Along with guest co-hosts Lianne Bell and Chris Henderson, Dave discusses what to expect from the United Conservative Party and New Democratic Party when the Legislature reconvenes on May 21 and how the cabinet and opposition critics will match-up this session. We also talk about how federal Liberal leader Justin
Continue readingTag: Rachel Notley
Alberta Politics: Postmedia bid for role in UCP ‘war room’ illustrates the folly of Trudeau’s lifeline for failing newspapers
Connect the dots, Mr. Prime Minister! That newspaper industry bailout package you’re foolishly planning in the name of preserving democracy is principally designed to keep a corporation afloat that will do anything, no matter how unethical, to destroy your government. If you want proof, look no further than Postmedia’s astonishing
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Cuts & Critics: Expect fireworks in the Legislature, but no real brakes on radical UCP agenda
Alberta’s 24 NDP Opposition MLAs were sworn in yesterday and Opposition Leader Rachel Notley, not so long ago the province’s premier, named the MLAs who will fill her shadow cabinet portfolios. Meanwhile, Premier Jason Kenney’s MLAs will have to wait a few days while their boss gets on with his
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Lessons from the AFL and AOC
What if we’ve run out of time? What if there’s no time left for baby steps; for one step forward and two steps back? What if it’s time to go big or go home? Last weekend Ms Soapbox attended two events focused on our future. One was a convention hosted
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Feeling blue? Don’t worry, Jason Kenney’s got a ‘blue ribbon panel’ sharpening its razors for you!
Brace yourselves, people. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has announced his “Blue Ribbon” panel to do a “deep dive” into the province’s books and figure out how to get them into the black in less than three years, eliminate debt, and do it all without raising taxes or introducing a sales
Continue readingThe Daveberta Podcast: Episode 36: Jason Kenney’s first week and what’s next for Rachel Notley
In this episode of the Daveberta Podcast we discuss the election results, Jason Kenney’s first week as Premier of Alberta and who he appointed to the United Conservative government cabinet, and Rachel Notley and what’s next for the Alberta NDP. We also dive into the mailbag to answer the great
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Rachel Notley sets out to do a little narrative building of her own about what Jason Kenney is up to, now that he’s premier
CALGARY – In her first major speech since losing the Alberta election to Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party on April 16, Rachel Notley called on her supporters not to allow conservatives to rewrite history to suit their own ends. “Make no mistake,” she warned a friendly crowd at the Alberta
Continue readingWarren Kinsella: How Trudeau elected Kenney
Last month, I was back home in Calgary to teach at the law school. So, I got together with a couple high school buddies – one a lawyer, one an engineer – at Michael’s on Tenth Avenue. (Michael’s has the best pizza in Canada, by the way. Hands down.) We
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Pundits want you to believe negative campaigning hurt the NDP – it likely saved their bacon!
There are plenty of serious mistakes the Alberta NDP made during their four rocky years in power, but one of them wasn’t running a negative campaign that attacked Jason Kenney’s character and the attitudes of many of the candidates and advisors around him. Indeed, it’s said here the NDP’s negative
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Reflecting on the Election
Now that the election is over and the dust is settling, Ms Soapbox has been reflecting on the results. What do we make of this? The thrust of Mr Kenney’s victory speech was that Albertans value the economy and jobs above all else. (Whether this is a conservative ideal
Continue readingThe Daveberta Podcast: Episode 35: The big UCP win, an Alberta Election Recap
The Alberta election is over. In this episode Dave and Ryan discuss the election results, who Jason Kenney might pick for the United Conservative government cabinet, what is next for Rachel Notley and the New Democratic Party in Alberta, if there is a future for the Alberta Party and the Liberal Party, and
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, wondering whether Alberta’s lamentable election of Jason Kenney and his gang of regressive Conservatives might have been avoided if Rachel Notley’s NDP had made an effort not to perpetuate the province’s petro-politics. For further reading…– The Alberta NDP’s 2015 platform is here (PDF), and doesn’t so much as hint
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jobs! Pipelines! Help is on the way! Or … maybe not: Election hot takes from Alberta
Tuesday night’s Alberta election results pretty well put paid to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s “Grand Bargain” with Alberta on climate change, the terms of which were basically that the province could have a pipeline to tidewater if we play nice and put a price on carbon. Premier-elect Jason Kenney has
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Andrew Phung highlights how important it is for younger voters to be heard in Alberta’s election. Travis Benson offers plenty of suggestions as to why even people who aren’t always NDP supporters should be happy to re-elect Rachel Notley. And PressProgress rounds
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Nearly a third of Alberta’s electorate voted in advance polls – whatever can it mean?
One of the mysteries of the 2019 Alberta election campaign that comes to an end with today’s election is the truly astonishing number of advance ballots cast. Nearly 700,000 Albertans voted in advance polls. That is close to 30 per cent of the electorate. This is unheard of in Alberta,
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: A Really Great Photo…
I know, I know, I’ve already done an article on why I voted for Rachel, but I took this really great photo at the Calgary Rally on Saturday and I had to share it. Ta da!! So, now that I’ve got your attention here are my top 10 reasons to
Continue readingThe Daveberta Podcast: Episode 34: When you play the Game of Thrones… Alberta election edition.
In this episode Dave and Ryan discuss the huge turnout at the advance polls, some of the key races to watch on election night, and recap of the final days of the campaign. We also dive into the mailbag to answer some great questions from our listeners. And because we couldn’t help ourselves,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Rachel Notley, one of the finest political orators of her generation, raises the rafters with optimistic speech in Edmonton
Rachel Notley looked and sounded like a politician on a roll yesterday afternoon as she addressed at least 1,500 people sardined into Edmonton’s Polish Hall – energized, by turns forceful, funny, and inspiring. This runs counter to the media narrative about this 2019 election campaign from the get-go, of course,
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: A Guide to UCP “Conservatives”
The Peter Lougheed Progressive Conservatives parted company with the Kenney “conservatives” when Kenney created the free enterprise unity party. Those three little words signaled the transformation of the conservative party into one that cares only about money. With the Lougheed PCs gone the UCP turned elsewhere to fill out their
Continue readingAlberta Politics: RCMP raid on UCP candidate’s business, polling trends, hordes of advance voters wind up the Internet
Alberta’s Internet was in a furious swivet last night. There seemed to be something to wind everyone up as we enter the final stretch of a provincial election both sides have characterized as an epochal event sure to seal the fate of the province if it goes the wrong way.
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