During Jason Kenney’s reign over our province, I never thought of him as a particularly nice man. Actions like de-indexing the Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped program from inflation left a bad taste in my mouth. In fact I thought that was one of the crueler actions a government
Continue readingTag: Kenney (Jason)
Views from the Beltline: The amazing Mr. Madu
Jason Kenney warned us. Prior to stepping down as premier, he suggested it was important he stay on to prevent the UCP from being taken over by “lunatics” and “kooky people.” But after getting barely lukewarm support from his party on a leadership vote, he stepped down. In any case,
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: My political philosophy revealed by a surprising source
Reading the latest issue of my favourite magazine, Alberta Views, I encountered an article that, to my surprise, neatly summed up my political philosophy. Surprised because I’ve never expressed it quite so clearly myself and surprised because the article was written by a conservative—which I most definitely am not. The
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Albertans happy to see Kenney’s back, but who’s next up?
Jason Kenney tried hard to convince Albertans that he was one of them. He failed to even convince members of his own party. In a confidence vote, he could only muster 51 percent support, a slight majority but hardly enough for him to continue on as leader. He sensibly announced
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Greenhouse gasses ain’t no joke
When Premier Kenney went down to the U.S. earlier this month to peddle even more of our major greenhouse gas-producing product, I was at a loss for words. The global warming threat looms ever more menacingly, threatening a cascade of catastrophes, yet here is a leading politician doing his best
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Calgary’s three angry amigos
I have lived in Alberta a long time, all but four years under conservative governments—Social Credit, then Progressive Conservative, now UCP. Only for four years did I enjoy the governance of a social democratic party. I have never enjoyed that pleasure federally although I have found a number of Liberal
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Alberta—the political province
Canada’s central and eastern provinces, with the exception of Quebec, are all governed by the same two parties that date from the time of Confederation—the Liberals and the Conservatives. The western provinces have been much more politically creative. Three of the four are governed by parties that didn’t exist at
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Premier Kenney—conservative saviour?
The premier of Alberta has a mission, one that goes beyond leading the UCP and running the province. He must save his party from lunatics. At least according to a chat he had with his party’s caucus staff. He doesn’t need the jobs of party leader and premier, he told
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: How much more of our money will Kenney spend on his crusades?
Our belligerent premier, Mr. Kenney, rarely misses an opportunity to pick a fight with the feds. His latest foray is a court challenge of PM Trudeau’s invoking of the Emergencies Act. He claims the measure violated civil liberties and invaded provincial jurisdiction. His concern about civil liberties is not entirely
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Does Kenney understand Alberta?
A recent survey, conducted by Maru Public Opinion and Janet Brown Opinion Research, took a reading of Canadians’ views of Alberta. The poll measured the reaction to a number of statements about the province including “I respect Alberta Premier Jason Kenney.” The answer to that statement was, unsurprisingly, not much. Just
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Suzuki apologizes, Kenney rants
David Suzuki recently made some rash comments about oil pipelines, specifically “There are going to be pipelines blown up if our leaders don’t pay attention to what’s going on.” Being the gentle soul that he is, he subsequently apologized for his loss of control. “Any suggestion that violence is inevitable
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Alberta needs a new Lougheed for a new era
Fifty years ago, Alberta entered the modern era. With the provincial election of August, 1971, Albertans dismissed Social Credit, their governing party for 36 years, and elected the Progressive Conservatives. A rural, Bible Belt regime had been replaced by a modern, urban political dynasty. A decent but bland Harry Strom
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Fair deal for Calgary?
The list of plebiscites Calgarians will be asked to vote on in the October municipal election is growing. The City will ask voters once again (this is a periodic exercise) to weigh in on fluoridating the water supply, and the provincial government is asking if equalization payments should be removed
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Will Kenney’s woes help O’Toole?
How the mighty have fallen. Just two years ago, Jason Kenney, flush from a convincing election win over the NDP, was the Conservatives’ golden boy. Even the national leader had to kowtow before the man who many predicted would be the next national leader himself, even prime minister. Today Kenney
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Premier Kenney encounters contrary constituents
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, dating back to his college days, has never been comfortable with people who hold divergent views. Perhaps chief among the views he despises the most are those of environmentalists. That may account for his surprise at responses to recent policies of his government. For example, early
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: O’Toole re-sets on climate change
It’s taken a while but finally Erin O’Toole has a climate change policy to present to the voters. The most intriguing bit is his acceptance of the need for a carbon tax. He doesn’t call their effort a tax. He prefers to call it “a pricing mechanism for consumers.” (The
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Mr. Kenney, take back control of the damn tax!
It’s encouraging to hear someone in the upper reaches of the Canadian establishment recognize reality. Ruling on the appeal by Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan against the federal carbon tax, the Supreme Court stated, “Climate change is real. It is caused by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resulting from human activities, and
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Another Albertan’s reaction to President Biden’s climate announcements
When I read about U.S. President Biden’s first steps down the climate change path he intends to follow, I was delighted, primarily because of his stated intention to rejoin the Paris climate agreement. That alone will give us all some hope that humanity may yet deal with the global warming
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Conservatives and the working class
During the 2019 provincial election UCP leader Jason Kenney rambled about Alberta in a big blue pickup truck for all the world like a toiler in the oil fields. The new premier likes to present himself as one of the boys. Whether he succeeds or not, it worked electorally. He
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Kenney channels Notley
During the NDP’s brief sojourn as government of Alberta, it pursued a policy oft-referred to as “social license.” The idea was that if the province was to get investment in tar sands and pipelines, it would have to show sound environmental stewardship. This was undoubtedly part of the reason for
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