PHOTO: Wildrose Leader Brian Jean gazes into the future, or into a pond, or something. For $150 bucks, you can sit there with him. The annual general meeting pages on the Wildrose website include an invitation to an opportunity to take part in a conversation with Brian Jean in an “interactive event” at which the […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Will the social conservative elephant in the Wildrose room crowd out the Tories being wooed by party Leader Brian Jean?
PHOTOS: With AGM delegates’ endorsement in hand, Wildrose Leader Brian Jean is calling for Alberta’s right to reunite under his party’s banner. Below: Former Wildrose leader Danielle Smith, in her current role as a radio talk show host (Global News photo) and Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA and former leadership candidate Drew Barnes. In his speech to […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
If we’d been paying attention, perhaps we wouldn’t be so shocked by the U of C’s corporate-influence scandal
PHOTOS: The University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy, conveniently located adjacent to the oil corporations’ towers in downtown Cowtown. Below: The writers of the notorious Alberta separatist Firewall Manifesto, which then-premier Ralph Klein wisely tossed into the garbage; Calgary School alumni and Firewall signa-Tories Stephen Harper, Tom Flanagan and Ted Morton in appropriate garb. […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Are the Wildrosers eyeing public service pensions? It’s worth keeping an eye on what they get up to in Cowtown
ILLUSTRATIONS: Can the Wildrose Party control its Tea Party fringe? We’ll get a sense tomorrow and Saturday when the party considers its members’ policy proposals. Below: Party Leader Brian Jean, at right, in Terminator mode; with Wildrose Finance Critic Derek Fildebrandt in a stunt with big signs inspired by Mr. Fildebrandt’s former employer, the Canadian […]
Posted inAlberta Politics, Canadian Politics
In Flanders Fields? It’s time to encourage another generation of school kids to read some better poems from the Great War
PHOTOS: In Flanders Fields? The reality of the Great war’s battlefields: squalor, incompetence, mechanized industrial death. Below: John McCrae, and a Great War poet still worth reading, Wilfred Owen. A civilization that forgets its poetry is barely worthy of the name. Like fiction and unlike non-fiction, poetry is how a culture’s most profound truths are […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Alberta Bill 5 and sunshine lists generally are lousy public policy and a serious invasion of privacy
PHOTOS: The Alberta Legislature in the sunshine. It doesn’t matter that no individuals are visible, does it? Below: Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley and Wildrose Finance Critic Derek Fildebrandt, back when he was a Canadian Taxpayers Federation agitator. So-called sunshine lists, which publish the salaries of public employees who are paid more than an arbitrarily set […]
Posted inAlberta Politics, Media
Succession planning: what do we do when the great Canadian newspapers die off?
PHOTOS: Never mind the world. Who will save Canadian democracy now? With apologies to Superman. Below: Joseph Howe in his prime, and with his ottoman; the author, holding forth while explaining something about the Edmonton Journal; Journal columnist Paula Simons. Yesterday’s claim by Frank Magazine that Postmedia Network Canada Ltd. will amalgamate its daily newspapers […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Message to the Wildrose Party: The NDP won and you’re going to need breakfast!
PHOTOS: The Wild Rose Breakfast Special. Just one of the many compensations of getting an early start on your day. Below: Infrastructure Minister and NDP House Leader Brian Mason, the NDP’s point man on early rising legislators; Wildrose Leader Brian Jean; and Interim Conservative Party of Canada Leader Rona Ambrose, whose literary preferences include Ayn […]
Posted inAlberta Politics, Media
So long, Suns? Frank Magazine says Postmedia will merge dailies in Edmonton, Calgary and Ottawa
PHOTOS: The Edmonton Journal Building in downtown Edmonton, home to both the Edmonton Journal and the Edmonton Sun. At least until March … Below: A sign of the (end) times? “Front counter service closed,” says a sign in the foyer of the Edmonton Journal Building in downtown Edmonton. Below that: Margo Goodhand, Edmonton Journal editor-in-chief. […]
Posted inAlberta Politics, Canadian Politics
It’s official: the Harper Government’s approach to petro-diplomacy was a spectacular flop
PHOTOS: The White House, home of the Most Powerful Person, etc. Below: Stephen Harper, one of the architects of Canada’s Bitumen bullying export policy, the fruits of which are now apparent; Barack Obama, President of the United States. The office of the President of the United States may not be what it once was, but […]
Posted inAlberta Politics, Canadian Politics
Rona Ambrose, disciplined Harper loyalist, Ayn Rand enthusiast, to lead the Opposition
PHOTOS: A typical constituent of Interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose searches their Sturgeon River-Parkland riding northwest of Edmonton for a sign of his MP. Actual constituents of this Alberta MP may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Ms. Ambrose herself (CBC Photo) and Ms. Ambrose’s favourite author. Well, nobody in the shrunken Parliamentary ranks of […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Rachel Notley sticks to her fiscal guns at ‘state of the province speech’ to Edmonton Chamber of Commerce
PHOTO: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley addressing the Alberta Chamber of Commerce yesterday. Alberta NDP Premier Rachel Notley yesterday continued a tradition of “state of the province speeches” to chamber of commerce audiences long beloved by the province’s Progressive Conservative premiers. PC premier Jim Prentice gave the last one to the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce in […]