Have Albertans grown so inured to Conservative “bozo eruptions” they no longer have much impact? To put that another way, have we grown so accustomed to the Lake of Fire that we imagine we can bathe in it comfortably without putting on an asbestos swimsuit? That’s likely at least part of the story behind the […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
An election’s coming and the PM’s treading water – where’s a Russian to blame now that we need one?
It was a year ago Friday that the government of Canada declared Kirill Kalinin and three other Russian diplomats persona non grata and sent them packing for using, in the words of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, “their diplomatic status to undermine Canada’s security or interfere in our democracy.” Nobody bothered to commemorate the expulsion on […]
Posted inBestsellers
There Are Not Enough Sad Songs, poetry by Marita Dachsel, tops Audreys Books Fiction Bestseller List
Here are the lists of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold in Edmonton during the week ended March 31, 2019. The lists are compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. EDMONTON FICTION BESTSELLERS 1. There Are Not Enough Sad Songs – Marita Dachsel * + 2. Still Strapped: Flask Fuelled […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Rachel Notley and Jason Kenney escape relatively unscathed in Alberta election leaders’ debate
Last night’s Alberta election leaders’ debate was an unedifying experience, as these things often are. If anyone except hard-core political junkies kept their hands off the remote, I’d be surprised. Debate stuck to talking points we’ve heard before, the broadcast aired at a weird hour when many viewers were still coming home from work, the […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Were Mark Smith’s comments on gay love a Lake of Fire moment for the UCP, or just another insignificant bozo eruption?
With the revelation United Conservative Party candidate Mark Smith holds the offensive view gay love can never be real love, and equates LGBTQ people with pedophiles, it appeared that Alberta’s United Conservative Party was finally having its own genuine Lake of Fire moment. But was it? It certainly looked like it in the aftermath of […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
A generation of impulsive right-wing politicians ruins Preston Manning’s dream of ‘green capitalism’ – what’s next?
Let’s start with a pop quiz. Who said this? “One of the biggest issues will be the question of how much of current revenue from non-renewable resources should be saved and how those savings should be invested … so that, if the day ever comes that oil and gas isn’t as significant as it is […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
UCP math: 1.5 = 1 – and you’re lucky to get that!
One hour is the same as one and a half hours! Who knew? It’s always an education to listen to the way Jason Kenney and his UCP team explain things. Yesterday, the leader of Alberta’s United Conservative party was testily engaged in an epic effort to persuade Albertans that his party’s plan to let employers […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Former NDP leader Brian Mason said ready to bring Alberta-style politics to B.C.
Brian Mason, soon to be a resident of British Columbia, will seek a nomination as an NDP candidate in that province as soon as he can, AlbertaPolitics.ca is reporting. The former leader of the Alberta New Democrats and Edmonton city councillor who announced in July he was retiring from Alberta politics, has concluded B.C. needs […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
How to save a province by destroying it: Jason Kenney releases the Full Monty, political version
About that 117-page “full platform” released by United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney on the billionaire Southern Family’s back stoop south of Calgary yesterday, the first thing it’ll do is raise the deficit. That’s right! Raise it. Increase it. Make it bigger. Because that’s what happens when you eliminate at least $5.7 billion in revenue […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Jeff Callaway bids to derail Kamikaze Campaign finance probe – why won’t he wait, like Trump?
Despite obviously having been tempted to shut down the “Russian collusion” investigation when he saw friends and supporters charged with lying to the FBI, aides to U.S. President Donald Trump managed to persuade him to hold his fire. How? Although many of us wondered about this during Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s long investigation, now that […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
On Milton Acorn, on his birthday, Canada’s People’s Poet
Today was the birthday of Milton Acorn, the People’s Poet, who lived rough, and died before he was eligible for the Old Age Security, even under the old rules. For those of you who have missed him until now, Milton Acorn is not only Canada’s greatest poet, he may be our only great poet! The […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
The UCP health platform: mostly spin, some two-tier medicine, and scraps of red meat for the base
Jason Kenney’s health care policy announcement yesterday was a typical conservative political speech – a mish-mash of anodyne sentiment, misleading spin, market-fundamentalist nostrums, scraps of red meat for the base, cheap shots at the federal government, terrible ideas he’ll implement if he gets the chance, and even a couple of good ones he’d probably ignore. […]