After being declared COVID-19 free last June, New Zealand is ever-so-cautiously moving toward reopening its watery borders to some international travel. With Australia, that is. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (Photo: NewZild, Creative Commons). Australia hasn’t done quite as well countering the coronavirus as New Zealand has, but it’s
Continue readingTag: United Conservative Party
Alberta Politics: Pretty much a dud, but still alive, Alberta’s ‘Energy War Room’ stumbles along after a year
Alberta’s “Energy War Room” was a year old yesterday and while the cash lavished on the self-described purveyor of a “fact-based narrative about Canadian energy” isn’t the worst investment ever made, or even the worst investment made by the Kenney Government, its return on investment is nothing to write home
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jason Kenney’s ineffective COVID-19 strategy mirrors his failing response to world demand for cleaner energy
Memo to United Conservative Party issues managers: Your boss will need to take some time today away from defending his COVID-19 response to attack the New York State pension fund for its decision to dump all fossil fuel stocks in the next five years and eliminate investments in companies that
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Will Jason Kenney risk cracks in his UCP coalition by enforcing new COVID-19 measures?
Better late than never, the Kenney Government sharply changed course yesterday and announced much tougher lockdown measures that have the potential to slow the spread of COVID-19. These will include closing bars, lounges, casinos, hair salons, libraries, and sports studios, restricting restaurants to take-out sales, mandating indoor masking and at-home
Continue readingAlberta Politics: COVID-19 measures put in place two weeks ago insufficient to reduce infections, Deena Hinshaw admits
Chief Medical Officer of Health Deena Hinshaw admitted yesterday that Alberta’s current response to soaring COVID-19 infection rates is “not likely to be sufficient to bring down our numbers.” Fielding uncharacteristically tough and focused questioning by reporters taking part in her afternoon COVID-19 briefing and news conference, Dr. Hinshaw wouldn’t
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Australian state’s four-point plan to eliminate COVID-19 worked; Alberta did the opposite on every count
A few Albertans may still remember Stephen Duckett, the remarkably undiplomatic Australian health economist hired by Premier Ed Stelmach’s Progressive Conservative government to run the then-just-created Alberta Health Services in 2009. Dr. Duckett had a stellar resume and was obviously great in an interview. However, it turned out, he didn’t
Continue readingThe Daveberta Podcast: Episode 64: Pandemic, Partisanship, and Post-Secondary Education in Alberta
Melanee Thomas joined Dave Cournoyer for a deep dive into Alberta’s politics during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the relationship between the provincial and federal governments, and how Albertans’ political self-identification could be influencing Premier Jason Kenney’s decision to avoid serious public health measures including a province-wide mandatory mask mandate. Thomas
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Space, the UCP’s final frontier — taking catastrophe where no Alberta government has gone before!
Space, the final frontier … they even think Jason Kenney and his United Conservative Party Government are an interstellar disaster at Starfleet Command! Well, in fairness to the Alberta premier and his out-of-its-depth government, William Shatner was never a real Starfleet commander, he just played one on TV. Ontario Health
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Latest leak shows AHS modelling forecasts Intensive Care Units packed with COVID-19 patients by mid-December
In the first unauthorized information leak of December, Alberta’s NDP Opposition revealed yesterday Alberta Health Services case modelling projects about 775 Albertans will be in hospital with COVID-19 in just two weeks. More than 160 of them will be in intensive care units, further straining the overstressed provincial health system’s
Continue readingAlberta Politics: With pandemic respiratory disease rampaging virtually unchecked in Alberta, Calgary faces oxygen rationing
In a development that is surely emblematic of the unchecked progress of the novel coronavirus under the United Conservative Party Government of Premier Jason Kenney, Albertans learned yesterday we are now having to ration oxygen in Calgary. Oxygen! No fines were handed out when unmasked anti-maskers packed together defiantly to
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Oppositional by nature, the UCP acts as if Rachel Notley’s NDP was still the government
Perhaps because he’s the only United Conservative Party MLA in Edmonton, Justice Minister Kaycee Madu seems to have become the Kenney Government’s main spokesperson responsible for yelling at the NDP. Whether Mr. Madu writes his own social media material or has an aide to perform that function for him, his
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP tries to recast story of premier’s meddling in pandemic response as tale of betrayal by unidentified leaker
Turns out the Kenney Government’s pandemic response has been guided more by political pressure and right-wing ideology than science and expert advice. For weeks Premier Jason Kenney and his army of “issues managers” have claimed Alberta’s determined effort to keep its restaurants, bars and casinos open in the face of
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Gary Mar on Keystone XL: Likely the only guy who can save Jason Kenney’s Keystone XL pipe-dream is Justin Trudeau
It may not quite be impossible for Jason Kenney to see his dream of completing the Keystone XL Pipeline to the U.S. Gulf Coast on his watch come true, but it will be almighty difficult with Democrat Joe Biden in the White House. What’s more, if the project is to
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta dithers on, replacing pandemic half-measures with slightly tougher half-measures
Premier Jason Kenney finally resurfaced yesterday, looking healthy enough, to respond to Alberta’s surging COVID-19 infection rate with new half-measures not all that distinguishable from the old half-measures. Bars, restaurants and non-essential businesses will be allowed to remain open with reduced capacity, ditto for megachurches that will still be permitted
Continue readingAlberta Politics: David Khan and Don Iveson, two bright lights of Alberta politics, announce they’re packing it in
Two prominent Alberta politicians have taken the traditional Canadian walk in the snow and announced their planned departures from their current political roles. Alberta Liberal Leader David Khan, 46, one of the most influential provincial politicians in Alberta without a seat in the Legislature, made his announcement on Sunday. Edmonton
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The Premier is Missing (not a novel) – will he be back today to launch a big COVID-19 lockdown, or is it something else?
Where’s Jason Kenney? Alberta’s in the midst of a pandemic emergency that grows more frightening by the day, but it’s been days since the public’s seen or heard from the premier. Heath Minister Tyler Shandro (Photo: Chris Schwarz, Government of Alberta). There were 1,584 new COVID-19 cases in Alberta announced
Continue readingThe Daveberta Podcast: 63: Defending Alberta Parks
Annalise Klingbeil joins the Daveberta Podcast to discuss the latest developments in United Conservative Party government’s plans to close and privatize more than 160 provincial parks and recreation areas. We also discuss the mixed-messaging about the COVID-19 pandemic that Albertans are hearing from Premier Jason Kenney and his cabinet ministers
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Guest Post by Cam Westhead: COVID-19 public health advice – armchair epidemiologists need not apply
By Cam Westhead One of the first things I learned in nursing school was not to panic during times of crisis. Medical professionals are trained to act like a duck – appearing calm on top of the water but paddling like mad underneath. Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena
Continue readingAlberta Politics: It’s the pandemic, stupid!
Another day, another COVID-19 infection record broken. This time, 1,155. There are 11 new deaths. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and Health Minister Tyler Shandro, as they appeared at yesterday’s news conference. Is it just me, or is there a whiff of panic in the cold Alberta air? Not among the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: As COVID-19 cases soar, UCP MLA tells constituents the pandemic is behind us
Alberta set a new daily record for COVID-19 yesterday, with 1,105 confirmed new cases reported over the previous 24 hours. No fear, though. Apparently the worst of the pandemic is already behind us! Ms. Rosin during her tenure as a member of Premier Jason Kenney’s “Fair Deal” Panel (Photo: David
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