History repeats itself, Karl Marx famously observed, first as tragedy, second as farce. Well, not always. Alberta’s notorious Energy War Room, fortunately, seems to have skipped the tragedy phase and moved directly to farce. A screengrab of the Alberta Energy War Room’s Netflix attack site (Image: Canadian Energy Centre Ltd.).
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Alberta Politics: Two bad polls in one day for Alberta’s UCP don’t tell us what will happen in 2023, but suggest some interesting possibilities
Two bad new polls in one day for the United Conservative Party do not guarantee NDP Opposition Leader Rachel Notley will return to power in 2023 or that we will soon see the back of Premier Jason Kenney. Still, they suggest some interesting possibilities. Opposition Leader and former premier Rachel
Continue readingAlberta Politics: As world marks first anniversary of global pandemic, Alberta Medical Association surrenders to Kenney Government
Throughout the pandemic, Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro’s War on Doctors has been held up as an example of what a government ought not to do in the midst of a pandemic when front-line medical workers of all sorts are risking their lives to keep us safe and well. Yesterday,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP explains away Jason Kenney’s lost $1.3-billion KXL gamble by lumping it into ‘historic’ infrastructure budget
If you’ve been wondering how the United Conservative Party Government would explain that $1.3 billion gifted for nothing to TC Energy Corp. as a result of Premier Jason Kenney’s foolish bet Donald Trump would win last November’s U.S. presidential election, you need wonder no more. They’ve lumped it into the
Continue readingThe Daveberta Podcast: Episode 70: Who was the most unpopular Premier in Alberta history?
We dive into our mailbag and answer some great questions sent in by Daveberta Podcast listeners. From the possibility of a United Conservative Party leadership review to Premier Jason Kenney’s new health care-friendly talking points to the Alberta Party leadership to the unpopularity of premiers Richard Reid and John Brownlee,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: ASIRT won’t do to investigate Lethbridge Police spying on NDP MLA; a judicial inquiry is required
ASIRT may be an OK place to start the investigation into the concerted effort by the Lethbridge Police Service to spy on Shannon Phillips, a local woman who just happened to be the environment minister in the NDP Government that led Alberta from 2015 to 2019. The Alberta Serious Incident
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Yes, there’s trouble in Kenneyland – but not yet the kind Alberta’s unlikable Conservative premier can’t survive
It’s obvious there’s trouble in Kenneyland. But is there enough trouble to unseat Alberta’s suddenly unpopular premier? Progressive blogger Dave Cournoyer, on the job (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). There’s certainly plenty of buzz about that on social media these days. The chitchat about Premier Jason Kenney’s difficulties with his own
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Women’s employment rates in Alberta return to levels not seen since the Eighties – the reaction? Crickets
Remember all the hand-wringing back in 2018 and 2019 when unemployment for young men in Alberta hit 20 per cent? “It is so stark: Young men left behind in Alberta’s recovery amid ‘male-dominated recession’” — Financial Post “Legions of young Alberta men are unemployed and feel ostracized. What could go
Continue readingAlberta Politics: No fiscal reckoning for health care – just yet, anyway – Alberta premier tells largely news-free news conference
O Budget, where is thy fiscal sting? O Premier, where is thy fiscal victory? From 2016, when he first cast his eyes on Alberta provincial politics, until a few weeks ago when his polls slipped into the basement, the words “fiscal discipline” and “fiscal reckoning” were often on Premier Jason
Continue readingAlberta Politics: University of Alberta faces more than half of budget’s brutal post-secondary cuts – so why does UCP have it in for U of A?
University of Alberta President William Flanagan’s mildly worded protest Friday that nearly half of the massive $126-million cut to post-secondary education in Alberta will be borne by the University of Alberta is certain to fall on deaf ears within Premier Jason Kenney’s governing United Conservative Party. “In Budget 2021, the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta Budget 2021 hot take: Sweeter language, same old ‘fiscal reckoning,’ and no path to balance
When Finance Minister Travis Toews got up on his hind legs in the Alberta Legislature to read his 2021 Budget Speech Thursday afternoon, there wasn’t as much tough talk about the coming “fiscal reckoning” as Albertans are accustomed to. Instead of the kind of language the United Conservative Party
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Unsustainable Alberta: Don’t expect the UCP to pay any attention to the Business Council of Alberta in tomorrow’s budget
It’s Alberta Budget Day tomorrow. Finance Minister Travis Toews will table a budget at an afternoon pop-up meeting of the Legislature. Then United Conservative Party MLAs will run like hell for their ridings and hunker down until the Legislature’s business resumes on March 8. Alberta’s pop-up Legislature will open for
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Advice for Jason Kenney: If you’re going to sup with the Devil, you need a longer spoon
Jason Kenney didn’t actually say there were very fine people at Saturday’s tiki-torch parade at the Alberta Legislature, but his half-hearted condemnation of the racist overtones of the tawdry “one-voice walk for freedom” surely came from the same place. It took Alberta’s United Conservative Party premier almost 48 hours to
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Despite giving UCP a hard time, Critical Infrastructure Defence Act no threat to defiant pastor and his COVID-sceptical flock
Small groups of supporters of James Coates, the temporarily jailed pastor of an Edmonton-area church who has been defiantly refusing to obey Alberta’s COVID-19 restrictions, protested in front of the Edmonton Remand Centre Thursday and yesterday. They rallied outside that monumental piece of critical Alberta infrastructure demanding the GraceLife Church’s
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Judge hopes to rule on Ecojustice effort to shut down energy campaigns inquiry before May 31 – why that shouldn’t be a problem
We’re all just going to have to wait to find out how the legal effort by Ecojustice Canada Society to shut down Alberta’s so-called “Public Inquiry into Anti-Alberta Energy Campaigns” turns out. After hearing arguments for two days last week from lawyers for Ecojustice, the province, inquiry Commissioner Steve Allan,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Is the Kenney Government’s EMS dispatch consolidation plan a prelude to ambulance privatization?
Is the Kenney Government’s determination to force reluctant municipalities to turn over 9-1-1 calls to a provincial Emergency Medical Services dispatch centre a prelude to privatization of provincial ambulance services? It’s certainly unlikely to be the paltry $6 million the United Conservative Party Government claims this will save, especially given
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The Annals of Alberta poetry: The United Conservative Party sends us a Kenney Valentine
I choo-choo-chooose To get a fair deal for you — Actual United Conservative Party Valentine’s Day Twitter meme Keystone is dead The billions are lost I blame Joe Biden But I’ll probably get tossed The actual UCP meme published today (Image: Twitter). — Response by @DaveCournoyer The ocean is blue
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Mayor in the heart of the oilsands dares Jason Kenney to fire him in fight over declining ambulance service
In case you missed it, while Alberta Premier Jason Kenney was trying to pretend the embarrassing rebellion of two COVID-skeptical MLAs in southern Alberta wasn’t happening, another political rebellion against his policies was coming to a boil in the heart of the oilsands. On Tuesday, defiant members of the council
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jason Kenney chooses the cake department to unexpectedly announce one-time pandemic ‘bonus’ for front-line workers
Was Jason Kenney channelling Marie Antoinette when he appeared in front of an Edmonton grocery store’s cake counter yesterday to announce a one-time $1,200 pandemic payment to front-line workers? Many of the front-line workers risking COVID-19 to deliver us services from health care to retail confections may be badly paid,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Defying Jason Kenney’s pleas to take COVID-19 seriously, two UCP MLAs join ‘End the Lockdowns National Caucus’
Two MLAs from Premier Jason Kenney’s government caucus have joined a national coalition of elected and former politicians dedicated to the proposition restrictions on social and commercial activities intended to slow the spread of COVID-19 must end. Needless to say, centrifugal force is not a good look for a United
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