Posted inAlberta Politics

Canadian market-fundamentalist right looks to ‘Super PACs’ like so-called Alberta Prosperity Fund to grab back power

PHOTOS: ‘Super PACs’ have access to corporate vaults, and very little control or oversight of what they do with the money they’re given. Below: Alberta Prosperity Fund Director Barry McNamar, APF Advisory Council members Dave Rutherford and Cameron Davies, and U.S. anti-taxation zealot Grover Norquist. Having received serious and unexpected shocks nationally and in Alberta […]

Posted inAlberta Politics, News Satire

NDP environment minister, premier blamed for withdrawal of Senator Lindsey Graham from presidential race

PHOTOS: South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham dropped out of the race to become the Republican Party’s presidential candidate this morning. Well-informed sources point to Environment Minister Shannon Phillips and the rest of Alberta’s NDP government as the reason he had to quit. Below: Phillips, who is now thought to be plotting to go after Donald […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Former Tory labour minister and deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk enters the farm safety fray with ‘Bill 6 Taskforce’

PHOTOS: Thomas Lukaszuk in the summer of 2014 when he was running for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta. Below: A group of farmers and their supporters unhappy with Bill 6, the Enhanced Protection for Farm and Ranch Workers Act, protest the legislation at the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton a few days […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Dec. 17, 2014 – Defection Day – an Alberta anniversary to remember … and to forget!

PHOTOS: Defecting Opposition leader Danielle Smith, looking uncomfortable, gets an awkward and apparently unwanted hug from then-premier Jim Prentice at Government House in Edmonton as they announced their plans to merge the two parties’ caucuses. Below: Ms. Smith explains the reasoning behind the move, while our sovereign lady the Queen looks on, presumably appalled. One […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Are moderate Alberta conservatives likely to find themselves waking up to a Wildrose nightmare?

ILLUSTRATIONS: It’s a nightmare alright – but whose? Actual Alberta voters may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Wildrose Leader Brian Jean and NDP Premier Rachel Notley. (Both shown in CBC photos.) The prevailing narrative in the Alberta media, as a headline in the reliably pro-Wildrose Edmonton Sun put it earlier this week, is that […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Violent, lurid and misogynistic threats against NDP politicians are both enabled and exposed by social media

PHOTOS: Opposition Leader Brian Jean addresses foes of Bill 6 on the steps of the Alberta Legislature. (Photo grabbed from his Facebook page.) Below: Alberta premiers Ralph Klein, Alison Redford, Ed Stelmach and Rachel Notley. It seemed pretty rich for Wildrose Party Leader Brian Jean to announce he was shocked – just shocked! – at […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Four veteran news professionals depart as Bell Media slashing hits CTV Edmonton

PHOTOS: CFRN in happier, pre-CTV times. Below: Journalists Serena Mah and Kim Taylor, veteran camera operator Robin Cleator, and editor Brian Fletcher. Fallout from the mid-November “restructuring” at Bell Media continues to be felt at CTV operations across the country, including here in Edmonton. If you have particularly sharp eyes, you might have noticed the […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Hunting for hangover remedies with Bill Bennett and other tall tales from Social Credit British Columbia

PHOTOS: Former British Columbia Social Credit Party Premier Bill Bennett on the steps of the B.C. Legislature in Victoria. Below: Another shot of Mr. Bennett, who died on Dec. 3, looking a little shaggy; NDP Premier Dave Barrett; W.A.C. Bennett, B.C.’s Social Credit League premier before Mr. Barrett’s short and turbulent tenure. Some things change, […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Bill 6 Update: With the NDP in damage control mode, has the storm passed?

PHOTOS: The crowd outside the Westerner Centre in Red Deer, photo grabbed from the Twitter feed of Mary MacArthur, the Western Producer’s Alberta correspondent. Below: Labour Minister Lori Sigurdson and Agriculture Minister Oneil Carlier. Alberta’s New Democratic Government went into damage-control mode yesterday, giving the most vociferous critics of Bill 6 what they’ve been saying […]