If former Wildrose Party leader Brian Jean established anything on Monday with his Epistle to the Albertans, wherein he set out his “agenda to move Alberta forward,” it’s that he remains a man desperate to be taken seriously. Much mocked in circles that no longer take Mr. Jean very seriously at all, if ever they […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Blown off by Jason Kenney’s UCP last fall, former Wildrose MLA Rick Strankman heads for the Independent benches
When this blog’s entirely fictional Vegas oddsmaker Jimmy “The Geek” Porcospino celebrated the first birthday of the United Conservative Party last summer by setting the next year’s resignation odds for each of the party’s remaining caucus members, he gave Drumheller-Stettler MLA Rick Strankman only 20-1 odds of heading for the Independent benches before anyone else […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
No truck convoy to Ottawa? No trucks, no glory, perhaps, but no Conservative PR disaster either
If you were one of those cynics who wondered how far that heavily publicized Ottawa-bound truck convoy demanding new pipelines and demanding them now would get, you have your answer: Nowhere. The promised slow-moving, horn-honking, eastern-bastard-annoying convoy from Alberta was supposed to depart Red Deer on Feb. 15. But Monday afternoon, the self-described “grassroots movement” […]
Posted inGeopolitics
Everything you always wanted to know about Rand Paul and the Shouldice Hernia Hospital * but were afraid to ask
I’m sorry to report, Canada, that Rand Paul, the nutty libertarian son of the crazy uncle of the American Right, isn’t the only politician to stumble into a controversy for getting repairs at the Shouldice Hernia Hospital. We’ll get to that in a minute, but first there’s a backstory. According to the younger Dr. Paul, […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Enough already! It’s time for the NDP to implement the Bighorn park plan immediately
Were provincial officials taking part in town hall meetings on the Alberta Government’s plan to create a park in west central Alberta’s Bighorn Country really harassed and threatened by all-terrain-vehicle enthusiasts opposed to restrictions on their motorized activity in the environmentally sensitive Rocky Mountain Foothills between Banff and Jasper national parks? When Environment and Parks […]
Posted inBestsellers
Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq returns to top of Audreys Books Edmonton Bestseller List for week ended Jan. 6
Here are the lists of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold in Edmonton for the week ended Jan. 6, 2019. The lists are compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. EDMONTON FICTION BESTSELLERS 1. Split Tooth – Tanya Tagaq 2. Washington Black – Esi Edugyan 3. The […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
University of Calgary acted like ‘Big Oil U’ in 2015 controversy, paper by B.C. academic researchers concludes
It’s not every day you see terms like “corporate obstructionism” and “institutional corruption” used to describe the way things are done at one Canadian university in a peer-reviewed academic paper written by scholars from two other institutions and published in a respected academic journal. This is one reason I think the stuff may be about […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Just as well, no province-wide gender-reveal party to be required for Baby Jean, a girl
There will be no province-wide social media gender reveal party for Brian Jean’s and Kimberly Michelutti’s expected baby. True, this would have given all Albertans the opportunity to continue to take part in the fascinating Jean Family story. But not having a baby-gender-reveal party avoids the risk and disappointment associated with setting off pink or […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Death of Gene Zwozdesky, the mellifluous smoothie of Alberta politics, an apt symbol of the end of the Progressive Conservative Era
The death Sunday of Gene Zwozdesky – first elected as a Liberal but for many years afterward a Conservative, a cabinet minister who could be counted on to smooth over messes made by others, and eventually Speaker of the Legislature – can be said to mark the symbolic end of the Progressive Conservative Era in […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
Donner Canadian Foundation, prominent funder of right-wing groups, helps bankroll new ‘think tank’ closely connected to CTF
A new “think tank” with close connections to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation received $50,000 last year from the Donner Canadian Foundation, a prominent funder of right-wing ideological organizations in Canada. SecondStreet.org describes itself on its website as “a new think tank that will be launching in early 2019.” The organization’s mission, the single-page website now […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
Brian Topp, NDP strategist who led Rachel Notley’s 2015 war room, describes what Jagmeet Singh must do this year to win
With a federal election looming this fall, mainstream pundits have already written off the federal New Democratic Party and its leader, Jagmeet Singh, relegating Mr. Singh to history’s discard bin and declaring the party to have already returned to perpetual third-party status. Maybe they shouldn’t, suggests long-time NDP political strategist and former federal leadership contender […]
Posted inBestsellers
Washington Black by Esi Edugyan tops Audreys Books Edmonton Fiction Bestseller list for final week of 2018
Here are the lists of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold in Edmonton for the week ended Dec. 30, 2018. The lists are compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. EDMONTON FICTION BESTSELLERS 1. Washington Black – Esi Edugyan 2. Wake for the Dreamland – Laurel Deedrick-Mayne* […]