Alberta Premier Danielle Smith sounded as if she were almost cackling with glee at a news conference Friday morning where she announced the creation of a “New North American Initiative” in cooperation with the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy to “foster a better understanding of the changing Canada-U.S. relationship.” “This initiative will deepen […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
When the dust settles from Danielle Smith’s cabinet shuffle, 60% of her caucus will be ministers!
Thanks to Friday’s cabinet reshuffle, more than half of the entire United Conservative Party caucus in the Alberta Legislature is now a member of Premier Danielle Smith’s cabinet! To be precise, 57.4 per cent of the 47 UCP MLAs now have a cabinet portfolio. When you subtract Speaker Ric McIver, just appointed to replace Washington-bound […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
There’s so much work wrecking health care that Danielle Smith had to double number of ministers responsible to 4!
It’s lot of work to destroy a well-established and popular public health care system, and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith seems to have recognized that reality with her cabinet shuffle early this afternoon. Instead of one minister of health, assigned the Herculean task of rubbishing the system, plus a minister of mental health and addiction to […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Jason Kenney, Alberta’s first UCP premier, warns that its second one could kill investment with her separation talk
Let it be acknowledged that while Jason Kenney’s assessment of the danger posed by the United Conservative Party’s continued flirtation with separatism is spot on, it was he, Alberta’s first UCP premier, who sparked the fire his successor is now fanning. In a conversation yesterday with journalists on the sidelines of the annual general meeting […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
More than 23,000 Alberta civil servants represented by AUPE now primed to strike
With more than 23,000 civil servants represented by the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees primed to strike, the ball is now in the United Conservative Party Government’s court. At a noon-hour press conference yesterday, AUPE President Guy Smith announced the union’s strike mandate, which can only be described as resounding – 90.1 per cent approving […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Danielle Smith and the Alberta Prosperity Project: Who’s pulling whose strings?
So, is Danielle Smith pulling the Alberta Prosperity Project’s strings, or are the pushers of the prosperity project pulling the premier’s? Yesterday, a separatist sub-faction of the Alberta conservative movement’s extremist base announced the question it hopes to ask in the separation referendum it’s collecting signatures to demand – which, to give the group its […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Some thoughts on that shocking 36% of Albertans we’re told by a pollster would like the province to separate from Canada
Where there’s smoke, the martyred American president John F. Kennedy famously and accurately observed, there’s often a smoke-making machine. Whatever can be said about the accuracy of the notorious Angus Reid Institute poll that purports to show 36 per cent of Albertans would like to separate from Canada – a percentage that defies credulity no […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Danielle Smith proposes a new theory of why Alberta needs a separation referendum
According to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who describes herself as a Canadian patriot, she’s only enabling a separation referendum out here in Wild Rose Country to keep a separatist party from becoming as successful as the Bloc Québécois. “We do not want a permanent feature of Alberta politics to be parties that send representatives to […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Nathan Cooper, the Alberta Legislature’s Speaker, set to move to Washington D.C. as provincial trade representative
CORRECTION: Well, I stand corrected! It turns out Nathan Cooper will be a diplomat, complete with a diplomatic plate and a nice red diplomatic passport to boot. The thing to remember, though, is that Mr. Cooper’s diplomatic credentials will be issued by the Government of Canada, which is mighty nice of them under the circumstances, […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Danielle Smith explains why, as a strong believer in Canada, she’ll do whatever she can to help Alberta’s separatists
RED DEER – Alberta Premier Danielle Smith called a news conference yesterday to tell the impertinent journalists who showed up why, as a strong believer in Canadian Confederation, she intends to do whatever she can to ensure her province’s loony separatists get to have a secession referendum as soon as possible. A link is provided, […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Danielle Smith tries in ‘Alberta Next’ video address to bluff her way out of a bad hand she dealt herself
After dealing herself a weak hand by making assumptions that turned out to be disastrously wrong, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith sat down for her weirdly timed mid-afternoon video address to the province yesterday and tried to bluff her way out of a predicament of her own creation. If only Pierre Poilievre and his MAGA Conservatives […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Remembering the Orange Wave: Today marks the 10th anniversary of the election of the NDP in Alberta
Good morning! Today marks the 10th anniversary of the election of an NDP government in Alberta in an Orange Wave that came as a surprise to many and a shock to some – arguably including most of the leadership of the NDP. The election of a majority New Democratic Government was not expected at the […]