TweetAfter spending some much needed time relaxing in beautiful British Columbia, I returned to Alberta this week and noticed some of the political stories that occurred during my absence. Here are some of the top political stories from last week that caught my attention: Political games in High River Buckling
Continue readingTag: Danielle Smith
Alberta Diary: Got trouble with ‘overbearing urban planners’? The Manning Centre wants to help!
A civic election all-candidates’ meeting in Calgary. “Why don’t we pass the time with a game of solitaire?” Actual Manning Centre supported candidates may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Manning Centre namesake Preston Manning; Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi; Calgary developer Cal Wenzel (CTV photo). If on Oct. 21 the
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Minister’s F-Bomb illustrates the lamentable state of Alberta’s political discourse
A cheerful looking Doug Griffiths, back when he was running against Alison Redford for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party. Below: Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith. Many of us were asking ourselves yesterday afternoon if Alberta Municipal Affairs Minister Doug Griffiths had really dropped an F-Bomb on the Wildrose Party?
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Liberals downsize, Wildrose raise more than one-million dollars.
TweetNews that Raj Sherman‘s Alberta Liberal Party is downsizing its operations by moving into a smaller office and restructuring its organization led me to take a glance at provincial political party fundraising numbers for 2013. Due to a change in legislation last year, political party fundraising reports are submitted to Elections
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Queue-jumping inquiry report surely wounds Alberta Liberal Leader Raj Sherman
Wildrose Opposition Leader Danielle Smith, looking for all the world like a future premier, lands a few easy punches on the government after the release yesterday of the health care queue-jumping inquiry report. Below: Alberta Liberal Leader Raj Sherman and former AHS CEO Stephen Duckett, both assailed in the report
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Queue-jumping report quashes another Tory scandal
TweetOver the past eight months, Premier Alison Redford‘s Tories have been quickly dispatching the handful of scandals and allegations that dogged them and robbed them of their political agenda throughout 2012. Facing an aggressive Wildrose official opposition, the Progressive Conservatives were marred by controversy as they struggled to put forward a coherent
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Who is driving the conservative agenda in Canada?
TweetIn America’s Forbes Magazine this week, Alejandro Chafuen praised the leadership of the conservative policy think-tanks that helped set the stage for the election of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative majority government in 2011 and the success of conservative politicians across the country. This apparatus of conservative special interest groups, think-tanks and news
Continue readingAlberta Diary: The optics of politics in Alberta, or how to stay focused and in the picture…
Your blogger with the premier of Alberta. Somewhere below: Your blogger with a person who very well could be the next premier of Alberta. Or not. ST. ALBERT There’s something to be said for getting along with people even if you don’t agree with them. Seriously, you can get stuff
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Freedom Cruise Update!
With not much happening in Ottawa these days, I thought I’d check in on the state of Ezra Levant’s Freedom Cruise. And the news is…its still sucking. But in a slightly different way: Wildrose leader Danielle Smith has also scraped [sic] her original summer plans, including a weeklong Alaska “Freedom
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Campaign Diary Volume 4: On dishing it out it print … and taking it
If you’ve dished it out in print, like this guy did from the look of him, you’ve got to be prepared to take it. In real life, that was Bogey in Deadline USA. Below: The actual author of this blog with Danielle Smith, just before she announced she was seeking
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Redford shines in flood aftermath, but political problems not washed away
TweetThe day to day melee of provincial politics in Alberta was thrown out the window two weeks ago as rising rivers flooded communities in southern Alberta and forced the evacuation of more than 100,000 Albertans from low-lying Calgary neighbourhoods and surrounding communities. Caring, compassionate, and pro-active, Premier Alison Redford has been
Continue readingAlberta Diary: The Six-Point-Four-Billion-Dollar Question: will the Redford Tories drop their budget balancing act?
Alberta Premier Alison Redford, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi talk to reporters with the swollen Bow River and Calgary’s skyline in the background. (Photo from Ms. Redford’s Facebook page.) Below: U.S. Republican contender Mitt Romney; Calgary talk show host Dave Rutherford. It is not unreasonable, in
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Twenty years since Alberta’s epic 1993 election.
TweetToday marks the 20th anniversary of Alberta’s 1993 election, known in Tory political circles as “the miracle on the Prairies” and to others as the election that interrupted the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals (in which the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Wayne Gretzky-led Los Angeles Kings). This election was Alberta’s most
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Doug Griffiths leads unconvincing charge against Wildrose robocalls.
TweetSwinging at the chance to bloody their opposition, Alberta’s Progressive Conservatives are trying to make a connection in Albertans minds between automated robocalls made on behalf of the Wildrose Party and controversial robocalls made by Conservative Party organizers in Ontario. It’s a stretch. Last week the Wildrose Party was fined
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Evil twins: Alberta Progressive Conservatives assail Wildrosers, and vice versa
This is not a photograph of Alberta Premier Alison Redford and Alberta Opposition Leader Danielle Smith. For one thing, these two are far too friendly with one another. But you get the point I’m trying to make, I’m sure. Below: The real Ms. Redford and the real Ms. Smith. I’ll
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Wildrose deftly defuses robo-call crisis while federal Cons suffer Scotch verdict
Members of the Wildrose Party try out their new robo-calling technology, which should avoid future problems with the CRTC. Right-wing Alberta politicians may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Wildrose Party Executive Committee President David Yager. You don’t have to agree with Alberta’s right-wing Wildrose Party to admire the skill
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Tories tighten their grip over powerless school boards.
TweetProvincial politicians like school boards. When popular decisions are made, like opening new schools or announcing new funding, the provincial government takes the credit. When unpopular decisions need to be made, like closing schools or cancelling programs, then the provincial politicians are more than happy to let the school board
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Conrad Black and Danielle Smith
Conrad Black, the Canadian media mogul and convicted felon* was in Calgary last week to have a “conversation” with the Calgary business elite (and me) over lunch at the Calgary Petroleum Club. The big question is why does Baron Black of Crossharbour—oh let’s just call him Conrad—continue to draw sell-out
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Negotiating with Alberta’s PC government? Better bring witnesses!
Wildcat strike scene, grabbed from AUPE’s website during the strike. Below: AUPE President Guy Smith, Deputy Premier Thomas Lukaszuk. Advice to anyone who tries to negotiate a deal with Alison Redford, Thomas Lukaszuk or any member or official of their government: take witnesses with you, and make sure you also
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Ironies abound in Alberta’s agitated politics as Alison Redford cranks up the postage meter
How Albertans should see Progressive Conservative and Wildrose policies and procedures. Below: The clever Wildrose Facebook attack on PC Premier Alison Redford’s faintly unsavoury taxpayer-funded mail out, which makes it look a little worse than it really is. Am I the only one who sees irony in the leader of
Continue reading