PHOTOS: Then-Wildrose MLAs Kerry Towle, leader Danielle Smith and Jeff Wilson (in Wildrose T-shirts behind the sign) take part in the August 2014 Calgary Pride parade. Below: Wildrose staffer Cory Johnston, current party leader Brian Jean, former leader Smith (Photo: Dave Cournoyer) and Alberta NDP Premier Rachel Notley. Bottom: Calgary
Continue readingTag: Brian Jean
Susan on the Soapbox: The Wildfire Reports: A political firestorm
Wildrose leader Brian Jean is furious with the NDP government’s response to two reports on the Fort McMurray wildfire. He says the government is attempting to whitewash the reports’ findings and delayed releasing them in a shocking display of arrogance which is “totally unacceptable in any democracy.” He wants a
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Tee times and cowboys trump Pride when jittery Alberta conservative politicians join the parade
PHOTOS: Participants in last year’s Edmonton Pride Parade as it made its way through the leafy streets of Rachel Notley’s Edmonton-Strathcona riding. They don’t look very dangerous, do they? Below: The missing men – Wildrose Leader Brian Jean and Progressive Conservative Leader Jason Kenney (Photo: Wildrose Party), plus Oscar Wilde
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Wildrose to members: Want to break a law? No problem! We’ll just get elected and change it
PHOTOS: The Alberta Legislature, about the best your blogger can do on the road to illustrate this illustration-resistant story (Photo: Wikimedia Commons). Below: Wildrose Leader Brian Jean, Progressive Conservative Leader Jason Kenney and Wildrose Treasurer James Cole, every one of them people mentioned in this story of whom photos exist.
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: David Khan wins leadership of obscure Liberal Party
Photo: Liberal Party executive director Gwyneth Midgley and newly elected party leader David Khan (photo from March 2017). Calgary – In a battle of Calgary lawyers, David Khan defeated Kerry Cundal to become the next leader of the Alberta Liberal Party. Khan earned 54 percent of the vote in the two-person race,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: If failure to appear at Pride goeth before a fall, what will Jason Kenney do?
PHOTOS: Progressive Conservative Leader Jason Kenney, back in 2010 when he was a Calgary MP, taking part in the Calgary Stampede Parade. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons.) Will he show up for the Edmonton Pride Parade next Saturday as well? Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, flanked by Education Minister David Eggen and
Continue readingAlberta Politics: How but as a leadership campaign brochure are we to interpret Derek Fildebrandt’s paean to ‘Max’ Bernier?
PHOTOS: Derek Fildebrandt, the Alberta Wildrose Party’s finance critic and, possibly, third unofficial candidate to enter the non-race to lead the still-nonexistent United Conservative Party. Below: Maxime Bernier (Photo: CBC), who is apparently Mr. Fildebrandt’s ideological hero, and British Columbia NDP Leader John Horgan, who seems very close to grasping
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Media readers deserve the whole story about the sources reporters quote in public policy stories
PHOTOS: The question isn’t just whether Alberta’s students are getting the information they need, but whether media is giving the rest of us all the facts we require when we read news stories about education policy. Below: Former Edmonton Public Schools curriculum director Stuart Wachowicz, a frequent source used in
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Meet the “United” Conservative Party
Say what you will about the Wildrose, they were always grassroots party…that is until Jason Kenney blew them out of the water. Last week Jason Kenney and Brian Jean unveiled the terms under which the Wildrose and Progressive Conservatives will roll up into the United Conservative Party (UCP). The Agreement
Continue readingIn This Corner: The Return of Stuff Happens, week 18: Will the right united; the ‘I’ word is spoken.
There was a seismic shift in Alberta politics this week. Only time will tell if it’s a real earthquake that brings down two (or maybe three) parties, or whether it just grunts and groans and nothing happens. On Wednesday, Wildrose party leader Brian Jean and new Progressive Conservative party leader
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Tories, Wildrosers agree to call new entity United Conservative Party … without ever speaking the initials aloud
PHOTOS: Wildrose Leader Brian Jean and Progressive Conservative Leader Jason Kenney pose uncomfortably in this Wildrose Party photo. Below: A CBC shot by Terry Reith may have captured the real mood better. Below that: Twitterist Edwin Mundt’s take on the You See Pee. Question: What happens when Alberta Can’t Wait?
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: The U-C-P: Jean and Kenney launch the United Conservative Party
Today’s announcement from Wildrose Party leader Brian Jean and Progressive Conservative Party leader Jason Kenney that they plan to create a new conservative political party has been expected for weeks. The press conference was filled with fairly nauseating partisan rhetoric about how awful and catastrophic the NDP are, but most importantly, we found
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Worthwhile Canadian initiative … Rona Ambrose said to be departing politics to help out the Wilson Centre
PHOTOS: Outgoing interim federal Opposition Leader Rona Ambrose listens seriously to someone in this Government of Canada shot found lingering on the Internet. Below: Ms. Ambrose and her domestic partner, J.P. Veitch, grabbed from her Facebook page, and Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, plucked from the author’s vast collection of political
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The Conservative Ideology
“ideology” \ˌī-dē-ˈä-lə-jē, -ˈa-, ˌi-\ a systematic body of concepts, especially those of a particular group or political party—Merriam-Webster The word “ideology” was coined by the French philosopher Destutt de Tracy. Originally it meant the science of ideas; but shrewd politicians like Napoleon Bonaparte corrupted it to mean something more
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Message to the media and conservatives about Alberta’s NDP: Read their lips, no early election!
PHOTOS: Opposition Wildrose Leader Brian Jean and Progressive Conservative Leader Jason Kenney. Below: A clear-eyed Premier Rachel Notley, former British Columbia NDP premier Dave Barrett and the late Jim Prentice, former premier of Alberta. TORONTO “Two years after Alberta NDP win, critics see signs of early election call,” a headline
Continue readingAlberta Politics: As the temperature rises, so will the risk – some thoughts on the Fort Mac Wildfire, one year ago today
PHOTOS: Cars full of refugees from the Fort McMurray Wildfire flee the flames on May 3, 2016. (Wikipedia) Below: Premier Rachel Notley, then Municipal Affairs Minister Danielle Larivee, and Opposition leader Brian Jean. Today is the anniversary of the moment one year ago when the Fort McMurray Wildfire tore through
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Funny … not a peep on the right about Jason Kenney stumping for a Liberal
PHOTOS: Sandra Jansen, back in the day when she never imagined she’s be anything but a Tory. Below: Jason Kenney, leader today of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta; Rachel Notley, whose NDP Government was elected on May 5, 2017; and Brad Wall, the man with a plan to save
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Jason Kenney emerges from hiding at Conservative fundraising dinner in Vancouver
As Premier Rachel Notley returns from leading a ten-day economic trade mission to China and Japan, political watchers have been wondering where the recently elected leader of the Progressive Conservative Party has been? Jason Kenney appeared to go into hiding around a month ago after he sparked controversy with his comments about Gay-Straight Alliances and outing
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Donald Trump helps build the case for Rachel Notley’s social license policy on energy exports
PHOTOS: U.S. President Donald Trump – he’s lookin’ at you, Canada. (Photo by Gage Skidmore, Flickr.) Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley. If Alberta’s conservatives imagined U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision immediately after his election last November to push the Keystone XL Pipeline project forward would provide an opening for them
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Here we go again: Opacity not transparency characterizes Alberta’s right-wing merger talks
PHOTOS: Wildrose Opposition Leader Brian Jean and Progressive Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney uncomfortably shake hands in this obviously staged photo in what appears to be Mr. Jean’s office. (Wildrose Party photo.) Below: Tanis Fiss, chair of the insider committee working behind closed doors to unite the two parties (from
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