Five Resolutions for Rachel Notley
Ms Soapbox’s first round of New Year’s resolutions for a politician (Alison Redford) were ignored, but she’s a persistent soul and will try again. This time she’s prepared five resolutions…
Joe Ceci
Big Tobacco’s doubtful claim high taxes encourage cigarette smuggling finds support on Alberta’s Wildrose benches
PHOTOS: Young cigarette smokers in 1910. The tobacco industry and its friends on the Opposition benches think high tobacco taxes are a problem. Below: Wildrose Party Finance Critic Derek Fildebrandt,…
Putting protection of sexual & gender minorities back on the agenda at provincial school boards meeting
Amid allegations of financial misspending and a lack of transparency, representatives from sixty-one elected Public, Catholic, and Francophone school boards from across Alberta will gather at the fall general meeting…
This Week in Alberta Politics
Here are a few items to watch out for in Alberta politics this week: Which of the four Liberal Members of Parliament will be appointed to the federal cabinet on…
Alberta Budget 2015: You’d almost think Rachel Notley’s NDP has concluded its job is to govern this province!
PHOTOS: Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci answers reporters’ questions after delivering the NDP’s first Budget Speech in the Alberta Legislature yesterday. (CBC Photo) Below: Wildrose Opposition Leader Brian Jean and…
Sky does not fall as Alberta NDP presents its first budget
When Finance Minister Joe Ceci stood in the Legislature on Oct. 27 to deliver the Alberta NDP’s first budget, it marked the first time since 1972 that the budget was…
Reaction to this afternoon’s Budget Speech is bound to be completely predictable
ILLUSTRATIONS: A mosaic planned for some future Legislature renovation showing the Opposition and Government positions on the budget. Below: A scene from the Kabuki theatre in which actors portraying Premier…
You tell me, Dear Readers: Did I unfairly beat the Wildrose finance critic like a piñata?
PHOTO: Your blogger, at right, wearing the brand new string tie he just bought in Santa Fe, takes a whack at Derek Fildebrandt, the Wildrose Opposition’s finance critic. Actual Alberta…
Notley creates Economic Development ministry, appoints rural Municipal Affairs minister
Alberta’s provincial cabinet grew from twelve to thirteen today with the appointment of Lesser Slave Lake MLA Danielle Larivee to the posts of Minister of Municipal Affairs and Service Alberta.…
Mulcair and Trudeau show Alberta some love in the final days of Election 2015. Where’s Harper?
There is no longer any doubt that Alberta is an important battleground in this federal election campaign. While Conservatives will dominate in the provincial seat count, the Liberals and NDP…
Conservatives have to tie themselves in knots to sustain their narrative about Alberta’s fiscal situation
PHOTOS: Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci, dressed in a sombre blue suit, delivers the fiscal report to predictable reactions from the opposition. Below: Wildrose finance critic and chief sloganeer Derek…
NDP deftly picks royalty review panel while media freaks out about low-key welcome for ‘lightweight’ U.S. politicians
PHOTOS: U.S. President Lindsey Graham, left, is welcomed by a Wildrose Government colour party of Alberta Legislature security officers sometime in the imagined future. Actual circumstances may not unfold exactly…
Give a thought to Alberta’s approaching budget day: there’s little to gain and plenty to lose from ‘debt free’ government
PHOTOS: Former premier Ralph Klein, now elevated to sainthood by the neoliberal cargo cult, celebrating the retirement of Alberta’s debt in 2004, never mind the mess the infrastructure was in.…
NDP can’t afford to be slow to respond to Wildrose attacks
‘Risky,’ ‘ideological,’ ‘experimental,’ and ‘uncertain’ are all words that the conservative Wildrose Party opposition is using to describe Alberta’s New Democratic Party government.
Notley should avoid getting dragged into oilsands election trap
When Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper claimed on the campaign trail last week that Alberta’s new government was “a disaster,” Premier Rachel Notley and Finance Minister Joe Ceci calmly and…
What is at stake for who in the Calgary-Foothills by-election
The Calgary-Foothills by-election to replace former Progressive Conservative leader Jim Prentice, who resigned on the evening he was re-elected as MLA on May 5, will take place on September 3,…
Happy Canada Day: Alberta has an extra billion, which was good luck for the NDP
PHOTOS: Finance Minister Joe Ceci at yesterday’s news conference, in a government of Alberta photo, imparting the happy news that former premier Jim Prentice’s Tories left $1.1 billion lying around…