TweetAlberta’s opposition parties are traditionally notorious for being unforgiving towards leaders who fail to meet or beat electoral expectations. Take for example former Edmonton Mayor Laurence Decore, who after leading his Liberal Party to it…
Continue readingTag: Danielle Smith
Alberta Diary: Is a Wildrose ‘coup d’etat’ in the works as blog claims? Not very likely
Shades of Videodrome: Wildrose Deputy Leader Rob Anderson listens to Danielle Smith on a mysterious video about goings on in the Wildrose Party emanating from a French online video site. Actual clips from the missing movie may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: Blogger Kathleen Smith, Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith, Progressive Conservative Premier Alison Redford …
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Alberta Tories send feds a message, but keep their most dangerous enemies close
Friends close, enemies closer: Alberta Tories, left, send a message to their federal counterparts. Alberta political parties may not be exactly as anthropomorphized. Below: Premier Alison Redford, Niccolo Machiavelli. Proving you really can have it both ways, Premier Alison Redford’s Alberta Tories rapped the knuckles of their federal counterparts yesterday but kept their most dangerous …
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Tip for Tories: a grownup conversation about debt will pay political dividends
The House that Ralph built. Alberta mismanaged by market fundamentalists may not appear exactly as illustrated, but close enough. Below: Peter Lougheed, Alison Redford, Ralph Klein. As Alberta’s Tories gather today in Calgary to celebrate Peter Lougheed leading them out of the Social Credit wilderness 41 years ago, they will expend plenty of energy feuding …
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Alberta Conservatives can relate to Tea Party “bozos eruptions.”
TweetGlued to my television last night, I, like probably millions of other Canadians, watched as the blue states and red states were tallied until President Barack Obama defeated former Governor Mitt Romney. Last night and over the course of the Americ…
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Fair or not, Opposition targets Katz donation(s) as symbol of Tory sleaze
Caesar repudiates Pompeia: “You’re outta here!” Below: Danielle Smith and Alison Redford. The Wildrose Party strategy for defeating the Progressive Conservative government of Premier Alison Redford when the next election rolls around in 2016 is a variation of the right-wing party’s plan when it came close to winning earlier this
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Remember where you heard it first: foundering B.C. premier hires Alberta strategist Stephen Carter
Your blogger, looking rather stout and unkempt, with political strategist Stephen Carter, who popped up in British Columbia yesterday to try to work his come-from-behind magic for B.C. Premier Christy Clark’s foundering conservative Liberals. Below: Ms. Clark. As predicted here at Alberta Diary, British Columbia Premier Christie Clark has hired
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Welcome to Alberta’s Wild West, where the market sets the value of your vote
Drug store billionaire Daryl Katz, right, discusses his plans for a new Edmonton hockey arena with a representative of the Alberta government. Since Wild West hockey barons may not appear exactly as illustrated, a photo of the real Mr. Katz is shown below. (CBC Photo, circa 2008.) Look, people, this
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: A case for finance reform: Reclusive billionaire allegedly donated $430,000 to PC Party.
Tweet“Mr. Katz declined requests for comment” was probably the least surprising sentence printed in the Globe & Mail this week as the national newspaper published reports that reclusive billionaire Daryl Katz had allegedly donated $430,000 to Alberta’s Progressive Conservative Party during the recent provincial election. The maximum contribution limits allowed
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Danielle Smith and “the hungry.”
TweetWildrose Party leader Danielle Smith apologized today for comment and a retweet she made on Twitter suggesting that E.coli tainted beef from the XL Foods meat packing plant in Brooks be fed to “the hungry.” Many of Ms. Smith’s critics compared her ‘let them eat tainted beef’ attitude to former
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Tweetergate? Meatergate? For heaven’s sake, stop her before she Tweets again!
Alberta’s Wildrose Opposition Leader Danielle Smith Tweeting “let them eat steaks” over the worldwide web. Injudicious Alberta politicians may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: The offending Tweet; the real Ms. Smith. Alberta Opposition Leader Memo to Self: Whatever was I thinking? Whoever does Wildrose Party Leader Danielle “Marie Antoinette”
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Alberta Premier Alison Redford gets warm reception in union lions’ den
Alison Redford speaks to the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees’ convention in Edmonton yesterday. (AUPE photo.) Below: Ms. Redford with AUPE President Guy Smith. Is she trying to build an alliance with public service unions? It’s tempting to say Alberta Premier Alison Redford walked boldly into the lions’ den yesterday
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Alberta Liberals set to rebrand as Liberalberta, sources say.
TweetThe Alberta Liberal Party is rebranding its image with plans to relaunch its website, adopt a new logo, change its official colours, and, according to Liberal sources, rename itself Liberalberta. Last forming government following the 1917 election, Liberals are the constant underdogs of Alberta politics and being severely hampered by connections to unpopular Liberal
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Alberta MLAs return to Edmonton next week for the first real sitting of 2012.
TweetThe fall sitting of Alberta’s Legislative Assembly begins on October 23 and indications suggest that it will be a different than recent sittings. Aside from the brief sitting held in the spring with the almost sole purpose of ejecting retired MLA Ken Kowalski from his long-held spot in Speaker’s Chair,
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Advice to Alison Redford: Own fair and reasonable, and leave the comedy riffs about Danielle Smith to us bloggers
Yuck! Alberta Opposition Leader Danielle Smith learns about veterinary medicine at the source. Or was this the lesson on Wisconsin’s “grassroots democracy”? Whatever. After that, she had cheese in Wisconsin. Below: Alberta Premier Alison Redford. I recall hearing somewhere the image experts have come to the conclusion that “if you
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Canadians deserve answers about XL Foods beef, as company sticks its head in the sand and Alberta politicians give in to old populist ways.
TweetUntil its licence was temporarily suspended on September 27, more than one-third of Canadian beef was processed in the XL Foods plant in Brooks, Alberta. The plant processed 4000 cows a day and produces 3000 steaks each minute. The sheer size of this plant raises serious questions about the centralization of the
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Inside Baseball: Alberta’s conservative parties hold executive elections.
TweetFormer cabinet minister Ray Danyluk dropped out of race for the presidency of Alberta’s Progressive Conservative Party this week, prompting a few political insiders to ask the question “why was he running in the first place?” The recently defeated three-term Tory MLA from Lac La Biche-St. Paul joined the race to
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Are storm clouds forming in Alberta Premier Alison Redford’s sunny skies?
Alberta Premier Alison Redford, left, gives a member of her caucus his marching orders. Alberta politicians may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: The real Ms. Redford, Stephen Carter. Alberta Premier Alison Redford would appear to be unassailable. A recent cross-Canada poll by Angus Reid found her to be the
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Can Christy Clark and Alison Redford find common ground on the Northern Gateway Pipeline?
TweetBritish Columbia Premier Christy Clark sent Alberta Premier Alison Redford an email yesterday asking if they could meet in Calgary next weekend. While they appear to be cut from similar ideological cloth, the two conservative Premiers have clashed in the media over the construction of the controversial Enbridge Northern Gateway
Continue readingAlberta Diary: News from Imperial Washington: Alberta Diary’s surprise endorsement (sort of) from afar
You want moments in American history? Apropos of nothing, here lies Alexander Hamilton, slain in a duel by his political foe Aaron Burr, who got off scot free. Top that! Below: Danielle Smith, disapproving of my tinfoil cap. Your blogger is normally disinclined to give too much of this space
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