PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley. Below: Pollster Quito Maggi of Mainstreet Research, grabbed from his Twitter account, and former PC premier Ed Stelmach, whose personal popularity held through the economic downturn of 2007 and 2008. Late last wee…
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Alberta Politics: Grits in Ottawa and Dippers in Edmonton: far from the worst combination for keeping Alberta’s economy in motion
PHOTOS: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley take questions from the media in this screen shot of the government’s video. Bloggers were not invited, but I’m blaming the feds and promising not to go all Rebel Medi…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan assails Notley Government’s royalty ‘mistake’
PHOTOS: Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan. Below: Mr. McGowan with federal NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair; Calgary Sun columnist Rick Bell. Many progressive Albertans who were shocked and troubled by the Notley Government’s dramatic rever…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: NDP to release new energy royalty framework at week’s end – brace yourself for Apocalypse Friday!
PHOTOS: The next Apocalypse is scheduled for Friday morning. There will be an embargoed media briefing first. Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, Wildrose Leader Brian Jean and Royalty Review Advisory Panel Chair Dave Mowat. Brace yourself for a stor…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: C’mon … admit it, Wildrosers! Denis Coderre’s zinger burned because it landed a little too close for comfort
PHOTOS: Welcome to Bedrock City, AB. Actual rural Wildrose ridings in Southern Alberta may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Alberta Opposition Leader Brian Jean (CBC photo), Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre, former Canadian Alliance leader Stockwe…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: 6 reasons why Alberta history will be kind to Ed Stelmach
Five years ago today, Ed Stelmach began the process of quietly stepping out of the political spotlight by announcing his resignation as Premier of Alberta after nearly five years in the office. The mild-mannered farmer from the Village of Andrew d…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Oil Pipeline still King in Notley’s Interprovincial Agenda
Three years ago this week, Conservative Premier Alison Redford took to the airwaves to warn Albertans about the ominous “bitumen bubble.” Ms. Redford warned that a pipeline bottleneck and a dramatic drop in the price of oil would rob the… Continu…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Disturbing echoes of ‘Organized Pseudolegal Commercial Arguments’ heard in Alberta #kudatah talk
PHOTOS: Edmonton’s courthouse, home of the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench, not long after it was built. Below: Associate Chief Justice John Rooke of the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley. Anti-NDP petitioners tacitl…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: It’s not just the #kudatah – it’s the feeling Alberta’s conservatives are all boarding the Crazy Train
PHOTOS: George Clark, Alberta’s answer to Joan of Arc. (Screen grab from Youtube.com.) Below: Wildrose Party Leader Brian Jean, who with his MLAs is tacitly supporting Mr. Clark’s efforts; the origin of the #kudatah meme; Preston Manning, a conserv…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Juxtapose: Tories had loads of cash for junketing flunkies, none at all for dying addicts
PHOTOS: Alberta Progressive Conservatives enjoy an “international travel mission” during the Golden Age of Tory Travel. Actual PC staffers may not have appeared exactly as illustrated. Below: New Democrats Trevor Horne, the MLA for Spruce Grove-St….
Continue readingAlberta Politics: As widely predicted, Calgary-Bow MLA Deborah Drever invited to rejoin New Democratic Party Government’s caucus
PHOTOS: Surrounded and supported by NDP House Leader Brian Mason, Calgary-Varsity MLA Stephanie McLean and Finance Minister Joe Ceci, Calgary-Bow MLA Deborah Drever addresses the media in Calgary yesterday after being welcomed back into the Government …
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Shredding the public interest! Albertans will never know what Tory secrets were purged by the PCs last May
PHOTOS: Privacy Commissioner Jill Clayton and Public Interest Commissioner Peter Hourihan (CBC photo). Below: Results of some of the shredding that took place in the basement of the Alberta Legislature on May 6; Service Alberta Minister Danielle Larive…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: A Rookie Crew: Eleven Alberta MLAs to watch in 2016
The past few years in Alberta politics have reminded us that politics can be an extraordinarily unpredictable and forecasting the future can be a very tricky business for political pundits. Aside from the obvious choices of Premier Rachel Notley, Finan…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta NDP defies voters by continuing to govern as if it won the election that put it in power: political scientist
PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, running the province as if she had a majority government! What next? Below: University of Calgary political scientist and Calgary Herald columnist Barry Cooper, Broadbent Institute Director Rick Smith and Wildrose…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Progress Alberta, new progressive advocacy group, will make waves … not just with opponents but maybe on own side too
PHOTOS: The Alberta Legislature, suitably decorated for the province’s progressive and proudly diverse population. Below: Progress Alberta Executive Director Duncan Kinney. Progress Alberta, a new group that describes itself as “a multi-issue, inde…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Albertans are more progressive than you might think. I’m not surprised.
A new report, “The Quiet Majority“, released by a new group called Progress Alberta shows that we Albertans may be more progressive than we believe we are. According to a survey conducted by Abacus Data, when Albertans were asked whethe…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Newsletter publisher apologizes and takes full responsibility for wrong MLA message – but Team Angry’s still angry at NDP
PHOTOS: Spokespeople for the Wildrose and Progressive Conservative parties stand by to comment in the media on the latest manufactured Alberta political crisis. Actual opposition politicians may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Independent MLA…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Calgary Sun, angry conservatives try to spin a glorified typographical error into the first political brouhaha of 2016
PHOTOS: Independent Calgary-Bow MLA Deborah Drever in a recent shot grabbed from her Facebook page. Below: Wildrose Finance Critic Derek Fildebrand (grabbed from Facebook) and PC interim Leader Ric McIver (from Wikipedia). The Calgary Sun called it “…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: New Year’s resolutions: Time for Alberta’s conservative leaders to speak out against violent and misogynistic political speech
ILLUSTRATIONS: Counting down to New Year’s. Three days to go is plenty of time for the leaders of Alberta’s conservatives to resolve to speak out in the New Year against threatening and misogynistic commentary by their supporters. Below: Former PM …
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Baked Alaska and the Fraser Institute: what changes, and what doesn’t, when oil prices fall and the money melts
PHOTOS: Alaska Governor Bill Walker illustrates about how much is left in the northern state’s budget now that oil prices have gone south. (Alaska Dispatch News photo.) Below: The wild rose, official flower of both Alaska and Alberta; baked Alaska, g…
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