Danielle Smith ← Progressive Bloggers // Blogues progressistes

Alberta Politics: Big Tobacco will be pleased as Derek Fildebrandt’s ‘liberty’ video assails restrictions on flavoured cigarettes

Jul

2

2017

PHOTOS: Young smokers, circa 1910. Below: A screenshot of Wildrose Finance Critic Derek Fildebrandt’s social media video, Mr. Fildebrandt himself, former Wildrose Party leader Danielle Smith, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose marijuana-legalization strategy Mr. Fildebrandt appears to endorse. Wildrose Finance Critic Derek Fildebrandt is continuing his party’s tradition of supporting Big Tobacco’s right to ...

Alberta Politics: Explaining Derek Fildebrandt’s ambitions: Jason Kenney vows to stifle ‘bozo eruptions’ in the UCP

Jun

21

2017

PHOTOS: Alberta Progressive Conservative Leader Jason Kenney. He vows to find ways to ensure there are no bozo eruptions in the ranks of the United Conservative Party. This will not be easy. Below: Frequent eruptor Derek Fildebrandt, who says he’s considering running for the leadership of the UCP himself; former Alberta deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk, ...

Alberta Politics: Year after year, about now, Alberta conservatives shoot themselves in the same foot

Jun

12

2017

PHOTOS: Then-Wildrose MLAs Kerry Towle, leader Danielle Smith and Jeff Wilson (in Wildrose T-shirts behind the sign) take part in the August 2014 Calgary Pride parade. Below: Wildrose staffer Cory Johnston, current party leader Brian Jean, former leader Smith (Photo: Dave Cournoyer) and Alberta NDP Premier Rachel Notley. Bottom: Calgary blogger Susan Wright. Plus ca ...

Alberta Politics: Tee times and cowboys trump Pride when jittery Alberta conservative politicians join the parade

Jun

8

2017

PHOTOS: Participants in last year’s Edmonton Pride Parade as it made its way through the leafy streets of Rachel Notley’s Edmonton-Strathcona riding. They don’t look very dangerous, do they? Below: The missing men – Wildrose Leader Brian Jean and Progressive Conservative Leader Jason Kenney (Photo: Wildrose Party), plus Oscar Wilde and a participant in the ...

Alberta Politics: If failure to appear at Pride goeth before a fall, what will Jason Kenney do?

Jun

4

2017

PHOTOS: Progressive Conservative Leader Jason Kenney, back in 2010 when he was a Calgary MP, taking part in the Calgary Stampede Parade. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons.) Will he show up for the Edmonton Pride Parade next Saturday as well? Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, flanked by Education Minister David Eggen and Economic Development and Trade Minister ...

Alberta Politics: Here we go again: Opacity not transparency characterizes Alberta’s right-wing merger talks

Apr

24

2017

PHOTOS: Wildrose Opposition Leader Brian Jean and Progressive Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney uncomfortably shake hands in this obviously staged photo in what appears to be Mr. Jean’s office. (Wildrose Party photo.) Below: Tanis Fiss, chair of the insider committee working behind closed doors to unite the two parties (from LinkedIn), and Preston Manning of ...

Alberta Politics: No redemption for the Wildrose, outed in a Lake of Fire five years ago today, and it’s Eastertime too

Apr

15

2017

PHOTOS: Rev. Allan Hunsperger, whose beliefs about the eternal fate of people who live a gay lifestyle contributed mightily to the downfall of the Wildrose Party. (Wildrose Party photo, circa 2012.) Below: Then Wildrose leader Danielle Smith; Jason Kenney, leader of the Progressive Conservatives today; and former PC premier Alison Redford. Five years ago today, ...

Alberta Politics: Like rust, Preston Manning apparently never sleeps: Jason Kenney is just his latest manifestation

Mar

18

2017

PHOTOS: Preston Manning has every reason to feel pleased with himself as he moves toward his goal of uniting Alberta’s right on his own terms, with an extreme social conservative candidate like Jason Kenney in the vanguard. Below: Mr. Kenney; Alberta Party Leader Greg Clark; Danielle Smith, just before she became a Tory; and Richard ...

Alberta Politics: International Women’s Day turns into a major embarrassment for Alberta’s tone-deaf opposition

Mar

8

2017

PHOTOS: Wildrose Opposition Leader Brian Jean – nothing to do with us, really. Below: Health Minister Sarah Hoffman, Environment Minister Shannon Phillips and former PC leadership contender Sandra Jansen, all New Democrats. It’s International Women’s Day and, whatever Alberta’s two right-wing Opposition parties would rather be doing, one doubts it’s insisting they have nothing to ...

daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Bozo-Eruption Alert: Wildrose campus club email declares “Feminism is Cancer”

Mar

7

2017

“Feminism is Cancer” was the subject line of an email sent out by the Wildrose Party campus club at the University of Calgary promoting the showing of the film “Red Pill.” The Wildrose club planned to screen the film, which online reviews describe as exploring Men’s Rights issues, on the U of C campus on ...

Alberta Politics: Wildrose reaction to proposed raise for front-line health workers illustrates the party’s rightward shift

Feb

5

2017

PHOTOS: Rob Anderson, on the right, the Wildrose Party’s finance critic under Danielle Smith, at a rally supporting public sector workers in 2012. With him are AUPE President Guy Smith, left, and Alberta Liberal Leader David Swann, centre. Below: The Wildrose Party’s intemperate current finance critic, Derek Fildebrandt, Ms. Smith, and premiers Ed Stelmach and ...

daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: New Alberta Politics Podcast: The Broadcast

Jan

27

2017

Edmonton-based journalists Trisha Estabrooks and Alex Zabjek have launched a new podcast focusing on women and Alberta politics. The Broadcast website describes the inspiration for the podcast: We started this podcast because we believe that 100 years after some women won… Continue Reading →

Alberta Politics: Alberta’s right doubtless dismayed as The Economist boots the U.S.A. off its list of ‘full democracies’

Jan

26

2017

PHOTOS: Democracy has been downgraded in the U.S.A. … (Azerbaijan Press Agency photo). Below: A recent copy of The Economist, U.S. President Donald Trump and Wildrose Alliance Leader Danielle Smith in her political heyday. Hmmm… The venerable Economist Magazine’s research arm yesterday booted the United States off its list of “full democracies,” demoting Ronald Reagan’s ...

Alberta Politics: Oh the irony! Saskatchewan adopts Alberta’s single health region model, hated by Brad Wall’s fervent admirers

Jan

4

2017

PHOTOS: Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall, who Alberta conservatives say is the real leader of Western Canada. Below: Saskatchewan Health Minister Jim Reiter, former Alberta premier Ed Stelmach, and Mr. Stelmach’s health minister, Ron Liepert. Premier Brad Wall’s Saskatchewan Party Government – which all Albertans have been taught by the opposition conservative parties can do no ...

Alberta Politics: A Happy New Year to all – seriously, to all of you – as AlbertaPolitics.ca begins its 10th year of publication

Dec

31

2016

PHOTOS: Some of the high points … This one was taken about the time I broke the story that Danielle Smith would be running for the leadership of the “upstart” Wildrose Party. Below: chats, and photos, with Ed Stelmach, Alison Redford, Jim Prentice and Rachel Notley. Dear Readers, On this day in 2007 I sat ...

Alberta Politics: Trouble on the ‘Alb-Right’? What are the details of Wildrose Leader Brian Jean’s better way to unite the right?

Dec

19

2016

PHOTOS: Opposition Leader Brian Jean. He says he has a better plan than Jason Kenney’s to unite the right. The only thing is, he won’t say what it is. If it involves changing the party name, though, as this picture shows there are going to be a lot of “Wildroses” to scrub! (Photo from wildrose.ca.) ...

Alberta Politics: The Great Betrayal, or just a great mistake? Today marks the second anniversary of the Wildrose Party’s mass defection

Dec

17

2016

PHOTOS: Progressive Conservative premier Jim Prentice and Opposition leader turned PC MLA Danielle Smith pose awkwardly on Dec. 17, 2014, in what was supposed to be a political masterstroke, and could have turned out to have been just that (CBC photo). Below: NDP Premier Rachel Notley, Wildrose Opposition Leader Brian Jean (from Wildrose.ca) and conservative ...

Alberta Politics: Backstory to purloined party list whodunit hints Wildrose civil war may be brewing

Nov

29

2016

PHOTOS: Veterans of the Wildrose Caucus civil wars get together in 2046 to compare their experiences. Actual aged Wildrose MLAs are unlikely to appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Wildrose Leader Brian Jean (CBC photo), his party’s finance critic, Derek Fildebrandt, and former Wildrose House leader Rob Anderson reading his confession … oh, wait, that was ...

Alberta Politics: The twists keep coming: Ex PM pitches woo to Wildrosers for Kenney Con coup as candidate cries counter Kudatah!

Nov

16

2016

PHOTOS: “That group of NDP activists was this big!” Jason Kenney is shown at the launch of his campaign to spring a kudatah on the Progressive Conservative Party in this CBC photo grabbed from the Internet. Actually, I have no idea what Mr. Kenney was saying when the CBC photographer snapped the picture. Below: Stephen ...

Alberta Politics: Database shows how schools, cities, charities, plus media and Alberta firms bankroll Brad Wall’s Saskatchewan Party

Nov

1

2016

PHOTOS: Premier Brad Wall, whose Saskatchewan Party has been receiving donations from such taxpayer-supported institutions as municipalities, a health region, public libraries, school boards, universities, colleges, a Crown corporation and registered charities. Below: Progress Alberta Executive Director Duncan Kinney; blogger and non-New Democrat Dave Cournoyer; and former Wildrose Party leader Danielle Smith. Maybe Brad Wall ...

daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Stephanie McLean wants more women to run in next year’s municipal elections

Oct

18

2016

Alberta’s Minister for the Status of Women Stephanie McLean is heading on a four-city tour to convince more women to run for elected office in next year’s municipal elections. The tour will feature events in Edmonton on October 18, Medicine Hat on October 20, Calgary… Continue Reading →

Alberta Politics: ‘Bernard the Roughneck’ campaign has been in preparation for months, may soon target Rachel Notley

Sep

27

2016

PHOTOS: Neal (Bernard the Roughneck) Hancock’s first appearance on a well-known right-wing video blog in January 2015. (Screenshot) Below: Progressive Conservative leadership candidate Jason Kenney with his new friend Bernard, who was making a rare public appearance in mufti; Shannon Stubbs with her husband Shayne Saskiw and a friend; and Conservative Energy Critic John Barlow. ...

Alberta Politics: Bernard the Roughneck in his own words: Neal Bernard Hancock responds to his critics

Sep

25

2016

PHOTOS: “Bernard the Roughneck,” Neal Bernard Hancock, addresses the media in Ottawa in this screenshot of the CBC’s tape of his interview. Below: Mr. Hancock at the same event with Mark Scholz, president of the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors, David Lefebvre, director of the Quebec Oil and Gas Association (which the CAODC describes ...

Alberta Politics: Brian Jean’s crack about beating Rachel Notley may have ended his hopes to lead Alberta’s right

Sep

1

2016

PHOTOS: Opposition Leader Brian Jean, haunted by the radicalism of his own rural-dominated party, now looks like he’s stumbled into the same snake pit of anger and misogyny. (Photo from Wildrose.ca.) Below: Premier Rachel Notley, the subject of Mr. Jean’s controversial remark; Wildrose Finance Critic Derek Fildebrandt, whom he tried to discipline last spring for ...

Alberta Politics: When then was ‘Now!’ Marking the day Peter Lougheed moved Alberta dramatically to the left

Aug

30

2016

PHOTOS: Peter Lougheed on the campaign trail during the 1970s. Below: A few of the important characters in this story … William Aberhart, Ernest Manning, Danielle Smith and Rachel Notley. Today is the 45th anniversary of Peter Lougheed’s historic election victory in 1971, which brought the Progressive Conservative Party to power with a comfortable majority, ...