Assorted content to start your week. – The Associated Press reports on Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’s warning that the COVID-19 pandemic is far from over. Mary Papenfuss discusses how people living in Trump-supporting counties (with lower vaccination rates driven by COVID denialism) have thus far been twice as likely to die
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Accidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Alex Himelfarb, Andrew Jackson and Brian Topp write about the need for a tax system which collects a fair share from the wealthiest in order to fund the recovery and renewal we should be demanding. And Ben Steverman reports on Raj Chetty’s work
Continue readingAlberta Politics: ‘Blue-Ribbon Panel’ report sets stage for full-blown austerity, private health care, soaring tuition and much more
The recommendations of the Kenney Government’s “blue-ribbon panel” on Alberta’s finances yesterday went further over the top than you’d even have expected from a report ginned up by a couple of Fraser Institute ringers, a former bank president, and a few additional followers of the government’s low-tax, market-fundamentalist ideology. As
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Criticism of John Carpay, who compared pride flags to swastikas, called the work of a ‘left wing mob’
According to an increasingly influential segment of the United Conservative Party’s social conservative base, Albertans who have taken to social media to assail an ally of party leader Jason Kenney for the bigotry evident in his comparison of the pride flag to the Nazi swastika are nothing more than “the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Finance Minister Joe Ceci’s call for no wage hikes for public-sector unions a risky strategy for New Democrats
PHOTOS: Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci at yesterday’s news conference in Edmonton (Photo: Government of Alberta). Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, her former chief of Staff, Brian Topp, and former NDP premiers Dave Barrett (Photo: The Tyee), Roy Romanow, and Bob Rae (Photo: Wikimedia Commons). Alberta’s NDP Government can’t say
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2017 Links
The latest from the federal NDP’s leadership campaign. – NDP McGill has prepared handy summaries of the background and policy proposals of each of the leadership candidates. – Tim Harper writes that Charlie Angus is relying on the NDP’s grassroots as the foundation for his campaign – particularly compared to
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta premier’s quietly capable chief of staff, John Heaney, returns to his family and law practice in B.C.
PHOTOS: John Heaney last spring at the Alberta Legislature. Below: Mr. Heaney’s predecessor as Premier Rachel Notley’s chief of staff, Brian Topp, and his successor, Nathan Rotman (Photo: Twitter). The departure of the low-key and highly capable John Heaney as Premier Rachel Notley’s chief of staff will not necessarily become
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Sturgeon River-Parkland by-election to replace Rona Ambrose to be called by end of 2017
A federal by-election will be held in Sturgeon River-Parkland in the coming months following the resignation of Conservative Member of Parliament Rona Ambrose. Ambrose served as MP for this riding from 2015 to 2017 and as MP for the now defunct Edmonton-Spruce Grove riding from 2004 to 2015. A by-election
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Topp spin: Alberta premier’s departing chief of staff gives his final report to media with an eye to history
PHOTOS: Brian Topp, Premier Rachel Notley’s departing chief of staff. Below: Mr. Topp’s replacement, John Heaney; Jim Rutkowski, appointed Principal Secretary in the premier’s office; he replaces Anne McGrath, who becomes executive director of the Premier’s Southern Alberta Office in Calgary; and former southern office ED Bob Hawkesworth. It would
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Off the Topp: Notley shuffles her senior staff
As the fall Legislative session ends and MLAs prepare to return home to their constituencies for the holiday season, Premier Rachel Notley announced big changes in the senior ranks of her political office. Gone is Brian Topp, the veteran political… Continue Reading →
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Pipeline politics leads to strange bedfellows in Alberta and BC
Fresh from winning the approval of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley is off to British Columbia to pitch the benefits of the pipeline. On pipelines and climate change, Alberta’s New Democratic Party appears to be more… Continue Reading →
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Manitoba PC’s Thump the NDP – Whither Today’s NDP!
By Éric Grenier, for CBC News The Manitoba Progressive Conservatives under Brian Pallister won a majority government in a historic fashion Tuesday night, putting up some of the biggest numbers by any party in Read more…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: B.C. politics as seen from Alberta: Christy Clark’s re-election strategy exposed
PHOTOS: B.C. Lieutenant-Governor Judith Guichon reads the notorious Throne Speech attacking Alberta on Tuesday. Below: B.C. Premier Christie Clark, NDP strategist Brian Topp, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and B.C. NDP leader John Horgan. You no longer …
Continue readingAlberta Politics: New board in; CEO Vickie Kaminski out … just another day at Alberta Health Services!
PHOTOS: Outgoing AHS CEO Vickie Kaminski at an Edmonton news conference last year. Below: Redford-era health minister Fred Horne, PC premier pro tem Dave Hancock, NDP Health Minister Sarah Hoffman and Premier Rachel Notley’s just-appointed deputy chi…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Will the NDP save or shutter Athabasca University?
Residents of one northern Alberta community want to know what Alberta’s new New Democratic Party government has planned for their local university.
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Alberta’s new political insiders mostly come from outside Alberta
Edmonton Journal report Karen Kleiss published a story this week naming the new Chiefs of Staff hired to advise Alberta’s twelve NDP cabinet ministers and manage their offices at the Legislature. The new government has faced criticism for hiring too many staff from outside… Continue Reading →
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Alberta NDP draft outsiders from Manitoba, BC and Ottawa for Transition Team
Despite this current historic period in Alberta politics as a new party transitions into government for the first time in 44 years, almost no public focus has been directed at the team who are managing the Alberta NDP move into government. We have heard that former Saskatchewan… Continue Reading →
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: List: What’s happened since Alberta’s historic election
It has been an incredible 15 days since Alberta’s historic 2015 election. Here is a quick look back at what has happened in the past two weeks and what will happen in the months ahead. May 5: Rachel Notley‘s New… Continue Reading →
Continue readingAlberta Politics: By ignoring Ed Stelmach, the oiligarchy and the ideological right overreached and lost plenty
PHOTOS: Ed Stelmach in the premier’s office at the Alberta Legislature. Below: Preston Manning, the Godfather of the Canadian right; Stelmach’s finance minister, Ted Morton; New Democrat political strategist Brian Topp. Ed Stelmach, the last good premier the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party managed to elect, spoke up yesterday about the
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Can Alberta’s Tories Navigate their way back to relevance?
As most Albertans head to work tomorrow morning, the Tory-connected public relations firm Navigator will host an invite-only session for clients in downtown Edmonton titled “Alberta’s New Government: What to Expect.” The session is being hosted by former Ottawa television… Continue Reading →
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