beatty again documented the background to Wall’s abandonment of
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: PPAs and the Master Narrative in Alberta
The American Press Institute (API) describes pack journalism,” now known as “the master narrative,” as a story line the press corps en masse is telling or repeating. The API warns that master narratives can become a “trap or rut” and … Continue reading →
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week.- Andrew Leach’s after-the-fact addendum to his review of Alberta’s climate change policy offers an important reminder as to the costs of inaction on climate change – and the message is one which applies equall…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Notley NDP make pigs fly again with support for Climate Leadership Plan
When the Alberta government released its Climate Leadership plan in November 2015, I said that Premier Rachel Notley and Environment and Parks Minister Shannon Phillips had made pigs fly by uniting a coalition of industry leaders and environmental l…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta NDP defies voters by continuing to govern as if it won the election that put it in power: political scientist
PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, running the province as if she had a majority government! What next? Below: University of Calgary political scientist and Calgary Herald columnist Barry Cooper, Broadbent Institute Director Rick Smith and Wildrose…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: 2015 was a great year for Progressive Politics in Alberta
It was an exciting year to be a progressive in Alberta. May 5, 2015 marked the first time since the 1930s that a conservative party did not win a provincial election in Alberta. The defeat of the Progressive Conservative government, which had… Cont…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Who said what about the NDP’s ambitious Made-in-Alberta Climate Change Plan
Pigs continued to fly in Alberta politics today as energy industry leaders and environmental groups joined Premier Rachel Notley and Environment and Parks Minister Shannon Phillips at a press conference to release Alberta’s much anticipated plan…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Notley strikes a collaborative tone in Canada’s pipeline debate
This week’s Council of the Federation meeting in St. John’s, Newfoundland marked Alberta Premier Rachel Notley’s first appearance on the national stage since the NDP won a stunning victory in the May 5, 2015 provincial election. The new premier used the meeting to strike a more… Continue Reading →
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Daveberta wins two awards at the Yeggies
I was honoured to be the recipient of the Best in Political/Current Affairs Award and a Special Lifetime Achievement Award at last night’s Yeggies celebration at La Cité Francophone. The Edmonton New Media Awards, or the Yeggies, is an annual awards show created… Continue Reading →
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Paul Krugman highlights the policy areas where we need to look to the public sector for leadership – including those such as health care and income security where we all have a strong interest in making sure that nobody’s left behind. And
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – David Macdonald studies Canada’s massive (and growing) wealth gap, and proposes some thoughtful solutions to ensure that growth in wealth results in at least some shared benefits: Attempting to limit inequality through traditional measures like restricting RRSP contributions or introducing new tax
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Dean Starkman writes about the media’s failure to see and report on the culture of corruption and manipulation that led to the 2008 economic meltdown: Was the brewing crisis really such a secret? Was it all so complex as to be beyond
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Chris Hall notes that Brad Butt’s admitted fabrications can only hurt the Cons’ already-lacking credibility when it comes to forcing through their unfair elections legislation. And Ed Broadbent sums up what’s at stake as the Cons try to rewrite the rules to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Don Lenihan is the latest to highlight the difference between citizens and consumers – as well as why we should want to act as the former: In the old view, public debate is all about defining the public interest by establishing collective needs.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On shortsighted assumptions
Time for a true or false pop quiz. Is the following a self-evident statement of economic fact? “A capital asset which is not currently being exploited has a value of zero for all purposes.” I only ask because that seems to be the fundamental assumption behind Andrew Leach’s cost-benefit analysis
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Don Braid comments on Alberta’s complete lack of credibility when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental issues. And Andrew Leach nicely sums up the PC/Con position in trying to put a happy face on growing emissions: Suppose you run
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Andrew Leach Lays Out The Odds
“We see Northern Gateway as the most vulnerable,” Samir Kayande, vice-president at ITG Investments, said during a panel discussion on the Financial Post website this week. “[TransCanada’s Corp.’s] Energy East and TMX [Kinder Morgan Inc.’s Trans Mountain] are most likely [with TMX benefiting from having built the loop through Jasper
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on how “we must increase stock prices!” – or worse yet, “we must increase company X’s stock prices!” – makes for a thoroughly regressive public policy goal. For further reading…– The examples referenced in the column include Carol Goar’s column threatening a revolt over telecom share prices, and Andrew
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