Surprisingly, as far as we know, neither Opposition Leader Jason Kenney nor any members of his United Conservative Party Legislative Caucus made it to the Flat Earth International Conference at the appropriately named Fantasyland Hotel in Alberta’s capital city Thursday and yesterday. “Flat-earthers from around North America came to listen to speakers such as Indiana […]
Posted inBestsellers
Billy-Ray Bellcourt’s This Wound is a World returns to top of Audreys Books Edmonton Bestseller List
Here is the list of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold in Edmonton for the week ended Aug. 8, 2018, compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. EDMONTON FICTION BESTSELLERS 1. This Wound is a World – Billy-Ray Belcourt * + 2. Relying on that Body – […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Report on Calgary civic election polling failures sharply criticizes Postmedia coverage of ‘radically mistaken’ polls by partner firm
A report by three high-profile academics with expertise in public opinion research who were commissioned to look into polling failures that marred the 2017 Calgary municipal election campaign sharply criticizes the role of the city’s media in covering and sponsoring the polls. Christopher Adams of the University of Manitoba, Paul Adams of Carleton University, and […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
What’s the appropriate response to Riyadh’s diplomatic hysterics? How about reopening our embassy in Tehran?
Is there an appropriate response by Canada to the bizarre events of the last few hours on the diplomatic circuit? It’s not just that Canada’s ambassador has been kicked out of Saudi Arabia for Tweets by Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and an official in her department that by no reasonable standard amount to […]
Posted inGeopolitics
Will Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic tantrum provoke a moment of cognitive dissonance for Canada’s ‘ethical oil’ crowd?
Saudi Arabia has given the Canadian ambassador 24 hours to pack his bags and go home because, the Saudi Foreign Ministry complains, Canada is meddling in the internal affairs of the oil-soaked feudal theocracy by expressing concern in Tweets about its arrests of human rights activists, clerics and journalists. Last week, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Rich Larson’s sci-fi thriller Annex tops Audreys Books’ list of Edmonton bestsellers
Here is the list of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold in Edmonton for the week ended July 29, 2018, compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. Sorry I was a little slow processing this one this week. EDMONTON FICTION BESTSELLERS 1. Annex – Rich Larson 2. […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
The Grande Prairie Hospital saga: PC political motives, terrible planning, and past ministerial meddling haunt project
The battle between Alberta government officials and a Calgary construction company over long delays building a new hospital in Grande Prairie that boiled over this week is more than a mere political he-said/she-said story. There’s a backstory that started the late days of Alberta’s 44-year Tory Dynasty – partly acknowledged earlier this week, interestingly, by […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Respected community advocate and educator Janis Irwin to seek NDP nomination in Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood
Former high school teacher, vice-principal, university lecturer and education curriculum specialist Janis Irwin announced to a packed auditorium of supporters last night she will seek the NDP nomination in the Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood riding. Ms. Irwin will have to forgive me for introducing her this way. Her news release acknowledged her background as an educator, but emphasized […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
Sudden closing of polling oversight group could mean Albertans never see report on botched Calgary polls
If you were wondering about that inquiry by the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association into inaccurate polling that marred the October 2017 Calgary civic election, don’t hold your breath. Publication of the inquiry by three panelists engaged by the national standards association for public opinion research companies was expected soon – until the MRIA issued […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
The poll puts Jason Kenney’s UCP in slam-dunk range over NDP; the pollster has a bit of a history
Yesterday, United Conservative Party MLAs were Tweeting around a graphic from a new poll that showed their party with a wide lead over the New Democratic Party in all regions of Alberta, including the Edmonton area, which lately has been seen as an NDP stronghold. Mysteriously, the UCPers didn’t include any information in their Tweets […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
Surely it’s time for us in the reality based community to act on our convictions as decisively as conservatives do
Surely it’s time for the reality based community – that’s us, my progressive friends – to start making some new democratic realities! In 2015, as you will recall, many of us overcame our reservations and voted for Justin Trudeau’s Liberals on the basis of his firm, clear, unequivocal promise to introduce democratic electoral reform to […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Didn’t care or didn’t know? UCP MLAs endorse author of offensive social media posts for nomination
Well, that certainly didn’t take long! Mere hours after AlbertaPolitics.ca published its semi-satirical, semi-serious “Jimmy the Geek” Vegas odds piece about the potential for bozo eruptions among the current members of the United Conservative Party Legislative Caucus than, well, some of the bozos erupted. Yesterday’s AlbertaPolitics.ca post assigned Rick Strankman, MLA for Drumheller-Stettler and, in […]