Edmonton-Centre Liberal (but maybe not for long) MLA Laurie Blakeman in a recent photo grabbed from her Facebook page. Below: Alberta Party Leader Greg Clark and the party’s executive director, former Wildrose candidate Tim Grover. Whither Laurie Blakeman? The more I think about Ms. Blakeman’s offer just a week ago to lead the foundering post-Raj-Sherman […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Alberta roundup: press conferences, photo ops, on-line surveys, not to mention a body in the back of a pickup truck!
PHOTOS: Alberta Finance Minister Robin Campbell shows off the government’s new on-line survey, which is so simple even a monkey can fill it out and provide the results the government is looking for, at today’s news conference. Actual Alberta politicians and their animated props may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: The real Mr. Campbell, […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Supreme Court of Canada ruling on Saskatchewan public service labour law has huge implications for Alberta
PHOTOS: The Supreme Court of Canada. Below: Queen Elizabeth signs the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau looks on smiling on April 17, 1982; the Charter. The Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling last Friday that Saskatchewan’s “essential services” law is unconstitutional because it interferes with the Charter-protected right of public […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
Yakitty, yak-yak … Would the Canadian Taxpayers Federation #PleaseShutUp about how Jim Prentice should #BeLikeRalph
PHOTOS: Canadian Taxpayers Federation operative Colin Craig makes a point involving a table, a pile of cash and a picture of Ralph Klein. Below: The real Ralph Klein; present-day Premier Jim Prentice; former Edmonton Journal editor Stephen Hume. The seven-member Canadian Taxpayers Federation yesterday instructed Alberta Premier Jim Prentice to “be like Ralph,” or, in […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
John Baird: This is one we can’t blame on Stephen Harper
PHOTO: Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird in his best-loved role as Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s foreign affairs tough guy. How about that John Baird resignation? The theories over the water cooler were pretty fanciful this morning – ranging from speculation about possible controversial wedding plans for the outgoing Foreign Affairs Minister to a falling out […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
If the era of cuts returns to post-secondary education, what’s Stephen Mandel going to say?
PHOTOS: Best Friends Forever? Stephen Mandel looks at his BFF Jim Prentice. Will he be as forthright stranding up for the University of Alberta and other post-secondary institutions as when he was mayor and Alison Redford was premier? Below: Former advanced education minister Thomas Lukaszuk, the object of Mr. Mandel’s wrath back in 2013, and […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Alberta Liberals reject Laurie Blakeman’s call for Hail Mary pass to Alberta Party, choose David Swann as interim leader
PHOTOS: Interim Alberta Liberal Leader David Swann, grabbed from his website. Below: Liberal MLA Laurie Blakeman and Alberta Party leader Greg Clark. Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time! But early Sunday afternoon the Alberta Liberal Party’s board rejected veteran Edmonton MLA Laurie Blakeman’s plan to attempt a merger of her foundering […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
St. Albert Mayor Nolan Crouse says no to a run for the Alberta Liberal leadership
PHOTOS: St. Albert Mayor Nolan Crouse: He says he’s not a candidate for the leadership of the Alberta Liberals. Below: Departing Liberal Leader Raj Sherman and rumoured candidates David Swann, Laurie Blakeman, Harvey Locke and Shelley Wark-Martyn. ST. ALBERT, Alberta If you didn’t happen to know there was an Alberta Liberal leadership race that must […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Here we go again: Jim Prentice’s ‘5% Solution’ is bad policy, but irresistible politics
PHOTOS: Déjà vu all over again – the Alberta Legislative Building back in the day. Below: Retired Judge John Major, Winston Churchill and the ever-quotable Yogi Berra. Alberta Premier Jim Prentice’s “5-Per-Cent Solution” announced yesterday, whereby political salaries are symbolically trimmed to help justify other unpopular cuts in public services and an across-the-board attack on […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
The dream of uniting Alberta’s left, revived in the wake of Raj Sherman’s resignation, remains unlikely
PHOTOS: Strange bedfellows? Some sort of accommodation between the Alberta NDP and the Alberta Liberals might be a good idea, but it’s not very likely to happen. Below: NDP Leader Rachel Notley, possible future interim Alberta Liberal Leader Laurie Blakeman, and former NDP leader Brian Mason. OTTAWA Just remember that the Conservative advantage in Alberta […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Alberta Liberal Leader Raj Sherman quits, completing last-place trifecta of disastrous party leaders
PHOTOS: Departing Alberta Liberal Leader Raj Sherman rallying his troops on the steps of the Alberta Legislature back in 2011. A little creative cropping made the crowd look bigger. Soon-to-depart Alberta Liberal MLAs Kent Hehr and Darshan Kang, both of whom plan to run soon for the federal Liberals. Three Alberta political parties laid low […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Death of Wildrose founder and Alberta Report journalist-ideologue Link Byfield a major loss to social conservative right
PHOTOS: Wildrose Party co-founder and candidate Link Byfield at then-party-leader Danielle Smith’s side during the kick-off of the party’s 2012 Alberta election campaign. (Photo found on the Internet, creator not identified.) Below: A more recent shot of Mr. Byfield grabbed from the website of a social conservative think-tank, Cardus. The death of Link Byfield at […]