TweetFree from the tight leash of party discipline, three former Finance Ministers are giving plenty of advice to Premier Alison Redford and Finance Minister Doug Horner. Ted Morton, the former two-term Tory MLA from Foothills-Rockyview and two-time Tory leadership candidate who served as Finance Minister from 2010 to 2011, penned
Continue readingTag: Danielle Smith
Alberta Diary: Edmonton’s homeless shelters home to body lice, ‘refugee-camp-like conditions’
Alberta’s perpetually mismanaged boom-and-bust economy makes homelessness worse, as hopeful immigrants flock here in hopes of a better life, and find nowhere to live. At least this guy has warm boots. Below: Dr. Stan Houston and Dr. Mat Rose. Welcome to Alberta, the Richest Place on Earth, where body lice
Continue readingAlberta Diary: The Progressive Conservatives and Alberta’s government: one entity, indivisible, under God?
Participants in today’s Alberta Economic Summit solemnly await Premier Alison Redford’s arrival at Calgary’s Mount Royal University. Many are called but few are chosen, and they may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Stefan Baranski, Charles Rusnell and Stephen Carter. As befits an almost exclusively political event, criticism of today’s
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Alberta politics takes a negative turn online.
TweetMLA pay remains an uncomfortable issue for Alberta’s political leaders. Yesterday, MLA’s sitting on the Member Services Committee voted to freeze the annual cost-of-living increase to their salary and housing allowance ahead of provincial budget release on March 7, 2013. “The rationale is clearly we want to lead by example,”
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Khan, Cusanelli canned: Alberta premier sacks two rookie ministers in wake of poll
Steve Khan, eyed suspiciously by a fox. Below: Richard Starke, Christine Cusanelli, Richard III and Thomas Lukaszuk. Right on the heels of a new poll suggesting a decline in support for the Progressive Conservative government of Alberta, Premier Alison Redford announced a mini-shuffle of her cabinet yesterday, sacking a couple
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: New poll shows Redford Tories in the lead.
TweetOne month before Alberta’s Legislative Assembly reconvenes to deal with this year’s provincial budget, Leger Marketing has released a new survey of political party support in our province. Progressive Conservative: 40% Wildrose: 28% NDP: 13% Liberal: 12% This is only one survey and all political polls should be taken with
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Redford versus Rutherford on Twitter.
TweetRutherford Show is “our voice” says @kerrytowlemla. So #wrp shouldn’t be surprised when @premier_redford turns down Wildrose Radio #ableg — Alberta PremierComms (@ABPremierComms) January 28, 2013 High-drama took place on Twitter’s #ableg hashtag yesterday morning as Premier Alison Redford‘s online communications team took aim at QR77 talk radio host Dave Rutherford.
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Uh-oh! Premier Alison Redford wants to have a ‘conversation’ with us
Fireside chats? Alberta Premier Alison Redford as she’ll likely see herself while softening up the province’s citizens for the March 7 Budget Speech on CTV tonight. Below: Ms. Redford as Albertans may see her. Below that: the real Ms. Redford; Conference Board Chief Economist Glen Hodgson. Oh dear. Premier Alison
Continue readingAlberta Diary: The Redford Tories’ conundrum: Progressive reason versus Conservative passion
They kissed us once. Will they kiss us again? Alas, in Alberta right now, there’s no way to be cert- cert- certain. Alison Redford chats with a typical Alberta voter last spring – although, Alberta politicians and their supporters may not turn out to be exactly as illustrated. Below: The
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Rogue party activists to discuss ‘collaboration, and cooperation.’
TweetThe latest episode of Alberta’s ongoing “cooperation on the centre-left” saga will continue on January 23, when rogue activists from the Liberalberta Party, the New Democratic Party, and the Alberta Party will host a “Soapbox, Suds, and Wings” night in Edmonton. The event, which is being organized by Edmonton-Mill Creek
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Alison Redford’s revenue problem will define 2013 budget fight.
TweetThe low price of oil and natural gas and an election promise of “no new taxes, no service cuts” has put Alberta’s Tories in an unenviable political bind and set the tone for this year’s provincial budget debate. This week, Lee Richardson, Principal Secretary to Premier Alison Redford, released a
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Wildrose rink lotto scheme: a new tax on the prodigal and the poor
Imagine the millions we can scoop up from the foolish and the intoxicated! Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith extemporizes on the advantages of using gambling to subsidize billionaires. Below: Drugstore and hockey billionaire Daryl Katz; former Wildrose candidate Pastor Alan Hunsperger. It was almost a relief yesterday when Danielle Smith, leader
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Wildrose KENO-Arena lottery gambles with future of charities and non-profits.
TweetWildrose Official Opposition leader Danielle Smith re-injected herself into the latest round of news coverage about how to fund the Katz Group’s on-again, off-again arena north of Edmonton’s downtown. At a press conference this afternoon, Ms. Smith proposed that the provincial government should examine using the “KENO gambling model” to
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Why wait? Read 2013’s shocking political headlines right now on Alberta Diary!
The Dagny Taggarts, a synchronized skating team from Ottawa get ready to do their popular routine, “Where Is John Galt?” Defence Minister Joan Crockatt is in the front row, second from right. Below: Senator Tom Flanagan; U of C economics student Kim Jong-un, in full Calgary drag; Deputy Premier Thomas
Continue readingcalgaryliberal.com: 2013 is the Alberta Liberal’s year to shine
The Alberta Liberals are under attack. The Liberals are being assailed from every party from every corner of this province. The march to the middle has been of pronounced presence by almost every political faction in Alberta. The NDP have made open moves toward Liberal voters, campaigning hard in long held
Continue readingIn This Corner: The year in political bloopers.
Ah, politics. It has the potential to inspire, and an even greater potential to inspire derisive laughter or fits of rage. Here, for your reading and enraging enjoyment, are my choices for the top 10 political blunders of 2012, local edition. 1. Allan Hunsperger and the ‘lake of fire’ In
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Scandal, controversy, and electoral fortunes? What does 2013 hold for Alberta politics?
TweetWhat does 2013 hold for Alberta’s political leaders? Do their performances in 2012 shed any light on how the next year will play out? Saved from defeat by controversial comments made by social conservative elements of the Wildrose Party, Premier Alison Redford led the Progressive Conservative Party to its 12th
Continue readingAlberta Diary: A last thought for 2012: 2013 is bound to be an important year for Alberta’s NDP
2013 could be a big year for Alberta’s NDP – if they play their cards right. Members of the Alberta NDP caucus and their opponents may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: NDP Leader Brian Mason. Surely the strategic goal of Alberta’s New Democrats between now and the next provincial
Continue readingCalgary Grit: 2012 Woman of the Year
Every December, I like to name a “Person of the Year” – the individual who left their mark on Canadian politics over the past year. The only rules are that the PM is too obvious a choice, and that lame picks (“You!”) are strictly verboten. The Person of the Year
Continue readingAlberta Diary: The Stephen Harper model for Wildrose power: promise free votes and deliver the Borg Hive
Singing along: What we were promised by the Reform-Conservative platform. Below: What we got. Alberta’s Wildrose Party blossomed at the edges of the same muddy spring whence sprang the federal Reform Party of Preston Manning and Stephen Harper. As is well known, the Reform Party went on to engineer the
Continue reading