Demanding the federal government help “break the landlock” and support the construction of oil pipelines from Alberta, Premier Rachel Notley and Environment and Parks Minister Shannon Phillips drew a line for Alberta’s support of the Justin Trudeau government’s proposed national carbon… Continue Reading →
Continue readingTag: Jim Prentice
Alberta Politics: Alberta Tories pray ‘third time’s a charm’ as their effort to recover their party’s missing mojo begins today
PHOTOS: Ever wonder what happened to Hazel? Do you still think Father Knows Best? Did you love Donna Reed? Will Alberta’s PCs decide to try to take us Forward to the Fifties … in Jim Prentice’s car? That’s The $64,000 Question! Below: Declared PC leadership candidates Richard Starke, Jason Kenney,
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Should the Ethics and Accountability Committee be given a second chance?
Partisan wrangling, maneuvering and infighting appears to have derailed much of the work assigned to the Special Select Ethics and Accountability Committee by the time MLAs on the all-party committee passed a motion last week asking the Legislative Assembly to extend the committee’s… Continue Reading →
Continue readingAlberta Politics: We don’t need an inquiry – we need to bring the hammer of defunding down now on scofflaw private schools
PHOTOS: NDP Education Minister David Eggen – he’s trying to do the right thing, but he’s making it worse. The time has come to bring the hammer down and defund schools that won’t obey Alberta’s law on gay-straight alliances. Below: Rev. Brian Coldwell, chair of two private schools determined to break the law (CBC photo), […]
The post We don’t need an inquiry – we need to bring the hammer of defunding down now on scofflaw private schools appeared first on Alberta Politics.
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Doug Schweitzer is out of the PC leadership race
Calgary lawyer Doug Schweitzer announced in an email to his supporters today that he will not seek the leadership of Alberta’s Progressive Conservative Party. Mr. Schweitzer is the former CEO of the Manitoba PC Party and was involved in Jim… Continue Reading →
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The blogger as art critic: If we’re paying the piper, we should get to call the tune!
PHOTOS: A detail from Liela Chan’s just unveiled portrait of Alison Redford: Below: Ms. Chan’s full portrait, as it now hangs in the Legislature; what we could have had if Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) had been around to paint Ms. Redford; what the still unrevealed portrait of Dave Hancock really ought to look like, with apologies […]
The post The blogger as art critic: If we’re paying the piper, we should get to call the tune! appeared first on Alberta Politics.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Brian Jean’s crack about beating Rachel Notley may have ended his hopes to lead Alberta’s right
PHOTOS: Opposition Leader Brian Jean, haunted by the radicalism of his own rural-dominated party, now looks like he’s stumbled into the same snake pit of anger and misogyny. (Photo from Wildrose.ca.) Below: Premier Rachel Notley, the subject of Mr. J…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: When then was ‘Now!’ Marking the day Peter Lougheed moved Alberta dramatically to the left
PHOTOS: Peter Lougheed on the campaign trail during the 1970s. Below: A few of the important characters in this story … William Aberhart, Ernest Manning, Danielle Smith and Rachel Notley. Today is the 45th anniversary of Peter Lougheed’s historic e…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: PC Party Superdelegates could block Jason Kenney’s hostile takeover
There are thirty-four days remaining until the Progressive Conservative leadership officially begins on October 1, 2016. The race is already unofficially underway with one candidate in the contest Jason Kenney – the Member of Parliament who l…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Unsatisfying report on leak of former PC leadership candidate’s phone bill fails to answer the questions everyone’s asking
PHOTOS: Thomas Lukaszuk in his political heyday during the summer of 2012, telling a scrum of reporters about his bid to run for the leadership of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party. Below: Alberta Information and Privacy Commissioner Jill Clay…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Wildrose blames NDP for a sensible labour relations practice implemented in 2013 by Alison Redford’s Tories
PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Alison Redford was welcomed to the annual convention of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees by AUPE President Guy Smith in October 2012. And what does the Wildrose Party make of that? Below: Former Tory Premier Ralph Klein…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Appointment of environmentalist Tzeporah Berman sparks Wildrose hysteria – here’s why
PHOTOS: Environmentalist Tzeporah Berman, whose appointment to the Alberta Government’s climate panel prompted a full-scale freak-out by the province’s right, which, apparently, sees her as, well, an Orc. Below the Orc: B.C. Premier Christy Clark a…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: About those conservative coup attempts: once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, but three times has got to be enemy action!
PHOTOS: Jason Kenney and Stephen Harper seal the deal. Actually, I think Mr. Harper was welcoming Mr. Kenney to his cabinet as defence minister in this official looking portrait found on the Internet without attribution. I’m assuming it was created w…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: The Myth of the Alberta Advantage
August 31, 1993 marked the first time the words “Alberta Advantage” were uttered on the floor of Alberta’s Legislative Assembly. “Unlike some others, my government will not try to buy prosperity through higher taxes. Instead, it will build on A…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: July 6 is Jason Kenney Day in Alberta Politics
Conservative Member of Parliament Jason Kenney is expected to announce his candidacy for the leader of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta tomorrow, July 6, in Calgary, deliver a speech in Grande Prairie that evening and then trave…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jason Kenney reported ready to announce his bid to lead a Tory Restoration effort as soon as tomorrow
PHOTOS: Former federal Conservative cabinet minister Jason Kenney looks like he’s describing how he’ll capture the Alberta PC Party, then the Wildrose, and unite them whether they like it or not, in this shot grabbed from his Parliamentary Flickr a…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jason Kenney: Conservative saviour or a guy with the appeal of a trip to the dentist?
PHOTOS: Jason Kenney at a NATO do, looking positively Nixonian (from his Facebook page). Below: The only shot I ever managed to get of Mr. Kenney myself; former Progressive Conservative saviour Jim Prentice; Mr. Kenney letting his hair down at Toronto
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: In or Out? Jason Kenney could have a rough landing into Alberta politics
CBC reports that after 19 years as a Member of Parliament in Ottawa, former federal cabinet minister Jason Kenney, 48, is considering entering provincial politics in Alberta. Postmedia’s Jen Gerson writes that he will not confirm whether this i…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Party like it’s 2016! Alberta NDP hold their convention in Calgary
In the past, the media and political watchers would pay little attention to a provincial convention held by Alberta’s New Democratic Party. Back in 2009 during a stint as a freelance writer, I covered the NDP convention for the now-defunct alt-wee…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: NDP moves to rein in Tory patronage and boondoggles at Alberta’s many boards, agencies and commissions
PHOTOS: NDP Finance Minister Joe Ceci on the day he was sworn in. Below: The full list of agencies to be amalgamated or eliminated by the government in the first round of its “ABC” review; NDP Environment Minister Shannon Phillips; and Tory health …
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