Alberta War Room finally lets loose a salvo … then hastily retreats
For a moment yesterday, it almost seemed as if Alberta’s $30-million-a-year Energy War Room was finally going to live up to its pugnacious nickname and make war on the “enemies…
Alberta Politics
This just in! Stable Reliable Liberal Democracy of Alberta suddenly adopts social license strategy for fossil fuel development
We interrupt this blog with an important bulletin from the Stable Reliable Liberal Democracy of Alberta! In an unexpected move, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has announced he will seek social…
Former U.S. ambassador to Canada unaware of any conversation like the plot described by Jason Kenney
There’s a small but important update to the story about Jason Kenney’s conspiracy theorizing in Washington at the end of last week. According to the man who served as the…
Inside Jason Kenney’s troll factory: the UCP propaganda ecosystem goes after Alberta’s registered nurses
The president of the Alberta Federation of Labour called out the Canadian Taxpayers Federation yesterday for the partisan role it plays supporting of the Kenney Government’s contract demands in negotiations…
Trans Mountain Pipeline court ruling looks like a win for Alberta — as the world drives away in an electric car
You win some, you lose some. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney won one yesterday with the decision of the Federal Court of Appeal to strike down a challenge by a group…
Ernst & Young review of Alberta Health Services gives UCP cover to do lots, flexibility to do little
We’re not closing any rural hospitals, have you got that? Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro strove to make that point perfectly clear at his news conference in Edmonton yesterday on…
What Brexit and Ottawa’s decision on the Teck oilsands mine have in common: Jason Kenney’s stubborn intransigence
Question: What do Brexit, which finally happened on Friday but the full implications of which are yet to unfold, and Ottawa’s impending decision on the Teck Resources Ltd. Frontier oilsands…
Arbitrator’s decision awarding 1% pay increase to some AUPE members undermines UCP austerity arguments
An independent labour arbitrator yesterday awarded unionized Alberta government employees and health care support workers a modest 1-per-cent pay increase for 2019. Having gone into wage-reopener negotiations in the final…
Freedom of information filing reveals supposedly independent ‘Blue Ribbon’ Panel had help from staff in Alberta premier’s office
It turns out Janice MacKinnon’s six-member “expert panel” was using a script cooked up in Premier Jason Kenney’s office at least part of the time it was supposedly taking its…
Without Rachel Notley’s reviled but effective social license strategy, support outside the Prairies drops for pipeline’s expansion
According to a well-known pollster, support for the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project has dropped in Canada outside the Prairies since this time last year. In the same time frame,…
Peter MacKay may be One Candidate to Rule Them All — but can he save the party of Preston, Stockwell & Steve?
There are those who say we should be bracing ourselves for the return of President Steve. Say it ain’t so! Stephen Harper (Photo: Remy Steinegger, Creative Commons). We can expect…
Episode 47: If you ain’t oil, you ain’t much
Oil well liability became a big issue in Alberta politics this month when rural municipal politicians raised giant red flags about the estimated $173 million in unpaid municipal taxes as…
Worried about coronavirus? Ideology trumps expertise when Conservatives meddle with health care
If the world is on the cusp of another deadly coronavirus outbreak, this might seem like a peculiar time to be signing up for a high-risk experiment in health care…
RCMP investigation of ‘Kamikaze Campaign’ moves into new phase; what it means remains to be seen
“Soon, we will find out if breaking the law is illegal.” The line is Stephen Colbert’s and, no, he wasn’t talking about Alberta. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney (Photo: David J.…
Shut down your ‘anti-Alberta campaigns’ inquiry or the courts will shut it for you, tiny group warns Alberta government
OTTAWA – Well, one thing’s already clear, there’s no way the mighty Kenney Government will shut down its so-called inquiry into “anti-Alberta energy campaigns” on the say so of Progress…
Alberta’s UCP deploys the red tape weapon: an example from the War on Education
Never let it be said Alberta’s United Conservative Party Government hates red tape. On the contrary, Premier Jason Kenney’s Government loves the stuff – at least if you define red…
Stephen Harper and Preston Manning, joined at the hip by history and not particularly liking it, make changes
On Wednesday, former prime minister Stephen Harper abruptly quit the Conservative Party of Canada’s fund-raising board, supposedly to give himself time to prevent Jean Charest from becoming leader of Canada’s…