David 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

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David 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

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David 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

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David Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Ex-MLA Shiraz Shariff gives Redford favourite Ken Hughes the bum’s rush in Tory nomination battle

Ken Hughes, back in the day as chair of the Alberta Health Services Board. He’s now Alberta’s newest unemployed person. Below: Shiraz Shariff, Joey Oberhoffner. As the beloved Scottish poet Rabbie Burns so famously observed, “the best-laid plans o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley.” The best-laid plans o’ mice,

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David 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

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David 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

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