Ed Stelmach, Alison Redford and Doug Horner together on the stage on the night of Ms. Redford’s election as PC Party leader in October 2011. Below: Mr. Horner, Ms. Redford and Mr. Stelmach. If the Parliamentary convention called ministerial responsibility still has meaning in Alberta or Canada, Finance Minister Doug
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Alberta Diary: Is there any benefit for Albertans in a criminal prosecution of Alison Redford? Not really
Alison Redford, in days past, somewhere in the skies over Alberta. OK, I never said I was a master of Photoshop! Below: Disgraced Canadian Senator Mike Duffy, Alberta Tory leadership frontrunner Jim Prentice, leadership candidate and former deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk. Will Alberta benefit from a police investigation of Alison Redford’s
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Flights of folly: Air Redford’s airborne ghost riders will be the death of Alberta’s Tories
De Plane! De Plane! Tattoo calls out from the tower to announce the arrival of the premier’s plane at Calgary International Airport. Actual members of former Premier Alison Redford’s staff may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Ms. Redford; Alberta Auditor General Merwan Saher. Those ghost riders on Alison Redford’s
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: False Passengers and Fake Promises: Could the PC Party be choosing the next opposition leader?
TweetHere’s a question that isn’t often asked in Alberta: Which of the three Progressive Conservative leadership candidates would make the best Leader of the Opposition? An insane trail of scandal continues to leak out of the 43-year-long governing PC Party as it lurches towards a leadership vote on September 6. A
Continue readingAlberta Diary: So much for ‘leading by example’ – Alberta Tories’ 3-year pay freeze for top civil service executives melts like ice cream on a hot day
Ice cream on a hot day – melts almost as fast as an Alberta Tory management wage freeze! Actual PC promises of “leading by example” may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Finance Minister Doug Horner, nowhere to be seen yesterday; leadership candidate Thomas Lukaszuk, bemoaning the decision last night.
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Could Ric McIver still win the Alberta Tory leadership race? Actually, yes, he could!
Ladies and gentlemen, place your bets. All the money’s on Jim Prentice – but is it the smart money? Below: Ric McIver, Jim Prentice, Jim Dinning and Gary Mar. CALGARY Could Ric McIver actually win the Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership race? Or, to put that another way, could Jim Prentice
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Alberta Tories hold the World’s Most Boring Leadership Race
TweetIn 53 days, members of Alberta’s Progressive Conservative Party will vote to choose their next leader and the next Premier of Alberta. Unlike previous PC leadership races, where Albertans of all political-inclinations were excited to participate in the vote to directly choose the next Leader of the Natural Governing Party, there does
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Once a Tory leadership front-runner, Gary Mar reaches out from Asia to haunt Alberta’s Progressive Conservatives
Brian Mulroney, right, famously responds to the claim made by John Turner, left, that he had “no option” but approve Pierre Trudeau’s patronage appointments. Below: Gary Mar in 2011. Advice to Jim Prentice: If, in some future pre-election leaders’ debate someone asks you about Gary Mar’s 2013 compensation package, don’t
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Wild Rose Country no more? What are we gonna call this place if the Alberta Party starts soaring in the polls?
Alberta Minister of Licence Plates Doug Griffiths poses with some of the versions of Alberta’s plates considered by provincial officials before they settled on the three finalists unveiled yesterday. Below: Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo MLA Mike Allen, centre, examines a licence-plate-making facility on a recent government trip to Minnesota. Below that:
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Happy Canada Day from the prime minister of Canada and the premier of Alberta, channeled by Perfesser Dave
Oooooh! Happy Canada Day, Canadians. Enjoy yourselves. Prime Minister Steve Harper and Premier Dave Hancock wish they could be here with you and Perfesser Dave. Below: Mr. Hancock and Mr. Harper … Happy-Happy! Happy Canada Day! Perfesser Dave, here, the political predictions guy, speaking on behalf of my friends Stephen
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: The Redford legacy haunts Prentice Tories
TweetMost people rely on TripAdvisor or call a travel agent to book hotels for overseas trips, but it is alleged by intrepid CBC investigative journalists that former Premier Alison Redford dispatched a staffer to visit hotels and restaurants in advance of her trips to India, China, Switzerland, Washington, and Toronto for a cost
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Finance Minister Doug Horner meekly throws his support to heir apparent Jim Prentice
Alberta Progressive Conservative Party activists surround leadership candidate Jim Prentice at a recent $500-a-plate fund-raising dinner in Edmonton. Finance Minister Doug Horner is visible immediately to Mr. Prentice’s right. The painting in the background illustrates Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. Actual Progressive Conservative Party members may not appear exactly as illustrated.
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Cone of Silence descends over deeds of Tory leadership candidate Jim Prentice’s secret agents, real or imagined
An unidentified person, left, said to be close to undeclared Tory leadership candidate Jim Prentice, waits for the Cone of Silence to descend over his discussions with a member of Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith’s inner circle, also unidentified, at right. Actual unidentified anonymous political agents may or may not appear
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Is the Jim Prentice Juggernaut unstoppable?
TweetHe is a leadership candidate backed by long-governing party establishment. He has chased away his potential rivals. He has experience in both the federal cabinet and the corporate sector. He is a respected party insider. He has a track record as a moderate conservative and can raise significant amounts of
Continue readingAlberta Diary: And then there were two … decline of the Alberta Tory leadership race mirrors decline of Progressive Conservative Party
Hail the conquering hero … now starring Jim Prentice, above. Actual Progressive Conservative Enlightened Beings may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Non-leadership contenders Ken … Ken, we hardly knew ye! … Hughes, Doug Horner, Diana McQueen and Jonathan Denis. And then there were two… Ken Hughes, the former minister
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Missing: Any discussion of what drove the Hancock Government’s Bill 10 attack on legally enforceable contracts
A system of contracts that can be enforced and adjudicated by an independent and disinterested court like this one is one of the key features of civilized society. This is a picture of the court used by a significant number Canadian law firms to illustrate their web pages. Actually, it’s
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Aging long-shot ‘blockhead’ candidate knocks off huge Journal political team to capture Yeggie political category award
Yeggie winning blogger David Climenhaga with a familiar-looking Albertan. What was her name again? Below: The same guy with some other political types who look faintly familiar. When the podcast site for the Edmonton Journal’s entire 11-member political affairs team was nominated for one of this year’s Yeggies, the annual
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Miraculously, no one trampled as Tories race for Alberta Legislature’s exits
Alison Redford crashes through the Alberta Legislature. Below: Frightened and relieved, Alberta Progressive Conservative MLAs race from the vicinity of the Legislative Building in Edmonton yesterday; Nostradamus; Moses. Actual Alberta politicians and legislative architectural renderings may not appear exactly as illustrated. It must have seemed a little like the panic
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Alberta Workers Compensation Board poised to give back more than $500 million to employers
Alberta Workers Compensation Board officials ready shipments of money to send back to employers. Actual WBC staff may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Labour Minister Thomas Lukaszuk and now-official Tory leadership candidate Ric McIver, who gave up the K in his first name for the benefit of all Albertans.
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: The All-Calgarian PC Party leadership race
TweetAnother Calgarian has entered what has been, at least so far, an all-Calgarian Progressive Conservative leadership race. Announcing his candidacy in the contest to become the next PC Party leader and premier, former Infrastructure minister Ric McIver declared he would bring a “common-sense new approach to replace insider, establishment thinking, with new common-sense thinking.” The
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