PHOTOS: Wildrose Leader Brian Jean, who says he will resign as Alberta Opposition leader to pursue the leadership of the United Conservative Party, creation of which endorsed by members of the Wildrose Party and the Progressive Conservative in a merger vote yesterday. Below: PC Leader Jason Kenney, who hasn’t yet
Continue readingTag: Harold Wilson
Alberta Politics: Fort Mac fire overshadows an earthshaking political anniversary – the NDP’s election one year ago today
One year ago today, Premier Rachel Notley and her New Democratic Party government swept in to power in Alberta. But celebration of Alberta’s unexpected and historically earthshaking Cinco de Mayo moment – and, of course, other emotions too on the p…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The election of Jeremy Corbyn to lead Labour is proof that, sometimes, hope triumphs over fear mongering
PHOTOS: Jeremy Corbyn on Sept. 5, campaigning in Margate. (Photo by Chris Beckett.) Below: A young Mr. Corbyn, always true to his principles; the catastrophic Margaret Thatcher; 1970s Labour prime minister Harold Wilson; NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair. If you’re one of those who imagines Alberta has embarked on a “dangerous
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Bill 10 gong show’s bungled effort to pander to PC Party’s worst elements proves Jim Prentice is no political superman
Alberta Premier Jim Prentice, as he appeared to almost everyone until yesterday, except there are no ships here in Alberta, which is why we need all those pipelines. Below: Education Minister Gordon Dirks; humiliated PC MLA Sandra Jansen, official sponsor of Bill 10; and Liberal MLA and Bill 202 sponsor
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Wildrose Party endures its cruelest day as two MLAs quit to join Jim Prentice’s PC government
Ian Donovan, Alberta Premier Jim Prentice and Kerry Towle at yesterday afternoon’s floor-crossing news conference in the Legislature Building. (Ici Radio-Canada photo.) Below: Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith and quotable former prime ministers Harold Wilson, Brian Mulroney and Winston Churchill. There was the cruelest sort of irony in the battering suffered
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 readingAlberta Diary: Back to the future? Private-client opinion polls said to show big shift toward Alberta’s Wildrose Party
The future belongs, the future belongs, the future belongs to us… Peter Lougheed preaches to the converted in Calgary not long before the 1971 provincial election. After 42 years and counting, is there really another seismic shift under way in Alberta, or just more blundering by pollsters? Below: Mr. Lougheed
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Assessing Alison Redford and Danielle Smith: one minute you’re a hero and the next you’re a bum!
Wellington rallies his troops during the Battle of Waterloo. “The nearest run thing you ever saw in your life.” Below: I think you’ve all seen enough photos of Alison Redford and Danielle Smith, so here are Wellington and Harold Wilson. All things being equal, if Alison Redford’s party had emerged
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Wildrose on a roll? The auguries may be in the flakes
Bookies take odds on Alison Redford and Danielle Smith. Actual Alberta political observers may not be as willing to put their money where their mouths are. Below: The four similar, but nevertheless questionable, polls. A string of flaky polls augmented by some flaky behaviour by Premier Alison Redford and her
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