The United Conservative Party Government and its supporters appeared to be flooding the zone, Steve Bannon style, today to recover from the embarrassment of the near collapse of the provincial electrical grid during last weekend’s polar vortex deep-freeze. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). There was a stream of
Continue readingTag: political discourse
Alberta Politics: Jason Kenney calls Elizabeth May, Yves-François Blanchet ‘un-Canadian,’ accuses them of ‘blaming the victim’
Now that Premier Jason Kenney has declared it “un-Canadian” to say oil is dead, I wonder if it’s OK to admit Alberta’s fossil fuel industry is on the ropes? Probably. Mr. Kenney said as much himself in a remarkable rant yesterday directed at the Parliamentary Leader of the Bloc Québécois
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Venezuela and the American Body Politic
American foreign policy seems to be carefully insulated from the majority of the American population. I’m thinking that, outside the respective frenzied political bases, the general populace has little or no taste for international misadventures and the inevitable blowback that accompanies imperial meddling in the affairs of other states. Yet
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Guest Post: UCP polarization of Alberta politics neutralizes the language of right-wing extremism
PHOTOS: Young anti-Bill 6 protesters interviewed by a reporter at the Alberta Legislature in November 2015. Note the overheated genocide rhetoric in the sign at bottom right. Below: More extreme rhetoric from the same event; commentators Barret Weber, the author of this post, Naomi Lakritz, and Ricardo Acuña. Guest Post
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Progress Alberta, new progressive advocacy group, will make waves … not just with opponents but maybe on own side too
PHOTOS: The Alberta Legislature, suitably decorated for the province’s progressive and proudly diverse population. Below: Progress Alberta Executive Director Duncan Kinney. Progress Alberta, a new group that describes itself as “a multi-issue, inde…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: More Food For Thought
I am still working on my flooring, and as someone to whom the term handyman has little application, I am working very slowly. Therefore, in lieu of a post, I offer this wisdom from George Orwell: Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: From Platitude Central
Kim Campbell once famously said that “an election is no time to discuss serious issues.” Given the paucity of substance emerging thus far from declared candidates in both the Ontario and federal Liberal leadership races, I suspect that same ‘wisdom…
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