“Future Ready” with full stomachs and affordable daycare http://daveberta.ca/wp-admin/post-new.phpThe Alberta NDP government’s awkwardly branded “Future Ready” campaign includes some pretty good policy initiatives. Premier Rachel Notley unveiled this week that the government plans to fund healthy breakfasts for low-income students in primary… Continue Reading →
Continue readingTag: Brian Jean
Alberta Politics: The twists keep coming: Ex PM pitches woo to Wildrosers for Kenney Con coup as candidate cries counter Kudatah!
PHOTOS: “That group of NDP activists was this big!” Jason Kenney is shown at the launch of his campaign to spring a kudatah on the Progressive Conservative Party in this CBC photo grabbed from the Internet. Actually, I have no idea what Mr. Kenney was saying when the CBC photographer
Continue readingAlberta Politics: In the debate over home schooling and ‘parents’ rights,’ we need to remember children have rights too
PHOTOS: Alberta Education Minister David Eggen. Below: Wildrose Opposition Leader Brian Jean and film director and former American evangelical Frank Schaeffer (Salon photo). Controversy in Alberta over the provincial government’s decision to withdraw funding and accreditation from a private Christian school association that oversaw about a third of the province’s
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Brian Jean goes full Trump for the Wildrose masses: Total disaster! We need to Make Alberta Great Again! Believe me!
PHOTOS: I tell you, it’s a total disaster! Believe me! Brian Jean speaks with members after his Trump-like Friday evening speech at the Wildrose Party’s 2016 AGM in Red Deer (CBC photo). Below: Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, whose former speech-writers may soon be able to find productive work
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Pigs will fly before the fantasy that Ottawa’s carbon tax ‘invades provincial jurisdiction’ will ever persuade a court
PHOTOS: Who says Jason Kenney is full of baloney? These guys do! And they’re the Fathers of Confederation! Below: PC leadership candidate Mr. Kenney; federal Liberal Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr, MP for Calgary Centre; and Brian Jean, leader of the Wildrose Opposition in the Alberta Legislature (Wildrose.ca photo). Ottawa’s
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: PCs don’t need the Wildrose to win, NDP should watch their Liberal flank
Uneventful weeks have become rare in Alberta politics and this week in particular has been uniquely interesting. We started with the release of political party fundraising data from Elections Alberta showing the NDP raised more funds in the last quarter than… Continue Reading →
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta right now: The state of the province, its parties, and its oil after 1 year without Stephen Harper
PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley addresses supporters for her “state of the province” speech in Calgary’s Jack Singer Concert Hall yesterday. (Photo from the Premier of Alberta’s Flickr account.) Below: Would-be Progressive Conservative leader Jason Kenney and current Wildrose Party Leader Brian Jean. It was so busy in political Alberta
Continue readingAlberta Politics: This just in from Elections Alberta: New Democrats out-raise Wildrose Party and PCs combined in 3rd Quarter
ILLUSTRATIONS: The Alberta fund-raising horse race. From left to right, Wildrose leader Brian Jean, NDP Leader and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and PC interim Leader Ric McIver. Below: The real Ms. Notley, Mr. Jean, Mr. McIver and PC leadership contender Jason Kenney. Never mind the gloomy mainstream narrative – Alberta’s
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Where’s Pat Paulsen, now that America needs him? And why didn’t Jason Kenney phone Brian Jean?
PHOTOS: Pat Paulsen and Bobby Kennedy. Below: Mr. Paulsen in 1970 … and in focus, putative PC leadership candidate Sandra Jansen and Wildrose Party Leader Brian Jean. Where’s Pat Paulsen, now that America needs him? Or, to put this another way, seeing as Mr. Paulsen permanently departed this vale of
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Notley searches for her Lougheed moment by demanding oil pipelines for Trudeau’s carbon tax
Demanding the federal government help “break the landlock” and support the construction of oil pipelines from Alberta, Premier Rachel Notley and Environment and Parks Minister Shannon Phillips drew a line for Alberta’s support of the Justin Trudeau government’s proposed national carbon… Continue Reading →
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: “Post-truth” Politics in Alberta
Albertans can learn a lot about the importance of truth in politics from the Trump/Clinton presidential race. Political lies have moved beyond “misstatements” for which politicians “take full responsibility” and (sort of) apologize, to “truthiness”, a term coined by Stephen Colbert for a lie that appeals to a voter’s feelings,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: ‘Bernard the Roughneck’ campaign has been in preparation for months, may soon target Rachel Notley
PHOTOS: Neal (Bernard the Roughneck) Hancock’s first appearance on a well-known right-wing video blog in January 2015. (Screenshot) Below: Progressive Conservative leadership candidate Jason Kenney with his new friend Bernard, who was making a rare public appearance in mufti; Shannon Stubbs with her husband Shayne Saskiw and a friend; and
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Another Fine Mess: Thanks Stevie
It turns out the famous Laurel and Hardy phrase “here’s another fine mess you’ve gotten us into” is a misquote. What Oliver Hardy really said to the hapless Stan Laurel was “here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten us into”. At … Continue reading →
Susan on the Soapbox: Brian Jean Makes a Joke
Two things happened this week that reflect very poorly on the judgment of Wildrose Party leader Brian Jean and his supporters. The first was The Joke. The second was his apology for The Joke. Let’s take them in turn. The … Continue reading →
daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Can we not go a week without someone threatening to harm the Premier?
“I’ve been beating this drum for 10,11 years. I will continue to beat it, I promise. But it’s against the law to beat Rachel Notley…” – Wildrose leader Brian Jean Speaking at a town hall forum in Fort McMurray, Fort…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Brian Jean’s crack about beating Rachel Notley may have ended his hopes to lead Alberta’s right
PHOTOS: Opposition Leader Brian Jean, haunted by the radicalism of his own rural-dominated party, now looks like he’s stumbled into the same snake pit of anger and misogyny. (Photo from Wildrose.ca.) Below: Premier Rachel Notley, the subject of Mr. J…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Tales from the Political Crypt: Vote for me and I’ll give it all to charity!
PHOTOS: Your blogger with Carl Benito, back in the day. Below: Brian “Clipper” Jean in his wedding canoe, and Jason Kenney, a confirmed bachelor, striking an appropriately W.L. Mackenzie King-like pose. The latter two politicians are the principal …
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Wildrose leader’s public spat with the mayor of Montreal may not help, but it’s likely to continue
PHOTOS: Wildrose Opposition leader Brian Jean has been giving Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre the sink-eye again lately. Below: Mr. Coderre, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Don’t expect Alberta Opposition Leader Brian Jean’s pub…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: News you may have missed: pollster says Alberta NDP could win an election held tomorrow!
PHOTOS: Albertans scour the Alberta media for information about provincial politics, but they’re all getting exactly the same story. Actual politically engaged Albertans may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, Alb…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Postmedia columnists and Fraser Institute team up to attack the Alberta’s climate change plan
The full court press against the Alberta government’s Climate Leadership Plan continued today as Postmedia business columnists Gary Lamphier and Claudia Cattaneo dutifully and uncritically weighed in on the latest report from the right-win…
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