A political party that has completely lost its mind is no laughing matter, but I’m going to start with a dad joke. Since my late dad was an astrophysicist and one of the founding members of the University of Victoria faculty, his dad jokes could sometimes take a scientific turn, like the one he used […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Another day, another overwrought UCP screed – this one defending fossil fuel companies’ ‘right’ to greenwash
Another day, another overwrought screed from the United Conservative Party, this one a repeat, screeching that the federal government’s changes to the Competition Act “are undemocratic, extreme and will hurt hardworking businesses and families.” None of these things are true. The changes are democratic both in the sense they were passed by Parliament and that […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Danielle Smith’s statements on federal labour disputes signal intent to attack workers’ rights, CUPE leader warns
There’s a reason that Danielle Smith publishes an angry statement demanding Ottawa interfere with the collective bargaining process practically every time there’s a labour dispute in federal jurisdiction, and it goes beyond the conservative movement’s urgent desire to score points against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Alberta’s premier is sending a signal her United Conservative Party […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Danielle Smith announces performative changes with little legal significance to ‘Alberta Bill of Rights’
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith generated a huge amount of virtual ink yesterday yakking about her planned amendments to Alberta’s Lougheed-era Bill of Rights, passed by the Legislature in 1972 and not thought about very much ever since for good reason. In tune with the zeitgeist, Ms. Smith announced her planned changes in a three-and-a-half minute […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
The Danielle Smith Chronicles: Still picking fights and wasting other people’s money
Last June, Naheed Nenshi began his campaign to lead the Alberta NDP by observing that Premier Danielle Smith and the United Conservative Party “only know how to do two things: They know how to pick fights and they know how to waste money.” About the same time, Calgary-Varsity NDP MLA Luanne Metz refined that concept […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
Out of control spending on for-profit nursing agencies to surpass $1.5B in Canada this year: report
Spending on so-called “agency nurses,” nurses employed by for-profit nursing agencies whose services are contracted out to short-staffed public health care employers to fill temporary staffing needs, is out of control and expected to surpass $1.5 billion in Canada in the current fiscal year. That’s not a typo. That’s billion with a B – as […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Devin Dreeshen, self-appointed Calgary transit czar now stuck with floundering Green Line, pens petulant protest
Now that he’s unintentionally appointed himself Calgary Public Transit Czar, Alberta Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen is starting to sound as if he’d really prefer to shed the responsibility. Too bad, though, as we’ve already explained, it’s that pesky Pottery Barn Rule: If you break it, you own it. Readers will recall that on Sept. 3, […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
In surprise announcement, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith lurches toward big spending on new schools
Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Government must have received one hell of a blast from parents about the appalling crowding in Alberta’s schools when classes started two weeks ago, judging from the policy lurch Alberta’s premier revealed last night in a hastily cobbled together TV announcement. In her 10-minute pre-recorded remarks – her little video was […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Danielle Smith muses about the CPP; Brian Jean ponders a well-cleanup bailout; is there a line between those dots?
Is it just me, or are other Albertans unnerved by how soon it was after Alberta Premier Danielle Smith was publicly musing about how hard it is for the United Conservative Party to get its paws on our Canada Pension Plan funds that her energy minister was ruminating in public about how Alberta’s highly profitable […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Dan Williams heads out today on a junket to Washington D.C. – not much is likely to be accomplished
Addiction and Mental Health Minister Dan Williams jets off to Washington D.C. today to, by the sound of it, attend a gala reception at the chichi Mayflower Hotel tomorrow night. Yes, the Alberta Government’s news release Friday said the purpose of Mr. Williams’ junket is “to meet with elected officials, community leaders, lawmakers and practitioners […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Danielle Smith: Alberta welcomes newcomers, but only if they ‘possess our shared values’
“Alberta has always welcomed newcomers who possess our shared values,” Premier Danielle Smith says in a statement published on the Government’s official web page yesterday. “Who possess our shared values!” What values would those be, pray? I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard a louder dog-whistle from an elected official […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
How long have we waited to see a candidate in a televised debate open a can of whoop-ass on an opponent like Kamala Harris did?
In modern politics, televised debates are usually unenlightening, uninteresting and undermine democracy. If they are even mildly entertaining, with one participant or the other landing a light punch, it is only rarely. At worst, they are stultifying, with a couple of seasoned pros probing each other’s defences, dodging and weaving, and playing rope-a-dope without ever […]