Alberta Premier pro tem Dave Hancock, who does not appear exactly as illustrated, of course, pictured on a Get Out of Jail Free card given him today by Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi. Below: Mr. Nenshi and the real Mr. Hancock. Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi handed Alberta Premier pro tempore Dave
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Alberta Diary: Doublethink, Alberta Tory style … Sorry, really, but who’s this Alison Redford person?
Former Alberta premier Alison Redford, left, confronts a frightened Premier pro tempore Dave Hancock. Below: A frame from the lost video clip of Ms. Redford’s part in the video tribute to Alberta’s past Tory premiers. Actual Alberta politicians may not appear exactly as illustrated. MONTREAL Official Alberta Progressive Conservative Party
Continue readingAlberta Diary: A Tale of Two Leaders: His was the best of exits, hers was the worst
Retiring Alberta NDP Leader Brian Mason with your blogger’s introduction-to-journalism class in 2011: he was witty, passionate and persuasive, a big part of why the Alberta NDP continues to draw young supporters in significant numbers. Below: Mr. Mason with Alaska governor Sarah Palin, who has also retired from politics; in
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Four-year, 6.75% AUPE tentative agreement ends threat of open war between civil service union and Hancock Government
If not cordiale, at least entente. Alberta Premier Dave Hancock and AUPE President Guy Smith celebrate their tentative contract agreement yesterday. Actual Alberta public figures may not appear exactly as illustrated. (I freely admit stealing this idea from Daveberta.ca.) Below: Jim Prentice, Mr. Hancock and Mr. Smith. The threat of
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Detente or Entente Cordiale? AUPE and Hancock Government reach tentative agreement
TweetAt 10:00 a.m. on April 28, 2014, Hugh McPhail, a lawyer representing the Alberta Government requested the Court of Appeal to adjourn a scheduled hearing on Bill 46, the controversial anti-labour law that had been halted by a court injection months ago. The law would have forced a regressive contract on the 22,000 government employees
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Thanks to Tom Lukaszuk’s memo, Albertans know it wasn’t just Alison Redford with the entitlement problem
Members of the Alberta government’s Public Affairs Bureau spin a good yarn in response to freedom of information requests filed ages ago by Alberta journalists, opposition politicians and other busybodies. Actual government propaganda officials may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Labour Minister Thomas Lukaszuk, Information Commissioner Jill Clayton and
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Waiting in ambush for PC leadership candidate Ken Hughes: the ghosts of health care disasters past and present
Back in the day when Alberta Health Services was still full of promise, AHS board chair Ken Hughes, above left, got his instructions from health minister Ron Liepert, right. Mr. Hughes is now a candidate for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party and Mr. Liepert is a candidate for
Continue readingAlberta Diary: In one day, the ground shifts in Alberta politics in ways unexpected, sometimes uplifting, sometimes troubling
On March 23, Lewis Cardinal became the first nominated federal NDP candidate in Canada for the expected 2015 election. (Photo by Dave Cournoyer, used with permission.) Yesterday he stepped aside in the face of undisclosed health problems. Below: Wildrose Finance Critic Rob Anderson. What a strange day it was yesterday,
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Insiders will pretend to be outsiders in the PC leadership race
Tweet Former Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel is not running for the PC Party leadership Former Edmonton mayor Stephen Mandel announced yesterday that he will not run for the Progressive Conservative Party leadership. Mr. Mandel was seen as a great hope by many Edmonton Tories, who believed him to be the outsider
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Wildrose tells Craig Chandler to get lost; Tories might be smart to do the same
Craig B. Chandler in a portrait snatched from his Facebook Page. Below: Wildrose Opposition Leader Danielle Smith’s brisk communication to Mr. Chandler. GRANDE PRAIRIE If Alberta’s Progressive Conservative Party leaders were smart, they’d quickly find a way to send the same message to Craig B. Chandler he just got from
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Redford-Hancock Government moves ahead with plan to gut public sector pensions
Alberta Environment Minister Robin Campbell, right, in one of the rather undistinguished jackets that are causing such a brouhaha in the provincial Legislature this week. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Doug Horner, below, is moving to attack the pensions of 300,000 Alberta public employees and no one is paying much attention. Below
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Alberta Tories on public service pensions: ‘We lied. So what are you gonna do about it?’
As Tory leadership candidates Thomas Lukaszuk, standing, and Doug Horner look on, Alberta Premier pro tempore Dave Hancock tries out the barrel in which the next leader of the Progressive Conservative Party will lead their caucus over the falls. Actual Tory premiers and would-be premiers may not appear exactly as
Continue readingAlberta Diary: If Albertans can’t trust actuary’s conclusions, why did AHS hire the same firm? Hint: it’s not the firm you can’t trust
The Alberta Health Services computing division, figuring out how much they spend on consultants this quarter, hard at work. Actual Alberta health bureaucrats may not appear exactly as illustrated. LETHBRIDGE It was interesting, surely, to read the Wildrose Party’s revelation yesterday that Alberta Health Services had spent close to a
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Municipal Affairs Minister Ken Hughes quits Alberta cabinet – presumably to run for PC leadership
Half-confirmed Progressive Conservative leadership candidate Ken Hughes, on the night in 2011 Alison Redford won the party’s leadership. Well, that was then and this is now, as the appalled looking unidentified passerby sensed to have sensed. Below: Doug Horner. Anyone else? Alberta’s Municipal Affairs Minister quit his cabinet post yesterday,
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Tales from the Tory crypt: Apres Alison le deluge
Tory leadership non-candidate Jim Dinning with your blogger, back in the day. Below: Former premier Ed Stelmach and non-candidates Ted Morton and Gary Mar. If we were to speak for former Alberta premier Alison Redford today, here is what we would say: “Apres moi le deluge!” There is plenty of
Continue readingAlberta Diary: A mystery that won’t go away: Why do Alberta patients still face such long waits for lung surgery?
A horse with a silver blaze, curried mutton and a dog that did nothing in the night-time helped Sherlock Holmes get to the bottom of a mysterious death. Will it take a legendary detective to uncover the problem with lung surgeries in Alberta? Below: Dr. Verna Yiu; Dr. Raj Sherman;
Continue readingAlberta Diary: PC finances: looks like Armageddon for Tories and Wildrose Apocalypse for the rest of us
Wildrose Party leader Danielle Smith, on horseback, gazes at all that remains of Alberta’s once-mighty Alberta Progressive Conservative dynasty. Actual Alberta politicians may not appear quite so metaphorically. Below: PC Party Executive Director Kelley Charlebois. We can probably thank former Alberta premier Alison Redford for breaking the spine of the
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Alberta Premier Dave Hancock needs to apply his leadership candidates’ rules to secretive cabinet committee
A rare shot of a meeting of the Alberta government’s secretive Public Sector Resource Committee in session. Actual Alberta policymakers may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Premier Dave Hancock with former premier Alison Redford, back in the day, photo grabbed from Daveberta.ca. OTTAWA Is the Redford-Hancock Government’s Public Sector
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Advice to Dave Hancock: sweet words won’t be enough for Alberta’s unhappy civil servants
Your blogger with Alberta’s newest premier, Dave Hancock, not so long ago. Below: U.S. presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon. What a difference a few days can make! One leaves the province with one premier in power, figuratively bellowing threats at the civil service, and returns less than
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Harper endorses Rob Anders and more nomination updates
TweetWith Dave Hancock being sworn-in as the 15th Premier of Alberta and speculation running rampant about who will replace him in four to six months, I thought now would be a good opportunity to provide a quick update about nominations for federal election candidates in Alberta. Calgary-Signal Hill In what could be
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