Swing batta swing
Needless to say, the range of potential outcomes in the Alberta election (along with the continued flow of news battering the Prentice PCs as they try to regain some type…
Wildrose Party
Oops!
It seems that a candidate for Alberta’s Wildrose party, Rick Strankman, has made a bit of a faux pas, one that he blames, as politicians are wont to do, on…
Brian Jean: WildRose’s Second Lake Of Fire?
Newly minted WildRose party leader Brian Jean is running around the province trying to drum up votes like every other politician in Alberta these days. His latest "fear" seems to…
Brian Jean: WildRose’s Second Lake Of Fire?
Newly minted WildRose party leader Brian Jean is running around the province trying to drum up votes like every other politician in Alberta these days. His latest “fear” seems to…
Now we’re just haggling over the price
Others have rightly wondered whether the Wildrose Party’s new promise to make floor-crossing MPs pay a price to the party will be enforceable at all. But it’s also worth examining…
New column day
Here, on how the sudden disappearance of Danielle Smith and her fellow Wildrose Party defectors offers a case in point of the dangers of forgetting that politicians ultimately answer to…
Alberta, I give you Alison Redford, Person of the Year for 2014!
Former premier Alison Redford at the moment of her leadership campaign victory in 2011. Former opposition leader Danielle Smith in a typical campaign pose last summer. Back in the mists…
Enough with the fantasy Wildrose was Alberta’s best opposition, already! It’s baloney!
And then there were five: The Wildrose caucus back before it experienced civil war, desertions and mass defections, including that of its leader, the woman in red above. Below: former…
Jim Prentice revealed as Hayek ‘disciple’; Heather Forsyth to lead Wildrose rump; Preston Manning says he’s sorry … and more!
A crowd of typical Albertans reacts to the news Danielle Smith and most of her caucus have gone and joined Premier Jim Prentice’s PCs. Below: Mr. Prentice; neoliberal saint Friedrich…
Never mind the Mudville Nine: Nothing has changed, nothing ever will, that is all!
“Your health. Our promise.” It’s March 1, 2013, and then-premier Alison Redford announces plans to build a new cancer treatment facility in Calgary to replace the grubby and overcrowded Tom…
Blogger Brian Mason explains why Jim Prentice, ‘Alberta’s first Wildrose premier,’ is preparing to call a snap election
Former NDP leader Brian Mason in a couple of typical poses, above and below. I’ll bet you didn’t know he was a terrific political blogger too! Jim Prentice is Alberta’s…
On representative units
Does anybody remember which particularly prominent political pundit went far out his way to trumpet the idea that basic unit of political legitimacy is the caucus – to the point…
Danielle Smith’s conduct and the mass Wildrose defection must be seen as character issues
Former Wildrose Party leader Danielle Smith with her new boss, Premier Jim Prentice, at yesterday’s news conference announcing the defection of the nine Wildrose caucus members to the Progressive Conservative…
Hatched in secret, today’s expected mass Wildrose defection to PC benches, brings party to a pathetic end
The captain of the RMS Wildrose and her officers slip quietly away from their sinking ship in the darkness. Actual Wildrose leaders may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Wildrose…
Breaking News
Wow! Seven Wildrose MLAs are planning to cross to Alberta’s governing Progressive Conservative party, CBC news has learned. Two party sources said the seven are: party leader Danielle Smith, House…
A Merger In The Offing?
My son, who lives in Alberta, keeps me apprised of that province’s politics. Will Wildrose join Jim Prentice’s Progressive Conservatives? Speculation is rampant. Recommend this Post
Friends close; enemies closer? Rumours abound Wildrose is about to return to PC mothership
Say it ain’t so, Danielle! Your blogger with … Progressive Conservative Deputy Premier? … Danielle Smith. Below: Shoeless Joe Jackson. Tout le monde political Alberta was abuzz last night with…
Prentice Government takes Alberta from boom to bust in one weekend, breaking all records
Premier Jim Prentice points the way for public spending in Alberta now that our boom has gone bust again. Oil prices, ya know… But read the Reaper’s grim lips: “No…
A political oddity hits the big time – but what do we really know about Michael Cooper?
Michael Cooper turned up door knocking on your blogger’s doorstep in St. Albert last summer. A photo was required! Below: Independent St. Albert Member of Parliament Brent Rathgeber, former Canadian…
The accountability ship has sailed, Bill 2 notwithstanding; Premiers Jim Prentice and Ralph Klein compared
A pensive Ralph Klein, maybe thinking about his worst political mistakes. Below: Jim Prentice and Alison Redford, also Alberta premiers. Premier, you’re no Ralph Klein! Accountability legislation? Oh, well ……