VICTORIA — When I was growing up here in Lotusland, British Columbia had the reputation of being the Crazytown of Canadian politics. The late Allan Fotheringham, the Vancouver Sun columnist we all read religiously, famously summed up Canadian politics like this: “In the Maritimes, politics is a disease; in Quebec a religion; in Ontario a […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Order saying Alberta schools won’t have to enforce social distancing lands like a sucker punch
Whoever it was in the Alberta Government that decided it would be a good idea to risk springing the news on the public that COVID-19 social distancing rules won’t apply to classrooms just hours before schools reopen was seriously mistaken. The United Conservative Party government’s “near-normal” back-to-school scheme was already highly controversial, assailed as inadequate […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
Death toll from fall of Montreal statue still stands at zero, but apoplectic Wexiters may be at risk
The death toll from the fall of John A. Macdonald’s statue in Montreal Saturday still stands at zero, the gods be praised. One would have thought it was much higher, however, given all the outraged virtue signalling from Conservative politicians and their “issues managers” here on the western edge of the Great Plains. The chirp […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Kaycee Madu, no stellar cabinet performer, is promoted to where he can do less harm; other stars fall
Kaycee Madu, possibly Alberta’s least successful cabinet member in the estimation of his portfolio’s key stakeholders, as Alberta justice minister? Who saw that coming? Of the three major political events affecting Alberta that took place while your blogger was out of the province, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s cabinet shuffle last Tuesday was the only one […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
So long and see you soon — AlbertaPolitics.ca will shut down for a week
AlbertaPolitics.ca is shutting down for a week. I expect to be without a wifi connection for much of the next seven days, so if there are posts at all on this blog, they will be poorly illustrated and limited in number. There may have to be none at all. But I don’t like to leave […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
If Press Gallery membership for the Rebel is so important, why are Postmedia reporters still in the gallery in Ottawa?
What are we to make of the peculiar fact that Postmedia reporters still occupy their comfortable chairs in the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery in Ottawa? A quick scroll through the national Press Gallery’s comparatively informative website reveals at least 10 journalists employed by Postmedia Network Canada Corp. are members of the venerable Ottawa institution — […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
The empire strikes back: Understanding the UCP obsession with how history is taught
Anyone who wonders what inspires the United Conservative Party Government’s peculiar obsession with how history ought to be taught, and to what end, probably needs to look no further than Christian P. Champion. Dr. Champion, PhD, as is now well known to social media readers in Alberta, holds startling views on the topic of how […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Oddities: online term paper ‘ghostwriter’ site believes impersonator used UCP minister’s name and credentials
An online custom term paper writing service called UnemployedProfessors.com says it now believes a contract writer listed on its website under the name and credentials of Alberta’s minister of advanced education is an impersonator. After references to the “unemployed professor profile” in the name of Demetrios Nicolaides cropped up on Twitter Saturday, Dr. Nicolaides tweeted […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
The COVID-19 emergency may not be over, but your hospital parking fee holiday is
It was a big deal back in April when the government of Alberta suspended hospital parking fees for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic. Health Minister Tyler Shandro was Johnny on the Spot, telling media reporters that “health-care workers and the general public should not have to worry about paying for parking in the midst […]
Posted inBestsellers
The Guest List by Lucy Foley is No. 1 on this week’s Alberta independent bookshops’ fiction bestseller list
Here are the lists of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold by independent booksellers in Alberta during the week ended Sunday, Aug. 9, 2020. The lists are compiled by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta, and include sales at Audreys Books in Edmonton and Glass Bookshop in Edmonton. ALBERTA FICTION BESTSELLERS 1. The […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
With a questionable claim to the moral high ground, Postmedia rolls over for the Rebel
Canada’s largest newspaper chain has just rolled over for the Rebel. Last night the National Post published an editorial demanding that the Alberta Legislature Press Gallery admit employees of Rebel News Network Ltd. to its ranks. The Post’s editors gave the appearance of being so incensed about the Press Gallery’s refusal to allow the right-wing […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
The economics of small nuclear reactors, touted by Jason Kenney as a ‘game changer,’ just don’t add up
When Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says small nuclear reactors “could be a game changer in providing safe, zero-emitting, baseload power in many areas of the province,” as he did Sunday in a tweet, he’s pulling your leg. For a variety of economic and technical reasons, the scenario Mr. Kenney described while re-tweeting a CBC story […]