“Wexit” is dangerous, but not because it’s ever likely to come to pass. The economic case for Prairie separatism is so obviously lame — because of what’s happened to the world market for fossil fuels and because people who actually live where there’s tidewater aren’t interested and never will be — that such nonsense will […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
This just in from washed-up Wildroser: Alberta separation if necessary, but not necessarily separation!
It looks as if Rob Anderson has found a new gig — Alberta separation if necessary, but not necessarily Alberta separation. For those of you scratching your heads and asking the most obvious question — Rob Who? — Mr. Anderson is one of the few Alberta politicians to have crossed the floor of the Legislature […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Canadian Taxpayers Federation commentary on nurse salaries isn’t research so much as an echo chamber
Has anyone noticed how the propaganda produced by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation seems to be growing more inept of late? Misleading arguments and anti-union bias have long characterized many of the claims made by the Regina-based CTF, which claims to be a non-partisan “citizens’ group,” although its only legal members are in fact the five […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Plan to roll back public employees’ pay is no surprise, but the way it’s being rolled out seems surprisingly inept
When Alberta’s finance minister announced the Kenney Government’s plan to roll back unionized public employees’ pay by 2 to 5 per cent yesterday, he blamed Alberta’s debt and deficit, not the huge hole he’d just blown in the province’s budget with $4.5-billion in tax cuts for billionaires and big corporations. Well, whatever. It’s not as […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Are secret mandatory government bargaining orders the new face of public-sector labour relations in Alberta?
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and his government moved yesterday to impose big changes on public sector bargaining in Alberta, not to mention a host of other areas. They’re sure to unleash a flood of litigation. There’s enough stuff embedded in the Harper-Government-style omnibus budget legislation introduced to the Alberta Legislature yesterday by Finance Minister Travis […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Federal election results show why abandoning ‘social license’ was a dumb idea for Alberta’s oilpatch
Seeking “social license” for Alberta’s fossil fuel industry was said by the NDP government of former premier Rachel Notley to be a way to win approval for more pipeline capacity to Canada’s ocean ports. This was true enough as far as it went, and the idea getting such approval required environment-friendly compromises like carbon taxes […]
Posted inBestsellers
Red Deer-raised author Anar Ali’s Night of Power tops Audreys Books Edmonton Fiction Bestsellers List
Here are the lists of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold in Edmonton during the week ended Oct. 20, 2019. The lists are compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. EDMONTON FICTION BESTSELLERS 1. Night of Power – Anar Ali * 2. Girl, Woman, Other – Bernardine Evaristo 3. The […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Alberta is Alberta again! The poor little rich kid of Confederation brings down a budget
Happy St. Crispin’s Day! Appropriately enough, it’s time for those of us who live here in Wild Rose Country to cry, “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more!” Alberta is Alberta again! Yesterday’s vicious austerity budget proves it. Alberta’s once again the poor little rich kid of Confederation, crying poverty, throwing its weight […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Budget Day reminder: Facts about Alberta public employees don’t support propaganda saying they’re too numerous or paid too much
Alberta’s a high-wage province! Who knew? Maybe the question ought to be … Who didn’t? At any rate, the Kenney Government’s “blue-ribbon” panel on Alberta’s finances, chaired by former Saskatchewan finance minister Janice MacKinnon and instructed not even to look at the revenue side of the province’s so-called public spending problem, ignored that inconvenient question. […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Kenney to Trudeau: Adopt Andrew Scheer’s energy platform or Alberta will hold a meaningless equalization referendum!
If you concluded as New Brunswick’s Conservative premier just did that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s somewhat reduced victory in Monday’s federal election indicates a certain level of support for carbon taxes and like policies in Canada, the premiers of Alberta and Saskatchewan beg to differ. Blaine Higgs told reporters in Fredericton yesterday that he’s now […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
What a strange, strange night it’s been: Andrew Scheer snatches defeat from the jaws of victory!
Well! There’s certainly no shortage of safe Conservative seats in Alberta Jason Kenney could use to saddle up and ride back to Ottawa to save conservatism after Andrew Scheer’s disastrous impersonation of the Conservative Party of Canada’s leader ended in ignominy last night. It takes a special talent to snatch defeat from the jaws of […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
N.B.’s Blaine Higgs showed the proper path to power after a close vote, but don’t expect Albertans to believe it
If the Conservatives led by Andrew Scheer should win the most seats in the House of Commons tonight but Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau refuses to hand over power on the perfectly reasonable Parliamentary grounds he thinks he can command the confidence of the House, much of Alberta will go over the edge. The almighty […]