The sight yesterday of Premier Danielle Smith and two of her ministers struggling to pump up the tires of a corporate scheme to pass off pharmacists as practitioners of family medicine and their drugstores as clinics was as embarrassing as it was disturbing. Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. CEO Jeff Leger
Continue readingTag: United Conservative Party
Alberta Politics: If it is to be properly settled, the divisive argument over use of the Emergencies Act needs to go to the Supreme Court
Another day, another fatuous statement from Alberta United Conservative Party attacking the Trudeau Government. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). This time the news hook for the UCP’s fatuity was the ruling by a Federal Court of Canada justice that the Liberal Government’s use of the Emergencies Act on
Continue readingAlberta 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 readingAlberta Politics: What does Alberta’s premier have to say about TBA founder’s call for UCP supporters to join NDP to mess up its leadership race?
It would be interesting to know what Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has to say about the call by the founder of her party’s influential Take Back Alberta faction to his supporters to use the NDP’s upcoming leadership race to infiltrate the Opposition party and try to elect its leader. Take
Continue readingAlberta Politics: With UCP support, police chief’s solution to homeless crisis moves ahead, whether Edmonton city council likes it or not
Edmonton’s police chief and the UCP ministers there to support him on his plan to clear Edmonton’s parks and avenues of hundreds of tents housing homeless people seemed antagonistic, annoyed and agitated at yesterday’s government news conference. Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). This is evident if you
Continue readingAlberta Politics: That was the weekend that was: -38, grid on the brink, UCP flooding the zone, NDP all but struck dumb, and more
The United Conservative Party Government and its supporters appeared to be flooding the zone, Steve Bannon style, today to recover from the embarrassment of the near collapse of the provincial electrical grid during last weekend’s polar vortex deep-freeze. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). There was a stream of
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Online speculation about cold-weather electricity crunch highlights the UCP’s lack of credibility
Chances are vanishingly small that Alberta’s United Conservative Party Government somehow managed to intentionally cause last night’s cold-weather electricity crunch that led to every Albertan with a smartphone receiving an emergency alert pleading with them “to immediately limit their electricity use to essential needs only.” Somebody’s screenshot of Saturday’s emergency
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP minister tells Edmonton mayor he can forget about seeing anyone from the province at a summit on homelessness
Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi can forget about seeing Jason Nixon – Alberta’s minister of seniors, community and social services – at the summit on housing and homelessness he hopes to organize with provincial, city, First Nations, and federal leaders. Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). Indeed, Mr. Sohi
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Edmonton mayor to ask city councillors to declare housing and homelessness emergency on Monday, ruffling UCP feathers
In a blog post published yesterday, Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said he has called a special meeting of City Council Monday to ask for a declaration of a housing and homelessness emergency in the city. Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). The United Conservative Party Government was clearly
Continue readingAlberta Politics: A potentially deadly ‘Tyleonot’ gong show: Can Alberta’s UCP government be trusted to do anything right?
Prediction: Every remaining drop of the screwball Turkish children’s medicine bought by Alberta’s United Conservative Party last year for give or take $100 million just to own the Libs is going to have to be poured down the drain. Then deputy premier Nathan Neudorf, at left, and then health minister
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Expect more chaos in health care, already overwhelmed and at the brink, as AHS ‘senior leaders’ get orders to cut costs
With Alberta’s overwhelmed public health care system once again teetering at the brink, a memorandum from Alberta Health Services’ acting chief financial officer to its “senior leaders” telling them they must find ways to cut costs has surfaced. Michael Lam, Alberta Health Services acting chief financial officer and vice-president of
Continue readingAlberta Politics: As temperatures drop, police and city crews continue rousts of homeless encampments, government pitches winter camping
With temperatures falling and lows below minus-30 degrees Celsius forecast by the middle of next week, Edmonton police and city crews continue to break up homeless encampments in the city core. A Government of Alberta advertisement promoting winter camping (Illustration: Government of Alberta). Police in black uniforms and city employees
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Engaged citizens need to take it seriously when UCP leaders start talking about mass purges in health care and education
On December 30, Edmonton Sun commentator Rick Bell published a column suggesting Premier Danielle Smith plans a purge of Alberta Health Services that will reach deep into the middle ranks of the province-wide public health care agency’s management. Calgary Sun political columnist Rick Bell (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). “Layers and
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Steven Guilbeault is keeping someone busy writing unhinged jeremiads for Danielle Smith!
Who’s writing Danielle Smith’s unhinged jeremiads? Alberta Premier Danielle Smith (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). Whoever it is, as an Alberta taxpayer I sincerely hope we’re not paying them by the word, because their screeds are definitely getting longer! Regardless of what it sounds like, we know it’s not some guy with
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Ethics investigations, Alberta, style – no rules were broken when Deena Hinshaw was fired! Now please move along, folks …
You were wondering about that ethics investigation into the way former Alberta chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw was immediately re-fired after she was hired as a member of Alberta Health Services’ Indigenous Wellness Core last June? Was it Premier Danielle Smith? She says not (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr).
Continue readingAlberta Politics: After a day of negotiations, deal lightly taps the brakes on mass Christmas clearances of Edmonton homeless camps
Lawyers for the Edmonton police and the city of Edmonton on one side and the Coalition for Justice and Human Rights on the other reached a deal last night that lightly taps the brakes on pre-Christmas sweeps to bust up eight homeless encampments in the city’s downtown core. Justice Kent
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Replacing to Sovereignty Act so soon? Danielle Smith’s belligerent statement vows new attack on federal power
VICTORIA, B.C. – Is Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party Government now planning to introduce a new, tougher Sovereignty Act to fight Ottawa’s proposed emissions regulations? Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). As is well known, the plainly unconstitutional Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act has
Continue readingAlberta Politics: #Kudatah? Not quite – even Danielle Smith admits this Sovereignty Act stuff is mostly performative fluff
“Alberta’s government will not put Albertans and their businesses at risk of freezing in the dark at -30 C due to the federal government’s proposed unaffordable, unreliable and unconstitutional Clean Electricity Regulations (CERs).” — Actual Government of Alberta press release, Nov. 27, 2023 I think it’s official, my fellow Albertans.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Preston Manning’s pandemic panel report wants more politicians, fewer docs calling public health shots
Have I got this straight? Preston Manning just made a recommendation to give politicians absolute authority over public health that was so excellent the Alberta government accepted it a week before they got it? Alberta Premier Danielle Smith (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). Can someone remind me why we gave the superannuated
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Premiers can agree not to poach health care workers from one another, but that’s easier said than done
A week ago, Canada’s premiers ended a meeting in Halifax agreeing that they shouldn’t poach health care workers from one another. Nova Scotia Conservative Premier Tim Houston (Photo: Screenshot of CPAC video). There’s a shortage all round, they seemed to be saying, let’s poach from poor countries instead of each
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