Bill 207, which if it was honestly titled would have been called an Act to Restrict Reproductive and Other Rights in Alberta, does not seem to be playing particularly well, even in Ponoka. Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party stirred up a hornet’s nest with this sneaky bill — disingenuously entitled the Conscience Rights (Health Care […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Preston Manning, the bad penny of Canadian politics, turns up again on Alberta’s sovereignty-association panel
Preston Manning is the bad penny of Canadian politics. So no one should be surprised he’s turned up again! Good rarely results from Mr. Manning’s interventions in politics, which never seem to end, so don’t expect positive results from his appointment by Alberta Premier Jason Kenney to what might accurately be called the Firewall Commission […]
Posted inBestsellers
Above the Star and Below the Moon, both by Alexis Marie Chute, are No. 1 & 2 on Edmonton Bestseller List for week ended Nov. 3
Here are the lists of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold in Edmonton during the week ended Nov. 3, 2019. The lists are compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. EDMONTON FICTION BESTSELLERS 1. Above the Star – Alexis Marie Chute * 2. Below the Moon – Alexis Marie Chute […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
First reading of Bill 207 reveals zero UCP votes for women’s reproductive rights
Here are two important statistics about the United Conservative Party’s Bill 207, the Conscience Rights (Health Care Providers) Protection Act, which was introduced in the Alberta Legislature yesterday … Just a minute, you say, Bill 207 is a private member’s bill, brought forward by Peace River UCP MLA Dan Williams, not a government bill! How […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
The ‘most pro-life Legislature in decades’ gets ready to make its first move to restrict reproductive rights
Does anyone recall when Cameron Wilson, political action director of the “Wilberforce Project,” previously known as Pro-Life Alberta, bragged that “if the UCP wins the upcoming election, then we will have the most pro-life Legislature in decades, and maybe ever”? That was only in February this year, a century or two ago in political time, […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Now for something completely different: Podcast bloviations from Yours Truly and friends
I’m busier than that proverbial one-armed paperhanger right now, so it’s possible that production of posts on this blog is going to fall for the next couple of weeks from the daily commentary I prefer. Tonight, I thought I’d resort to an updated version of a favorite bloviators’ trick from the Golden Age of Newspapering, […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
‘Wexit’ isn’t likely, but that doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous
“Wexit” is dangerous, but not because it’s ever likely to come to pass. The economic case for Prairie separatism is so obviously lame — because of what’s happened to the world market for fossil fuels and because people who actually live where there’s tidewater aren’t interested and never will be — that such nonsense will […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
This just in from washed-up Wildroser: Alberta separation if necessary, but not necessarily separation!
It looks as if Rob Anderson has found a new gig — Alberta separation if necessary, but not necessarily Alberta separation. For those of you scratching your heads and asking the most obvious question — Rob Who? — Mr. Anderson is one of the few Alberta politicians to have crossed the floor of the Legislature […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Canadian Taxpayers Federation commentary on nurse salaries isn’t research so much as an echo chamber
Has anyone noticed how the propaganda produced by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation seems to be growing more inept of late? Misleading arguments and anti-union bias have long characterized many of the claims made by the Regina-based CTF, which claims to be a non-partisan “citizens’ group,” although its only legal members are in fact the five […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Plan to roll back public employees’ pay is no surprise, but the way it’s being rolled out seems surprisingly inept
When Alberta’s finance minister announced the Kenney Government’s plan to roll back unionized public employees’ pay by 2 to 5 per cent yesterday, he blamed Alberta’s debt and deficit, not the huge hole he’d just blown in the province’s budget with $4.5-billion in tax cuts for billionaires and big corporations. Well, whatever. It’s not as […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Are secret mandatory government bargaining orders the new face of public-sector labour relations in Alberta?
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and his government moved yesterday to impose big changes on public sector bargaining in Alberta, not to mention a host of other areas. They’re sure to unleash a flood of litigation. There’s enough stuff embedded in the Harper-Government-style omnibus budget legislation introduced to the Alberta Legislature yesterday by Finance Minister Travis […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Federal election results show why abandoning ‘social license’ was a dumb idea for Alberta’s oilpatch
Seeking “social license” for Alberta’s fossil fuel industry was said by the NDP government of former premier Rachel Notley to be a way to win approval for more pipeline capacity to Canada’s ocean ports. This was true enough as far as it went, and the idea getting such approval required environment-friendly compromises like carbon taxes […]