The Alberta NDP are pushing forward with their plans to reform Alberta’s outdated election finance laws. Labour Minister Christina Gray, who also serves as Minister Responsible for Democratic Renewal, introduced the NDP’s latest election finance reforms in the Legislature today… Continue Reading →
Continue readingTag: Rick Strankman
daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: What the 2nd quarter fundraising results mean for Alberta’s political parties
Elections Alberta released the results of this year’s second quarter of fundraising for provincial political parties this week. Following the release of the disclosures I took a closer look at last quarter’s results and what they could m…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Appointment of environmentalist Tzeporah Berman sparks Wildrose hysteria – here’s why
PHOTOS: Environmentalist Tzeporah Berman, whose appointment to the Alberta Government’s climate panel prompted a full-scale freak-out by the province’s right, which, apparently, sees her as, well, an Orc. Below the Orc: B.C. Premier Christy Clark a…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The tragedies we ignore: Recent Wildrose gaffe won’t end right’s bogus equivalencies in Canadian political discourse
PHOTOS: The Famine Memorial in Dublin. The Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s and ’50s is ignored in current Canadian political discourse while the Ukrainian Famine of the 1930s is frequently evoked. Both are real historical events with ideological roo…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta Opposition Leader Brian Jean now officially ‘embattled’ as Wildrose insurrection appears to spread
PHOTOS: Is Wildrose Party Leader Brian Jean contemplating being given the boot by his party’s radicals … or giving it to them? (Wildrose.ca photo.) Below: Lac La Biche-St. Paul-Two Hills MLA David Hanson (photo also from Wildrose.ca), Twitter infor…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: NDP environmental policies: Who’re ya gonna believe? Mark Carney or Rick Strankman?
PHOTOS: Bank of England Governor and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley at yesterday’s brief news conference in the provincial Legislature Building. (CBC Photo) Below: Rick Strankman and Michael Bloomberg. Who’re ya gonna believe, huh? Mark Carney, form…
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The Wildrose and PCs Weigh In On Medically Assisted Dying
We’ve seen a lot of fireworks in the Alberta Legislature but nothing can match the rhetoric and misinformation that characterized the response of the Wildrose (and to a lesser extent the Progressive Conservatives) to the government’s motion to regulate medical … Continue reading →
Alberta Politics: Keeping things in in the Right perspective: Wildrose says NDP’s carbon levy is much like killing 10 million people
PHOTOS: Wildrose Agriculture Critic Rick Strankman thinks the NDP Government’s carbon levy is just murder. (Photo grabbed from his Facebook page.) Below: NDP Economic Development Minister Deron Bilous, Wildrose MLA Drew Barnes, another member of the …
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Are the Alberta NDP keeping their promise to improve ethics in government?
Days after the Alberta New Democratic Party was elected with a majority government in 2015, I wrote a column outlining the promises made in the party’s election platform to improve ethics in government. One year later, here is a look at thos…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Christmas in Wildrose Country: That noise on the roof may not be Santa Claus! It could be the UN, here to steal your turnips!
ILLUSTRATIONS: Will Santa have to come armed and armoured like this to be safe on Alberta rooftops in case the province’s loony right mistakes him for a UN trooper bent on world government and turnip confiscation? Below: Wildrose MLA Rick Strankman a…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Alberta NDP face legitimate concerns and kooky conspiracy theories in debate over Bill 6 farm safety bill
Alberta’s NDP government has been in full damage control mode since Bill 6: Enhanced Protection for Farm and Ranch Workers Act exploded in their faces late last month. While attempting to bring our province closer to national standards on farm safe…
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Bill 6: What are we really talking about?
“Between what was explicitly stated, and what was intended, fear and miscommunication has filled the gap.” – Rachel Notley on Bill 6 Safety is paramount. Everyone says so. And yet all hell broke loose when the NDP government tried to … Continue reading →
daveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Sky does not fall as Alberta NDP presents its first budget
When Finance Minister Joe Ceci stood in the Legislature on Oct. 27 to deliver the Alberta NDP’s first budget, it marked the first time since 1972 that the budget was not tabled by a Progressive Conservative finance minister. The first budget of Premier Rachel Notley‘s… Continue Reading →
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Civil Disobedience the Wildrose Way
For a brief and shining moment we had détente. The NDP government and the Opposition met in the Legislature, engaged in healthy debate and came together to pass a landmark piece of legislation, Bill 1, which bans union and corporate donations to political parties. Then Wildrose Opposition Leader Brian Jean
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Civil disobedience, Alberta-style: obviously it’s only an outrage when non-conservatives talk about it
PHOTOS: Which one looks most like a certain Wildrose critic, back in the day? Just asking. Below: Wildrose MLA and frontbencher Rick Strankman, who was pardoned by PM Stephen Harper. Below them, Wildrose Leader Brian Jean and enviro activist and Alberta values violator Mike Hudema plus his scary book. VICTORIA,
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Notley NDP waste no time implementing popular progressive agenda in former conservative heartland
Banning corporate and union donations: Check. Restoring funding to health, education and human services: Check. Increasing corporate taxes: Check. Introducing a new climate change strategy: Coming soon. Phasing in a $15 per hour minimum wage: Coming soon. Reviewing Alberta’s natural resource… Continue Reading →
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Can Alberta’s Tories Navigate their way back to relevance?
As most Albertans head to work tomorrow morning, the Tory-connected public relations firm Navigator will host an invite-only session for clients in downtown Edmonton titled “Alberta’s New Government: What to Expect.” The session is being hosted by former Ottawa television… Continue Reading →
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Oops!
It seems that a candidate for Alberta’s Wildrose party, Rick Strankman, has made a bit of a faux pas, one that he blames, as politicians are wont to do, on a volunteer: A Wildrose candidate was forced to apologize and retract a poster Thursday that called on party supporters to
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Friday morning provincial candidate nomination updates from Alberta
Alberta MLAs will return to the Legislature for a spring sitting on March 10, 2015, the Progressive Conservative Party plans to have candidates nominated in all 87 constituencies by March 15, 2015 and Finance Minister Robin Campbell is expected to introduce… Continue Reading →
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Who will be the next leader of the Wildrose Party?
TweetAfter 11 of the party’s 16 MLAs crossed the floor to the Progressive Conservatives in November and December 2014, the Wildrose Party has been thrown into chaos. Left without its most public faces, most notably former leader Danielle Smith, the party will choose its next permanent leader sometime in the next
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