Apparently the stenographic efforts of Postmedia’s Alberta newspapers as a virtual wing of the United Conservative Party campaign team were not enough for the victorious Jason Kenney, Alberta’s premier designate. Journalists and publications that provided less obsequious coverage of the campaign leading up to the April 16 election will be attacked and, by the sound […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Pundits want you to believe negative campaigning hurt the NDP – it likely saved their bacon!
There are plenty of serious mistakes the Alberta NDP made during their four rocky years in power, but one of them wasn’t running a negative campaign that attacked Jason Kenney’s character and the attitudes of many of the candidates and advisors around him. Indeed, it’s said here the NDP’s negative campaigning was the only thing […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Jobs! Pipelines! Help is on the way! Or … maybe not: Election hot takes from Alberta
Tuesday night’s Alberta election results pretty well put paid to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s “Grand Bargain” with Alberta on climate change, the terms of which were basically that the province could have a pipeline to tidewater if we play nice and put a price on carbon. Premier-elect Jason Kenney has made it unequivocally clear there […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Moccasin Square Gardens by Richard Van Camp tops Audreys Books’ Edmonton Fiction Bestseller List
Here are the lists of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold in Edmonton during the week ended April 14, 2019. The lists are compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. EDMONTON FICTION BESTSELLERS 1. Moccasin Square Gardens – Richard Van Camp * 2. The Secret Orphan – Glynis Peters 3. […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Jason Kenney, having delivered victory to his UCP, sounds like man with his eye on Ottawa
Give Jason Kenney his due: The man delivered a convincing enough victory for his United Conservative Party last night that no one can call him a political flop if at some point soon he wants to make a return trip to Ottawa. And his long-winded victory speech at the Calgary Stampede Centre after the election […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Nearly a third of Alberta’s electorate voted in advance polls – whatever can it mean?
One of the mysteries of the 2019 Alberta election campaign that comes to an end with today’s election is the truly astonishing number of advance ballots cast. Nearly 700,000 Albertans voted in advance polls. That is close to 30 per cent of the electorate. This is unheard of in Alberta, and almost certainly in the […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Rachel Notley, one of the finest political orators of her generation, raises the rafters with optimistic speech in Edmonton
Rachel Notley looked and sounded like a politician on a roll yesterday afternoon as she addressed at least 1,500 people sardined into Edmonton’s Polish Hall – energized, by turns forceful, funny, and inspiring. This runs counter to the media narrative about this 2019 election campaign from the get-go, of course, not to mention the United […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Captive audience? Continuing care operators’ ‘reference document’ pushes residents, families to vote for UCP, shows NDP in negative light
A “reference document” implying residents of private for-profit and not-for-profit seniors’ care facilities and their families should vote for the United Conservative Party has been distributed by the Alberta Continuing Care Association. In addition to creating the misleading impression the UCP is more committed to creating housing for seniors than the NDP, the colourful one-page […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
RCMP raid on UCP candidate’s business, polling trends, hordes of advance voters wind up the Internet
Alberta’s Internet was in a furious swivet last night. There seemed to be something to wind everyone up as we enter the final stretch of a provincial election both sides have characterized as an epochal event sure to seal the fate of the province if it goes the wrong way. This may have been only […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Notice to public employees: Jason Kenney and the UCP are eyeing your pensions again
If you’re a public employee in Alberta and you’ve been deferring your salary for years to build a secure retirement through your modest pension, Jason Kenney would like to take it away. If he can’t do that, he at least wants to ensure no one else can have the same thing. How can I be […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
A question begged: Where were the UCP’s top operatives if they weren’t vetting candidates?
Apparently someone in the United Conservative Party could run a sophisticated vote-diversion scheme but the party didn’t have the technical wherewithal to operate a simple candidate vetting process capable of eliminating candidates with a high potential for causing embarrassment. And not at the same time either, so it’s not as if there was a conflict […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Now for something completely different: The Agenda with Steve Paikin … and Yours Truly
’Tis late, it’s been a long day, and your blogger is tired, so I’m going to leave you, dear readers, with some audio and visual commentary on next week’s Alberta election to chew over this morning. I had the pleasure of being invited to take part in yesterday’s edition of TVOntario’s flagship current affairs program, […]