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 […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Odds-on favourites for disaster … ‘Jimmy the Geek’ sets Vegas odds for the UCP MLAs most likely to resign next

Now that Alberta’s Opposition United Conservative Party has been around for a year – it’s first anniversary was on Sunday – we note that the right-wing party has seen the resignation of no fewer than six of its MLAs for various reasons in its first year of operation. In fairness, it must be conceded that […]

Posted inCanadian Politics

So sorry to see you go so soon, Manning Centre … here’s your hat

Shed a tear for the Calgary-based Manning Centre, which Postmedia’s Cowtown website of record sadly reported yesterday is “stepping back from its advocacy work.” Since polishing up Tiny Tories to make them acceptable for election door-knocking and serving as a launch pad for development-industry-financed attacks on Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi is about all the Manning […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Freedom Conservative Party’s Derek Fildebrandt demonstrates his talent for getting up his opponents’ noses

Derek Fildebrandt, the self-described “Alberta redneck” who now leads the minuscule Freedom Conservative Party, has a talent for getting up his opponents’ noses. This has served the university-educated Ottawa native extremely well in his tireless quest to earn himself a place in the headlines, and it worked for him again last week when he provoked […]

Posted inCanadian Politics

Saskatchewan, Ontario have no constitutional case against Ottawa’s carbon tax, only a political strategy

By vowing to go to court to fight the federal government’s carbon tax, Saskatchewan and now Ontario are rejecting the most cost effective way to reduce carbon pollution, the Pembina Institute complained yesterday. “It is deeply irresponsible of the Saskatchewan and Ontario governments to reject carbon pricing,” said Isabelle Turcotte, interim federal policy director of […]