Alberta Politics: Minister’s letter to municipalities demanding an accounting of all federal money they receive is classic UCP red tape

The United Conservative Party Government’s demand that all of Alberta municipalities report any agreements they have in place with the federal government by the end of the month will be expensive and time consuming, especially for Alberta’s largest cities. Former Progressive Conservative Party deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk (Photo: David J.

Continue reading

Alberta Politics: Is a ‘fair deal’ or a fare deal behind Jason Kenney’s Christmas flight to Ottawa with his entourage?

Nobody flies to Ottawa at this time of year expecting to get anything done with the government of Canada. This is axiomatic. Remember that if you’re wondering about that planeload of Alberta Conservative cabinet ministers, deputy ministers and assorted spear-carriers led by Jason Kenney jetting off to the nation’s capital,

Continue reading

Alberta Politics: UCP leadership campaign reveals ‘how an aggressive campaign could hijack online votes,’ U.S. journalist writes

Digital-election-theft allegations swirling around the 2017 United Conservative Party leadership campaign should be a sharp warning for the U.S. Democratic Party, which plans to use similar technology in some of its 2020 presidential primary races, says an American journalist who specializes in covering election technology and democratic issues. While a

Continue reading

Alberta Politics: Former Alberta immigration minister asks federal immigration minister for investigation of UCP candidate’s alleged immigration practices

Former Alberta employment and immigration minister Thomas Lukaszuk has written federal immigration minister Ahmed Hussein urging him to open a formal investigation into serious allegations a temporary foreign worker was improperly treated by a business person who is now a United Conservative Party candidate in Calgary. Mr. Lukaszuk, who was

Continue reading

Alberta Politics: Your Weekend BS: The straight poop on profanity in politics and the state of public discourse in Alberta

PHOTOS: Alberta politicians Deron Bilous, Jason Kenney, Derek Fildebrandt and Thomas Lukaszuk, all from the author’s vast collection of snapshots. Trigger warning! This dispatch from the Annals of Political Discourse in Alberta contains words unsuitable for sensitive and young readers. For a more fulsome discussion of why they are included

Continue reading

Alberta Politics: Counting up the Alberta Party’s leadership candidates, real and imagined, so far: a partial list, no doubt

PHOTOS: Former Morinville mayor Lisa Holmes. Below: Doug Griffiths, Thomas Lukaszuk, Stephen Khan and Chima Nkemdirim. These photos were chosen completely arbitrarily, mainly because they came from the author’s own collection and hadn’t been used a bunch of times before. If it weren’t for the takeover of the once-rather-liberal Alberta

Continue reading

Alberta 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 reading