Jason Kenney ← Progressive Bloggers // Blogues progressistes

daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Knickers in a twist over David Suzuki’s U of A honorary degree

Apr

24

2018

Photo: Environmentalist, scientist, author, and broadcaster David Suzuki (credit: David Climenhaga) The decision by the University of Alberta Senate to present an honorary degree to high profile environmentalist, scientist, author, broadcaster and Order of Canada recipient Dr. David Suzuki has aroused much controversy from conservative partisans, Postmedia columnists, U of A donors and staff. It even ...

Susan on the Soapbox: The Country is Broken!

Apr

22

2018

Just when Albertans thought things couldn’t get any worse, Jason Kenney declared the country was broken. What? Did Trumpism seep across the border while we were sleeping? Canada survived the FLQ Crisis and the War Measures Act, the bitter negotiations over the repatriation of the Canadian Constitution, and the Quebec referendum on national sovereignty where ...

daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Episode 10: Week 300 of the Trans Mountain Pipeline debate, and predictions for Alberta’s 2019 Election.

Apr

22

2018

This episode includes analysis from Dave Cournoyer and Ryan Hastman about week 300 of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline dispute (including updates from Ryan, who was behind enemy lines in Vancouver) and the latest candidate nomination updates ahead of Alberta’s 2019 election. Ryan leads this week’s ‘So you want to be a candidate‘ segment ...

Alberta Politics: Tory canoe and Trudeau too* – Liberals take advantage of Jason Kenney’s “Canada is broken” Tweet

Apr

22

2018

Alberta Opposition Leader Jason Kennedy’s now famous “Canada is broken” Tweet a week ago may turn out to have been the symbolic starting point of the 2019 federal election campaign. Canada is broken. https://t.co/7tVwbAKPmc — Jason Kenney (@jkenney) April 15, 2018 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his federal Liberals were quick to jump on the ...

daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Thursday Morning Candidate Nomination Update

Apr

19

2018

Here are the latest updates to the list of nominees running to become candidates in Alberta’s next provincial election: Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul – United Conservative Party MLA Scott Cyr has dropped out of the nomination contest in this district. Cyr was first elected to represent Bonnyville-Cold Lake in the 2015 election, and, due to electoral ...

Alberta Politics: New Kinder Morgan exit strategy hint emerges as tangled Trans Mountain tale twists the national knickers

Apr

19

2018

Jason Kenney, leader of Alberta’s Conservative Opposition party, must’ve struggled yesterday to keep a smirk off his face as he bloviated piously about Kinder Morgan Inc. President Steven Kean’s rumination the time may be nigh to pull the plug on the controversial Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project that has the national knickers in a twist. ...

Alberta Politics: A Bill to Squeeze British Columbia Till Its Pips Squeak introduced in Alberta Legislature – but can it pass constitutional muster?

Apr

17

2018

Is it just me, or is almost everyone from Alberta quoted in the media sounding a little overwrought these days? Yesterday, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and Energy Minister Margaret McQuaig-Boyd rolled out Bill 12, rather tendentiously dubbed the Preserving Canada’s Economic Prosperity Act, the sole purpose of which seems to be to squeeze residents of ...

daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Alberta threatens to turn off the taps to BC as we enter Week 11 of the Trans Mountain pipeline dispute

Apr

16

2018

With little appearing to have changed after Sunday’s pipeline summit in Ottawa, the political dispute over Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Pipeline continues to escalate. In Edmonton today, Alberta Energy Minister Marg McCuaig-Boyd introduced Bill 12: Preserving Canada’s Economic Prosperity Act. The bill would give the Minister of Energy sweeping powers to “make an order directing ...

Susan on the Soapbox: The UCP Runs Away from the Bubble Zone

Apr

15

2018

Last week the NDP government introduced Bill 9 which will create a 50-metre bubble zone of safety and privacy for women accessing healthcare, including abortions and other reproductive health services,* in Calgary and Edmonton. Jason Kenney and the UCP caucus bailed on the debate, sending their colleague MLA Angela Pitt to deliver a message on ...

Alberta Politics: Despite NDP stamp of approval, pipeline rally looked and sounded like UCP event

Apr

14

2018

The situation may have felt normal to the cadre of Opposition United Conservative Party MLAs there, but I imagine some of the NDP backbenchers huddled on the steps of the Legislature in Edmonton yesterday afternoon felt pretty uncomfortable. If not, they darn well should’ve. I’m not talking about the effects of the icy wind that ...

Alberta Politics: Despite NDP stamp of approval, pipeline rally on Legislature’s steps looked and sounded like a UCP event

Apr

13

2018

PHOTOS: Part of the pro-pipeline crowd in front of the Alberta Legislature Thursday afternoon, with a couple of brave Indigenous counter-protesters visible in the foreground. Below: Federal Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi endured jeers, and Alberta Trade Minister Deron Bilous tried to fire up the crowd. The situation may have felt normal to the cadre of ...

daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Through the Looking Glass – NDP cabinet ministers awkwardly join pro-pipeline, pro-UCP rally

Apr

12

2018

Today’s rally at the Alberta Legislature in support of the expansion of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Pipeline was one of the strangest rallies in recent memory. Maybe it was because the first speaker introduced himself by bragging about having confronted actor Jane Fonda in a parking lot outside a Moxie’s restaurant. Maybe it was because ...

Alberta Politics: University top brass salaries capped; David Suzuki to get honourary degree from U of A! Stand by for fireworks!

Apr

11

2018

PHOTOS: High-profile B.C. environmentalist, scientist, author and broadcaster David Suzuki. Below: Alberta Advanced Education Minister Marlin Schmidt, University of Alberta President David Turpin (Photo: The Gauntlet), and United Conservative Party Opposition Leader Jason Kenney. The Alberta government has put a much-needed cap on the salaries of top university administrators, providing a nice break in the ...

Alberta Politics: Kinder Morgan threatens to pull plug on Trans Mountain Pipeline; Alberta goes wild

Apr

9

2018

PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley in an old file photo of the author’s. Below: Opposition leader Jason Kenney, B.C. Premier John Horgan, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and a famous flag of the Texas Revolution. Remember “peak oil”? Don’t worry about it. Nobody else does either. But last night on social media, Alberta appeared to be ...

daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Episode 9: Rachel Notley, Jason Kenney and 12 months until the next election

Apr

9

2018

This episode includes exclusive interviews with Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and Official Opposition leader Jason Kenney. Dave Cournoyer and Ryan Hastman asked both leaders a few questions they thought would provide a glimpse into the party building, political issues and political narratives that will define the next 12 months until the 2019 provincial election. The ...

daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Friday Night Nomination Candidate Update

Apr

6

2018

Photo: Nicole Williams, Sarah Hoffman, Maryann Chichak, and Lisa Wardley. Here are some of the latest updates to the list of candidates running for party nominations ahead of Alberta’s expected 2019 provincial general election: Calgary-North East – Nate Pike is seeking the Alberta Party nomination. Pike is a paramedic who works for Alberta Health Services. ...

Alberta Politics: Forget Postmedia’s paranoid propaganda: Becoming an environmental pariah won’t restore the ‘Alberta Advantage’

Apr

5

2018

PHOTOS: An Alberta oilsands operation (Photo: Kris Krug, Creative Commons). Below: Calgary Herald political columnist Don Braid, Calgary Sun political columnist Rick Bell, and United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney. According to the United Conservative Party and its media echo chamber, there’s “a growing national push to suppress Alberta’s economy.” War metaphors abound. I’m not ...

Alberta Politics: Watch for so-con ‘free speech advocates’ to attack NDP’s bill to create safe zones around abortion clinics

Apr

5

2018

PHOTOS: Alberta Health Minister Sarah Hoffman. Below: United Conservative Party House Leader Jason Nixon. Later this week, Alberta’s NDP Government will introduce Bill 9, the Protecting Choice for Women Accessing Health Care Act. The legislation will ban demonstrations within 50 metres of an abortion clinic, as is already the case in British Columbia and Ontario. ...

Alberta Politics: O Fildebrandt! No more taking orders from some Ottawa snowflake! A personal anthem for Derek

Apr

4

2018

PHOTO: Derek Fildebrandt, as he sees himself (Photo: Derek Fildebrandt Facebook page). Gone are the days when Derek Fildebrandt had a party whip to tell him not to say dumb things on social media. Nope, the former Wildrose and United Conservative Party MLA for Strathmore-Brooks nowadays sits in splendid isolation in the time-out corner of ...

Alberta Politics: The Vriend Case has been closed for 20 years, but the Alberta political story continues

Apr

3

2018

PHOTOS: The front page of the Toronto Globe and Mail on the day after the Supreme Court’s historic ruling in the Vriend case. Below: A screenshot of Delwin Vriend taken from a recent CBC video; the late Ralph Klein, premier of Alberta (Photo: Chuck Szmurlo, Wikimedia Commons); Jason Kenney, circa 1998 (Photo: Found in the ...

Alberta Politics: Reflections on Easter Sunday, 2018: There really is a war against Christianity … it’s being waged by Christians

Apr

2

2018

PHOTOS: Easter Sunday shoppers at West Edmonton Mall. Is nothing sacred? Well, actually, something is: The Almighty Market, god of Canada’s state religion. Below: A brass idol to the Market God in New York City’s Wall Street district. Below that, two unchristian politicians beloved by North American Christian conservatives: Doug Ford Jr. and Donald J. ...

Susan on the Soapbox: Thoughts on Politics at Easter

Apr

1

2018

Easter is not usually the time to reflect upon grumpy whiners; but given Jason Kenney’s mission to rebuild the conservative movement in Alberta this might be a good time to consider where the conservative Roman Catholic leader of the Opposition would take Alberta if given half a chance. The Conservative Movement In the absence of ...

daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: New pipeline will carry Alberta Craft Beer to tidewater

Apr

1

2018

After years of political wrangling over the expansion of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Pipeline, the Alberta government has announced the construction of a new pipeline that will carry craft brewed beer from Alberta to British Columbia. “We’re working with entrepreneurs to create jobs and brewing in Alberta is thriving, with more breweries and distilleries opening ...

Alberta Politics: The two faces of Jason … how’s managing simultaneous provincial & federal political campaigns going for Janus Kenney?

Mar

30

2018

PHOTOS: Alberta Opposition leader Jason Kenney at a recent get-together with his former boss, Stephen Harper (Photo: Grabbed from Mr. Kenney’s Facebook page). And guess who Mr. Kenney was attacking on his Facebook page last night? See below. Also below: Sir Charles Tupper and Calgary NDP MLA Graham Sucha. Jason Kenney is a highly unusual ...

Alberta Politics: Message to Alberta’s chattering classes: Quit misinterpreting ‘the rule of law,’ already!

Mar

28

2018

PHOTOS: Protesters opposed to the Kinder Morgan Inc. Pipeline expansion megaproject in Burnaby, B.C., in May 2016 (Photo: Marlin Olynyk, Survival Media Agency, Creative Commons). They pose no threat to the rule of law. Below: Green Party of Canada Leader Elizabeth May, United Conservative Party Agriculture Critic Rick Strankman, environmentalist Mike Hudema, Alberta Premier Rachel ...