Was Premier Danielle Smith’s Sovereignty Act moment yesterday formal notice she intends to unilaterally declare Alberta independence soon, evidence she thinks she’s found a magic constitutional formula to overturn federal laws she doesn’t like, or just another day of using provincial resources to campaign against the Trudeau Government in Ottawa? Perhaps it’s a bit of […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Alberta pulls plug (again) on regional planning – a big win for the ‘Sprawl Cabal,’ not so much for city taxpayers
The United Conservative Party is pulling the plug on regional planning in Alberta in a move that will be a big win for the “Sprawl Cabal” of wealthy developers and for municipal politicians in smaller communities clustered around the province’s two biggest cities. But it’ll be a disaster for Edmonton and Calgary taxpayers and the […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Guest post: Science versus the Alberta Minister of Hunting and Fishing
As Alberta’s United Conservative Party Government continues to flood the zone with daily news releases announcing dubious and dangerous policy changes, it’s very hard to keep up and provide measured analysis. That’s the idea. The UCP spins it their way on Day 1, and by Day 2 the understaffed and layoff-beset media moves on the […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Stephen Harper’s appointment today as chair of AIMCo board ends pension management company’s ‘arm’s length’ status
Make no mistake, with the appointment this morning of Stephen Harper as chair of the governing board of the Alberta Investment Management Corp. we can forget about the notion the provincial pension management Crown corporation has an arm’s length relationship with the United Conservative Party Government. Many Albertans may be reassured by Mr. Harper’s appointment. […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
The judgment of history confirmed: Jason Kenney’s equalization motion in the Legislature is deader than the proverbial mackerel
Busted in June 2021 by a mystery photographer as he boozed it up with a group of cronies in defiance of COVID-19 restrictions on a government building’s controversial rooftop patio in Edmonton, premier Jason Kenney announced his fatuous anti-equalization “referendum” at a news conference a week later in hopes of saving his foundering political career. […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
UCP switches health care zones for ‘corridors’ – making ‘hallway medicine’ the new normal everywhere in Alberta!
It turns out not everything about yesterday’s announcement that the United Conservative Government is “making progress refocusing the health care system” was illogical and misleading. One tidbit about the chaotic restructuring, the point of which has never been coherently explained by any official spokesperson, is that the government is replacing Alberta Health Services’ five zones […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Let’s face it, ‘Ms. Smith Goes to Washington’ for Donald Trump’s inauguration isn’t likely to be a critical success
One can feel a little sympathy with Danielle Smith for wanting to be at Donald Trump’s second inauguration on Jan. 20, especially since the trip is likely to be on her fellow Albertans’ dime. While it’s unlikely Alberta’s premier will be part of the largest presidential inauguration crowd ever – that would be the 1.8 […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Stephen Harper: will he actually help Danielle Smith try to wreck the Canada Pension Plan?
Is Stephen Harper, the man who holds Pierre Poilievre’s puppet strings, actually going to help Danielle Smith try to wreck the Canada Pension Plan? Even considering how much trouble the Trudeau Liberals appear to be in nowadays, that seems like a weird flex for the former Conservative prime minister who surely would like to see […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Report says UCP wants Stephen Harper to lead AIMCo board, just about the worst pension management idea you’ve ever heard
BNN Bloomberg is a reasonably sober business news organization, so when it reports as it did yesterday that Alberta’s United Conservative Party Government wants to make Stephen Harper chair of the Alberta Investment Management Corp. board, you have to take it seriously. This is true even if inserting a controversial former prime minister with deep […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Nate Horner wants us to believe AIMCo’s board richly deserved to be summarily fired
Alberta Finance Minister Nate Horner wants us to believe he sacked the CEO and entire board of the Alberta Investment Management Corp. last Thursday because, as his news release put it, “the corporation has seen significant increases in operating costs, management fees and staffing without a corresponding increase to return on investment.” After reciting a […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Firing of AIMCo CEO and entire board another sign UCP is determined to control everything, everywhere, all at once
With its surprise decision to cashier the entire board and the top executive of the supposedly independent Alberta Investment Management Corp., we see once again that the United Conservative Party Government is determined to control everything, everywhere, all at once. And if you’re an Albertan, that includes your retirement savings in the Canada Pension Plan […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Some post-election-night hot takes on the coming MAGA Restoration south of the Medicine Line
Whoever forms the next Canadian government, no matter how sympathetic they may be right now to next January’s MAGA Restoration south of the Medicine Line, the next four years at least are bound to be interesting ones for Canada. Interesting, that is, in the sense of that famous folk curse. This also goes for provincial […]