Perhaps feeling as if she’d enjoyed a little success yelling at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about last month’s national rail lockout, Danielle Smith was back at it this week, demanding on social media that the feds do something to end the possibility of a strike by Air Canada pilots. Maybe she’s persuaded it was her […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Former Alberta health minister Tyler Shandro pops up again as ‘senior advisor’ to health consulting company
Former Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro has resurfaced (re-resurfaced, actually) as a “senior advisor” to a company called Santis Health. And what is Santis Health, you ask? Well, according to the Toronto-based company, it’s “a public affairs, strategic advisory, public policy, marketing and communication consultancy that is dedicated to providing first-class counsel and support for […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Transportation minister’s sudden defunding of Calgary’s Green Line LRT project triggers ‘Pottery Barn Rule’
When Alberta Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen sent his letter to Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek last Tuesday telling her the province was pulling its promised $1.53-billion contribution to the Green Line light rail transit project, he triggered the Pottery Barn Rule. If you break it, you own it. Mr. Dreeshen, Premier Danielle Smith, and the rest […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Shannon Phillips, former NDP environment minister, teams up with well-known Conservative and Liberal strategists
Former Alberta NDP environment minister Shannon Phillips announced on social media today she is joining a policy advisory firm with Conservative political advisor Ken Boessenkool and his Liberal equivalent Tyler Meredith. The firm is to be called Meredith, Boessenkool & Phillips. All three are smart policy-oriented political operators with lots of experience, so they’ll probably […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Breaking UCP promise, Devin Dreeshen pulls plug on $1.5B provincial grant to Calgary Green Line
Let’s try to figure this out: On July 29, Calgary’s $6.3-billion Green Line light rail transit extension project was worthwhile enough for Alberta Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen to assure Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek in a letter that the promised $1.53-billion grant from the province “will not be reduced or pro-rated” as long as the project […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Hope y’all had a great Labour Day/Labor Day, fellow Albertans, while our premier popped up in Texas
While Albertans celebrated the traditional final long weekend of the summer amid unseasonable heat, Premier Danielle Smith popped up in Texas, all but ignoring the occasion. This is pretty much standard operating procedure for the United Conservative Party anyway, Labour Day being too much associated with organized labour for their ideological comfort. Last Friday, an […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Recovery Alberta, the first new agency to be carved out of Alberta Health Services, officially begins operations
Recovery Alberta, the new mental health, addiction and correctional health agency created by the province’s United Conservative Party Government as it proceeds with its project of dismantling Alberta Health Services, officially commences operations today. Not that anything will actually happen today, it being the Sunday of the Labour Day weekend, but as of now the […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Prime minister announces two Alberta Senate appointments; UCP throws predictably petulant tantrum
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced two long-anticipated Alberta appointments to the Senate of Canada this morning. Kristopher Wells of St. Albert is a post-secondary educator and champion of Alberta’s 2SLGBTQI+ community; Daryl Fridhandler is Calgary lawyer with longstanding ties to the Liberal Party of Canada. The PM’s news release didn’t provide a lot of information […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Claims about UCP Bill of Rights by anti-abortion ‘purveyor of misleading information’ sparks online brouhaha
A claim by an anti-abortion website that a “current draft” of the United Conservative Party’s planned revisions to the recondite Alberta Bill of Rights would extend rights to “all persons at all stages of life from conception, gestation in the womb, to birth” caused a predictably sharp reaction on social media yesterday. Coming as it […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Possibly the biggest rollback of public health insurance in Canadian history gets underway in Alberta with barely a peep of protest
With the creation of the Recovery Alberta agency and the plan to farm out all addiction recovery treatment programs to a small group of out-of-province private operators with a controversial record, the Alberta Government is commencing what must be the biggest single health care privatization binge in Canada since Saskatchewan introduced provincial medical insurance in […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Danielle Smith touts frightening AHS leaders, handing hospitals to church-run system as cures for Alberta’s health care woes
A story published by a community newspaper chain late Monday quotes Premier Danielle Smith telling a United Conservative Party town hall in Drayton Valley how she plans to hand over some public hospitals in rural Alberta to the Catholic Church, which will as a matter of principle refuse to provide certain basic health care services, […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi spotted at an NDP BBQ in Calgary, preaching to the choir
I had coffee with my old friend Buff yesterday, and Buff had a theory about what’s happened to NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi since his slam dunk 86-per-cent victory over all the other candidates to lead Alberta’s Opposition party back in June. “I think Nenshi’s been kidnapped,” said Buff as we waited for our overpriced cappuccinos. […]