In Ontario last week on union business, your blogger was startled to discover the United Conservative Party had quoted his recent post commenting on recent polling results by Janet Brown Opinion Research that suggest NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi has been seriously underperforming. “We can’t expect Mr. Nenshi to ship out,” I had concluded in that […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Danielle Smith has news for the people of Canada: you have ‘the lowest living standards in the world’
I’ve been writing these little meditations on the state of politics in Alberta now longer than it takes an infant to grow old enough to vote and in that time I have had many opportunities to observe certain failings in the quality of political discourse here. Still, I must say I felt a little frisson […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
A timely reminder on this historic day: The hammer of D-Day crushed Hitler on the anvil of Russia
NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. – It’s now been 81 years since our magnificent Canadian soldiers stormed ashore at Juno Beach in Normandy to play their part the grim and deadly task of sweeping Hitler and his odious empire out of Europe. The landings on June 6, 1944, by 156,000 Canadian, British, U.S. and other Allied soldiers […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
Mark Carney’s energy superpower talk may not frighten the UCP, but it ought to frighten Pierre Poilievre
NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. – The bosses of 38 Canadian oil and gas corporations signed a letter of congratulations to Prime Minister Mark Carney after his April 28 election victory and pitched their favourite policy options to him, we were informed yesterday by The Canadian Press. Those policies, no one will be shocked to hear, would […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi is seriously underperforming and people are starting to notice
It is to be hoped that Premier Danielle Smith’s continuing strong polling numbers will catch the attention of someone in Alberta’s New Democratic Party Opposition, preferably somebody to whom Leader Naheed Nenshi will pay attention. The former Calgary mayor who cruised to victory as previous NDP leader Rachel Notley’s replacement a year ago this June […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Annals of the Law: Auditor general asks appeal court not to permit cross-examination of former AHS CEO about info she’s given his office
One doesn’t need to work very hard to read between the lines of Alberta Auditor General Doug Wylie’s filing Tuesday to the Alberta Court of Appeal, which argued that the court should deny the Alberta government the right to cross-examine former Alberta Health Services CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos about what records and other information she has […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
The King’s reading of the Throne Speech: Sounds like the grownups are in charge again
Say what you will about the King’s reading of the Throne Speech in the Senate chamber in Ottawa yesterday, his measured tones did manage to leave the impression that grownups are in charge in Ottawa once again. The mere appearance of King Charles III – by the grace of God, King of Canada, as we […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Bedevilled by scandal and measles, UCP tries to gin up a moral panic about racy picture books in school libraries
There’s never a bad time for a scandal-ridden right-wing government like Alberta’s United Conservative Party to try to gin up a moral panic over books with dirty pictures in school libraries. But with the province’s auditor general asking for and receiving permission from the Alberta Court of Appeal to act as an intervenor in the […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Naheed Nenshi, NDP leader, to get chance to win seat in Alberta Legislature on June 23
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has finally called a by-election in Edmonton Strathcona, four months after NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi was acclaimed as the Opposition party’s candidate in the riding long held former premier Rachel Notley. The premier also called by-elections to fill two other seats, Edmonton-Ellerslie, where former MLA Rod Loyola resigned to run for […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Finance Minister Nate Horner continues to taunt AUPE with an insulting offer in contract negotiations
Alberta Finance Minister Nate Horner continues to taunt the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees with an offer for its civil service bargaining unit that is lower than that achieved by other unionized public-sector workers. In a provocative statement published Friday on the official Government of Alberta website, Mr. Horner accused AUPE of lying to its […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Sure sounds like Alberta separatists want to have their cake and eat it too
Do you get the feeling that Alberta separatists want to have their cake and eat it too? Last weekend, a social media post from the so-called Alberta Prosperity Project offered this advice to nervous Albertans: “Sovereignty doesn’t mean losing what matters. You keep your identity, pension, passport – and gain a hopeful future.” The wordy […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Guest Post: The zombie Grassy Mountain coal mining proposal never dies because in Alberta the minimum is good enough
Last Thursday, the Alberta Energy Regulator approved a controversial coal exploration project in the environmentally sensitive and beautiful Eastern Slopes of the Rocky Mountains. The open-pit mining proposal by Australian-owned Northback Holdings Corp. was rejected back in 2021 on the grounds its environmental effects on fish and water quality outweighed any potential economic benefits. But […]