Even though we know the prescription for curing the “bed blocker” problem, it’s unlikely Alberta can escape the revenge of the conservative zombie policy makers, shown above. Actual Progressive Conservative and Wildrose policy makers may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Zombie policy enablers Jim Prentice and Danielle Smith; ER
Continue readingTag: Raj Sherman
Alberta Diary: NDP and Liberal candidates’ with similar appeal in Edmonton-Whitemud don’t make progressive voters’ job any easier
The NDP and Alberta Liberals fight it out in Edmonton-Whitemud. I’ll leave it to readers to determine who’s just been demasted. Below: Liberal candidate Dr. Donna Wilson (CBC photo) and NDP candidate Dr. Bob Turner. The reasons are perfectly clear and quite understandable, but it’s depressing nonetheless to see Alberta’s
Continue readingAlberta Diary: How many PC memberships were given away? It’s time to get to know the known unknowns of the leadership campaign
Alberta’s PCs are smiling today as Jim Prentice, at right, takes over the helm of the RMS Titanic Tory. Actual just-elected leaders of the Progressive Conservative Party may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: The real Jim Prentice as he appeared surrounded by media last night. (Photo by Dave Cournoyer,
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: PC Party: Oh Albertans, give us one more chance (we want you back)
TweetIn 1971, The Jackson 5 were topping the billboard charts and Peter Lougheed‘s Progressive Conservatives were just starting what has become an uninterrupted 43-year reign as Alberta’s governing party. Recent messaging from the PC Party have certainly drawn inspiration from the band’s famous song – I Want You Back – as the PC Party
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Johnson, Anglin, Nenshi and Butler. Who said Alberta politics is dull in the summer?
TweetPremier Dave Hancock is standing behind Jeff Johnson, even after the Information and Privacy Commissioner ruled that the embattled education minister broke Alberta’s privacy laws by sending a direct message to the personal email addresses of thousands of teachers during their contract negotiations. In any other job, breaking the law
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Wildrose Party remains far in the lead despite entry of Jim Prentice to Progressive Conservative leadership race, new poll says
The Wildrose Party with Danielle Smith holding the reins appears to continue to lead the Alberta Progressive Conservatives handily. Actual Alberta politicians and astonished onlookers may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: PC leadership candidates Jim Prentice, Thomas Lukaszuk and Ric McIver, none of whom seems to be making much
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Be there or be square: When pride goes mainstream, is just being there enough?
Riders from the Gay Rodeo welcome Edmontonians to the New West yesterday! Scenes from Edmonton’s Pride Parade below: Alberta Premier Dave Hancock, left, and Edmonton City Councillor Scott McKeen, right, with a parade participant; Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson on his bicycle with his kids; a couple of parade participants trying
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Who wants to be leader of the Alberta NDP?
TweetWhile most political chatter in Alberta is focused on how big Jim Prentice’s victory will be on the first ballot of the Progressive Conservative leadership vote on September 6, there is another race about to begin – the race to become the leader of the Alberta NDP. At his press
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Rejection of Gay-Straight Alliances motion shows some Alberta MLAs need a reality check
TweetBe it resolved that the Legislative Assembly urge the Government to introduce legislation, like Manitoba’s and Ontario’s, requiring all school boards to develop policies to support students who want to lead and establish gay-straight alliance activities and organizations, using any name that is consistent with the promotion of a positive
Continue readingAlberta Diary: A mystery that won’t go away: Why do Alberta patients still face such long waits for lung surgery?
A horse with a silver blaze, curried mutton and a dog that did nothing in the night-time helped Sherlock Holmes get to the bottom of a mysterious death. Will it take a legendary detective to uncover the problem with lung surgeries in Alberta? Below: Dr. Verna Yiu; Dr. Raj Sherman;
Continue readingAlberta Diary: PC finances: looks like Armageddon for Tories and Wildrose Apocalypse for the rest of us
Wildrose Party leader Danielle Smith, on horseback, gazes at all that remains of Alberta’s once-mighty Alberta Progressive Conservative dynasty. Actual Alberta politicians may not appear quite so metaphorically. Below: PC Party Executive Director Kelley Charlebois. We can probably thank former Alberta premier Alison Redford for breaking the spine of the
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Alison Redford and the misogyny defence: does it really hold any water?
Former Alberta Premier Alison Redford in happier times, as we remember her on the eve of her selection as PC Party leader in the fall of 2011. The suggestion former Alberta Premier Alison Redford was treated differently, and was presumably fired by her party more peremptorily, because she is a
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: PC Party opts for a short and expensive leadership campaign
TweetIn 2006, it was $15,000, in 2011, it was $40,000, and in 2011, the fee to become a candidate in the Progressive Conservative leadership race is $50,000. Senior officials from Alberta’s Progressive Conservative party gathered in Red Deer last night to discuss timelines, entry fees and the rules that will
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Alternate Universe: 2012 effort to merge Alberta NDP and Liberals may have come closer than we thought
A poster we won’t be seeing any time soon! Below: Liberals Kent Hehr and Corey Hogan. An effort to meld the Alberta New Democrats and the province’s Liberals into a single party may have come closer than many of us imagined in 2012, indeed it was “mind bogglingly close” one
Continue readingAlberta Diary: The Airline Ticketgate saga continued… Alberta’s Redford Tories, forever young, now have Young forever
Former Progressive Conservative Whip Steve Young gets ready to give it to his premier and party leader at yesterday’s caucus meeting in Edmonton. Actual unrepentant Tory MLAs may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: The actual Mr. Young, apparently yelling something; his friend Wildrose MLA Ian Donovan; Premier Alison Redford’s
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Small changes may signal glimmer of awareness of trouble ahead among rank and file Tory MLAs
Members of Alison Redford’s brain trust plan the latest hashtags in the Twitter war with AUPE … No! Wait! That’s Bob MacNamara telling LBJ about his plans for the war in Vietnam! What the hey? Below: That rude info-graphic; Red House Chief of Staff Farouk Adatia; White House Chief of
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Farewell Liberalberta? Alberta Liberals back in the red
Tweet Less than two years after adopting a new green and grey Liberalberta logo, the Alberta Liberal Party appears to have switched back to the party’s traditional red. A new website design launched last week shows the Liberals have also dropped the “-berta” portion of the logo, returning to plain ‘Liberal‘ name. The
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: What a year 2014 has been in Alberta politics!
Tweet This year was a tumultuous time in Alberta politics. What does 2015 have in store for Albertans? December 20, 2014 Story by: Dirk Pranter, Edmonton Journal-Sun Building the next Alberta With the new year just weeks away, speculation is rampant Albertans could go to the polls early next year, less than four
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Secrecy of foster care deaths a sobering story
TweetThe normally hyper-partisan atmosphere in Alberta’s Legislative Assembly was sobered today with news of a tragic and startling story. A six-month investigation by Edmonton Journal and Calgary Herald reporters based on death records unsealed after a four-year legal battle revealed a startling number of unreported deaths of children in care of
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Lukaszuk, Griffiths are prime targets for opposition parties
TweetDeputy Premier Thomas Lukaszuk allegedly threatened to fight Official Opposition leader Danielle Smith during a heated Question Period on the afternoon of November 5. Observers say that Mr. Lukaszuk made a threatening gesture to the opposition leader to “bring it on” after responding to criticism about a ruling from the Office of
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