Guest Post: Why Alberta’s NDP will be living dangerously for the next four years
John Ashton is the co-author with former Alberta NDP leader Ray Martin of Made in Alberta: The Ray Martin Story. He has served as staff on 26 NDP campaigns. In…
Alberta NDP
The game’s afoot in Ottawa as the moment nears for Jason Kenney to implement his ‘revenge platform’
Jason Kenney will be sworn in tomorrow as the 18th premier of Alberta, so we should know very soon if he really meant his oft-repeated pledge to make the repeal…
Vote-anywhere made it easier to cast a vote against the government from, well, anywhere
Well, God bless the NDP, I guess, who could apparently be depended upon to do the right thing, even if it killed them. Alberta’s official vote results are now in…
When Jason Kenney kills Alberta’s carbon tax and emissions cap, What Will Justin Do?
When it comes to the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau finds himself on the proverbial horns of a dilemma. There are serious political consequences for his…
Pundits want you to believe negative campaigning hurt the NDP – it likely saved their bacon!
There are plenty of serious mistakes the Alberta NDP made during their four rocky years in power, but one of them wasn’t running a negative campaign that attacked Jason Kenney’s…
Episode 35: The big UCP win, an Alberta Election Recap
The Alberta election is over. In this episode Dave and Ryan discuss the election results, who Jason Kenney might pick for the United Conservative government cabinet, what is next for…
New column day
Here, wondering whether Alberta’s lamentable election of Jason Kenney and his gang of regressive Conservatives might have been avoided if Rachel Notley’s NDP had made an effort not to perpetuate…
Jobs! Pipelines! Help is on the way! Or … maybe not: Election hot takes from Alberta
Tuesday night’s Alberta election results pretty well put paid to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s “Grand Bargain” with Alberta on climate change, the terms of which were basically that the province…
Jason Kenney, having delivered victory to his UCP, sounds like man with his eye on Ottawa
Give Jason Kenney his due: The man delivered a convincing enough victory for his United Conservative Party last night that no one can call him a political flop if at…
Nearly a third of Alberta’s electorate voted in advance polls – whatever can it mean?
One of the mysteries of the 2019 Alberta election campaign that comes to an end with today’s election is the truly astonishing number of advance ballots cast. Nearly 700,000 Albertans…
Episode 34: When you play the Game of Thrones… Alberta election edition.
In this episode Dave and Ryan discuss the huge turnout at the advance polls, some of the key races to watch on election night, and recap of the final days…
Rachel Notley, one of the finest political orators of her generation, raises the rafters with optimistic speech in Edmonton
Rachel Notley looked and sounded like a politician on a roll yesterday afternoon as she addressed at least 1,500 people sardined into Edmonton’s Polish Hall – energized, by turns forceful,…
Captive audience? Continuing care operators’ ‘reference document’ pushes residents, families to vote for UCP, shows NDP in negative light
A “reference document” implying residents of private for-profit and not-for-profit seniors’ care facilities and their families should vote for the United Conservative Party has been distributed by the Alberta Continuing…
RCMP raid on UCP candidate’s business, polling trends, hordes of advance voters wind up the Internet
Alberta’s Internet was in a furious swivet last night. There seemed to be something to wind everyone up as we enter the final stretch of a provincial election both sides…
Notice to public employees: Jason Kenney and the UCP are eyeing your pensions again
If you’re a public employee in Alberta and you’ve been deferring your salary for years to build a secure retirement through your modest pension, Jason Kenney would like to take…
A question begged: Where were the UCP’s top operatives if they weren’t vetting candidates?
Apparently someone in the United Conservative Party could run a sophisticated vote-diversion scheme but the party didn’t have the technical wherewithal to operate a simple candidate vetting process capable of…
Episode 33: Ballot Questions, the Leaders’ Debate, and your great Alberta Election questions
In this episode Dave and Ryan discuss the latest Alberta’s election developments, including the fallout from Mark Smith’s homophobic comments, Jason Kenney’s interview with Charles Adler and how it might…
Rachel Notley and Jason Kenney escape relatively unscathed in Alberta election leaders’ debate
Last night’s Alberta election leaders’ debate was an unedifying experience, as these things often are. If anyone except hard-core political junkies kept their hands off the remote, I’d be surprised.…
Were Mark Smith’s comments on gay love a Lake of Fire moment for the UCP, or just another insignificant bozo eruption?
With the revelation United Conservative Party candidate Mark Smith holds the offensive view gay love can never be real love, and equates LGBTQ people with pedophiles, it appeared that Alberta’s…
A generation of impulsive right-wing politicians ruins Preston Manning’s dream of ‘green capitalism’ – what’s next?
Let’s start with a pop quiz. Who said this? “One of the biggest issues will be the question of how much of current revenue from non-renewable resources should be saved…