It’s always the best of times in Alberta; it’s always the worst of times. Readers may recall how Jason Kenney’s Best Summer Ever was followed by the worst winter ever. But that was just COVID, and never mind the wastewater viral load and all the kids home from school with
Continue readingTag: Jason Kenney
Susan on the Soapbox: The Reign of Misinformation
The last six months have been hell and the next six months will be worse. By election day, May 29, 2023, we’ll have transitioned from Jason Kenney, the politician who went to great lengths to convince ‘the people of destiny” that their sense of victimhood was justified to Danielle Smith,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Cometh the hour, cometh the mandate letter: Premier Smith turns to the important task of looking busy
Cometh the hour, cometh the mandate letter. Education Minister Adriana LaGrange (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). Premier Danielle Smith, having won a seat in the Legislature Wednesday night, immediately turned to the vital task of looking busy and grownup. This will be hard to do given many of the nutty things she’s
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: When the UCP Government Ran Amok
“There is no room for the unilateral assumption of authority in a constitutional democracy.” – Nigel Bankes, U of C emeritus professor of law, on the government’s decision to rescind masking in schools. Last week an Alberta court ruled that the Chief Medical Officer of Health’s Order rescinding masking in
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Judge says order to dump school masks contravened Public Health Act, a reminder of how bad the Kenney Government was
A Court of King’s Bench judge ruled yesterday that the Kenney Government’s decision to dump the requirement for kids to wear masks in school during the pandemic last February was politically driven in contravention of Public Health Act. Justice Grant Dunlop of the Alberta Court of King’s Bench (Photo: Canadian
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Danielle Smith: Alberta’s Very Own Liz Truss
In less time than it took Liz Truss to crash and burn, Danielle Smith transformed the United Conservative Party into the Libertarian Populist Party. And that’s why they’ll lose in the next election. Smith has been the LPP’s leader for just over two weeks. In that time she’s demonstrated that
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Former Edmonton PC MLA, set to serve two years of house arrest, once promised to donate entire salary for scholarships
Back in 2008, while running as the Progressive Conservative candidate for the Alberta Legislature, Carl Benito made the spectacular promise to donate his entire MLA salary to create a scholarship fund for students in the Edmonton-Mill Woods riding. Former Alberta premier Jason Kenney earlier this month (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). “Carl’s
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Danielle Smith’s Victory Speech: Backtracking Big Time
Did anyone catch Danielle Smith’s victory speech? In it she did three things: She started to back away from her key campaign promise, the Sovereignty Act She characterized the UCP as the party that is both fiscally responsible and compassionate (entrepreneurs with a heart and a soul) She repositioned herself
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jason Kenney took months to become as unpopular as he is; Danielle Smith is poised to get there overnight!
It took Premier Jason Kenney a couple of years and plenty of fallout from a deadly pandemic and a series of policy flops to become the most unpopular provincial politician in Alberta. NDP Opposition Leader and former Alberta premier Rachel Notley (Photo: Dave Cournoyer/Creative Commons). It looks like Danielle Smith
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Kenney’s Legacy: Lessons from Alice
Alice laughed. ‘One can’t believe impossible things.’ ‘I dare say you haven’t had much practice,’ said the Queen…’Why, sometimes I’ve believed in as many as six impossible things before breakfast.’—Lewis Carrol, Alice Through the Looking-Glass Jason Kenney is on the final lap of his political career. He’s working hard to
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jason Kenney’s long goodbye draws to a close – let the revision of history begin!
Now that he’s on the way out the door to a doubtless rewarding but ultimately unsatisfying career as a bit-player on multiple corporate boards, Jason Kenney is rewriting history. Brian Mulroney, another former Conservative first minister whose reputation’s required some polishing up (Photo: University of Toronto). He spent part of
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Bright Lights, Small Cities: Alberta may be calling but it’s doubtful Toronto is listening
Is it just me, or is it kind of embarrassing to see lame-duck Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and a couple of little-known United Conservative Party MLAs from rural Alberta hanging around the Toronto Transit Commission’s subway station at Young and Dundas trying to tout the bright lights of Wild Rose
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Small Edmonton crowd says farewell to Queen Elizabeth as tired premier manages a reasonably dignified speech
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney trowelled it on a bit, perhaps as befits expectations in a provincial capital, but he generally managed a reasonably dignified performance as he said farewell to Queen Elizabeth on the steps of the Alberta Legislature yesterday. The Royal Artillery Band plays the national anthem as the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jason Kenney, working remotely by cellphone from London queue, tweets ostentatiously while waiting to bid farewell to Queen
“In queue for Queen, Premier Kenney signs order banning remote work option for civil servants.” University of Alberta political scientist Jared Wesley (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). In fact, there was nothing for Alberta Premier Jason Kenney to sign. Alberta’s civil servants were ordered back to their offices months ago, on
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Canadian Conservative affection for the monarchy: 1.6 kilometres wide and 2.54 centimetres deep!
Canadian Conservatives have been working hard to give the impression they’re enthusiastic monarchists. The Queen and her husband, Prince Phillip, visit Canada, where she was genuinely popular throughout her 70-year reign, in 1967 (Photo: Library and Archives Canada). They’ve been beavering away cultivating this impression with particular energy since the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: NDP Leader Rachel Notley vows to reverse UCP policies that reduced worker overtime and the youth minimum wage
Opposition Leader Rachel Notley vowed yesterday to reverse two United Conservative Party policies that reduced overtime payments for many working Albertans and lowered minimum wages for young people if the NDP forms government after the next election. Labour Minister Kaycee Madu, whose 186-word message on the government website marked Labour
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Martha Lincoln writes about the needless harm caused by public health messaging about being people being “tired” of pandemic precautions which many (if not most) are entirely willing to take. Rachel Gilmore reports on the WHO’s warnings about the continued human toll from
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Lizard brain or legacy? Why is Jason Kenney, soon to be history, announcing big plans for Alberta’s latest windfall?
Inquiring minds want to know: Why is Premier Jason Kenney announcing big plans for Alberta’s latest windfall when he won’t be premier much longer? Alberta Finance Minister Jason Nixon (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flicker). Is he trying to shore up his threadbare historical legacy, in a shambles after not much more than
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Kaylyn Whibbs reports on the entirely justified concerns of parents whose children have been unable to receive a COVID booster due to provincial neglect. And Dana Smith discusses how polio has managed to make a resurgence in the U.S. as the same
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The insults hurled at Chrystia Freeland Friday are nothing new: Alberta’s UCP has long encouraged such abuse
Many Canadians were shocked by the profane verbal attack on Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland in Grande Prairie Friday by a thuggish convoy goon. Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, who was assailed by a convoy goon in Grande Prairie on Friday (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). Social media immediately exploded with
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