TweetSpending a few days in another province can sometimes give you a different perspective on important national issues. Spending the last week in British Columbia served as a good reminder to this political watcher about how emotional the debate around pipelines and the Oilsands are in Alberta’s neighbouring province. While I am sure opinion is
Continue readingTag: Don Iveson
Alberta Diary: Be there or be square: When pride goes mainstream, is just being there enough?
Riders from the Gay Rodeo welcome Edmontonians to the New West yesterday! Scenes from Edmonton’s Pride Parade below: Alberta Premier Dave Hancock, left, and Edmonton City Councillor Scott McKeen, right, with a parade participant; Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson on his bicycle with his kids; a couple of parade participants trying
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: And then there were three (white men)
TweetAs the deadline for candidates to enter their names (and $50,000 fee) in the contest to become the next leader of Alberta’s Progressive Conservative Association came to a close yesterday, three politicians have put forward their names – bank vice-president and former federal cabinet minister Jim Prentice and former provincial
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Big Money in Edmonton Municipal Election
Tweet$4.35, $19.75, and $5.45 are how much Don Iveson, Karen Leibovici and Kerry Diotte‘s campaigns spent for each vote received in Edmonton’s October 21, 2013 mayoral election. With the most efficient dollar-to-vote ratio is Mr. Iveson, who won the election with a landslide 132,162 votes (62% of the total votes cast).
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Good advice for Alberta New Democrats from Quebec: this time, make it easy for voters to support you
Ray Guardia, one of the key architects of the federal NDP’s 2011 breakthrough in Quebec, at yesterday’s closing session of the Broadbent Institute’s 2014 Progress Summit in Ottawa. Below: Environmental activist Tzeporah Berman. OTTAWA Here’s a tip for Alberta New Democrats from one of the principal architects of Jack Layton’s
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: New poll shows Albertans love their Big City Mayors
TweetThe same poll that showed former Premier Alison Redford with a 75% disapproval rating also showed urban Albertans have huge confidence in the leadership of their big city mayors. Previously unpublished questions from the same poll conducted by Marc Henry‘s ThinkHQ and provided to daveberta.ca showed Edmonton mayor Don Iveson and
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: LRT funding a big win for Edmonton, but it is enough to save Redford?
TweetJust five days after provincial finance minister Doug Horner was criticized for delivering a budget that was absent of additional funding to expand the south east section of the “Valley Line” of Edmonton’s LRT system, provincial politicians announced yesterday that it would commit $600 million towards the project. Surrounded by city
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Lousy polls? Redford Tories execute screeching reversal on southbound Edmonton LRT tracks
Fresh off a train in Edmonton’s Churchill LRT station, Alberta Premier Alison Redford announces $600 million surprise funding for an Edmonton LRT less than a week after her finance minister tabled a budget that didn’t mention it. Below: Finance Minister Doug Horner explains how the spending is really in the
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Don Iveson asks: Do you support LRT expansion?
Tweet Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson took the the streets, and then to YouTube, to ask Edmontonians if they support expansion of Edmonton’s Light Rail Transit system. The campaign is part of Mr. Iveson’s bid to convince provincial and federal politicians to support the expansion of Edmonton’s light rail transit system,
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Alberta cities, province fly the Rainbow Flag for Sochi Olympics
TweetDefying the stereotypes of Alberta as a conservative backwater, Rainbow Pride Flag are flying outside of city halls in Edmonton, Calgary and St. Albert and the Alberta Legislature today in solidarity with the LGBTQ community in Russia. The a small but powerful gesture is a sign of support for a community
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Happy New Year! Get ready for generational change in Canadian politics
Expect the new faces of Canadian politics to be young faces – like those of Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson, 34, shown above with some clapped-out old geezer, and Manitoba MP and former NDP leadership candidate Niki Ashton, 31, below. “Something is happening here, but you don’t know what it is,
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Alberta politics 2013: Big City Mayors
TweetA generational shift in Edmonton Framed as a lacklustre and uneventful campaign, local media and many mainstream pundits missed one of the most important stories of this year’s mayoral election in Edmonton. The city’s crusty local establishment has lamented for years about the constant stream of locally-raised young talent choosing
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Alberta politics this week
TweetA new provincial cabinet was sworn-in this morning, one a week after the cabinet shuffle was announced. The original announcement, made by press release at the unusual time of 4:45pm on Friday, December 6, was typical of a tactic used by government when it wants a story to be underreported.
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Hope and Debt
TweetThe political battle between the Wildrose opposition and long-governing Progressive Conservatives continued today as the Legislative Assembly resumed for the fall sitting. Debt was the biggest issue of the day. Wildrose leader Danielle Smith jumped at the opportunity to make light of comments Premier Alison Redford made that compared the government’s
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Congratulations Mayor Nenshi!
John Macfarlane, editor of The Walrus,* asks the question: When did society turn against its best and brightest and more importantly, why? He was bemoaning the fact that Torontonians had elected Rob Ford—a man he described as wearing “his ignorance like a badge of honour”—to be their mayor. Mayor Rob
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: #yegvote hangout – post-election “after hours” edition
Tweet Last night we hosted the final #yegvote Edmonton election Google Hangout. Not surprisingly, we had a lot of topics to discuss in our post-election “after hours” edition, ranging from school board races, new city councillors, and, of course, the mayoral election. When we started recording these hangouts in June
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Don Iveson’s win a vote for optimism and smart planning
TweetThere will be plenty of analysis about what last night’s election means for the city of Edmonton. With 132,162 votes – 62% of the vote – Don Iveson earned a commanding victory in the mayoral election over his two main opponents, Karen Leibovici and Kerry Diotte. This is a win for
Continue readingCalgary Grit: Alberta Envy
From downtown Toronto, things aren’t looking so bad in “redneck” Alberta these days… Don Iveson is 34, supports public transit and the arts – and is Edmonton’s new mayor. …and this guy just got re-elected with over 75% of the vote.
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: The new (and old) faces of municipal elections in Alberta
TweetTomorrow is election day and in counties, municipal districts, villages, towns, and cities across the province, Albertans will cast their votes for mayors, reeves, councillors, aldermen, and school trustees. In Calgary, uber-popular mayor Naheed Nenshi is expected to crush his opponents, including former Progressive Conservative MLA Jon Lord and a
Continue readingIn This Corner: Iveson vs. Leibovici a generational battle.
Polls indicate that Don Iveson will be the next mayor of Edmonton. Of course, polling has been about as on-target lately as the Edmonton Eskimo offence. Polls also said Christie Clark would not be the premier of B.C. (she is), and that Danielle Smith could be the premier of Alberta
Continue reading