As what has come to be known as the Essaygate Scandal unfolded, no one in Alberta seems to have thought to demand the resignation of Ron Orr, minister of culture and status of women in the United Conservative Party Government. Associate Status of Women Minister Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk (Photo: Fort Saskatchewan
Continue readingTag: Ron Orr
Alberta Politics: Ammolite, soon to be yet another official Alberta emblem, even comes with a cryptocurrency angle!
“Ammolite is an important part of our heritage and economy,” Ron Orr said yesterday in the Kenney Government’s news release announcing that the little-known gemstone would soon become one of Alberta’s official emblems. Mr. Orr is Alberta’s minister of Culture, Multiculturalism, and Status of Women. It’s the latter portfolio on
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Missing premier reported sighted in Calgary – if it’s really Jason Kenney, he’s got some ’splainin’ to do!
After managing to stay completely off the radar for a two-week vacation that stretched to at least 23 days, there was a credible sounding Jason Kenney sighting in Calgary last night. If the man spotted at a southeast Calgary shawarma restaurant while a dark SUV full of bodyguards idled nearby
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Judge gives green light to ‘anti-Alberta energy campaigns’ inquiry – a ruling the UCP may come to regret
At the end of a terrible week, there was a smidgen of solace for Jason Kenney and his United Conservative Party. Yesterday, Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Karen Horner rejected Ecojustice Canada Society’s arguments the Kenney Government’s so-called “Public Inquiry into Anti-Alberta Energy Campaigns” was just a politicized attempt
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Message to my American Cousins: It’s mellow up here; there is no communist revolution yet; no one wants to take Manhattan
Dear American Cousins, literal and metaphorical: The day before yesterday, medical and recreational cannabis became legal in Canada. The Canada correspondent for the New York Times reported excitedly that we Canadians were calling this C-Day. We were? Beats the hell outta me where she got that idea. I’m pretty sure
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Alberta Election Updates: NDP MLA Michael Connolly not running for re-election, Ron Orr wins UCP contest in Lacombe-Ponoka
Photo: NDP MLA Michael Connolly (left) with Premier Rachel Notley and Finance Minister Joe Ceci (source: Facebook) New Democratic Party MLA Michael Connolly announced this weekend that he will not seek re-election to the Legislative Assembly when the next provincial election is called in 2019. Connolly was elected in 2015 in
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Karen Principe defeats former MLA Janice Sarich to win UCP nomination in Edmonton-Decore, NDP nominate MLA Marlin Schmidt in Edmonton-Gold Bar
Past City Council candidate Karen Principe defeated former Progressive Conservative MLA Janice Sarich and real estate agent Gordon Reekie to secure the United Conservative Party nomination in Edmonton-Decore last night. Principe is a dental hygienist who placed a strong third in the October 2017 city council race that saw incumbent councillor Dave
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Doug Schweitzer wins UCP nomination in Calgary-Elbow, Danielle Larivee selected as NDP candidate in Lesser Slave Lake
Photo: Doug Schweitzer, Danielle Larivee, Travis Toews, and Mo Elsalhy. Former United Conservative Party leadership candidate Doug Schweitzer defeated past city council candidate Chris Davis to secure his party’s nomination in Calgary-Elbow on September 13, 2018. As noted last week, Schweitzer is a lawyer who briefly considered running for the PC Party
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Janis Irwin running for NDP nomination in Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood, Daniel Williams wins UCP contest in Peace River
Photo: More than 200 people packed into the Bellevue Community Hall tonight to support Janis Irwin’s bid for the NDP nomination in Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood. Janis Irwin launched her campaign for the New Democratic Party nomination in Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood this evening at the Bellevue Community Hall. Irwin is a community advocate and educator, and she
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Odds-on favourites for disaster … ‘Jimmy the Geek’ sets Vegas odds for the UCP MLAs most likely to resign next
Now that Alberta’s Opposition United Conservative Party has been around for a year – it’s first anniversary was on Sunday – we note that the right-wing party has seen the resignation of no fewer than six of its MLAs for various reasons in its first year of operation. In fairness,
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Sunday Night Candidate Nomination Update
Photo: Shelly Shannon, Kathleen Ganley, Christina Gray, and Beth Barberree The New Democratic Party has scheduled its nomination meeting in Fort McMurray-Conklin for May 10, 2018. A by-election is needed in this district following the resignation of United Conservative Party MLA Brian Jean. Wood Buffalo municipal councillor Jane Stroud is expected
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Who is running in Alberta’s 2019 Election?
A handful of aspiring elected officials have already put their names forward to run in Alberta’s next provincial general election, which, due to our odd-ball fixed-election period, is expected to be called between March 1, 2019 and May 31, 2019. One candidate has already been nominated. Omar Masood was acclaimed
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jim Hole, high-profile Alberta horticulturalist, does his bit to make cannabis cultivation respectable in Canada
PHOTOS: Hole’s Greenhouses co-owner Jim Hole at yesterday’s news conference at his store in St. Albert. Below: Atlas Growers President and CEO Sheldon Croome. Below him: Mr. Hole tests the light in his pot-growing enclosure for a group of mildly bemused reporters. As readers can see, the unit can also
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 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: Wildrose Shuffles Critics, Fildebrandt no longer Public Accounts Committee Chairman
Outspoken Wildrose Party MLA Derek Fildebrandt, who finds himself frequently at odds with leader Brian Jean, remains in his high-profile role as Official Opposition Finance & Treasury critic after a shuffle of critic portfolios in the Wildrose caucus this week. But according to… Continue Reading →
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 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 reading