PHOTOS: Alberta Labour Minister Christina Gray. Below: Opposition MLAs Greg Clark and Richard Starke, who contributed amends to the act passed in the wee hours of yesterday morning. In the wee hours of yesterday morning, the NDP MLAs in the Alberta Legislature dragged the province’s labour laws into the late
Continue readingTag: Christina Gray
Alberta Politics: Wildrosers and Progressive Conservatives act as if fighting the NDP’s workplace fairness law is their hill to die on
PHOTOS: Edmonton labour lawyer Andrew Sims and Alberta Labour Minister Christina Gray at yesterday’s technical briefing on the NDP Government’s new labour legislation. (Photo: CBC) Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, and Alberta Liberal interim Leader David Swann and Alberta Party Leader Greg Clark, both of whom supported introduction of the
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: NDP finally introduce their Labour Law modernization bill
Labour Minister Christina Gray introduced Bill 17, the Fair and Family-friendly Workplaces Act, into the Legislative Assembly today. This bill includes long-awaited reforms to modernize Alberta’s Labour Code and Employment Standards Code. Some parts of Alberta’s labour laws have remained untouched since the 1970s. The 249-page bill includes a wide-range of amendments from
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: No, reforming Alberta’s Labour Laws will not kill democracy.
It won’t come as a surprise to many political watchers in Alberta that the most vocal critics of the NDP government’s yet to be announced reforms to Alberta’s outdated labour laws have strong ties to the province’s Conservative establishment. “Keep Alberta Working” is a campaign of the “Alberta Growth Initiative,” which is a
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Don’t look for dramatic change to Alberta labour laws in revisions NDP will likely introduce this week
PHOTOS: Alberta Labour Minister Christina Gray (Photo: Chris Schwarz, Government of Alberta). Below: Labour Lawyer Andrew Sims and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley (Photo: Dave Cournoyer, Wikimedia Commons.) Alberta’s New Democratic Party Government is expected to introduce changes to the province’s main labour relations laws this week, quite possibly on Wednesday.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Few hints about coming NDP workplace law reform in minister’s speech to Alberta Federation of Labour
PHOTOS: Alberta Labour Minister Christina Gray at the Alberta Federation of Labour Convention in Edmonton yesterday. (Photo: Dave Cournoyer.) Below: AFL President Gil McGowan and Labour Code review chair Andrew Sims. As you might expect, Labour Minister Christina Gray got a very warm welcome from delegates to the Alberta Federation
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: First quarter political party fundraising puts NDP in the lead
Elections Alberta released the financial disclosures showing the results of political party fundraising in the first quarter of 2017. Combined party and constituency fundraising results show the governing New Democratic Party in the lead in early 2017, having fundraised $373,060.23 between January 1 and March 31, 2017. The Wildrose Party raised $345,125.06 and
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta finally moves, cautiously, toward reforming labour laws, more boldly to ban cash-for-blood transactions
PHOTOS: Alberta Labour Minister Christina Gray at her news conference yesterday morning. Below: Labour lawyer and respected labour relations specialist Andrew Sims and Health Minister Sarah Hoffman at her news conference yesterday afternoon (Twitter). No sooner asked than answered, Alberta’s NDP government announced a plan yesterday morning to consult with
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Something for the NDP to think about: How about bringing Alberta’s labour laws into the 20th Century? (Never mind the 21st)
PHOTOS: Alberta Labour Minister Christina Gray. Below: Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, Athabasca University Labour Studies Professor Bob Barnetson and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne. The CBC says the province’s businesses are “spooked.” The Chamber of Commerce is deeply worried by the prospect of “sweeping reforms.” Naturally,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Shoreline, True Grit, photo-bombing, certainty and the Deity: random observations from Alberta’s Throne Speech
PHOTOS: Alberta Lieutenant Governor Lois Mitchell, clad in a purple official gown, reads the NDP Government’s third Speech from the Throne in the Legislature in Edmonton yesterday afternoon. Below: Party crasher Jason Kenney, Labour Minister Christina Gray (Dave Cournoyer photo) and Opposition Leader Brian Jean. Alberta’s New Democratic Party Government
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Even some farm leaders admit the Alberta NDP’s notorious Bill 6 is an improvement
PHOTOS: Agriculture Minister Oneil Carlier as he walked through an anti-NDP demonstration in front of the Alberta Legislature shortly before the passage of Bill 6 in December 2015. Below: NDP Labour Minister Christina Gray, Alberta Federation of Agriculture President Lynn Jacobson and Wildrose Agriculture Critic Dave Schneider. The New Democratic
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Ten Alberta MLAs to watch in 2017
Despite its past reputation, Alberta politics has become extraordinarily unpredictable over the past decade. This makes forecasting the future a very tricky business for political pundits. As is tradition on this blog, each December I sit down by the open… Continue Reading →
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: NDP Bill aims to take Big Money out of Alberta politics
The Alberta NDP are pushing forward with their plans to reform Alberta’s outdated election finance laws. Labour Minister Christina Gray, who also serves as Minister Responsible for Democratic Renewal, introduced the NDP’s latest election finance reforms in the Legislature today… Continue Reading →
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Albertans hear the same old same old as fast-food restaurant owners grow hysterical over minimum wage
PHOTOS: Alberta Labour Minister Christina Gray, who is sticking to her guns on the provincial government’s plans to raise the provincial minimum wage to $15 by 2018. Below: Notable fair wage campaigners, Joe Ceci, finance minister of Alberta; Frankli…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: What new laws did Alberta’s NDP government pass in Spring 2016?
The Spring session of the Alberta Legislature ended yesterday after forty-days of debate. The evacuation of more than 88,000 Albertans sparked by the wildfires in Fort McMurray dominated the attention of our political leaders during this session. In …
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: 10 ways to Renew Democracy in Alberta
The first law created by Alberta’s New Democratic Party government’s after its election win in 2015 was Bill 1: An Act to Renew Democracy in Alberta, which banned corporate and union donations to provincial political parties. Following the …
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Premier Rachel Notley introduces six new cabinet members … pretty flawlessly
PHOTOS: Premier Rachel Notley introduces her expanded, 19-member (that is, 18 full + 1 associate member) cabinet to the media at Government House yesterday morning. (Photo by Dave Cournoyer, used with permission.) Below: New cabinet members Christina G…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Notley spreads out the workload in new expanded NDP cabinet
Alberta’s provincial cabinet grew by six today as Premier Rachel Notley announced an early 2016 cabinet shuffle. These appointments bring the size of Alberta’s cabinet up to 19, which is larger than the initial 12 cabinet ministers appointed af…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Pressure builds for Alberta to ban corporate and union donations in municipal elections
On June 22, 2015, Alberta’s new NDP Government passed Bill 1: An Act to Renew Democracy in Alberta, imposing a retroactive ban on corporate and union donations to provincial political parties starting on June 15. Since that law passed, pressure has… Continue Reading →
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Alberta Pre-Election 2015: Monday candidate nomination updates
With a provincial election expected to be called in the coming weeks, Alberta’s political parties are pushing to nominate their slates of candidates. Not surprisingly, the governing Progressive Conservatives are close to choosing candidates in all 87 constituencies. At fifty-one,… Continue Reading →
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