PHOTOS: Former premier Jim Prentice, left, asks a member of his opposition research and strategy team what the heck went wrong on May 5. Actual Alberta politicians and their flunkies may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Pastor Allan Hunsperger, whose blog post ignited Lake of Fire 1.0; Deborah Drever, whose tasteless social media posts […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Bitter Twitter commentators battle Dippers: Apparently size matters after all! Who knew?
Back in February 2013, then-Alberta-premier Alison Redford announced that, “recognizing the impact of falling resource revenues on our bottom line, my government will lead by example with a smaller, more focused cabinet.” At the time, the usual suspects in the provincial news media seemed to think her reduction of the cabinet from 20 to 19 […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Rachel Notley sets transition schedule for NDP government, gives impression grownups are in charge in Alberta again
Premier Designate Rachel Notley addresses reporters in the Alberta Legislature Building’s media room yesterday. (CBC photo.) Below: MLA Deborah Drever, new Lieutenant Governor Lois Mitchell. If Alberta’s Conservatives weren’t worried about the long-term effects of their surprise defeat in the May 5 general election, by gosh they should be now! Premier Designate Rachel Notley gave […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
How weird is this? Calgary Chamber of Commerce spokesperson praises Rachel Notley’s NDP government
PHOTOS: Premier Designate Rachel Notley, in orange shoes, with her caucus. Below: Scott Crockatt, the Calgary Chamber’s communications and marketing director; Manning Centre polemicist Colin Craig. Well, these are strange times indeed when the official spokesperson for the Calgary Chamber of Commerce can extol the potential for Alberta’s just-elected New Democratic government in glowing terms, […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Picking a cabinet is never an easy job – it’ll be tougher, with higher stakes, for Rachel Notley
It’s a pretty safe bet these four MLAs will be in the Notley Government’s first cabinet. From left to right, Deron Bilous, Brian Mason, David Eggen and, of course, Premier Designate Rachel Notley, who together made up the entire NDP caucus before the May 5 election. Below: Three other possible cabinet picks, Shannon Phillips, Marie […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Inexperienced? Says who? Complaints about NDP caucus composition only show how weak the right wing is just now
ILLUSTRATIONS: “You voted for whom? Are you mad, man?” … No way to win friends and influence people. (Historic illustration from Punch – no idea what point the artist was trying to make.) Below: Calgary-Bow MLA Deborah Drever (Metro Newspapers photo). Below her, an illustration from the author’s Facebook page of why all of our […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
So many premiers, so little time, so little space – it’s time to end the tradition of commissioning their portraits in oils
PHOTOS: Your blogger’s proposal for a portrait of outgoing premier Jim Prentice. Below: The modest photographic gallery of premiers in the B.C. Legislature in Victoria; a detail from the same wall showing, clockwise from top left, premiers W.A.C. Bennett, Bill Bennett, Bill Vander Zalm and Dave Barrett; the remaining space for portraits in the Alberta […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
‘Parson’ Manning, in the pulpit, preaches a formula of failure to Alberta’s New Democrats
PHOTOS: Preston Manning, Godfather of the Canadian right. Below: Alberta Premier Designate Rachel Notley, Liberal prime minister Wilfrid Laurier, Social Credit premier E.C. Manning and United Farmers of Alberta leader Henry Wise Wood. Preaching from the highest pulpit in the land, the opinion pages of the mighty Globe and Mail, Preston “Parson” Manning delivered a […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Whither Alberta’s Progressive Conservatives? Nowhere, probably …
PHOTOS: Potential supporters eye all that’s left of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party, metaphorically speaking, after Jim Prentice got finished driving it off the tracks. Below: Mr. Prentice and Premier Designate Rachel Notley. Former premier Ed Stelmach’s sound advice notwithstanding, it seems unlikely Alberta’s Progressive Conservatives have much of a future after the debacle they […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Photos of shredded documents in Legislature Building prompt fears of PC document destruction spree
Were shredders like this at work in the Alberta Legislative Building this week? Actually modern document destruction equipment may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Alberta Freedom of Information Commissioner Jill Clayton and Public Interest Commissioner Peter Hourihan (CBC photos). If serious document destruction has actually been taking place in Alberta, chances are good it […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
By ignoring Ed Stelmach, the oiligarchy and the ideological right overreached and lost plenty
PHOTOS: Ed Stelmach in the premier’s office at the Alberta Legislature. Below: Preston Manning, the Godfather of the Canadian right; Stelmach’s finance minister, Ted Morton; New Democrat political strategist Brian Topp. Ed Stelmach, the last good premier the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party managed to elect, spoke up yesterday about the tactics used by his party […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
With Lieutenant-Governor Donald Ethell, in frail health, set to retire, PM must choose replacement with care
PHOTOS: Lieutenant-Governor Donald Ethell prepares to read the Speech from the Throne in November 2014. Below: Mr. Ethell again and past lieutenants-governor Lois Hole and Norman Kwong. Photos from the Office of the Lieutenant-Governor.) More significant change is coming to Alberta’s government in the wake of last week’s election of Premier Designate Rachel Notley’s New […]