Some surprising results in an Angus Reid survey of Albertans this week. The UCP and the NDP are tied in voter support, each at 38 percent. This is quite a collapse for the UCP who won the election, only a year and a half ago, with 55 percent support. But
Continue readingTag: Kenney (Jason)
Views from the Beltline: Is Alberta “slipping into authoritarianism”?
Guy Smith, president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE), sees a disturbing trend in the province. He suggests that, under the rule of Jason Kenney and his UCP, “We are “slipping into authoritarianism.” Mr. Smith and his union are miffed at the Critical Infrastructure Defence Act (Bill 1)
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: I’m with Kenney on this one
Our premier and I come at politics from such different angles, it always comes as a surprise to me when I find myself agreeing with him. But sometimes I do. And that’s the case with his offer to install the statue of John A. Macdonald that was toppled by vandals
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Conservatives Struggle with Science
When conservatives talk about “the elites,” and they talk about them a lot, it isn’t always clear who they are talking about. They certainly aren’t referring to the rich, who many of us think of as the elites, because conservatives are the party of the rich, the party of privilege.
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Albertans Want off the Oil Train … Eventually
A common opinion about Albertans is that when it comes to energy they are about oil and nothing but oil. Like most generalizations this contains some truth, but also like most generalizations it isn’t quite true. A CBC News poll, taken just before the pandemic changed everything, reported that 79
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Back to the 30s?
“We are facing a period of profound adversity unlike any we have since the 1930s,” Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said last week. The premier was referring to the province’s economy which has, like the rest of the country, indeed like the rest of the world, been hit hard by the
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Is Kenney Coming After Our Pensions?
Premier Jason Kenney, ardent free market conservative, has started sounding a little like Peter Lougheed, a former premier with more progressive conservative leanings. Indeed Lougheed was once labelled “Peter the Red” by B.C. Premier Dave Barrett after he bought Alberta an airline. Lougheed never hesitated to dive into socialism when
Continue readingAre Albertans Regretting Their Decision?
Jason Kenney and his UCP won a convincing victory in Alberta’s April election, winning 55 percent of the popular vote, impressive in a country where 40 percent often gains a party a majority government. Yet in only eight months, Albertans seemed to have reversed their opinion. A ThinkHQ poll found
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Is This the Line in the Sand?
Crunch time. How far will Trudeau go to placate Alberta? Premier Kenney may just have drawn the line in the sand. He has said that the federal government faces a stark choice. It can either approve Teck Resources’ Frontier Mine or risk leaving the country’s oil industry “with no way
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Is Kenney Costing Alberta Investment and Jobs?
Calgary Economic Development CEO Mary Moran reported recently that a tech company that had considered setting up its head office in Calgary had changed it mind. The reason? Talk of separation. “We as an organization just lost a 1,000-person company that didn’t come to Calgary, selected another city, because they’re
Continue readingThe Extraordinary Arrogance of "Kamikaze" Kenney
Lorne Gibson, Alberta’s elections commissioner, has had his differences with the province’s Conservatives. In 2009, he was Alberta’s chief electoral officer and, unhappy with the 2008 election, he recommended 182 reforms to the province’s electoral system. The Conservative government of the time was not amused and failed to renew his
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Alberta after Fossil Fuels
Alberta and oil are almost synonymous. But if the province is to do its share to avoid the apocalypse that global warming threatens, it must kick the oil habit, or at least the fossil fuel habit. The transition to greener energy is much harder for this prairie province, of course,
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Can Trudeau Make a Future with Alberta?
Life is full of little surprises. Often pleasant ones. I encountered such a surprise this week reading the Calgary Herald, not a paper usually on my wave length. And yet here was this op-ed saying some of the most sensible things about Alberta’s aversion to anything Trudeau I’ve heard to
Continue readingWar Rooms, Secrecy and a Little Patronage—Democracy in Alberta
Former journalist and conservative lobbyist Tom Olsen was the UCP candidate in my riding of Calgary-Buffalo in this spring’s Alberta election. Tom lost to Joe Ceci of the NDP, but his loss was only temporary. Recently it turned into a handsome reward. He was named by Energy Minister Sonya Savage
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: The ghost of Bible Bill Haunts us still
In the late ’30s and early ’40s Alberta’s premier was the colourful William Aberhart, known as “Bible Bill” for his bible studies classes and radio sermons. Founder of the Social Credit Party, Bible Bill introduced a variety of legislation during his term, some good, some not so much. An example
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Kenny’s revealing prank
As a resident of Alberta, I am used to living under Conservative governments. Although I lean left, I can accept this with good grace. After all I am a democrat and therefor I accept the will of the people, even when I question their judgement. I accept that the government
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: I’ll Trade You a Jason for a Greta
I am a democrat and therefor I must accept the election of Jason Kenney and his United Conservative Party as government of my province. The UCP won convincingly, after all, with 53 per cent of the popular vote. But it ain’t easy. This is one of those times when accepting
Continue readingMr. Kenny’s arbitrary guidelines
As part of a new bill enhancing the powers of the immigration minister, Jason Kenney has revealed new guidelines he would apply to deny entry to foreign nationals. Currently, visitors can only be denied entry for criminal or national security reasons. Kenny’s guidelines would allow the immigration minister to bar:
Continue readingKenny’s power play should be opposed
Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is proposing legislation which will give the minister the power to deny visitors entry to Canada even if they don’t have a serious criminal record. Now limited to denying entry only for criminal or national security reasons, the new power would allow the immigration minister to
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