Here are the lists of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold in Edmonton during the week ended May 19, 2019. The lists are compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. EDMONTON FICTION BESTSELLERS 1. Rescue in the Rockies – Rita Feutl * 2. Boom Time – Lindsay Bird 3. A […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Jason Kenney fiddles (with climate policy) while Alberta burns
It is an irony, though not a particularly satisfying one to observe, that while Premier Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party Government moves swiftly to repeal Alberta’s carbon tax, the province is aflame, with more than 5,000 Albertans required to leave homes and communities in imminent danger of destruction. It is only May. The leaves on […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Crib notes: Understanding yesterday’s United Conservative Party Throne Speech
As the documents that lay out the government’s policy agenda for the next couple of years, Throne Speeches are by nature tendentious. In the service of making what is a curse to many citizens appear to be a blessing they tend to be faintly Orwellian as well. That is, they often say the opposite of […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Nathan Cooper chosen as Legislative Speaker – so how about those early mornings?
Now that Nathan Cooper has been chosen as Speaker of the Alberta Legislature, I wonder if the business of the Assembly will be getting under way at a more civilized hour, say 10 a.m., suitable for bankers, gentlemen of leisure, and elected Conservatives? Mr. Cooper, United Conservative Party MLA for Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills, was elected yesterday […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
On the streets of Edmonton with Dale the Street Preacher: ‘It’s really tough’
Dale the Street Preacher is doing the Lord’s work. We can acknowledge this, even if we don’t share his idea of whom the lord is, or accept his view about what’s going to happen when we die. In addition to standing on a soapbox containing an electronic amplifier and preaching a rather strident version of […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Keep your eyes on the story of Jason Kenney’s ‘War Room’ – it’s going to be a boondoggle!
The discovery last week Postmedia was trying to cash in on Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s promised $30-million anti-environmental “war room” at the same time it has its hand out to Ottawa for a federal bailout has rather surprisingly turned out to be a story with legs. The irony of a down-on-its-luck but still influential media […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Postmedia bid for role in UCP ‘war room’ illustrates the folly of Trudeau’s lifeline for failing newspapers
Connect the dots, Mr. Prime Minister! That newspaper industry bailout package you’re foolishly planning in the name of preserving democracy is principally designed to keep a corporation afloat that will do anything, no matter how unethical, to destroy your government. If you want proof, look no further than Postmedia’s astonishing admission, revealed on Twitter yesterday […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Uh-oh! Look for unhappy campers: Premier Kenney has vowed to end ‘the War on Fun’
Hey, who can be against ending Canada’s War on Fun? Not me, and not Jason Kenney either by the sound of it. You have to admit, though, the Alberta premier’s announcement yesterday that he plans to end what he calls “the War on Fun” by allowing the booze to flow again in provincial campgrounds on […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
The Annals of Justice: Vice-Admiral Mark Norman gets an apology and Conrad Black gets a pardon
Remember this important fact: None of us knows whether Vice-Admiral Mark Norman is guilty of the crime with which he was charged. Well, Vice-Admiral Norman knows, presumably, and his legal team would have a pretty good idea, as would a few Crown prosecutors and members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. As for the rest […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
UCP posturing around public sector wages portends a return to perpetual crisis in health care
The United Conservative Party Government’s transparent early manoeuvres around public sector wage negotiations and the heavy hints found in a paper by the chair of Premier Jason Kenney’s “blue ribbon panel” on Alberta’s finances portend a stormy period ahead in public sector labour relations, especially in health care. Since health care makes up such a […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Cuts & Critics: Expect fireworks in the Legislature, but no real brakes on radical UCP agenda
Alberta’s 24 NDP Opposition MLAs were sworn in yesterday and Opposition Leader Rachel Notley, not so long ago the province’s premier, named the MLAs who will fill her shadow cabinet portfolios. Meanwhile, Premier Jason Kenney’s MLAs will have to wait a few days while their boss gets on with his tax-cutting agenda, which obviously doesn’t […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Stephen Mandel, as impudent as ever, pleads for public subsidy for his Alberta Party
Hello, Alberta! Stephen Mandel here! My Alberta Party didn’t manage to elect a single MLA last month, but we’re good guys and we got 9.1 per cent of the vote. How about you give us some money? That wasn’t really Stephen Mandel saying that, of course. It was me, your blogger, David Climenhaga. Writing stuff […]