Capt. Queeg of the USS Caine channels Alberta Tory Party leaders as he describes the search for the missing strawberries. Imagine what he would have done with a purloined cell phone bill or a leaked list of Tory Party members! Below: Dave Hancock, Thomas Lukaszuk. Premier pro tempore Dave Hancock
Continue readingTag: Ric McIver
Alberta Diary: PC leadership: Jim Prentice’s term limit fumble and Thomas Lukaszuk’s cellular bill are good news for Ric McIver
File under, “Dinner, done like”… Alison Redford serves dinner to Thomas Lukaszuk as Jim Prentice, at left, and Dave Hancock, Doug Horner and Ric McIver look on. Actual Tory premiers, former premiers, would-be premiers and former would-be premiers may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: The author with Ric McIver.
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Top Ten Reasons Why Jim Prentice’s “Term Limited” Government is a Bad Idea
Politicians are not tins of spork. The good ones don’t go bad just because they’ve been sitting around for a while. Of all of the things that PC party leadership candidate Jim Prentice could have done to restore Albertans’ trust in government, imposing term limits on provincial MLAs was not
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Just as things were looking up a bit for foundering PCs, Alison Redford showed up again
Alison Redford contemplates which way to turn as she leaves behind a trail of devastation, toward the capital city’s new Sky Palace Hotel, left, or toward Edmonton’s High Level Bridge, right. Actual former premiers and the landmarks they threaten may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: The real Ms. Redford;
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Advice for the next Premier of Alberta: Be Bold by being Boring
TweetSo you’re a new Premier, looking for a way to make a splash – to make the public forget about the previous regime. You could do something simple like reduce Cabinet to 20, which is essentially the size of Cabinet (Associate Ministers are not actually Cabinet ministers). But that’s not
Continue readingAlberta Diary: A few harmless slaps were landed, but last night’s PC leadership debate in Edmonton was no donnybrook
The Three Tory Amigos just before last night’s Edmonton debate. Below: Mr. Lukaszuk, who your blogger says was the debate winner, frontrunner Jim Prentice, and the challenger with the best chance, Ric McIver. If last night’s Alberta Progressive Conservative Leadership debate in a North Edmonton Ukrainian community hall shows anything,
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Jim Prentice Fails the “Truthiness” Test (apologies to Stephen Colbert)
If Jim Prentice is going to wade into the murky waters of “truthiness” the least he could do is do it properly, otherwise the whole thing becomes a farce. Stephen Colbert “Truthiness” is a term coined by political satirist/comic Stephen Colbert to describe the practice of framing a political message
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 readingAlberta Diary: Sure you can run in my riding! With friends like Neil Brown, does Jim Prentice need enemies?
Neil Brown interviewed by a reporter – Darcy Henton of the Calgary Herald, not Matt Dykstra of the Edmonton Sun – on the day the Tory caucus gave Alison Redford her “work plan.” Not long after that they skidded her. Below: PC leadership candidate Jim Prentice. With friends like Neil
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Have the PCs sold only 23,700 memberships? If so, it’s bad news for frontrunner Jim Prentice no matter how you slice it!
Jim Prentice tries to figure out what to do about his incredible shrinking party. Actual potential Progressive Conservative leaders may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: the real Mr. Prentice, plus candidates Ric McIver and Thomas Lukaszuk. An intriguing rumour – impossible for an outsider to verify – did the
Continue readingAlberta Diary: The boss has gone crazy! He’s giving away PC Party memberships! And this time, it’s no joke!
Tory leadership frontrunner Jim Prentice: Yeah! That’s it! I’ll give away memberships! Below: Candidates Ric McIver and Thomas Lukaszuk. Holy Cow! Not only does Alberta Tory leadership frontrunner Jim Prentice admit his campaign has been giving away free memberships, but he says the idea’s OK with him and he intends
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Alison’s Albertan airplanes and architecture: Who knew? No one, it turns out!
A search for a member of Alison Redford’s cabinet or caucus who knew what was going on in the premier’s office might look something like this. Nothing like this is necessary in Alberta, though, because no one knew anything. It’s hardly necessary to say that real Alberta Tories may not
Continue readingAlberta Diary: The scary thing about Alison Redford’s resignation this morning: it just might work for the decrepit Tories!
Former premier Alison Redford with your blogger in, as they say, happier times. The reaction to former Alberta premier Alison Redford’s resignation as Calgary-Elbow MLA this morning among Opposition politicians was universal and predictable. To wit: the problems with the 43-year-old Progressive Conservative Dynasty are bigger than just Ms. Redford’s
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Alison Redford resigns as MLA for Calgary-Elbow
TweetOne-hundred and thirty-six days after Alison Redford was forced to resign as Premier of Alberta, she has announced that she will resign as the MLA for Calgary-Elbow. Through an opinion-editorial published in the Edmonton Journal and Calgary Herald, the former premier defended her record as premier and refused to apologize
Continue readingAlberta Diary: The #PCldr Files: Who is the best Tory choice for the coming Wildrose Apocalypse?
Your blogger with PC leadership candidate Thomas Lukaszuk. We’re not usually as friendly as this picture makes us look – especially on Twitter. Below: Tory leadership frontrunner Jim Prentice, candidate Ric McIver and the late federal NDP leader Jack Layton. What Alberta’s foundering Progressive Conservative dynasty needs to do now
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Is there any benefit for Albertans in a criminal prosecution of Alison Redford? Not really
Alison Redford, in days past, somewhere in the skies over Alberta. OK, I never said I was a master of Photoshop! Below: Disgraced Canadian Senator Mike Duffy, Alberta Tory leadership frontrunner Jim Prentice, leadership candidate and former deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk. Will Alberta benefit from a police investigation of Alison Redford’s
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: False Passengers and Fake Promises: Could the PC Party be choosing the next opposition leader?
TweetHere’s a question that isn’t often asked in Alberta: Which of the three Progressive Conservative leadership candidates would make the best Leader of the Opposition? An insane trail of scandal continues to leak out of the 43-year-long governing PC Party as it lurches towards a leadership vote on September 6. A
Continue readingIn This Corner: By the way, the PCs are electing our new premier. Just thought you should know.
As a respected member of the blogosphere (or at least a member of the blogosphere), I feel it is my obligation to comment on the ‘race’ to be the next leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta, who will also become our next premier. You will be forgiven if
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Anti-gay pastor, denied by Ric McIver, endorses the PC leadership candidate anyway for his ‘traditional Alberta values’
Pastor Artur Pawlowski and members of his flock march uninvited in 2012 at the head of the Calgary Stampede Parade, also known as the March for Mammon. Pastor Pawlowski, who holds extreme views about homosexuality, also has his own parade, which he calls the March for Jesus. Below: Ric McIver,
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Tory candidate Ric McIver to voters: No to green light speed enforcement; yes to booze sales at 4 a.m.; maybe to chain gangs
Edmonton’s Whyte Avenue at 4 a.m., as imagined by Ric McIver, would-be Tory leader and premier. Actual Alberta street scenes are unlikely ever to be as described with regard to the availability of taxicabs. Below: Mr. McIver, candidates Jim Prentice and Thomas Lukaszuk. Well, no one can say that Ric
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