Remember the anger in Alberta in 2016 when some observers connected the dots between the fire that spring in Fort McMurray and the phenomenon known as global warming? Such statements were denounced as outrageous. Also insensitive — and, without doubt, a few of the comments on social media were. But hoping to avoid a discussion […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
Linda Silas, president of Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, announces bid to lead Canadian Labour Congress
Linda Silas, president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions representing 200,000 nurses across Canada, formally announced today she will seek the presidency of the Canadian Labour Congress. This doesn’t come as a thunderbolt out of the blue. Ms. Silas has been pondering a run for the leadership the CLC for some time, and has […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Foresight is 2020: It wouldn’t be New Year’s Eve without a Top Ten List of political predictions
This year, foresight is 2020! It wouldn’t be New Year’s Eve without AlbertaPolitics.ca’s Top Ten Political Predictions for 2020, so your blogger will gaze into his crystal ball one more time and tell you what’s up next. No one seems to have gone back and checked, then called me on the results, but it should […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
For the 12th anniversary of AlbertaPolitics.ca, here’s a Top Ten List of Alberta political stories in 2019
Today marks the 12th anniversary of the first post published on this blog, known at the time as St. Albert Diary. Later, for a long spell, it was Alberta Diary, and still retains that name on Rabble.ca, where it is also published. By the standards of the Internet, this makes AlbertaPolitics.ca an institution, a virtual […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
The Energy War Room’s crack team isn’t exactly ‘cookin’ with gas’
Should we be worried about operatives employed by the Alberta Government’s public-private Energy War Room masquerading as journalists? Of course we should. But it’s also OK to be amused by the astonishing ineptitude with which they’re going about the task. As King Solomon is said to have observed, pride goeth before destruction, so it’s unlikely […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Happy Holidays! Alberta’s economic prospects may underwhelm, but at least you can spin them as you like!
Happy Holidays! At this time last year, it looked as if Santa would bring something for everyone in Alberta, regardless of their political orientation. This year, though, maybe not so much. Lumps of carbon-dioxide-emitting coal, maybe. Leastways, you can spin recent economic outlooks for the province any way you like, but nobody’s going to be […]
Posted inBestsellers
Keeper’n Me, by the late Richard Wagamese, leads independent booksellers’ Alberta Bestsellers List
Here are the lists of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold by independent booksellers in Alberta during the week ended Sunday, Dec. 15, 2019. This will be the last bestsellers list produced by the BPAA until 2020. The lists are compiled by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta, and include sales at Audreys […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Annals of the Energy War Room: Square-pipeline logo to be dumped like a bad first date
The Alberta Energy War Room’s logo will be unceremoniously dumped like a bad first date. It turns out the iconic square-pipeline symbol that was supposedly rustled up just for Canadian Energy Centre Ltd., as the War Room is officially known, was already in service as the corporate logo of a multi-national business software development company […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Rebranded ‘War Room’ aims for ‘measured tone’ in riposte to acerbic Medicine Hat News column, doesn’t quite succeed
All the Alberta Government’s rebranded Energy War Room is trying to do, pleaded Managing Director Tom Olsen yesterday in his much anticipated riposte to an acerbic column last week in the Medicine Hat News, is to bring a little civility to the debate about whether or not foreign-funded enviro-propagandists are an actual thing. The War […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
No more pipelines? Another day, another UCP talking point exposed as codswallop
Another day, another Alberta Government talking point exposed as codswallop. Yesterday, we compared and contrasted what the United Conservative Party Government used to say about the former NDP government’s carbon tax with reality. Viz., it was destroying the economy (UCP), versus, it effectively had no negative impact on the Alberta economy (the government’s own officials). […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
That’s embarrassing! Alberta’s court filing in carbon tax fight says NDP carbon tax did no harm
The linked weekend revelations that the NDP’s carbon tax had no meaningful negative impact on Alberta’s economy and that 40 per cent of Albertans received carbon-tax rebates larger than the tax they paid were ill timed from the government’s perspective. After all, the CBC’s report on Saturday of what the Alberta government’s own officials had […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Guest Post by Abdul Malik: Let’s not go all NIMBY on public transit — it’s just what Edmonton needs!
Abdul Malik is a photographer and writer based in Edmonton who covers climate justice, decolonization, and worker organizing in the era of extreme climate change. In this post he argues Edmonton doesn’t just need more public transit, it needs free public transit. By Abdul Malik Alberta’s already got a reputation for NIMBYism, from the criminal […]