TweetWith one day left before the vote, Progressive Conservative leadership candidate Ric McIver’s campaign took to the radio airwaves, attacking frontrunner Jim Prentice for being “an insider.” It was an strange move for Mr. McIver, as the general public appears largely disinterested in the contest and the deadline to purchase
Continue readingTag: Thomas Lukaszuk
daveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Alberta Politics Catch Up: Pipelines, Planes, Cities and Rob Anders
TweetSpending a few days in another province can sometimes give you a different perspective on important national issues. Spending the last week in British Columbia served as a good reminder to this political watcher about how emotional the debate around pipelines and the Oilsands are in Alberta’s neighbouring province. While I am sure opinion is
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Opponents beyond PC ranks start to take aim at Alberta Tory leadership candidate Jim Prentice
Alberta Tory leadership candidate Jim Prentice, invisible, as everybody and their non-partisan friends pile on. Actual scenes from Alberta politics may not take place exactly as illustrated. Below: The real Mr. Prentice, in his lucky campaign shirt; Canadian Taxpayers Federation Alberta Director Derek Fildebrandt. VICTORIA, B.C. Jim Prentice, you’re in
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Thomas Lukaszuk’s campaign jumps the shark! Did Alberta’s PC government just do the same thing?
Thomas Lukaszuk looks cool as always, despite having just jumped the shark. Actual PC leadership candidates may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below, the real Mr. Lukaszuk. Yesterday was the day we were all supposed to be in agog at how Alberta is awash in cash again – a long-predicted
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Unsolved mysteries: Never mind those roaming charges, who leaked that Tory party membership list in 2011?
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 readingAlberta 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 readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: Alberta politics today: Caribou, Cell Phone Bills, and backing down on Term-Limits
TweetAnother news report this week focused on the devastation of caribou habitat in northwestern Alberta. The CBC story reported that deforestation caused by seismic cutlines and snowmobile traffic has caused irreparable damage to habitat critical to the survival of Alberta’s caribou herds. “About five per cent of range for the
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 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: Hurricane Redford shook Alberta to its foundations – the place may never be the same!
Her era drawing to a close, Alison Redford is sent out of a Progressive Conservative Caucus meeting on March 13 while Tory MLAs argue over her fate. Below: Premier Dave Hancock; Tory leadership aspirant Thomas Lukaszuk. Former premier Alison Redford signed off from public life in Alberta yesterday morning with
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
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