Photo: NDP MLA Michael Connolly (left) with Premier Rachel Notley and Finance Minister Joe Ceci (source: Facebook) New Democratic Party MLA Michael Connolly announced this weekend that he will not seek re-election to the Legislative Assembly when the next provincial election is called in 2019. Connolly was elected in 2015 in
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daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Vue Weekly Best of Edmonton 2018
Thank you to the readers of Vue Weekly for voting daveberta.ca as one of the city’s Best Local Affairs Blogs in the annual Best of Edmonton list for 2018. I’m thrilled this website was tied for first place with Mack Male’s excellent mastermaq.ca blog, which has long been a solid standard source of information
Continue readingAlberta Politics: As Edmonton and Ottawa awake to Jason Kenney’s (un)diplomatic funny business, stuff starts hitting the fan
Alberta Opposition Leader Jason Kenney and two of his MLAs are running around India again today acting as if they are representatives of the governments of both Canada and Alberta. Officials of the provincial government in Edmonton and the federal government in Ottawa appear to have been so nonplussed by
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Jason Kenney touts NDP record of low-taxes, efficient power prices during trip to India
Jason Kenney touted Alberta’s low taxes, educated work-force and efficient power prices to the Indian media during a trip to meet with government ministers and business leaders on the subcontinent this week, according to a report from the CBC. Meanwhile, back in Alberta, political watchers are scratching their heads, wondering
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Yesterday’s floor crossing won’t make much difference, but at least the Tories are getting their drama lessons
One way or another, as of yesterday 143 politicians have crossed the floor of the House of Commons or a Canadian legislature since Confederation. If you can’t name any or many of them offhand, there’s a good reason. A successful floor crossing usually generates a bit of excitement for a
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Sarah Hoffman secures NDP nomination in Edmonton-Glenora, MLA Dave Hanson fends off two challengers in Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul
Minster of Health and Deputy Premier Sarah Hoffman has been nominated as the New Democratic Party candidate in Edmonton-Glenora for the next election. Hoffman was first elected as MLA for this district in 2015 with 68 percent of the vote, unseating two-term Progressive Conservative MLA Heather Klimchuk. She previously served
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Episode 19: Quashing Pipelines and Political Dreams
In this episode of the Daveberta Podcast, Dave Cournoyer and Ryan Hastman discuss the latest news in Alberta politics, including Premier Rachel Notley’s response to the quashing of approval of the Trans Mountain Pipeline, how rumours of an early federal election could impact Alberta’s 2019 election, and Ryan’s favourite topic, the Alberta Party. We
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Irreconcilable differences? Gulf between the Alberta and federal NDP is wide, and could grow wider
The rift between Premier Rachel Notley’s Alberta New Democrats and the federal NDP led by Jagmeet Singh over the Trans Mountain Pipeline is wide and deep, but it is not unbridgeable – yet. That could soon change, though, if two likely political scenarios unfold in tandem: an early federal election
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: What Albertans Can Learn From Barack Obama
To paraphrase that old E.F. Hutton commercial, when Barack Obama talks, people listen. Last week Obama spoke at the University of Illinois. He broke with the tradition of ex-presidents stepping away from the podium to give the new guy a chance to get on with his agenda because these are
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Say hello to the hurtin’ Albertans, Mr. Trudeau: If the premier ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!
Welcome to Alberta where, as the prime minister of Canada no doubt discovered yesterday afternoon, if the premier ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy! And, right now, the premier ain’t happy! Old Alberta New Democrats have been familiar with this hurtin’ refrain for some time. Don’t jump to the conclusion that
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Who might and might not be invited to the Leaders’ Debate in Alberta’s 2019 election?
Photo: Alberta political party leaders – Rachel Notley, Jason Kenney, Stephen Mandel, David Khan, and Derek Fildebrandt. We are now somewhere between seven and ten months away from the next provincial general election in Alberta. For the past seven provincial elections, leaders of the main political parties have participated in
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Who said we wanted rule of law? Hysteria over court’s TMX ruling engulfs Alberta politics and media
Funny, isn’t it? Less than six months ago, tout le monde political Alberta was demanding harsh application of “the rule of law.” This was nearly universally interpreted to mean that no legal challenge or protest against the construction of the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project could or would be tolerated.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Calculating the winners and losers in yesterday’s Trans Mountain Pipeline debacle
No doubt they were chuckling discreetly at Kinder Morgan headquarters in Houston yesterday as they counted up their additional spare change. They had, after all, just managed to sell off the Trans Mountain Pipeline to the Liberal government led by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, backstopped by Premier Rachel Notley’s
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Roll up the ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner. Federal court halts the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project on the same day Kinder Morgan sells it to the Government of Canada.
Photo: A train of oil cars sits parked outside Jasper, Alberta, not far from the path of the current Trans Mountain Pipeline. What a day. This morning, the Federal Court of Appeal overturned the federal cabinet orders approving the expansion of the Kinder Morgan Trans-Mountain Pipeline. And this afternoon, the
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Alberta’s lone-NDP MP Linda Duncan will not seek re-election in 2019
Photo: MP Linda Duncan and MLA Rachel Notley at Edmonton’s Pride Parade. It was one of the worst kept secrets in Edmonton politics. Linda Duncan has announced that she will not seek re-election as the Member of Parliament for Edmonton-Strathcona when the next federal election is held in October 2019. After a strong
Continue readingAlberta Politics: NDP will need to choose carefully as Linda Duncan decides not to seek re-election as Edmonton Strathcona MP
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Not to be negative, but the federal New Democrats might want to hold off scheduling the nomination to choose Linda Duncan’s successor until just after next spring’s provincial election. Then again – given the fraught relationship these days between the federal NDP and the Alberta branch of
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Episode 18: Maximum Bern and The Disgruntled Politicians of Canada
In this episode of the Daveberta Podcast, Dave Cournoyer and Ryan Hastman discuss the what’s happening in Alberta politics, including the New Democratic Party convention on September 28, 29 and 30, 2018 in Red Deer and the Freedom Conservative Party convention on October 20, 2018 in Chestermere. We also delve into federal politics and
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Guy Kerr can’t be blamed for the Alberta WCB’s troubles, but his resignation is an opportunity to get it back on track
Guy Kerr cannot be blamed for the tragic wrong turn the Alberta Workers Compensation Board took nearly 30 years ago under the Conservative governments of premiers Don Getty and Ralph Klein. Under those premiers, Alberta’s effective workers’ compensation system was subverted and undermined. The victims have been injured workers. By
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta Government and AUPE sign tentative agreement for three-year public service contract
The Alberta Government and the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees both announced yesterday they’ve signed a tentative agreement on a new collective agreement covering the union’s approximately 23,000 members who work directly for the provincial government. This is the group of public employees the union accurately calls “front-line government service
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Doomsayers, Chicken Littles and Conservatives get it wrong on the impact of minimum wage increases
Now there’s a surprise! Ontario’s minimum wage increase behaved exactly as predicted by most mainstream economists. That is, the 21-per-cent wage increase implemented by the former Liberal government that took effect on Jan. 1 this year did none of the terrible things Conservative politicians, right-wing think tankers, Astro-Turf “tax watchdog”
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