High-speed rail in Alberta: STILL a terrible idea that won’t go away!
Alberta has a plan to create a “master plan” for a huge passenger rail network around the province! Really. OK, the unidentified man on the left above is Devin Dreeshen,…
David Climenhaga
UCP executes screeching reversal of plan to stop funding low-income transit pass program
Less than 24 hours after the Alberta’s United Conservative Party Government pulled the plug on low-income transit programs in Edmonton and Calgary, Seniors, Community and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon…
Edmonton and Calgary mayors appear gobsmacked by unexpected UCP move to slash funds to low-income transit pass program
Having announced Monday it would spend $9 million cooking up a fanciful provincial railway “masterplan” that includes a public transit component, the United Conservative Party Government yesterday informed Edmonton and…
The NDP leadership campaign so far: pretty boring, and seriously distracting when the UCP is running wild
The worst thing about the seemingly endless Alberta NDP leadership race isn’t that it’s boring, although it is. NDP leadership candidate Kathleen Ganley (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). It’s that the…
The Municipal Government Act already gives the government power to fire councillors – so why fix what ain’t broke?
When then municipal affairs minister Danielle Larivee fired three Thorhild County councillors in 2016, the county’s reeve accused the Alberta NDP of “Soviet-style government.” Former NDP MLA Deron Bilous, who…
UCP’s legislation sets stage for municipal political parties, arbitrary nullification of bylaws, and firing of councillors by cabinet
We may be living in the 21st Century, but Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Government is apparently still suffering from the 19th Century distrust of voters and democracy that convinced…
Plan to have patients at Calgary clinic pony up ‘membership fees’ might have had a chance if the UCP’s War on Ottawa had heated up sooner
Timing is everything, so Dr. Sally Talbot-Jones must have been kicking herself yesterday for launching her effort to charge patients as much as $4,800 a year up front to see…
Busted! Globe outs Danielle Smith’s unpublicized pandemic data ‘task force’ headed by physician who attacked COVID restrictions
When Alberta Premier Danielle Smith mused in the midst debate over her government’s new funding turf war with Ottawa that “we could also establish our own research programs” to ensure…
Once upon a time Danielle Smith told Marco Van Huigenbos, ‘Coutts must win!’ Now she can’t even find the poor guy’s phone number
Now that the chickens are coming home to roost for some of the would-be Canadian colour revolutionaries of 2022, a certain amount if schadenfreude in social media was inevitable given…
How did Danielle Smith know about an anonymous letter alleging dirty deeds at the city of Edmonton before it arrived?
Albertans are being asked to believe the provincial government doesn’t keep copies of every piece of correspondence it receives, including some it formally acts upon. Alberta Municipal Affairs Minister Ric…
Planned provincial police to be called Alberta Rangers? Brace yourselves for more Conservative cowboy cosplay!
Did a little birdie just chirp in my ear that the United Conservative Government has already picked out a name for the new provincial police force it claims it hasn’t…
Inflation? Never heard of it! Finance Minister Nate Horner weighs in on public service bargaining
To hear Alberta Finance Minister Nate Horner tell it Monday, you’d almost think there’s been no inflation in Alberta since the pandemic. Alberta Union of Provincial Employees President Guy Smith…
Danielle Smith sets out to ensure the ideological purity of federally funded university research in Alberta
It must seem unfair to the United Conservative Party base that flat-earth researchers consistently get the short end of the stick when it comes to federal research funds while the…
Danielle Smith picks Alberta’s hill to die on: No to heat pumps, solar panels, and pharmacare
Alberta’s hill to die on? Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault (Photo: Government of Canada). According to Premier Danielle Smith it’s our God-given right to gas-generated electricity, diesel-powered buses, and gas-heated…
The Recovery War Room: Best practices if ideologically acceptable, but not necessarily best practices
Alberta’s United Conservative Party Government tabled legislation yesterday to establish its previously announced Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence, which appears to be the drug-treatment equivalent of the UCP’s notorious Alberta…
Danielle Smith squirms at thought of Jason Kenney’s Critical Infrastructure Defence Act used against her allies
You might be tempted to think Alberta Premier Danielle Smith was on the right track with her obvious discomfort at the thought of her predecessor’s Critical Infrastructure Defence Act being…
Some amusing thoughts on Wexit, Wexitry, and Wexiteers in a potentially confusingly united Western Canada
Let’s imagine a scenario that even a year ago would have seemed all but impossible but is now within the realm of possibility. Participants in a pre-pandemic pro-Wexit demonstration at…
No surprise, Alberta’s privatized surgery clinics don’t seem to be doing anything to reduce wait times
Does anyone remember Premier Danielle Smith’s handpicked administrator of Alberta Health Services confidently predicting that wait times for surgeries in this province were about to fall and fall dramatically? NDP…
Rush to ‘Recovery Alberta’ mental health agency sure looks like an ideological drug-treatment hobbyhorse
Alberta’s United Conservative Party Government is about to carve thousands of employees and $1.13 billion out of Alberta Health Services to create what looks like a drug-treatment hobbyhorse for a…
UCP wants restructured AHS to be known as Alberta Health & Hospitality Services
The United Conservative Party Government wants the restructured Alberta Heath Services (AHS) to be known as Alberta Health & Hospitality Services (AHHS), AlbertaPolitics.ca has learned. An architect’s rendering of the…