Stuff Still Happens, week 8: Deficits, drugs and death
The big issue of the week in Canada, where we worry about these things for some reason, was deficits. The new Liberal government, which promised to run a $10 billion…
Alberta Politics
Don Getty, premier who battled economic downturn much like today’s, among the last of Alberta’s Red Tory leaders
PHOTOS: Don Getty and Peter Lougheed, going places politically back in the day. Below: Mr. Getty again, and Mr. Lougheed , as professional football players with the Edmonton Eskimos in…
Appointment of Michael Phair as chair U of A Board of Governors sends exactly the right message
PHOTOS: Newly appointed University of Alberta Board of Governors Chair Michael Phair, left, with Advanced Education Minister Marlin Schmidt at yesterday’s announcement (photo grabbed from MLA David Shepherd’s Twitter feed).…
10 ways to Renew Democracy in Alberta
The first law created by Alberta’s New Democratic Party government’s after its election win in 2015 was Bill 1: An Act to Renew Democracy in Alberta, which banned corporate and…
Moe Banga wins Edmonton’s Ward 12 by-election
How many votes does it take to win a 32-candidate by-election? 2,359 out of 13,279. Edmonton Police Detective and community volunteer Moe Banga was elected to Edmonton City Council with…
Stuff Still Happens, week 7: Horse racing put down; The Rebel yells
Edmonton Northlands, the so-called ‘agricultural society’ that has been a force in Edmonton since Edmonton was in diapers, announced a sweeping plan to rebuilt the soon-to-be-vacant arena and the area…
George Clark’s parking lot putschists deliver an unintended compliment to Alberta’s NDP Government
PHOTOS: Alberta First Plebiscite Warriors leader George Clark, in a screen shot from a video interview shot not long before someone stepped on the hose from his media oxygen supply.…
Alberta #Kudatah plan expires with a whimper as George Clark is abandoned by his erstwhile friends on the right
PHOTOS: George Clark explains Plan B to the media in a Calgary parking lot yesterday (CBC Photo). Below: Mr. Clark back in the day when his fair-weather friends from the…
Fallout from the ‘Rebel Media’ brouhaha: maybe it’s time to abolish Alberta’s anachronistic Press Gallery
PHOTOS: A screenshot of some of the partisan materials sold on Ezra Levant’s Rebel Media website. Below: Another image of a sale item from The Rebel, in this case a…
Athabasca U report on moving IT staff to Edmonton area helps explain motivation for space discussions with City of St. Albert
PHOTOS: The road to Athabasca, well back in the day. Too far for Information Technology professionals to consider travelling nowadays? Below: The Athabasca University headquarters, which if I’ve got this…
Two in race for NDP nomination in Calgary-Greenway by-election
Two candidates are seeking the New Democratic Party nomination to run in the Calgary-Greenway provincial by-election, which will need to be called before the end of May 2016. The NDP…
Journalism degrees or degrees of journalism
This week’s kerfuffle over the Rebel Media website’s fight with the Government of Alberta has dominated the news cycle, demonstrating the lack of experience of an NDP government still in…
Go figure! Ezra Levant, the Pied Piper of right-wing-nuttery, has the mainstream media singing his tune!
PHOTOS: Right-wing commentator Ezra Levant in a typical pose, photo by David Stobbe of the University of Saskatchewan. Below: stringer Sheila Gunn Reid in a screen shot of The Rebel’s…
Party City’s PR problem illustrates the need to be anticipatory about promoting tolerance
PHOTOS: The ugly message as relayed by mainstream media, in this case the CBC. Below: Shelley Bramhoff Sikorski’s original Facebook post. Party City is a huge chain of party supply…
2016 will mark the end of Senate Elections in Alberta
The Senatorial Selection Act, the law that governs Alberta’s unique Senate nominee elections, expires on Dec. 31, 2016. The longstanding policy of the Alberta New Democratic Party which supports the…
Documentary film about Alberta’s 2015 Election premieres on March 2, 2016
Filmmaker Kelly Wolfert will premiere his 23-minute documentary about Alberta’s historic May 5, 2015 election at a special screening on March 2, 2016 at Metro Cinema in Edmonton. You can…
Doff hats to Don Getty, father of Family Day – too bad about that August holiday
PHOTOS: Don Getty, premier, celebrating the first Family Day in 1990. No! wait! That’s Don Getty, quarterback, celebrating the Edmonton Eskimos’ Grey Cup victory in 1956. Same guy, though. Who…