Another fine has been levied in the Callaway Kamikaze Campaign Case, this time for an illegal pass-through donation. Karen Brown was handed the $3,500 administrative penalty yesterday by the Office of Alberta’s Election Commissioner. She has been identified as a former United Conservative Party financial officer. In a characteristically terse
Continue readingTag: Jason Kenney
Alberta Politics: Alleged UCP electoral shenanigans begin to attract a wider audience than just Alberta
Thanks to Opposition Leader Jason Kenney and the United Conservative Party leadership race he won last year, not to mention the way he won it, electoral politics in Alberta are starting to get international attention. I kid you not! I had a long phone conversation today with a journalist from
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Another twist in the ‘Kamikaze Campaign’ pretzel – Callaway campaign manager fined, fired, vows fight
The manager of Jeff Callaway’s 2017 campaign to lead the United Conservative Party was slapped with $15,000 in fines yesterday by Alberta’s Election Commissioner for “obstruction of an investigation.” Talk about fear and loathing on the campaign trail! This strange yarn has more twists than a fairground pretzel! From the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Has a UCP candidate voiced what her party really thinks, its leader’s pledge notwithstanding, about two-tier health care?
If you wonder what the United Conservative Party really thinks about how health care ought to be run in Alberta, perhaps you should ask if Miranda Rosin instead of Jason Kenney, he of the Coroplast Pledge. Ms. Rosin is the UCP’s candidate in the new Banff-Kananaskis riding. Mr. Kenney is
Continue readingThe Daveberta Podcast: Episode 29: Alberta is in serious pre-election mode
We are in pre-election mode in this episode as Dave and Ryan discuss the health care and education curriculum debate between the New Democratic Party and United Conservative Party, the unsurprising recent Trans Mountain Pipeline report from the National Energy Board, and the latest from the SNC-Lavalin/Justin Trudeau/Jody Wilson-Raybould fiasco.
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The 2019 Provincial Election: What it will be about and what it should be about
Last week Ms Soapbox had the pleasure of appearing on a panel with economist Trevor Tombe and naturalist Kevin Van Tighem to discuss our perspectives on the upcoming provincial election. The event was moderated by Shelley Youngblut and presented by Alberta Views magazine and Wordfest. We focused on two questions:
Continue readingAlberta Politics: National Energy Board ruling on Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion leaves everyone deep in their message boxes
Common sense would suggest the recommendation of the National Energy Board yesterday that Ottawa approve the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project despite significant risks to the environment is a small but significant step toward eventual completion of the controversial multi-billion-dollar megaproject. But as was already evident in the immediate reaction
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Jemima Kelly highlights the massive amounts of revenue lost to tax evasion and tax avoidance in the EU – while pointing out the importance of recognizing the larger scale of the former. And PIPSC makes the case for e-commerce titans to pay their
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Where’s the beef? Smells like what Restaurants Canada is serving you is nothing but baloney!
Baloney: a large smoked, seasoned sausage made of various meats. Where’s the beef? In an opinion piece in the Calgary Herald last week, Restaurants Canada claimed that “a perfect storm of tax increases and painful policy changes … have worsened conditions for restaurants over the past four years.” This was
Continue readingAlberta Politics: You can’t slash Alberta Health Services’ lean and efficient management without hurting front-line care
Just a reminder, folks: You can’t cut Alberta Health Services management without cutting front-line health care. One of Opposition Leader Jason Kenney’s standard talking points is that he’ll never cut front-line health care, only needless, redundant, expensive managers cluttering up the system. And since I’m a good union guy, some
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jason Kenney’s ‘Public Health Guarantee’ isn’t worth much, but that may be good enough for many voters
No one ever said Jason Kenney isn’t a shrewd politician who knows how to run a campaign, so give the man some credit for his clever effort yesterday to look strong on a weak file for his party and make the NDP look a little weaker on its strongest. The
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Sounds as if the Trudeau Liberals are listening to their Natural Governing Party lizard brain, finally
Amid all the hoo-ha emanating from the nation’s capital over the partial holiday weekend, the bit that didn’t seem to fit was the dispiriting news – for many Albertans, anyway – that the federal cabinet won’t make a decision until summer at least on whether the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Dion Rabouin examines the U.S.’ unprecedented level of inequality and wealth concentration. And Orsetta Causa, Anna Vindics and James Browne highlight how worsening inequality around the globe has been the result of avoidable policy choices. – But David Dayen writes that Amazon’s failed
Continue readingAlberta Politics: ‘Free votes’ on ‘matters of conscience’ may seem incongruous for a guy like Jason Kenney, but then again, maybe not …
Last Thursday, presumably hoping to distract from the NDP’s launch of an advertising campaign illuminating the dark side of Jason Kenney, the United Conservative Party leader announced a passel of policy ideas that would include significant changes to how the Legislature operates. Among Mr. Kenney’s ideas were a ban on
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Sorry, Not Enought “Human Capital”
Restaurant Canada wants Alberta’s $15/hour minimum wage reduced for youth, liquor servers and people with disabilities. Mr Kenney says he’ll consider a reduction for youth and alcohol servers. No word yet on his position on people with disabilities but given his rhetoric (see below) we can assume people with disabilities
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – The Courage Coalition makes the case for Canada to pursue a Green New Deal of its own. And Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood points out the intergenerational harm of leaving climate breakdown to continue unabated, while Alastair Sharp reports on a new paper as to the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The realpolitik of real politics: attack ads work, and sometimes they’re necessary
One of the enduring myths of our era is that Albertans (or Canadians, or whomever) don’t like negative political advertising, and therefore that political attack ads won’t work here. Now that Alberta’s New Democratic Party has published a website attacking Opposition Leader Jason Kenney’s record as a federal Conservative MP,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Restaurant lobby launches campaign to elect UCP, roll back $15-per-hour minimum wage
Alberta’s perpetually dissatisfied restaurant owners find themselves in such difficult straits they’re investing their hard-earned dollars in a high-profile PR campaign to make sure we all understand just how tough they have it – and while they’re at it, maybe they can get us to elect a right-wing government that
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Kenny Controls the Narrative, Why is this a Surprise?
We’ve been so focused on Jason Kenney’s public rhetoric that we didn’t see him transform the Progressive Conservatives and Wildrose MLAs into a bunch of hush puppies ready to recite whatever speaking notes he gives them. The transformation took less than two years. This probably says more about the integrity
Continue readingThe Daveberta Podcast: Episode 28: An Unconstitutional Dog Ate My Homework
The Friday night bombshell that hit Stephen Mandel and the Alberta Party, the likelihood of Premier Rachel Notley tabling a budget before calling the 2019 election and how much influence the anti-abortion group the Wilberforce Project actually has over United Conservative Party nominations. These are just a few of the
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