With an election in the wind, it’s always worth remembering there’s life after politics. Consider Hugh MacDonald, once renowned as Alberta’s hardest-working MLA. The former Alberta Liberal Party stalwart served four terms as MLA for Edmonton-Gold Bar and certainly would have been elected to a fifth had he chosen to run again in 2012. From […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
UCP Leader Jason Kenney drops hints of radical plans during policy fan dance before Calgary Chamber of Commerce
A recent speech by Jason Kenney to the Calgary Chamber of Commerce indicates the Alberta Opposition leader intends to ram a radical program through the Legislature with minimal public consultation if his United Conservative Party wins the election likely to be held in 2019. Oddly, it took almost a week for a comprehensive report of […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
Unfazed by Donald Trump, what will Stephen Harper make of far-right revival in Bavaria?
I wonder what former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper will make of the success of the scary far-right Alternative für Deutschland party in Sunday’s elections in the South German state of Bavaria? Apparently, significant numbers of Bavarian voters have concluded nothing could possibly go wrong if they elect a bunch of reconstituted Nazis. After all, […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Rachel Notley and Tzeporah Berman present starkly different views of Alberta’s energy future
Thanks to invitations from the province’s teachers’ union, the two most influential people in Alberta presented their starkly different visions of the energy future in the same room yesterday. I speak, of course, of environmentalist Tzeporah Berman and … Premier Rachel Notley. I jest. Ms. Berman resides in Vancouver. Other than that, though – owing […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
UCP finally – after an ever-so-excruciating wait – shows rogue nomination candidate Lance Coulter the door
Give Lance Coulter credit: The guy seems to be a very hard worker. Leastways, the United Conservative Party nomination candidate in the Edmonton-Henday West Riding certainly had to work extremely hard to get himself kicked out of the party’s nomination process. Finally, late yesterday morning, the UCP – oh, so reluctantly – instructed Mr. Coulter […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Colourful former Wildrose MLA Joe Anglin finds another windmill to tilt at, for Freedom Conservative Party
Last observed pursuing a claim against Alberta’s Chief Electoral Officer alleging abuse of process, colourful former MLA Joe Anglin has found a new way to tilt at Alberta’s perpetually swirling political windmill. Mr. Anglin, 63, who is both the former Wildrose Party MLA for Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre and the former leader of Alberta’s Greens, announced […]
Posted inBestsellers
Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq leads Audreys Books Edmonton Bestseller List for fiction
Here are the lists of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold in Edmonton for the week ended Oct. 7, 2018. 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. Starlight – Richard Wagamese 3. This Wound […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Stand by for renewed attacks on Tzeporah Berman as UCP tries to change channel on ‘Soldiers of Odin’ embarrassment
After a difficult weekend doing damage control about how members of an anti-immigration group with white supremacist links were welcomed to a United Conservative Party beer-and-selfies night last Friday by an Edmonton constituency association, expect the right-wing Opposition party to dip into its strategic playbook to try to change the channel. UCP Channel-Changing Strategy No. […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Never mind the RSVP! UCP candidates’ reaction to storm over photos with ‘Soldiers of Odin’: We had no idea!
They crashed the party, did they? But I wonder why they picked a United Conservative Party affair to crash? I speak, of course, of the “Soldiers of Odin,” the unsavoury anti-immigrant group founded by a Finnish white supremacist whose Edmonton chapter’s members dress like bikers and have been making a nuisance of themselves by posing […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
Carbon taxes are the Obamacare of Canada: invented, then cynically abandoned, by the right
“Putting a price on carbon” was always going to be unpopular with people who use fossil fuels out of necessity and for fun – viz., a large portion of the population in a well-off northern country that, climate change notwithstanding, still gets pretty cold in the winter. In other words, Canadians, with their furnaces, SUVs […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
The Bromantics on stage: Jason Kenney and Doug Ford mount the rostrum in Calgary to attack Justin Trudeau and carbon tax
Give Jason Kenney and the United Conservative Party their due: They got a large and enthusiastic crowd out last night to their rally in Calgary against taking action on climate change. Leastways, I’d say 1,500 warm bodies at a rally on any topic should concern the government they came out to yell at, no matter […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
There’s a meeting in Calgary tonight, and the people there are going to be very, very angry
Two well-heeled older men who never wanted for anything during their upbringings and now live comfortable, privileged lives will be getting together in Calgary this evening to talk about just how very, very angry they are. The idea of a $15-per-hour minimum wage makes them very, very angry. The idea that someone would remove a […]