The Alberta Pension Plan: Pierre Poilievre Weighs In
It took Danielle Smith five months to go from “Nobody is touching anyone’s pension” to “Look! It’s a shiny new APP! Albertans will get much more and it will cost…
Travis Toews
So what kind of UCP candidates will replace Finance Minister Travis Toews and Environment Minister Sonya Savage?
Friday’s revelation that neither Finance Minister Travis Toews nor Environment Minister Sonya Savage would be running for re-election in the expected May 29 provincial vote quickly gave way to speculation…
Finance Minister Travis Toews and Environment Minister Sonya Savage won’t seek re-election on May 29
I’d like to say the rats are leaving the sinking ship, but I don’t think Travis Toews or Sonya Savage are rats, and I’m not certain the United Conservative Party…
Alberta in 2023: COVID, Conservatives, and the plan to make the energy rollercoaster even scarier
“Conservative” governments never like to let a crisis go to waste. Dr. John Cowell, sole administrator of Alberta Health Services (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). Hence the concept of “disaster capitalism,” which…
Budget ’23: The Same Old Razzle Dazzle (with sprinkles on top)*
I’m not sure what Trevor Tombe did that caused Danielle Smith to say he was becoming one of her favourite economists, but it certainly wasn’t this. In a recent article…
Budget 2023: Smoke, mirrors, sleight of hand, and promises that don’t have to be kept
Finance Minister Travis Toews got up on his hind legs in the Alberta Legislature yesterday, promised to spend more on health care and education, set up a billion-dollar special projects…
Danielle Smith’s dead political career? It’s alive … with a vengeance! But what fresh disaster looms?
This week politically attentive Albertans began to realize that Danielle Smith really is likely to win the United Conservative Party leadership race and will soon be sworn in as premier…
Another day on the campaign trail: Travis Toews woos building trades unions and jumps on the anti-vaxx bandwagon
Probably more than a few politically alert Albertans choked on their post-prandial drinks last night when they noticed a tweet from the Building Trades of Alberta mentioning that Travis Toews…
Awkward family portraits: Travis Toews and his supporters try to give an impression of unity and inevitability
Talk about your awkward family portrait! Brian Jean, the last time he announced he was running to lead the UCP, in 2017 (Photo: Brian Jean/Flickr). Former finance minister Travis Toews,…
What do you do about a problem like Shane Getson, the UCP MLA whose Facebook post appeared to call for the PM to be lynched?
With apologies to the Sound of Music, what do you do with a problem like Shane Getson? Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Photo: Justin Trudeau/Flickr). More specifically, what should the Alberta…
For a high-profile minister, UCP’s first official leadership candidate, Travis Toews, has flown under the radar
Despite his high-profile job as Alberta’s finance minister and soaring political ambitions, Travis Toews has kept a remarkably low profile. Mr. Toews schmoozing supporters in the Alberta Legislative Building Rotunda…
Let’s Talk About Insurance
While Jason Kenney is running all over the province trying to convince UCP members he’s there for them, the actions of his government in the House last week tell a…
Budget 2022: Petroleum prices are up and Alberta’s back on the fiscal rollercoaster
Alberta never learns. If you doubt me, consider Finance Minister Travis Toews’s provincial budget yesterday. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, all smiles (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). Dubbed “Moving Forward,” the Budget Speech…
Episode 82: Best of Alberta Politics with Adrienne King and Matt Solberg
Adrienne King and Matt Solberg join the Daveberta Podcast for our year-end episode of 2021. We delve into Premier Jason Kenney‘s leadership challenges, the fireworks at the end of Alberta’s…
Minister Toews and the AUPE: A Shift in the Balance of Power
“Strikes are only one measure of unrest.” Todd Vachon, an assistant professor and director of labor education at Rutgers University. Did you catch it, that shift in the balance of…
Missing premier reported sighted in Calgary – if it’s really Jason Kenney, he’s got some ’splainin’ to do!
After managing to stay completely off the radar for a two-week vacation that stretched to at least 23 days, there was a credible sounding Jason Kenney sighting in Calgary last…
In what looks like a classic case of bargaining in bad faith, UCP Government demands additional 3% pay cut from more than 30,000 nurses
Alberta Health Services returned to the bargaining table with Alberta’s more than 30,000 public sector registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses yesterday for the first time since March 2020 with…
Episode 70: Who was the most unpopular Premier in Alberta history?
We dive into our mailbag and answer some great questions sent in by Daveberta Podcast listeners. From the possibility of a United Conservative Party leadership review to Premier Jason Kenney’s…
Mr Toews Advises the Feds on Economic Recovery
The UCP government is nothing if not brazen. Having failed to explain how the UCP government was going to set Alberta on the path to economic recovery Mr Toews, Alberta’s…
Alberta Budget 2021 hot take: Sweeter language, same old ‘fiscal reckoning,’ and no path to balance
When Finance Minister Travis Toews got up on his hind legs in the Alberta Legislature to read his 2021 Budget Speech Thursday afternoon, there wasn’t as much tough talk about…