Danielle Smith ← Progressive Bloggers // Blogues progressistes

Alberta Politics: Brian Jean, former Opposition leader and unsuccessful contender to lead United Conservative Party, quits Alberta politics

Mar

6

2018

PHOTOS: Brian Jean, when he was still running for the leadership of the United Conservative Party in 2017. Below: Mr. Jean feeling the love during the race to lead the UCP, and as he would probably like his political career to be remembered. (The second and third photos were grabbed from Mr. Jean’s Facebook page.) ...

daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Total Votes in Alberta political party leadership races from 1998 to 2018

Mar

1

2018

Photo: Ed Stelmach (elected leader of the PC Party in 2006), Danielle Smith (elected leader of the Wildrose Alliance in 2009), Kevin Taft (elected leader of the Liberal Party in 2004), and Alison Redford (elected leader of the PC Party leader in 2011). Following the announcement this week of the results of the Alberta Party ...

Alberta Politics: Stephen Mandel, Janson Kenney and the Messiah Strategy Alberta conservatives are confident will save their bacon

Jan

15

2018

PHOTOS: Alberta’s latest would-be conservative leader, as seen by party insiders and supporters. (Actually, it’s Bonaparte. Alberta conservative leaders may not appear exactly imagined by Jacques-Louis David.) Below: Would-be Tory messiahs Stephen Mandel and the late Jim Prentice, and Jason Kenney. Below them: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley. Stephen Mandel, former mayor of Edmonton and a ...

Alberta Politics: Today marks the 10th anniversary of AlbertaPolitics.ca – which presumably makes this blog an Internet institution!

Dec

27

2017

PHOTOS: Part of the original header on this blog, back in its St. Albert Diary days, which ran from the last week of 2007 to mid-2009. The blog, of course, has continued under slightly different names to the present. Below: The first post, and my picture with Alberta’s two best premiers, in my opinion, since ...

Alberta Politics: UCP leader demands by-election he likely doesn’t want; premier, presumably anxious to tie him down in House, is silent

Oct

31

2017

PHOTOS: Jason Nixon, the UCP’s new House Leader. (Photo: Dave Cournoyer, Daveberta.ca.) Below: Alberta NDP Premier Rachel Notley, seatless UCP Leader Jason Kenney, former Wildrose leader Brian Jean in happier times, Deputy Premier Sarah Hoffman, Alberta Liberal Leader David Khan, and Alberta Party Leader Greg Clark. Happy Halloween! Nothing is as it seems! Now that ...

Alberta Politics: Don’t expect an NDP cold war between Jagmeet Singh’s federal New Democrats and Rachel Notley’s Alberta caucus

Oct

2

2017

PHOTOS: Jagmeet Singh, whose campaign to lead the national New Democratic Party came to a successful conclusion yesterday. (Photo: NDP.ca.) Below: Alberta NDP Leader and Premier Rachel Notley, former Alberta Progressive Conservative premier Alison Redford, and former Wildrose Party leader Danielle Smith. So, it’s Jagmeet Singh, and decisively. But don’t expect many hints from Alberta ...

daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Paul Hinman’s narrow by-election win in 2009 had a big impact on Alberta politics

Sep

13

2017

Former Wildrose Alliance Party leader Paul Hinman staged an odd and brief reappearance on Alberta’s political stage this week when he announced his plans to run for the leadership of the United Conservative Party. But when the Sept. 12, 2017 deadline for candidates to deposit a $57,500 fee had passed, Hinman did not appear to ...

Alberta Politics: Paul Hinman wants to contest UCP leadership! He has till tonight to raise $57,500! I’m not making this up!

Sep

12

2017

PHOTOS: Would-be UCP leadership candidate Paul Hinman, back when he was Wildrose Alliance MLA for Calgary-Glenmore. Below: Preston Manning, Ted Hinman, and Ernest Manning. Paul Hinman? Seriously? Has somebody stumbled over a mysterious time capsule buried by the Wildrose Alliance Party way out on the lone prairie? Probably somewhere down there in Southern Alberta around ...

Alberta Politics: Political words before elementary school audiences could’ve, should’ve been a teaching moment, literally

Sep

10

2017

PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley with the school children at Lois E. Hole Elementary School in St. Albert, before whom she dared to speak political words. (Photo: CBC.) Below: St. City Councillor Sheena Hughes and former Progressive Conservative Alberta premier Alison Redford, who committed the same sin in 2013, and the late Lois Hole, Lieutenant ...

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.) ...