Never let it be said Alberta’s United Conservative Party Government hates red tape. On the contrary, Premier Jason Kenney’s Government loves the stuff – at least if you define red tape as most dictionaries do, to wit, excessive bureaucratic rules that make it more difficult to get stuff done. Advanced
Continue readingTag: Liberal Party of Canada
Alberta Politics: Stephen Harper and Preston Manning, joined at the hip by history and not particularly liking it, make changes
On Wednesday, former prime minister Stephen Harper abruptly quit the Conservative Party of Canada’s fund-raising board, supposedly to give himself time to prevent Jean Charest from becoming leader of Canada’s Conservatives or prime minister of Canada. Yesterday, we learned that Preston Manning would quit his eponymous market-fundamentalist call centre in
Continue readingAlberta Politics: S.O.S. for secession? Only about 150 make it to frigid Wexit rally at Alberta Legislature Building
Judging from the underwhelming turnout at its “S.O.S.” rally in Edmonton yesterday, Alberta’s minuscule Wexit faction might want to reconsider its demand for a separation referendum right now. Leastways, Wexit supporters should probably rethink the idea if the “S.O.S.” was supposed to stand for “Separation, the Only Solution,” as the
Continue readingWarren Kinsella: Ten reasons why Jean Charest should run
Will he? Won’t he? Postmedia muse John Ivison says he will. I think he will, too. Here’s ten reasons why I think he should seek the Tory leadership, and why he could win – both the leadership and the country. The Big One. The Rest of Canada mostly doesn’t know
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Happy Holidays! Alberta’s economic prospects may underwhelm, but at least you can spin them as you like!
Happy Holidays! At this time last year, it looked as if Santa would bring something for everyone in Alberta, regardless of their political orientation. This year, though, maybe not so much. Lumps of carbon-dioxide-emitting coal, maybe. Leastways, you can spin recent economic outlooks for the province any way you like,
Continue readingWarren Kinsella: The system works
It does. This is a massive fine. This is a guilty plea to a serious crime. This is justice. If only they had listened to Jody Wilson-Raybould, they’d still have the Clerk of the Privy Council. They’d still have the Principal Secretary. They’d still have a majority. All of that
Continue readingAlberta Politics: That’s embarrassing! Alberta’s court filing in carbon tax fight says NDP carbon tax did no harm
The linked weekend revelations that the NDP’s carbon tax had no meaningful negative impact on Alberta’s economy and that 40 per cent of Albertans received carbon-tax rebates larger than the tax they paid were ill timed from the government’s perspective. After all, the CBC’s report on Saturday of what the
Continue readingWarren Kinsella: #LavScam latest: former SNC exec found guilty
Among other things, this verdict suggests some of us (Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott in particular) were right when we said that crimes had indeed taken place – and that no politicians should be interfering in the resulting trials. I wonder what they’re thinking in PMO right now? Do they
Continue readingWarren Kinsella: When something becomes A Thing
And the NATO “hot microphone” thing has indeed turned into A Thing. My regular readers didn’t care what I had to say about it, either: Conservative followers and friends were incensed. Still smarting from the election result, they pounced on Justin Trudeau’s unguarded remarks. It was shocking, they claimed, that
Continue readingWarren Kinsella: Tory war: keeping score
So, back in the good old days, when the dinosaurs roamed the Earth and Jesus was a little fella, you were given a couple chances to become Prime Minister or Premier. That’s how it was done. Nowadays, with a news cycle of 10 seconds, and Facebook and Twitter and Instagram
Continue readingAlberta Politics: No way Conservatives will admit they look foolish for calls to legislate CN strikers back to work
Now that a tentative agreement in the national strike by 3,200 CN yard workers and train crew members has been reached in collective bargaining as God and the Canada Industrial Relations Board both intended, you’d think the Conservative politicians who were screeching for Ottawa to intervene and order the strikers
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta union leaders summoned to provocative weekend ‘consultation’ by Kenney Government
Alberta union leaders have been summoned to a “labour relations consultation” next weekend in Edmonton at which they will be informed how Premier Jason Kenney’s government plans to “protect workers from being forced to fund political parties and causes.” The announcement of the one-hour meetings came in an email from
Continue readingWarren Kinsella: Why I’m not so critical about Justin Trudeau lately
As regular customers know, I’m a Democrat. Large “D.” I work on Democratic Party campaigns as a volunteer. In 2016, I worked for Hillary in three states, including her Brooklyn headquarters. I’ve volunteered for Democrats for as long as I can remember. But I’m also a democrat, small “D.” I
Continue readingAlberta Politics: What media mostly misses about the national rail strike by CN train crews and yard workers
Here in Alberta, what news coverage there has been about the strike for safer working conditions by Canadian National Railway train crews and rail yard workers has focused on the increasingly agitated calls by Conservative politicians for punitive back-to-work legislation. There is very little reporting on the issues behind the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: It turns out the UCP’s dream of grabbing the Canada Pension Plan won’t be as easy as it would like you to believe
How much of the United Conservative Party’s radical project to transform Alberta into a dystopic firewalled statelet, most of the details of which were revealed by Premier Jason Kenney for the first time at Preston Manning’s Red Deer clambake on Saturday, was predicated on a Conservative victory in last month’s
Continue readingWarren Kinsella: The Liberals had a caucus meeting, too
It happened yesterday. You didn’t hear much about it, because all the drama had happened the day before, with the seven-hour-long Conservative mass-suicide disguised as a caucus meeting. The Liberal caucus meeting was a happier affair. For one thing, the newbies – and Trudeau has a lot of them in
Continue readingWarren Kinsella: A seven-hour caucus meeting creates seven big problems
The Conservative caucus met on Parliament Hill yesterday. Watching them from afar, it recalled a big therapy session. But without a therapist in charge. It went for seven hours, reportedly. That’s a long caucus meeting. At the end of those seven hours, seven big problems remain. They did not dump
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