The death toll from the fall of John A. Macdonald’s statue in Montreal Saturday still stands at zero, the gods be praised. One would have thought it was much higher, however, given all the outraged virtue signalling from Conservative politicians and their “issues managers” here on the western edge of
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Alberta Politics: Kaycee Madu, no stellar cabinet performer, is promoted to where he can do less harm; other stars fall
Kaycee Madu, possibly Alberta’s least successful cabinet member in the estimation of his portfolio’s key stakeholders, as Alberta justice minister? Who saw that coming? Former Economic Development, Trade and Tourism Minister Tanya Fir (Photo: Facebook). Of the three major political events affecting Alberta that took place while your blogger was
Continue readingsomecanuckchick dot com: “Take Canada Back” ?!?!?
“Take Canada Back” to when/what/where, etc., exactly?!? ICYMI Erin O’Toole is the newly-minted leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. Erin O’Toole ran on a leadership campaign platform that courted nationalists and populists, AKA hate/fear-mongering, racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic, etc. pieces of garbage. Erin O’Toole’s leadership campaign slogan? “Take Canada Back”.
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: An Assessment of Erin O’Toole’s selection as Conservative Leader
In a leadership convention that will be known as much for it counting machines shredding ballot votes and the long delay in announcing results as it will for the picking of a new leader, the Conservative Party’s members finally picked someone to replace the inept Andrew Scheer. (Scheer didn’t go
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta political roundup: The paper-pile premier, furious doctors, rebel ’Roser rumours, Total disaster, and more …
Having rammed through two controversial bills Tuesday night, one opening the door to more health care privatization and the other eliminating workplace fairness and declaring war on unions, the Alberta Legislature wrapped up its business just after 8 o’clock yesterday morning. United Conservative Party social media spent the afternoon bragging
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Canada, keep your eye on Alberta — it’s not going to be pretty, but it should be instructive
You can just tell it’s likely to be a crazy week in Alberta politics. To understand just how crazy, you have to think about what the Kenney Government is noisily focusing on, and what is actually happening. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). In the Legislature, Premier Jason
Continue readingAlberta Politics: What’s it tell us that a couple of bad-boy Lethbridge cops almost got away with illegal surveillance of an NDP minister?
It’s tempting to write off yesterday’s big story about that pair of none-too-bright county mounties from the Lethbridge Police Service caught stalking an NDP cabinet minister as just a dumb cop comedy without much significance. But Sgt. Jason Carrier and Const. Keon Woronuk were no Gunther Toody and Francis Muldoon,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: From us to WE: The Dickensian ‘Big Society’ seems to be back again, if it ever left
Who can forget the “Big Society”? Just about everyone, it turns out. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Photo: Justin Trudeau/Flickr). “The Big Society,” cooked up by a senior aide to former British Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron, was the ridiculous idea neoliberal governments could shuffle off their key responsibility for assuring
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Hot potatoes: Federal Conservatives prudently drop talk of bringing down the Liberal government just yet
It was faintly amusing yesterday to watch the haste with which the Conservative Opposition backed away from the idea of trying to bring down the Liberal government in Ottawa over Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s now rescinded plan to have a charity with ties to his family administer a $900-million summer
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Kenney’s controversial speechwriter listed as CEO of federal Conservatives’ Edmonton Strathcona constituency association
Given the uproar over an article widely perceived as expressing racist sentiments by Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s speechwriter, it will be interesting to see how the Conservative Party of Canada reacts to the fact Paul Bunner is also chief executive of its Edmonton Strathcona constituency association. As of the close
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The federal Conservative leadership race takes a turn both sinister and juvenile
Probably the last thing the Conservative Party of Canada needs right now is a side battle over allegations of dirty tricks and data theft between the campaigns of the two leading candidates in an already uninspiring leadership race. I mean, it’s not as if frontrunners Peter MacKay or Erin O’Toole
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Who will see their pandemic money first? The UCP’s political staffers, or Alberta’s health care aides?
In case you were wondering if Alberta’s United Conservative Party was also going to apply for funds from Ottawa’s Canada Emergency Response Benefit to keep party staff employed, that question has now been answered. Of course they are! Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Photo: Justin Trudeau/Flickr). The UCP trotted out the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Federal Conservatives seek emergency support to help kick unemployed people off emergency support!
Surely there’s a special corner of Hell for the leaders of political parties who try to get unemployed people kicked off federal pandemic emergency supports at the same time they demand federal emergency supports for their private army of trolls! Or am I the only one who finds it ironic
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The likely future history of the Keystone XL Pipeline: Yes, Alberta! The answer is still No!
Who can forget Nov. 6, 2015, the day that will live in infamy? Just about everybody, as it turned out. Jason Kenney and Stephen Harper (Photo: Facebook). That was the day that U.S. President Barack Obama decided to pull the plug on the Keystone XL Pipeline, declaring that it was
Continue readingAlberta Politics: That rumble you hear is the sound of the Shock Doctrine artillery softening up Alberta for austerity on steroids
In trench warfare, before the shock troops go over the top, the artillery softens up the defenders with a barrage at the point of the attack. In the midst of a great struggle with a mysterious coronavirus that threatens all mankind, we are being subjected to such a barrage by
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta’s statement on Ottawa’s gun ban illustrates how little the rule of law really matters to Conservatives
Jason Kenney marked May 1 with a message to the Conservative base complaining about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decisive move in the wake of the murderous shooting rampage in Portapique, Nova Scotia, to ban 1,500 makes of military-style rifles. While a significant majority of Canadians breathed a sigh of relief
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Should we welcome Michelle Rempel Garner home with a festive serving of Oklahoma’s official state meal?
Did you know Oklahoma has an official state meal? The State Legislature in Oklahoma City designated the repast as an official state symbol in 1988. And, I must say, it sounds delicious: fried okra, squash, cornbread, barbecued pork, biscuits, sausage and gravy, grits, corn, black-eyed peas, chicken-fried steak, strawberries and
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Virus-blocking masks are part of our future — it’s time to dump Canada’s unconstitutional anti-mask law
Universal adoption of homemade face masks would have huge health and economic benefits in the current global coronavirus pandemic, says a paper published a few days ago by seven Yale professors. “We estimate that the benefits of each additional cloth mask worn by the public are conservatively in the $3,000-$6,000
Continue readingWarren Kinsella: My latest: leadership in tough times
Leadership in good times means little. Leadership in bad times means everything. And these times, they are indisputably bad. Grim, grinding, grotesque. For the rest of our lives, we will all remember the dark days of 2020, when nothing was again the same. Everyone, everything, everywhere: it’s all different, now.
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