Your intrepid blogger, with Alberta Finance Minister Ron Liepert. Below: New Democrat MLA Rachel Notley. Oddly enough, there actually was a lesson that could be learned from the first budget of Alberta Premier Alison Redford’s government.While the Budget Speech read yesterday by retiring Finance Minister Ron Liepert was self-evidently an
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daveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: alberta budget 2012: keep calm and carry on voting tory.
Alberta's 2012 pre-election budget. Judging by past performance, not rocking the boat is a difficult thing for Finance Minister Ron Liepert, who managed to table a budget yesterday that will rock Albertans to sleep before it rocks them into a riot. Reminding Albertans of just how good their forty-year government
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: The Fraser Institute: 100% political and still a registered charity! Explain, please…
A typical Canadian taxpayer ponders the tax-deductible corporate pork that goes to support the Fraser Institute and its ilk. Below: Fraser Institute critics Donald Gutstein and Graham Steele; the Canada Revenue Agency, where is it? Other than Canadian political parties themselves, the Fraser Institute must be Canada’s most intensely political
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Another sleazy push poll takes aim at high-riding Redford Tories
Is this the party for which you are voting? Pollsters’ representatives call Albertans. Below: Naughty push-pollsters work from their basement boiler room in Calgary. Actual robo-callers may not actually exist as illustrated. ROI’s Bruce Cameron. WRP-PP by djclimenhaga Another squalid American-style push poll, which has all the hallmarks of a
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Alberta tidbits: Can market-fundamentalist Wildrose Party be trusted to pull plug on high electricity costs?
Contemplating Alberta electricity prices, consumers are usually not as cheerful looking as illustrated. Below: Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith; Edmonton-Mill Woods MLA Carl Benito, former premier Ed Stelmach. Now that the far-right Wildrose Party is poaching Alberta NDP policy, could we trust them to carry it out?Doubtful, but you can hardly
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Did Forlorn Friday’s leak of Snelgrove resignation sink ‘Super Saturday’ spoiler?
Somebody blabbed! Below: Stephen Carter, Tweeting; Mr. Carter’s Tweet. All across Alberta it was “Super Saturday” yesterday and throughout the province members of the eternally ruling Progressive Conservative Party were being nominated to run in the looming general election! Oh wow! Oh, Holy Cow… Guess what’s going to be all
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Lloyd Snelgrove’s Dinner with Danielle: far-right desperation or another Wildrose exodus?
Phone camera photo? Former Stelmach right-hand man Lloyd Snelgrove spotted with Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith in Calgary brewpub! Alberta politicians may not be exactly as illustrated. Below, the real Mr. Snelgrove (caught without his trademark goatee) and the real Ms. Smith. With election fever gripping the province and the far-right
Continue readingCalgaryGrit: This Week in Alberta – Flanagan Gets Back in the Saddle
With an Alberta election on the horizon this spring, the Wildrose Alliance have brought on Tom Flanagan to manage their campaign. For those of you who have never heard of Tom Flanagan, he was a political science professor at the University of Calgary (go Dinos!), and a key Harper strategist
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: alberta tories holding a packed nomination week.
I have updated the list of nominated Alberta election candidates to include the following three Progressive Conservative nominees: Edmonton-Centre: Young lawyer Akash Khokhar defeated Nicole Martel to win the PC nomination. In the next election, Mr. Khokhar will face Liberal MLA Laurie Blakeman, who has represented the constituency since 1997.
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Latest Alberta poll shows Redford Conservatives with commanding lead
Say it ain’t so! Giant Redford Tory electoral machine crushes everything in its path! Even the ship of state! (Stephen Carter’s electoral schemes may not be exactly as illustrated.) Below: Alison Redford, Tom “Firewall” Flanagan. As predicted more than once in this space, a methodologically trustworthy public opinion poll has
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Second Forum poll shows Wildrose still soaring: Press 1 if you believe it, Press 2, if you have your doubts…
A Forum Research Inc. spokesperson counts up support for Alberta’s far-right Wildrose Party. Below: Forum President Lorne Bozinoff. Well, that’s one strategy for establishing your polling credibility: If you come up with a poll that other pollsters, bloggers and the usual complainers dismiss as an outlier, do another one that
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: surveys show big-tent tories and ideologically polarized opposition.
A new survey released in the National Post by Forum Research Inc. shows Alberta’s Progressive Conservatives with 38% province-wide support and the opposition Wildrose Party sitting at 29%. This survey shows the Liberals at 14%, New Democratic Party at 13%, and the Alberta Party with 3% province-wide support. Danielle Smith
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Liberal Conservative appoints conservative Liberals to battle progressive conservatives, true conservatives
I’m with him… Conservative Alberta Liberal Leader Raj Sherman with his new chief of staff, Jonathan Huckabay. Below: Jeff Melland, from his Facebook page. Earlier today, Alberta Liberal Leader Raj Sherman emailed out a press release announcing big changes to his staff. Key among these were the additions of Jeff
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Will only NDP and Wildrose mount full slates to challenge Alison Redford this spring?
Alison Redford: Why is this woman smiling? Why not? Below: NDP Leader Brian Mason: the next leader of the Opposition? Even with Alberta Premier Alison Redford in a mood to tarry just a little and not call an election until after her government has passed its first budget, only one
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: what to make of alison redford’s budget before election strategy.
Premier Alison Redford Premier Alison Redford has told reporters that her government will approve Alberta’s 2012/2013 budget before the next provincial general election is called. The budget is expected to be introduced shortly after MLAs return to the Assembly on February 7, 2012. The election must take place between March 1 and
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: why don’t i feel outraged about the illegal donations scandal?
I feel like I should be outraged about recent allegations that Alberta’s Progressive Conservatives have received thousands of dollars in illegal donations from municipalities and public institutions including the University of Lethbridge, but I am not. Under elections finance legislation in Alberta, it is illegal for these entities to make
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Re-regulating electricity – a great issue for the Alberta New Democrats
An Alberta voter contemplates what’s likely to happen to electricity prices if “deregulation” continues. Below: Brian Mason, Dilbert. Don’t feel guilty if you don’t understand Alberta’s shocking electricity prices. You’re not supposed to. Sales of electricity in Alberta are now managed through what Dilbert calls a “confusopoly.” It’s a system
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Old Year assessment and New Year prediction: Alison Redford, Alberta Newsmaker o’ th’ Year, 2011 and 2012
Alison Redford meets the media minutes after her election in a Conservative Party members-only vote was announced in the wee hours of Oct. 2, 2011. Below: The unexpected results displayed. All politics end in tears, a wise man once observed, meaning that sooner or later, almost all political winners turn
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: looking back at 2011: alberta mla’s who made a difference.
Each year around this time, I compile a list of a handful of Members of Alberta’s Legislative Assembly who I believe deserve mentioning following their political performance over the past year. This is just my list, so please feel free to agree, disagree, or make your own suggestions in the
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: What Alison Redford really needs: a smaller caucus
Members of former premier Ed Stelmach’s caucus discuss their differences in the Legislative Assembly. Is that Ron Liepert top right? Actual Conservative MLAs may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: Premier Alison Redford; Tory defector Rob Anderson, in black. Alberta Premier Alison Redford needs to be praying hard that she
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