John Ashton has served as a staff member on 26 NDP campaigns. He is co-author with former Alberta NDP leader Ray Martin of “Made in Alberta: The Ray Martin Story.” In this guest post published while your blogger is at a conference, Mr. Ashton argues the report on Alberta’s fiscal situation by Janice MacKinnon and […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Sarcasm does not become a premier — especially as our placid boreal Dominion grows less gelid by the day
Methinks the premier doth protest too much! What else can we say about Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s bizarre 2,330-word public letter yesterday to Alex Neve of Amnesty International Canada, attacking Mr. Neve, the organization he leads, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Russia, Iran, the Soviet Union, the Saudi royal family, the Qatari royal family, the Kremlin, Russian […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
It’s tough to be a federal Liberal or a New Democrat in Alberta … especially during elections
It’s always hard to be a federal Liberal in Alberta … especially during elections! (Ba-boom!) In the federal election Prime Minister Trudeau called yesterday, it’ll probably be just a little harder than usual. Here in Wild Rose Country, it’s usually pretty difficult to be a New Democrat too, subject to many of the same conditions. […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
It’s Jason Kenney, not Amnesty International, who’s poking holes in Alberta’s claim we produce the most ‘ethical oil’
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s petulant response yesterday to Amnesty International’s scorching letter about the dangers represented by his United Conservative Party Government’s approach to defending the fossil fuel industry exposes a surprising lack of judgment for a former senior federal cabinet minister. Rather than reassuring people elsewhere in Canada and potential investors around the world […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Eyes to the keyhole, ears to the wall! Alberta’s enviro-snitch line is now accepting emails
There’s no longer any need to feel helpless if your kids think Greta Thunberg is cool, your neighbour tells you she’s not going to use Roundup on her dandelions anymore, or you think you’ve spotted a foreign-funded environmentalist cruising around your neighbourhood in a green Tesla. The House Un-Albertan Activities Committee is on the job […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Alberta’s perpetual fiscal crisis will never be fixed without revenue reform — so you might as well get used to it
Even real conservatives, if such a species exists anymore, know something’s gone awry with Alberta’s fiscal setup and that part of the solution’s on the revenue side. The fact we’ve not faced up to this is why Alberta is so vulnerable to the unavoidable volatility of the fossil fuel market. Now our new United Conservative […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
‘Inauthentic activity’ on social media, abuse of progressive women in politics … is there a common thread here?
Is there a common thread running between reports Friday that a spike in “inauthentic activity” on social media just before the Alberta provincial election came from unidentified backers of the United Conservative Party and news stories Saturday about harassment of federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna? It would be impossible to make an […]
Posted inBestsellers
Billy-Ray Belcourt’s NDN Coping Mechanisms tops Audreys Books Edmonton Fiction Bestseller List
Here are the lists of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold in Edmonton during the week ended Sept. 1, 2019. The lists are compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. EDMONTON FICTION BESTSELLERS 1. NDN Coping Mechanisms: Notes from the Field – Billy-Ray Belcourt * 2. A Better Man – […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Alberta schools are public no more … What gives?
Alberta schools are public no more. Or something. A ministerial order signed by Education Minister Adriana LaGrange on Aug. 15 eliminated the word “public” from the legal title of all public school divisions and boards in Alberta. What’s going on? That’s not immediately clear, but given Premier Jason Kenney’s promises to support private schools with […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
‘Blue-Ribbon Panel’ report sets stage for full-blown austerity, private health care, soaring tuition and much more
The recommendations of the Kenney Government’s “blue-ribbon panel” on Alberta’s finances yesterday went further over the top than you’d even have expected from a report ginned up by a couple of Fraser Institute ringers, a former bank president, and a few additional followers of the government’s low-tax, market-fundamentalist ideology. As anticipated, the report called for […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Happy Labour Day, Alberta Day, or whatever … brace yourself for unpleasantness tomorrow!
Happy Labour Day! Given the occasion, it’s mildly surprising Alberta’s United Conservative Party Government didn’t use today to announce the “findings” of its “blue-ribbon” panel’s “deep dive” into the state of the province’s finances. The idea of poking a stick in the eye of unionized public employees on Labour Day must have been tempting to […]
Posted inGeopolitics
Why Canadian media won’t call post-Brexit protests ‘pro-democracy demonstrations’
If there are riots in Britain after the hard Brexit Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Conservative Party cronies have scheduled for Halloween, will mainstream media in Canada describe them as “pro-democracy demonstrations” as they do when similar violent outbursts take place nowadays in Hong Kong or Moscow? On the face of it, there would […]