PHOTOS: Candidates for the Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership in Red Deer, from left to right, Stephen Khan, Jason Kenney, Byron Nelson, Richard Starke, Sandra Jansen and Donna Kennedy-Glans (photo by Dana Popadynetz, used with permission). Below: Stephen Harper, as seen at the PC policy convention in Red Deer, and one
Continue readingTag: Reform Party
Politics, Re-Spun: Jokers to the Right
It’s time we learn more lessons from Archie Bunker. While the right wing continues to become increasingly clownish, we need to go back to Norman Lear’s classic 1970s sitcom, All in the Family, to get re-acquainted with Archie Bunker’s willful embrace of ignorance and bigotry to learn where he’s coming from and how to protect … Continue reading Jokers to the Right →
Alberta Politics: About those conservative coup attempts: once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, but three times has got to be enemy action!
PHOTOS: Jason Kenney and Stephen Harper seal the deal. Actually, I think Mr. Harper was welcoming Mr. Kenney to his cabinet as defence minister in this official looking portrait found on the Internet without attribution. I’m assuming it was created w…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Does the federal Tory pivot toward Alberta show they’ve given up on power in Ottawa?
PHOTOS: Stephen Harper, the former prime minister, not exactly as he appeared at the Conservative Party’s Calgary Stampede barbecue last night, but close enough. Below: Jason Kenney, Mr. Harper’s former sidekick in Ottawa, whom the former PM endors…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Is the sky blue? A Conservative win in Southern Alberta by-election a certainty
Following the death of Conservative Member of Parliament Jim Hillyer on March 23, 2016, Elections Canada has announced that a by-election must be called in the Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner electoral district before September 26, 2016. The earlies…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: 2016 will mark the end of Senate Elections in Alberta
The Senatorial Selection Act, the law that governs Alberta’s unique Senate nominee elections, expires on Dec. 31, 2016. The longstanding policy of the Alberta New Democratic Party which supports the abolition of the Canadian Senate likely …
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The story thus far from Alberta: the Western Alienation narrative starts today
PHOTOS: A couple of typical alienated Westerners discuss what to do next now that another Trudeau is about to be sworn in as prime minister of Canada. Head for the hills, I guess. Below: The elder prime minister Trudeau, Pierre, and Alberta premier Peter Lougheed toast the mutually satisfactory deal
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Mulroney’s Gift to the NDP
Thanks Brian Mulroney! You’ve done what no one else in Canada could do: by endorsing him, you’ve explained just how bad Trudeau and the Liberals would be for Canada. Sure, Mulroney, you are sad that Harper’s Reform Party has eradicated your Progressive Conservatives and started using the “Conservative” word. Sure,
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Stephen Harper Is Such a Bad Economist!
He says he’s awesome, but he’s so bad, that on the economy he’s the worst prime minister since WWII. And his campaign is “don’t change horses in mid-stream, I’m a great economist, we aren’t in a recession, we have a balanced budget and only I can protect you from the
Continue readingHarper is not serious about senate reform
Stephen Harper is not serious about senate reform. Despite his announcement last week that he plans to stop filling vacancies in the upper chamber until the senate is reformed, his track record on the issue is very poor. Stephen Harper, cc: pmwebphotos (Flickr.com) Harper was first elected to parliament in 1993
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Reunite Alberta’s right? The Great Wildrose Experiment is going to be hard to undo
PHOTOS: Wildrose Party Leader Brian Jean at the Calgary Stampede. Too country to be electable in the new Alberta? (Photo from Mr. Jean’s Flickr account.) Below: Former Harper strategist Ken Boessenkool and former Harper speechwriter Paul Bunner, both involved in Alberta’s “reunite the right” movement. (Photos grabbed from their Facebook
Continue readingCowichan Conversations: Peter McKay to announce that he is stepping down as Justice Minister later today-Harper shellshocked!
Peter McKay has been one of the most significant players in the Harper government from the beginning. No loss to Canada but this significant departure hurts Steve’s re-election efforts. Is Justice Minister Read more…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: It’s Like The Good Old Days of Reform, All Over Again.
Preston Manning’s legacy might just be his relentless efforts while Reform leader to keep the bigotry in his caucus under wraps. Those who were too obvious to be ignored were sometimes shown the door although it did have to be pretty outrageous. But we all know there’s plenty of them
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Stephen Harper: Racist AND a Hypocrite!
Just WHO should be covering up? I recall once that Stephen Harper believed in championing religious freedom. Except for people he doesn’t like. Now he’s appealing a federal court ruling allowing people to exercise their religious freedom by becoming citizens while not publicly removing their niqab. But why, you ask?
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Tory income-splitting tax policy: It’s about creating and preserving gender inequality and making rich guys richer
Whew! This income splitting is a killer. Actual perfect families as seen by the Harper Government may not appear exactly like Canadian reality. Below: Queen’s University tax law professor Kathleen Lahey. A fundamental purpose the Harper Government’s ideologically driven income-splitting tax scheme is to undermine women’s equality, Queen’s University tax
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Welcome to the 1,000th Politics, Re-Spun Editorial!
Steve Harper, the greatest threat to Canadian security in the modern era. Happy August! Happy Day! I have a few comments about this, the 1,000th editorial at Politics, Re-Spun. But you can read them below, about my sabbatical plan, new visions for this almost 12-year-old website, and other things. But
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Whatever the ‘Canadian Taxpayers Federation’ is, it’s certainly not a ‘tax watchdog’ – let’s stop calling it one!
“Canadian Taxpayers Federation” Alberta Communications Director Derek Fildebrandt dressed up for a typical CTF stunt, which the media falls for every time. Below: Mr. Fildebrandt back in the days he was part of the Reagan-Goldwater Society at Carleton University; CTF board members Karen Selick, Adam Daifallah and John Mortimer. (Thumbnail
Continue readingPushed to the Left and Loving It: Harper’s Balancing Act : How to Accept Anti-Semitism Abroad While Making a Mockery of it at Home
Gaitana, born Gaita-Lurdes Essami, is a beautiful Ukrainian singer and songwriter, who had represented her country in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest; Europe’s answer to American Idol. Not everyone was happy with Ukraine’s choice, however. Yuriy Syrotyuk, a high-ranking member of the ultranationalist Svoboda (Freedom) Party, claimed that “Gaitana is
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Help Conservative Senators Stop Harper’s Banana Republic
Emperor Stephen Harper and his double double. Interesting times indeed. 8 Conservative senators have decided that Emperor Stephen Harper has no clothes. The Emperor has whipped and intimidated his backbench, cabinet and senators for a long time. Senator Hugh Segal stood up to him on bad legislation. Though he left
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Advice to progressives: Don’t airbrush Jim Flaherty’s record out of sympathy for his family
The late Jim Flaherty tries on the traditional new shoes just before delivering his 2012 federal budget. Below, some of Mr. Flaherty’s friends and colleagues: former Ontario premier Mike Harris, in whose government he also served; Prime Minister Stephen Harper; Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. Decent people naturally feel sympathy with
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