Premier Alison Redford and an aide, at right, look on as Progressive Conservative caucus coup plotters try to remember if the signal to make their move is “Toga! Toga! Toga!” or “Tory! Tory! Tory!” Actual Alberta politicians may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Rumoured Redford replacements Gary Mar, Stephen Mandel
Continue readingTag: Jim Dinning
daveberta.ca - Alberta politics: 6 reasons why history will be kind to Ed Stelmach
TweetTwo years ago today, Ed Stelmach quietly stepped out of the political spotlight after a nearly five years as Premier of Alberta. The mild-mannered farmer from Andrew dedicated more than twenty-five years of his life to municipal and provincial politics and led the Progressive Conservative Association to win one of its
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Alberta Budget 2013 a confusing start to the Tory re-election strategy.
TweetRumours swirled through the halls of the Legislative for weeks. Whispers and warnings of cuts and rollbacks not seen since Ralph Klein and Jim Dinning unleashed a scorched earth policy on the provincial budget in the mid-1990s. Back in debt. Broken promises. Bankrupt budgets. The end was nigh. And today,
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Something was rotten in the former Calgary Health Region.
TweetIntrepid CBC investigative journalist Charles Rusnell has uncovered another swath of illegal political donations made to Alberta’s Progressive Conservative Party: Lynn Redford, sister of Alberta Premier Alison Redford, attended Progressive C…
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Adoration of Peter Lougheed moves beyond canonization into deification
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s message at Peter Lougheed’s state funeral. Below: Premier Lougheed with Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who haunts us still. With his state funeral yesterday afternoon, the official adoration of former Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed moved beyond canonization into deification. If other Canadians happened to pause and listen
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: is edmonton’s former capital health board being targeted by a calgary-led witch-hunt?
TweetAre executives of the former Calgary Health Region, now comfortably occupying senior positions at Alberta Health Services, campaigning to discredit the work done by executives of Edmonton’s now-defunct Capital Health Region? AHS President and CEO Chris Eagle announced earlier this week that, following the Allaudin Merali expense-claims scandal, an Ernst
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: could hugh macdonald save albertans from another snoozer senate election?
Alberta will be holding its fourth ever Senate election in 2012. Last Friday, the Progressive Conservatives released the rules to guide the nomination of their candidates in next year’s Senate election (or more accurately, ‘Senator-in-Waiting‘ election). The PCs will open nominations on December 9, 2011. Candidates must submit a non-refundable fee
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Sure, Gary Mar’s $264,576 Asian sinecure is sweet, but does it come with severance?
Gary Mar stands in Hong Kong and gazes back toward Alberta. Albertan politicians-in-exile may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Mr. Mar as others see him; Rick Orman aboard business jet with plate of fruit.Word that Gary Mar is about to be sent…
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Six lessons to draw from Alison Redford’s victory
Alison Redford surrounded by media and supporters in the wee hours of this morning. Below: Gar Mar gives his concession speech, AHS Chair Ken Hughes.Alison Redford’s victory this morning in the race to lead the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party …
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: guest post: decision time for the alberta liberals.
On Saturday September 10, the Alberta Liberals will select their next leader following current leader David Swann’s resignation from the post, announced this past January. An understanding of the dynamics that lead to the initiation of this leadership race is helpful in interpreting the parry and thrust that has played among the candidates running to […]
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Political avian flu update: Will Doug Horner send the AMA’s chickens home to roost?
Dr. Patrick White ponders the future of the Alberta Medical Association under Premier Doug Horner. Noted Alberta physicians may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Mr. Horner, the actual Dr. White (CBC photo).
Will the Alberta Medical Associatio…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: where the votes were in the 2006 alberta pc leadership vote, where the mla support is in 2011.
As Jim Dinning learned six years ago, having the support of MLAs in a leadership contest does not assure victory. The long-time front-runner in the 2006 Progressive Conservative leadership contest counted the support of over forty sitting MLAs, but on the final ballot vote, it was a low-key cabinet minister named Ed Stelmach with the […]
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: No new candidates join Tory leadership race; Calgary not destroyed by earthquake again today!
The Alberta Tory leadership candidates, from left to right: Doug Horner, Gary Mar, Doug Griffiths, Ted Morton and Rick Orman. Alison Redford can be glimpsed crossing the street in the background. Real Conservative candidates may not actually resemble H…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics blog: a look at the candidates lining up in the race to replace ed stelmach.
The candidates lining up to replace Premier Ed Stelmach as leader of the PC Party have been campaigning for months, yet what should be the hottest political leadership contest of the year has so far been a quiet affair. Will it take the summer months to heat up this contest, or will Albertans wait until […]
Continue readingdjkelly.ca: Metro column: Focusing on the individual, not the party
I’m not a big fan of party politics. I could care less which party is in charge. I care more about who the people in government are and what kinds of decisions they make. [Note: This last sentence was cut from the printed version, but I thought it was important so I added it back […]
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