Let it be conceded that the Conservative histrionics over yesterday’s confidence and supply agreement between the Liberals and the New Democrats in Parliament has far outdone the “spectacular national Conservative tantrum” predicted in this space. Naturally one would have expected a right-wing Opposition party to argue that any deal between
Continue readingTag: Canadian Politics
Alberta Politics: A Liberal-NDP confidence and supply deal takes shape? If so, brace yourself for a spectacular national Conservative tantrum!
If the deal the federal Liberals and New Democrats seem to have cooked up to keep the Trudeau Government in power until 2025 in return for national pharmacare and dental care programs turns out to be for real, brace yourselves for a spectacular national tantrum by the Conservatives led by,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Capable former cabinet minister Danielle Larivee will again be NDP candidate in Lesser Slave Lake
The Alberta NDP made it official yesterday, announcing that Danielle Larivee will once again be the party’s candidate in the Lesser Slave Lake riding. As I said when I reported last month that Ms. Larivee planned to seek the NDP nomination in the riding she represented between 2015 and 2019,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jason Kenney offers a grab-bag of defences, some unusual, against five environmental groups’ defamation lawsuit
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has filed his statement of defence in response to a defamation lawsuit by five environmental organizations, offering a grab-bag of defences for the comments that sparked the dispute. Among them, Mr. Kenney argues that by not specifically naming the groups he attacked in his social media
Continue readingAlberta Politics: What’s with all this chatter about the Canadian Bill of Rights? The latest far-right talking point explained
There’s been a lot of chatter lately about the Diefenbaker-era Canadian Bill of Rights, especially on social media. While it doesn’t seem to have hit mainstream commentary in a big way yet, social media is full of references, usually by commenters in the darker corners of the right-wing Internet, about
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Russian vodka disappears from Alberta shelves – but what about Russian pipeline steel and AIMCo’s Russian investment fund?
On Sunday, Premier Jason Kenney announced the provincial government has directed the Alberta Gaming, Liquor, and Cannabis Commission to stop accepting Russian-made liquor products and to quit selling current stock to retailers. The announcement also indicated without details that retailers had been instructed to stop selling Russian vodka and the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: PM Trudeau revokes national emergency declaration – Conservative hive mind’s message discipline immediately crumbles
Most of the day yesterday, the voices of Canada’s Conservative hive mind were screaming in unison for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to lift the emergency and lift it now. Some of them, like would-be United Conservative Party leader Brian Jean, even had scheduled tweets set up to automatically demand an
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: On the dangers of nationalism and national symbols
A Canadian flag is strapped to the grill of a semi-trailer truck during protests against COVID-19 measures in Ottawa, February 2022. Photo by GoToVan/Flickr. With the recent dispersal of the trucker demonstrations against vaccine mandates in Ottawa and in other parts of the country, national symbols like flags and representations
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The Throne Speech: Short-term objectives, privatization, boondoggles, grudges, and attacks on public health care and education
In the Westminster Parliamentary system, the Throne Speech is supposed to set out the government’s direction, goals and policy for a new session of the legislature. The one read by Alberta Lieutenant-Governor Salma Lakhani in the provincial Legislature in Edmonton yesterday appears to have been written for the next 45
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Looks like Albertans will get their wish and become the focus of Canada’s attention – it may be an unpleasant experience for some
As the folk wisdom goes, be careful what you wish for, you might just get it. Albertans, who have a habit of complaining bitterly when they are not at the top of the national agenda, are a step closer this morning to having their wish granted thanks to the vote
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Hot takes: Putin outmanoeuvres the West; Trudeau outmanoeuvres the Opposition, and Alberta outmanoeuvres … shoes!
Well, this has been an interesting Alberta Family Day – and it’s not even over yet. In international politics, Russia recognized the independence of two breakaway Russian-speaking provinces of eastern Ukraine and immediately sent in its armed forces to protect them. Senator John McCain (Photo: United States Senate). Naturally, in
Continue readingAlberta Politics: With a murky legal strategy but a clear political one, Jason Kenney vows to challenge use of Emergencies Act in court
Using his favourite medium, Facebook, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney announced yesterday his government plans to go to court to challenge “the unjustified use of the Emergencies Act” by Ottawa. The one minute and 49 second video clip posted to the social media platform was not particularly informative about what the
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: What the Emergencies Act reveals about civilian policing in Ottawa
Police officers in Ottawa during the Freedom Convoy occupation. Photo by Franklin McKay/Shutterstock. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act to deal with the fascist “trucker” convoy has been met with a mix of support, criticism, and confusion. While Trudeau and his government claim that this is
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jason Nixon’s UCP nomination challenger Tim Hoven got his campaign off to a pretty good start last night
It looks like Tim Hoven’s campaign to challenge Jason Nixon for the United Conservative Party nomination in Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre got off to a pretty good start last night at a rural community hall in the Central Alberta riding. Leastways, a photo that turned up in my inbox shows the
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: What were members of Canada’s special forces doing at the Freedom Convoy occupation?
Commandos from Canada’s Joint Task Force 2 conduct a night raid in Afghanistan. Image courtesy Simon & Schuster. Reports that members of Canada’s elite special operations force are supporting the right wing anti-vaccine mandate protests in Ottawa are troubling. The federal government has invested heavily in training these individuals and
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Ottawa has invoked the Emergencies Act – do you know where your trucks are?
The Canadian government has invoked the Emergencies Act. Do you know where your trucks are? If you don’t, and you run a trucking company, you might want to check. Some of the weapons seized Sunday night at the Coutts blockade (Photo: Twitter). As Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said yesterday,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Small group of Edmonton counter-protesters manages to hold up noisy pro-convoy parade for close to an hour
A small group of counter-demonstrators in Edmonton yesterday managed to blockade a parade of “Freedom Convoy” supporters on their way to the city’s downtown for the better part of an hour mid-day yesterday. When Edmonton Police and Alberta Sheriffs arrived at the intersection of River Valley Road and Fortway Drive
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Economic shock of border blockade grows; Canadian Conservatives change their tune … a little
The economic attack on Canada by the operators of trucks now blockading three major border crossings to the United States and occupying Ottawa is certainly causing more damage to the national economy than the sporadic land-defender rail blockades in 2020. Things have gotten so far out of hand that the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta bid to recover $1.3-billion loss from KXL shutdown is politically motivated and unlikely to succeed
A brief statement by Energy Minister Sonya Savage yesterday says Alberta’s United Conservative Party Government intends to use a legacy provision of the now-kaput North American Free Trade Agreement to recover the government’s “investment” in the cancelled Keystone XL Pipeline project. The minister’s statement – heavy with nearly incomprehensible business-bureaucratic
Continue readingCanadian Dimension: Trucker convoy targeted O’Toole
Trucks blocking the intersection at University Avenue and Bloor Street, February 5. Photo by Michael Swan/Flickr. On February 2, after a majority of Conservative MPs ousted Erin O’Toole as Party leader, Toronto Star columnist Susan Delacourt wrote that, since Canadian Conservatives have yet to commit to either a centrist or
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