As by-election test nears for UCP Premier Danielle Smith, new poll shows NDP in majority territory
“We are going to beat the NDP in rural Alberta, we are going to beat the NDP in Edmonton, and we are going to beat the NDP in Calgary,” shouts…
Danielle Smith
Manitoba’s Stefanson to Alberta’s Smith: Drop dead!
When Manitoba Conservative Premier Heather Stefanson blew off Alberta Conservative Premier Danielle Smith’s call yesterday to ship Alberta oil through the Hudson Bay port of Churchill, Wild Rose Country’s most…
When the UCP Government Ran Amok
“There is no room for the unilateral assumption of authority in a constitutional democracy.” – Nigel Bankes, U of C emeritus professor of law, on the government’s decision to rescind…
Sunday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Ewen Callaway discusses the COVID-19 “variant soup” which we’ll be drowning in this winter due to the deliberate elimination of any public…
Danielle Smith vows not to let school districts impose mask mandates to protect students and teachers
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith vowed Saturday to take measures to ensure masking mandates for children in Alberta’s kindergarten-to-Grade-12 classes can no longer be imposed. Justice Grant Dunlop of the Alberta…
Signals unintelligence: Danielle Smith’s latest fumbles suggest her government struggles with ineptitude
It’s hardly reassuring to learn Alberta’s new Danielle Smith Government is apparently so inept it didn’t know that it needed a minister to oversee the administration of the province’s labour…
Danielle Smith: Alberta’s Very Own Liz Truss
In less time than it took Liz Truss to crash and burn, Danielle Smith transformed the United Conservative Party into the Libertarian Populist Party. And that’s why they’ll lose in…
Vaccine-skeptical slate sympathetic to Danielle Smith’s public health views captures all 9 contested positions on UCP board
So what happens now that half the 18 elected members of the United Conservative Party board are vaccine-skeptical allies of Premier Danielle Smith? Mount Royal University political science professor Duane…
A tale of two speeches: Rachel Notley and Danielle Smith mark informal start of campaign leading to 2023 election
Members of Alberta’s only two political parties with MLAs in the Legislature met in convention yesterday – the governing United Conservatives in Edmonton and Opposition New Democrats in Calgary –…
The Fortress Of Crazy
Under its new premier, Alberta is fast becoming the Fortress Of Crazy. Kieran Leavitt reports that: Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she wants a “blanket amnesty” for residents charged with…
Danielle Smith announces absurdly large cabinet that keeps friends close, some enemies closer, and includes few women
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith named her cabinet yesterday. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith (Photo: Jake Wright/Creative Commons). It is absurdly large. Premier Smith named 37 cabinet members – 24 full ministers…
Today’s cabinet choices should cast more light on Premier Danielle Smith’s 2023 election strategy
Danielle Smith announces her Cabinet choices today. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in her broadcasting days (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). So we’re about to see if Alberta’s still-unelected premier meant it…
Wednesday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Andre Picard discusses how Canada is unprepared (by choice) for the effects of long COVID, while Jennifer Lee reports on warnings from Alberta…
A big apology by Danielle Smith and a bad poll for the UCP make it look like her government’s already on the ropes
Coming on the heels of two official statements since she was sworn in as Alberta’s premier that attempted to explain or clarify contentious comments, Danielle Smith’s straight-up apology yesterday for…
Meanwhile, In The Land Of The Looney
Danielle Smith cultivates her tribe. H/t de Adder However, those inoculated against her lunacy beg to differ. Anti-vaxxers are wilfully ignorant and uncaring about their responsibilities in society. To my…
Support for Freedom Convoy in Alberta was an inch wide and an inch deep, research for inquiry suggests
Now that the public hearings mandated by law after use of the federal Emergencies Act are under way, we are reminded that Canadian support for the so-called “Freedom Convoy” protesters…
A Letter to UCP MLAs
Dear UCP MLAs: I’m a constituent without an MLA because your new leader decided I don’t need one. Apparently urban issues (unlike rural issues) are the same all across the…
Sunday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Melissa Lopez-Martinez reports on the belated effort to get Canadians to resume taking precautions against the spread of COVID-19. And the Guardian…
Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Umair Irfan discusses the importance of getting COVID-19 booster shots – particularly the bivalent versions better targeted toward newer strains – in order…
Wooden-Headedness
Danielle Smith’s first week on the job did not bode well for her future. Gary Mason writes: At what point do Albertans begin to wonder – what just happened? I’m…