NDP Education Minister David Eggen’s warning yesterday he could defund 28 religious private schools if they won’t obey the law and implement diversity policies and UCP Leader Jason Kenney’s refusal to expel a high-profile social conservative party member who compared pride flags with Nazi swastikas seem like separate stories. They are really one and the […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Calgary’s Olympic bid is dead, but don’t completely rule out a zombie moment
Moments after 10 p.m. last night, the few Albertans nervously paying attention outside Calgary received word voters in Cowtown had clearly said no to the idea of a re-do in 2026 of the city’s fabled 1988 Winter Olympics. I use the term fabled advisedly, as I suspect the vaunted success of the ’88 Olympics was […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Too many senior managers are leaving the City of St. Albert: It’s time for City Council to explain what’s going on
ST. ALBERT, Alberta What the heck is going on at the City of St. Albert? According to the headline on a small news story inside Saturday’s edition of the St. Albert Gazette, our community’s twice-weekly newspaper, “City restructures upper management.” That’s one way of putting it. From here, though, the “restructuring” last week looks more […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Lake of Fire Update: Stuff is still hitting the fan, and it may not be lava!
Well a certain kind of stuff has certainly hit the fan since it was reported here and elsewhere that John Carpay, the well-known social conservative warrior, had dipped his toe into Alberta’s always-dangerous Lake of Fire. Since the story broke over the long weekend, Mr. Carpay and his old comrade in social conservatism Jason Kenney […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Considering Carpay’s Folly: Why can’t Alberta Conservatives stay away from the Lake of Fire?
Why can’t Alberta conservatives learn to stay away from the Lake of Fire? This is a question for the ages. Latest to bathe in the scalding waves of the fiery lake is social conservative litigator and Jason Kenney confidante John Carpay. Mr. Carpay was a principal player in the unsuccessful effort last spring by the […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
Edmonton Conservative MP Kerry Diotte threatens defamation action against young people who criticized him on Twitter
Edmonton Griesbach MP Kerry Diotte has threatened a young writer and former constituent with a defamation lawsuit for tweeting critical comments about his appearance in photos with Faith Goldy, an unsuccessful candidate for mayor of Toronto who is widely viewed as a white nationalist. Bashir Mohamed, 23, who has written for the Globe and Mail […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
‘Businessman, pundit, and religious activist’ Craig Chandler would be a perfect test for Jason Kenney’s database!
Craig Chandler would be the perfect test case for Opposition Leader Jason Kenney’s new database for identifying and rooting out would-be members, volunteers and candidates whose views are too extreme for the United Conservative Party. If Mr. Chandler doesn’t set all the alarm bells ringing, the database doesn’t work properly. Seriously, the guy’s got enough […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
While Albertans panicked about state of the oilsands, the Big Five bitumen-extraction corporations made billions
While Albertans have been in flap over the state of the province’s oilsands industry, the Big Five Oilsands extraction corporations have been raking in billions. “Despite the 2014 oil price crash and the ongoing hand-wringing over pipelines and the price differential, the reality is the Big Five oilsands producers have remained incredibly profitable corporations,” says […]
Posted inBestsellers
Translating Air, poetry by Edmonton’s Kath MacLean, tops Audreys Books Edmonton Fiction Bestseller List
Here are the lists of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold in Edmonton for the week ended Nov. 4, 2018. The lists are compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. EDMONTON FICTION BESTSELLERS 1. Translating Air – Kath MacLean * 2. A Season Among Psychics – Elizabeth […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Even with Democrats controlling the House, Trumpism is the new normal – probably in Canada, too
American Republicans mostly hitched their wagons to Donald Trump’s dark star in this year’s U.S. mid-term elections, and notwithstanding passage of control of the House of Representatives to the Democrats it has worked remarkably well for them. If you imagine this lesson is lost on Canadian movement conservatives, think again. The politics of Trumpism were […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Disillusioned with discipline, MLA from Calgary vows not to sit in Legislature, is swiftly ejected from NDP caucus
Carl von Clausewitz, the Prussian aphorist and theoretician of war, famously observed that “war is the continuation of politics by other means.” Something like the opposite – that politics is the prosecution of war by other means, or darn close anyway – is likely true as well. I hope I offend no gentle readers by […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
‘Son of a rich farmer’ outrage fails to trump embarrassing questions for Jason Kenney about UCP candidate attitudes
When Alberta Advanced Education Minister Marlin Schmidt was tossed out of the Legislature Wednesday morning for supposedly insulting an Opposition MLA, the kerfuffle that resulted obviously came as welcome relief to United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney. In recent weeks, Mr. Kenney has often been on the run, sometimes almost literally, from questions by journalists […]