One of the unusual features of the past four years in Alberta has been the remarkable calm that has prevailed in our normally tumultuous, shambolic, sometimes chaotic health care system. Under the NDP Government, for the first time in the past 30 years at least, health care hasn’t been a
Continue readingTag: Jason Kenney
Alberta Politics: NDP promises 13,000 $25-a-day child care spaces; UCP would remove protections for LGBTQ youth
As she hinted at her Edmonton rally Sunday, Premier Rachel Notley announced yesterday in Calgary that if her NDP government is reelected it will move to help families with children by introducing 13,000 more $25-a-day child care spaces across Alberta. Making safe, quality, affordable child care what Premier Notley called “the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Rachel Notley drops hint about affordable child-care plan, mocks recent UCP bozo eruptions
It sure sounds as if Alberta Premier Rachel Notley will announce an affordable child-care plan for Alberta today. At any rate, at a rally in downtown Edmonton’s Polish Hall yesterday afternoon, she boldly told more than 1,000 enthusiastic supporters – who sounded like an Oilers crowd back in the days
Continue readingThe Daveberta Podcast: Episode 31: Game on. Week 1 of Alberta’s 2019 Election.
Alberta’s provincial election has been called and Albertans will be going to the polls on April 16. For the duration of the campaign, we’re going to be recording a new episode of the Daveberta Podcast each week. In this episode we jump right into the fray, looking at the New
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Jason Kenney and the Pope
Is there a limitation period after which we can safely disregard a politician’s scary comments? In 2000 Jason Kenney, then a 32 year old federal MP, gave a disturbing speech* at the St Joseph’s Community Catholic Home School Conference. It’s disturbing because it foreshadows how Kenney will govern if he
Continue readingDented Blue Mercedes: The Alberta Advantage was Dependence
In the end, the “Alberta Advantage” was dependence. And in retrospect, undoing that dependence on the oil industry — a mixture of real and perceived — needed to be the number one priority of the Notley NDP government. When Albertans (even to their own surprise) overthrew the 40-year Progressive Conservative
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Michael Mikulewicz and Tahseen Jafry discuss the responsibility wealthy countries bear for increasingly severe weather events – as well as the best way to start bearing an appropriate share of the resulting human and economic costs: In all this inequality, the world’s
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Has former Wildrose leader Danielle Smith become a (not so) secret admirer of NDP Premier Rachel Notley?
Danielle Smith nearly became the first woman to be elected premier of Alberta. As leader of the Wildrose Party, which despite her efforts was never quite successful at portraying itself as a party of the centre right, she came close, tantalizingly close. Alas for Ms. Smith, the Wildrose Party’s opportunity
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On wilful blindness
One of the questions faced by the participants in any party leadership contest is the appropriate type of oppositional politics that’s appropriate between candidates and their supporters. And there’s certainly some reasonable incentive on the part of everybody involved to ensure that internal competitions don’t become unduly personal such as
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Alastair Sharp reports on the massive sums of money spent by oil barons in an attempt to undermine climate action. And Kyla Mandel reports on the Trump administration’s willingness to allow the oil industry to threaten drinking water by failing to update decades-old
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Jason Kenney’s Quest.
There is something about being the big dog in a small kennel. It brings the walls to you and it feels all warm and snuggly. It must be what Jason Kenney thought of when he saw that the years of posing as heir apparent to former prime minister Stephen Harper
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The Prodigal Roughneck returns – Bernard the Roughneck throws his hardhat into the ring for FCP in Grande Prairie
The good news for Alberta’s Freedom Conservative Party is that it’s recruited a national figure as one of its candidates. The bad news for the FCP may be the national figure in question is Neal Bernard Hancock, better known as “Bernard the Roughneck.” A three-paragraph news story on Mr. Hancock’s
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta Election Day 2: Will UCP scandals keep traction once parties start rolling out their policies?
Premier Rachel Notley’s NDP clearly hopes to make Opposition Leader Jason Kenney’s character the ballot box issue for voters in the April 16 provincial election, but will the United Conservative Party’s scandals have as much traction now that the election writ has been dropped? The risk for the NDP strategy,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Evening Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Mark Olalde writes about the public subsidies being handed to U.S. resource companies who polluted water with toxic waste without having any plan or resources to clean up their messes. And Michael Mann and Bob Ward note that Donald Trump is using Stalinist
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The medium is the message: Rachel Notley calls an election for April 16
The medium is the message. And in March and April 2019, the medium and the message will be Rachel Notley. Rachel Notley, premier of Alberta, personally popular but leading a New Democratic Party that has trailed its conservative rival in recent polls, called an election this morning. Albertans will go
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Nothing New about a Stalking Horse.
Oh, to be in Alberta when the politicos are running! Have you heard the latest about that sleaze Jason Kenney of the united conservatives? With premier Rachel Notley about to pull the plug on the provincial election, UCP leader Kenney has got his jeans in a twist. It seems people
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Does All Of The West Really Want To Separate?
About two years ago I predicted that if or when Jason Kenney became Premier of Alberta he would eventually try to get that province to separate from Canada.And two years later, with Alberta still seething with resentment over low oil prices, not enough pipelines, and too many Muslims, I'm even more
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Never mind the Throne Speech, yesterday’s excitement was still about the Kamikaze Campaign
Never mind the Throne Speech. Yesterday’s excitement all took place in the basement media room of the Alberta Legislature Building an hour afterward. The afternoon Speech from the Throne by Alberta’s NDP Government was pretty much what you’d expect under the circumstances, which are that Premier Rachel Notley is expected
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Rachel Notley accepts nomination; accuses Jason Kenney of coolly lying about ‘Kamikaze Campaign’
Based on what we’ve learned in the past 24 hours, it’s hard to dispute Premier Rachel Notley’s blunt assessment at her nomination meeting in the Edmonton-Strathcona riding yesterday that Opposition Leader Jason Kenney has been coolly lying about the role of his 2017 leadership campaign in the so-called “Kamikaze Mission”
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: A Little Story About Character
Sometimes it’s the little stories that move us. Last week Mr and Ms Soapbox attended a fundraiser for Rachel Notley. It was hosted by a group of Calgary lawyers at a swanky downtown restaurant. Lawyers, business people and representatives from the non-profit sector chatted over appetizers and wine. During the
Continue reading