Here are some of the latest updates to the list of candidates running for party nominations ahead of Alberta’s expected 2019 provincial general election: Airdrie-Cochrane: Airdrie realtor Mauri Stiff is seeking the United Conservative Party nomination. Banff-Kananaskis – Miranda Rosin and restaurant owner Scott Winograd are seeking the UCP nomination. Calgary-Acadia
Continue readingTag: Ric McIver
daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Kenney’s UCP comes out against NDP’s latest Gay-Straight Alliance bill
Photo: Jason Kenney with UCP MLAs Jason Nixon, Angela Pitt, Leela Aheer, Ric McIver and Prab Gill on October 30, 2017. United Conservative Party leader Jason Kenney announced on November 7, 2017 that his party’s MLAs will vote against Education Minister David Eggen’s Bill 24: An Act to Protect Gay-Straight Alliances.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Too much overtime owed may have saved former PC staffers’ jobs as UCP purged their Wildrose counterparts
PHOTOS: Nick Koolsbergen, new chief of staff to United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney. (Photo: Lorian Belanger/Radio-Canada.) Below: UCP Deputy Chief of Staff Matt Wolf (Photo: Linkedin), UCP communications staffer Blaise Boehmer (Photo: Twitter), and Jamie Mozeson, former candidate to succeed Rona Ambrose as MP for Sturgeon River-Parkland (Photo: Jamie
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jason Kenney assigns United Conservative Party caucus critic roles; Brian Jean is so far out he’s practically in orbit!
PHOTOS: Brian Jean, looking as if he’s contemplating his future. Truth be told, your blogger has no idea what Mr. Jean was thinking about in this photo grabbed from his still-functioning Facebook page. Below: United Conservative Party House Leader Jason Nixon, Deputy UCP Leader Leela Aheer, and former interim UCP
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Trailing UCP candidates knuckle under after brief rebellion over evasion of voting limits on home computers
PHOTOS: Shhhh! UCP voting in progress! (Photo: Wikimedia Commons.) Below: UCP leadership frontrunner Jason Kenney, and, like deer caught in the headlights, challengers Doug Schweitzer and Brian Jean. Former Wildrose leader Brian Jean must rue the day he ever agreed to take part in a leadership “contest” with Jason Kenney,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta Legislature Members’ Services Committee passes ‘Derek’s Rule,’ banning Airbnb rentals of MLA apartments
PHOTOS: Former Wildrose and UCP caucus member Derek Fildebrandt, now an Independent Alberta MLA, in happier times for him when he was an employee of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. Below: UCP interim Leader Nathan Cooper, former Progressive Conservative interim leader Ric McIver, NDP MLA Estefania Cortes-Vargas, and Canadian Taxpayers Federation
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Tracking MLA endorsements in the UCP leadership race
Members of the United Conservative Party will be selecting the party’s first permanent leader on October 28, 2017. After of this week’s fee payment deadline, four candidates will be listed on the ballot: Brian Jean, Jason Kenney, Doug Schweitzer and Jeff Callaway. Of the 28 UCP MLAs represented in Alberta’s
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Former PC MLAs running for municipal office in 2017
Alberta’s 2015 provincial election resulted in the election of 75 new MLAs in the 87 seat Legislative Assembly. More than two years after that historic election, a group of former Progressive Conservative MLAs have put forward their names to stand in the October 16, 2017 municipal elections. Here is a
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Environmentalist Tzeporah Berman, who gave as good as she got, leaves Alberta oilsands advisory role
PHOTOS: Former Oil Sands Advisory Group member Tzeporah Berman. Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, Progressive Conservative Legislative Caucus Leader Ric McIver, and Environment Minister Shannon Phillips. Tzeporah Berman, the high-profile environmentalist who became a lightning rod for right-wing fury at Alberta’s NDP, is no longer advising Premier Rachel Notley’s Government.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Genial and in control, Alberta premier fields questions about B.C. politics with aplomb at hospital announcement
PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and Health Minister and Deputy Premier Sarah Hoffman announce a new hospital on Edmonton’s south side. Alberta Health services CEO Verna Yiu is visible on the right. Below: Infrastructure Minister Brian Mason, controversial B.C. environmentalist Tzeporah Berman and some of the crowd at the hospital
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Bill 17: A Unicorn or a Chimera?
Last week the NDP government introduced the Fair and Family-Friendly Workplaces Act (Bill 17). It’s intended to update workplace legislation that became increasingly outdated under Progressive Conservative rule. Premier Notley describes Bill 17 as a balanced middle of the road approach. The Opposition is says it’s a “union-friendly omnibus bill”
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Despite Opposition demands, Alberta NDP says no to risky conservative ideological experiments in its 2017 budget
PHOTOS: Finance Minister Joe Ceci. Below: Interim Progressive Conservative Ric McIver showing off his Three Stooges tie, the sale of which puts the gross in Gross National Product; Opposition Leader Brian Jean; and Alberta Liberal interim Leader David Swann. “Admit it, Alberta, after yesterday afternoon’s Budget Speech was read by
Continue readingAlberta Politics: School bus rides may not be free, as interim Tory leader reminds us, but we all benefit when we share the cost
PHOTOS: Former Progressive Conservative premier Jim Prentice and interim PC leader Ric McIver, back in 2015. Both men, one could argue, found math could be hard. Below: NDP Premier Rachel Notley and PC premier Ralph Klein. “There’s no such thing as a free ride to school on a bus.” —
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Two views of Alberta third-quarter financial update: Steady as Joe goes, versus Faster, Pussycat! Cut! Cut!
PHOTOS: Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci, on a day when the sun was really shining. Below: Former premier Ralph Klein, the haze on fond memories as painted by his portraitist; interim PC Leader Ric McIver; Wildrose Jobs Critic Glenn van Dijken; and Alberta Party Leader Greg Clark. Despite the expected
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Portrait unveiling stands in for the fond official farewell former premier Dave Hancock never had from his PCs
PHOTOS: Former Alberta Premier Dave Hancock in a typical pose, as he addresses the crowd at the unveiling of his official portrait yesterday. Below: The portrait, by artist Tom Menczel, former Tory cabinet ministers Doug Horner and Richard Starke. The unveiling of Dave Hancock’s portrait in the Legislature yesterday may
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Powerful NDP fundraising machine, Kenney implodes the Tories, Liberals launch leadership campaign
The Alberta New Democratic Party raised more than the Wildrose and Progressive Conservative parties combined in the final quarter of 2016 and more than any other party over the entire year, according to financial disclosures published by Elections Alberta. The NDP… Continue Reading →
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta Liberals launch leadership race as Tory contest takes an acrimonious turn
PHOTOS: The Alberta Liberal Party executive. From left to right: Vice-President Fundraising John Roggeveen, Secretary Alyssa Moore, Treasurer Greg Springate, President Karen Sevcik, MLA David Swann, VP David Khan, VP Policy David Gamble and VP Constituencies Dan MacLennan. Below: Potential candidates Nolan Crouse, Mr. Khan and Nirmala Naidoo. OTTAWA Optimistically
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: “Phasing Out” the Oilsands
At a recent town hall meeting Mr Trudeau reiterated his position on climate change. He said: “You can’t make a choice between what’s good for the environment and what’s good for the economy. We can’t shut down the oilsands tomorrow. We need to phase them out. We need to manage
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Anticipated court scrap between government and home schoolers ends with whimper, not bang
PHOTOS: The school run by the Trinity Christian School Association in Cold Lake (photo from the group’s website). Below: Alberta Education Minister David Eggen, Alberta Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley, NDP MLA Heather Sweet, and Progressive Conservative Party interim Leader Ric McIver. The resolution yesterday of the much-anticipated cage fight between
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Lessons From Rex Tillerson*
If Rex Tillerson, the former head of ExxonMobil and Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, taught a class on pipeline strategy Brian Jean would be stuck at the front of the room wearing a dunce cap and Rachel Notley would be excused because she already knows this stuff. Conservative
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