After five years, Canada’s national police force has concluded no charges will be laid in the notorious Kamikaze Affair, as allegations of fraud and identity theft in Jason Kenney’s victorious 2017 campaign to lead the newly formed Alberta United Conservative Party came to be known. RCMP Superintendent Rick Jané at
Continue readingTag: Jason Kenney
Alberta Politics: ‘Kenneyism: Jason Kenney’s Pursuit of Power’ by Jeremy Appel is a strong second draft of history
Last Summer, Jeremy Appel, one of Alberta’s best young journalists, approached me to ask if I would write a foreword to the book he was completing on Jason Kenney’s big adventure in Alberta, and just what went so wrong for the former federal Conservative cabinet minister then thought to be
Continue readingAlberta Politics: He’s baaaack! Jason Kenney on Donald Trump – and maybe Danielle Smith and Take Back Alberta, too
When Jason Kenney talks about Donald Trump, it’s hard to shake the feeling he’s really talking about Danielle Smith. Interviewer Steven Edginton (Photo: Screenshot of Youtube video). We all remember “Perfesser Kenney,” back when he was the United Conservative Party premier of Alberta, taking off his blazer, rolling up the
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Protecting the Environment: There has to be a better way
In 2019 the federal government enacted the Impact Assessment Act which regulated “designated projects” (think: oil sands, mining and other major projects within provincial boundaries). The Kenney government tagged it the “No More Pipelines Act” and brought a reference case to the Supreme Court of Canada arguing that the IAA
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Danielle Smith’s Alternative Reality
Albertans live in an alternate universe. How else can we explain last week’s press conference where Danielle Smith pilloried the draft electricity regulations which are designed to ensure Canada’s electrical grid is running on 100% clean energy by 2035* and unveiled a national advertising campaign of print, radio, TV, social
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Today is last day on job for AHS VP Deb Gordon, highest-ranking woman in the province-wide health agency
On Aug. 18, Alberta Health Services President and CEO Mauro Chies sent a memorandum to the province-wide public health care agency’s senior managers telling them that the highest ranking woman in their ranks would be leaving the organization today. AHS President and CEO Mauro Chies (Photo: Alberta Health Services). Deb
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Cabinet was ignoring the law when it ordered Dr. Hinshaw around during the pandemic! Who knew?
You can blame Jason Kenney, principal author of the United Conservative Government’s clown-show response to COVID-19, if Alberta’s many pandemic scofflaws manage to wiggle off the hook for their violations of public health restrictions, such as they were in this province. Then chief medical officer of health Deena Hinshaw (Photo:
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Danielle Smith Stands her Ground (or something)
Last week the Feds unveiled the Sustainable Jobs Act, Danielle Smith responded in her typical word-salad fashion and the press lauded her for standing her ground. Against what? The Feds said… Natural Resources Minister, Johnathan Wilkinson, says the Act is about creating and protecting jobs as we shift to a
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jason Kenney’s novel Hyperlink Defence in defamation suit fails to impress Court of King’s Bench judge
It’s probably not very helpful to the United Conservative Party effort to hang onto power by its fingernails that party founder and former premier Jason Kenney found himself back in the news yesterday, his effort to mount a novel Hyperlink Defence against a defamation lawsuit by five environmental organizations as
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Omar Mosleh discusses the growing damage being caused by repeated wildfires in Canada, while David Wallace-Wells writes that there’s no escape from the air pollution being spread across the continent. And Don Pittis points out how public accounts which don’t assess the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP health minister’s claim of record-breaking nurse recruitment drive is hard to justify
Yesterday’s United Conservative Party claim that Alberta is the beneficiary of a record-breaking drive to recruit nurses from abroad seems divorced from reality. A UCP social media ad attributing a misleading claim to the Globe and Mail (Image: Facebook/Jason Copping). In a UCP news release echoed repeatedly on social media
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Last week wasn’t a good one for Alberta’s UCP – this week holds the promise of more … snow
They say a week is a long time in politics, but last week must have felt like eternity to the United Conservative Party brain trust. Deputy Premier Kaycee Madu (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). Its efforts to make the revelations of that leaked phone call between Premier Danielle Smith and anti-vaxx, pro-Convoy
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Who Do You Trust?
In less than 70 days Albertans will decide whether Daniel Smith’s UCP or Rachel Notley’s NDP will form the next government. Political junkies like me have pretty much made up our minds about who’s getting our vote, but we’re always interested in what others are thinking. which was why I
Continue readingThe Daveberta Podcast: Episode 85: Naheed Nenshi on Calgary in Alberta’s 2023 election
Former Calgary mayor shares his thoughts on Danielle Smith, Rachel Notley and the city he calls home ahead of Alberta’s provincial election. Former Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi joins the Daveberta Podcast to talk about provincial politics in Alberta’s largest city, the upcoming election, and The Last of Us and the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: ‘We reject the premise of your question’ – an excerpt from ‘Anger and Angst, Jason Kenney’s Legacy and Alberta’s Right’
Alberta is on the cusp of a provincial election in which a United Conservative Party increasingly dominated by far-right ideologues and an ever more centrist NDP will face off to see whose vision shapes our province’s future at a crucial moment in its history. Mr. Kenney at the Alberta Legislature
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Former premier, CMOH – both battered by the winds of COVID controversy – find soft post-pandemic landings
Surely it was mere coincidence that two of the principal actors in Alberta’s COVID-19 drama had soft post-pandemic landings announced yesterday. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). Former Alberta premier Jason Kenney, pushed out of office by the schemes of the current premier, former talk-radio host and conspiracy
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Shandro’s Disciplinary Hearing
The “boiling frog syndrome” is a metaphor used to describe the failure to act against a problematic situation which will increase in severity until reaching catastrophic proportions.—Wikipedia. Let’s talk about Tyler Shandro’s disciplinary hearing. While it’s easy to get drawn into the melodrama and pathos (key elements in a
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The Alberta political story of 2022 was the decline, fall, irrelevance and virtual disappearance of Jason Kenney
Looking back over the Alberta political stories of 2022, one theme dominates all others: the fall of Jason Kenney. What may have been Mr. Kenney’s worst moment of 2022, the self-serve nozzle stuck in his truck and without a clue how to get it out (Photo: Screenshot of Facebook video).
Continue readingAlberta Politics: In only 64 days, Danielle Smith blew the relationship Jason Kenney strove to build with Alberta First Nations to smithereens
Say what you will about Jason Kenney and his ideas, he made progress on persuading First Nations communities to buy into his vision of Alberta’s future. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has blown her predecessor’s relationship with Alberta’s First Nations to smithereens (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). Danielle Smith blew it all to
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Everything you always wanted to know about Jason Kenney’s departure from Alberta politics but were afraid to ask
OTTAWA Question: Now that Jason Kenney has taken to social media to announce he’s retiring from Alberta politics, how likely is it that Premier Danielle Smith will call a by-election in his Calgary-Lougheed riding? Surely a nice condo like this is waiting somewhere in Ottawa for Jason Kenney (Photo: Found
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