Happy New Year, I guess. This year may not turn out to be much better than the last one, but I do have a question for the first day of 2025: What happens to our Canadian public health care system if Donald Trump and sundry unsavoury Canadian characters like Stockwell Day succeed in their effort […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Despite the optimism of its spokespeople, big Trump tariffs would spell a bleak future for Alberta’s beef industry
Despite a few squawks about the potential impact of Donald Trump’s promised 25-per-cent tariff on All Things Canadian, at least in its public statements Alberta’s cattle industry has been surprisingly upbeat. Ho-hum, we’ve heard it all before seems to be a typical reaction from cattle industry organizations, cheerfully repeated by the media. Perhaps that’s because […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Another day, another UCP announcement; another year of AlbertaPolitics.ca … its 18th, as a matter of fact!
This blog marks the beginning of its 18th year of publication today. That, as I observed last year on this date, makes it something of an institution in Alberta political commentary. That post wasn’t a bad piece, if I may say so myself, and the questions I was entertaining about revenue and the most appropriate […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Edmonton NDP MP urges Trudeau Government to adopt her private member’s bill to make it harder for provinces to quit the CPP
Edmonton Strathcona MP Heather McPherson wants the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to adopt her private member’s bill, which would require the consent of at least two-thirds of the provinces enrolled in the Canada Pension Plan before a province could withdraw from the fund, as government legislation. The New Democratic Party Member of Parliament […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Chief Actuary’s report on UCP plan to raid Canada Pension Plan fund: Forget about getting 53%
Let’s cut right to the chase: What the analysis made public yesterday by the Chief Actuary of Canada shows is that if Alberta were to split from the Canada Pension Plan it would only be entitled to 20 to 25 per cent of the CPP investment fund, or about $120 billion to $150 billion. In […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Danielle Smith congratulates the loser of the Lethbridge-West by-election; family docs’ pay deal is finally done
Had the United Conservative Party’s John Middleton-Hope won Wednesday’s by-election in Lethbridge-West, one wonders if Health Minister Adriana LaGrange would have invited him along yesterday to help her make her long-overdue announcement of the government’s funding agreement with Alberta doctors? Alas for the UCP, Mr. Middleton-Hope was not the winner of the by-election. The Alberta […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Lethbridge-West by-election voters send NDP’s Rob Miyashiro to the Alberta Legislature
In a refreshing sign of intelligent life on the Great Plains of Alberta, voters in the Lethbridge-West by-election sent New Democrat Rob Miyashiro to the provincial Legislature in Edmonton yesterday. Judging from the unofficial numbers on the Elections Alberta website, the vote appeared to be a squeaker until about 11 p.m. when results of the […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
If Justin Trudeau takes a ‘walk in the snow,’ how will Alberta’s UCP ever fit up a replacement as nicely?
The Prime Minister’s Office in Ottawa surely isn’t the only Canadian venue with more than a whiff of panic in the air these days. Consider the likely conversation in Premier Danielle Smith’s office in the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton. According to Environment Canada, periods of snow are forecast in Ottawa today with more flurries tonight. […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Edmonton police commission member plans to work from Portugal; strangely, UCP minister has no problem with that
If only Andy Thompson had lived to see this day! Andrew Ernest Joseph Thompson, who ascended to the Great Legislature in the Sky in 2016, was the low-profile Canadian Senator who spent too much of his time in the lovely Mexican city of Guadalajara. And who can blame him, the winter climate in Jalisco state […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Soon-to-retire Edmonton police chief and tireless copagandist to become Alberta’s chief bureaucop: premier
Dale McFee, chief of the Edmonton Police Service, will soon take over as Alberta’s chief bureaucop – pardon me, bureaucrat – Premier Danielle Smith announced yesterday, surprising absolutely no one. Chief McFee will retire as Edmonton’s chief constable on Feb. 21. He will take over as the Deputy Minister of Executive Council three days later. […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Rachel Notley, Alberta’s first NDP premier, announces her intention to quit as Edmonton-Strathcona MLA
Rachel Notley, Alberta’s first NDP premier and the woman who in 2015 broke the Progressive Conservative party’s seemingly unshakable grip on power in this province, has announced her full departure from politics. In a social media post this morning, Ms. Notley stated her intention to write the Speaker of the Alberta Legislature and resign her […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
A week before crucial Lethbridge by-election, it’s still not clear what NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi stands for
Since Naheed Nenshi replaced Rachel Notley as leader of the Alberta NDP last June, the Opposition party appears to have gone from all tactics and no strategy to all strategy and no tactics. The crucial by-election to replace former NDP cabinet minister Shannon Phillips in Lethbridge-West is one week away yet very little has been […]