PHOTOS: Dunvegan-Central Peace … where your vote counts for more than double! (Town of Fairview photo.) Below: Progress Alberta’s Duncan Kinney, NDP House Leader Brian Mason, Justice Myra Bielby of the Alberta Court of Appeal and former Progressive Conservative Deputy Premier Doug Horner. By trying to ensure the boundaries of
Continue readingTag: Brian Mason
daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: That Totally Weird Anti-Carbon Tax Rally
While I am in the mood to dispense political advice, my next pro tip goes out to Wildrose leader Brian Jean, who was a featured speaker at Ezra Levant’s totally weird anti-carbon tax rally. Mr. Jean and Innisfail-Sylvan Lake MLA… Continue Reading →
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Should the Ethics and Accountability Committee be given a second chance?
Partisan wrangling, maneuvering and infighting appears to have derailed much of the work assigned to the Special Select Ethics and Accountability Committee by the time MLAs on the all-party committee passed a motion last week asking the Legislative Assembly to extend the committee’s… Continue Reading →
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Wildrose Party’s half-hearted apology to Ontario premier doesn’t mean much
PHOTOS: Wildrose Party Finance Critic and chief Legislative greeter Derek Fildebrandt, demonstrating a typical attitude. Below: Shocked and appalled critics Naheed Nenshi, mayor of Calgary, David Swann, Alberta Liberal leader, Greg Clark, Alberta Party…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Watching the Wildrose in the Legislature: Beverly Hillbillies … or Deliverance?
PHOTOS: The Beverly Hillbillies in campaign mode. Actual members of the Alberta Wildrose caucus may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, left, and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, right, answer reporters’ questions …
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Are the Alberta NDP keeping their promise to improve ethics in government?
Days after the Alberta New Democratic Party was elected with a majority government in 2015, I wrote a column outlining the promises made in the party’s election platform to improve ethics in government. One year later, here is a look at thos…
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The Fort McMurray Wildfire: Another Wasted Opportunity for the Wildrose
On May 10, Danielle Larivee, minister of Municipal Affairs, welcomed Wildrose MLAs Brian Jean and Tany Yao back to the Legislature. They’d been in Fort McMurray surveying the damage from the wildfire. Mr Jean received a standing ovation. He personally … Continue reading →
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Votaries of right-wing unity gather in Red Deer, vote to form yet another conservative party
PHOTOS: Progressive Conservative interim Leader Ric McIver and Wildrose Leader Brian Jean in a rare recent moment of amity at, but of course, the Manning Centre’s Ottawa beanfest for right wingers in February 2016. This snapshot, the only one of its …
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Alberta’s 2012 election campaign kicked-off four years ago today
Considering the incredible political change that has taken place in Alberta in the past few years, it is almost difficult to believe that it has only been four years since Alberta’s political parties were rolling out their campaigns on the firs…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: As widely predicted, Calgary-Bow MLA Deborah Drever invited to rejoin New Democratic Party Government’s caucus
PHOTOS: Surrounded and supported by NDP House Leader Brian Mason, Calgary-Varsity MLA Stephanie McLean and Finance Minister Joe Ceci, Calgary-Bow MLA Deborah Drever addresses the media in Calgary yesterday after being welcomed back into the Government …
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Putting protection of sexual & gender minorities back on the agenda at provincial school boards meeting
Amid allegations of financial misspending and a lack of transparency, representatives from sixty-one elected Public, Catholic, and Francophone school boards from across Alberta will gather at the fall general meeting of the Alberta School Boards Association on November 15, 16 and… Continue Reading →
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Message to the Wildrose Party: The NDP won and you’re going to need breakfast!
PHOTOS: The Wild Rose Breakfast Special. Just one of the many compensations of getting an early start on your day. Below: Infrastructure Minister and NDP House Leader Brian Mason, the NDP’s point man on early rising legislators; Wildrose Leader Brian Jean; and Interim Conservative Party of Canada Leader Rona Ambrose,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Start work at 9 in the morning? Never! Alberta’s Wildrose picks another great hill to die on
PHOTOS: You want me to be at the Legislature when? A young Brian Jean contemplates the horrors of a future under an NDP government. Younger versions of Alberta political leaders may not have appeared exactly as illustrated. Below: The real Mr. Jean as he appears today; NDP Infrastructure and Transportation
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: NDP needs to explain why they changed their mind on Carbon Capture and Storage
“The Tories have bet $2 billion taxpayer dollars and our oil and gas industry’s sustainability on CCS. There’s no scientific consensus that the technology is safe in the long term. Any report of a failed CCS project should have the… Continue Reading →
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta’s NDP needs to react more quickly, plus throw the Tories under the bus where they belong
PHOTOS: Carbon capture: The oil company executive in the bow tie places the carbon in a bottle, which is then stored underground by his corporation for billions of dollars. Or something like that. If the bottle breaks, of course, we’re screwed! Actual carbon capture schemes may not appear exactly as
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: 7 Conservatives scandals that still haunt Alberta politics
After forty-four years of Progressive Conservative government in Alberta, it still feels surreal to believe that another party has been elected into government. Two and a half months after the NDP victory, Premier Rachel Notley is putting her stamp on Alberta politics. But Alberta’s new… Continue Reading →
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Civil Disobedience the Wildrose Way
For a brief and shining moment we had détente. The NDP government and the Opposition met in the Legislature, engaged in healthy debate and came together to pass a landmark piece of legislation, Bill 1, which bans union and corporate donations to political parties. Then Wildrose Opposition Leader Brian Jean
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Civil disobedience, Alberta-style: obviously it’s only an outrage when non-conservatives talk about it
PHOTOS: Which one looks most like a certain Wildrose critic, back in the day? Just asking. Below: Wildrose MLA and frontbencher Rick Strankman, who was pardoned by PM Stephen Harper. Below them, Wildrose Leader Brian Jean and enviro activist and Alberta values violator Mike Hudema plus his scary book. VICTORIA,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Perfesser Dave explains ethics in lobbying and how to manage political marriages
VICTORIA, B.C. Some stories are just too confusing for ordinary bloggers to explain. That’s when we turn to the expert knowledge offered by such distinguished academics as Perfesser Dave, The Answer Guy ™, Canada’s No. 1 expert in politics, now at the Observatory of Political Phenomena in Victoria, B.C. As
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Notley NDP waste no time implementing popular progressive agenda in former conservative heartland
Banning corporate and union donations: Check. Restoring funding to health, education and human services: Check. Increasing corporate taxes: Check. Introducing a new climate change strategy: Coming soon. Phasing in a $15 per hour minimum wage: Coming soon. Reviewing Alberta’s natural resource… Continue Reading →
Continue reading