Posted inAlberta Politics

Western Canada’s artificial alienation: Catalonia here we come! Then again, maybe not …

Right on schedule, us Western Canadians are feeling alienated. Really! Don’t just take my word for it! The digital editions of the gutter press are full of the complaints nowadays of such alienated Albertans as United Conservative Party leadership contenders Brian Jean and Jason Kenney. Likewise, we’re hearing lots of Western alienation talk from Brad […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Right-wing propaganda instantly pivots to explain away progressive successes Monday in Alberta municipal elections

PHOTOS: Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, who overcame a full-blown attack by all the usual suspects on the right in Monday’s Alberta-wide municipal elections, addressing the biennial convention  of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions in Calgary in June. Below: Bill Smith, Mr. Nenshi’s main conservative challenger, who didn’t do as well as some polls forecast, […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Electoral Boundaries Commission calls for addition of three urban ridings, reduction of three rural constituencies

PHOTOS: A typical scene in voter heavy rural Alberta. Well, they’ve probably updated the sign on the truck trailer by now, or, if not, they will soon. (Photo: J. McPherson, Wikimedia Commons.) Below: Daveberta.ca blogger Dave Cournoyer. Stand by for an often-mentioned agricultural product to hit the fan. Alberta’s Electoral Boundaries Commission has issued its […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

In a pragmatic move, Premier Rachel Notley appoints former Tory minister from Calgary to infrastructure portfolio

PHOTOS: Newly appointed NDP Infrastructure Minister Sandra Jansen speaks during yesterday’s swearing-in ceremony at Government House in Edmonton. With her are new Parliamentary Secretaries Jessica Littlewood and Annie McKitrick, left and right, and Premier Rachel Notley (Photo: Government of Alberta). Below: Pierre Trudeau and Peter Lougheed, looking pretty friendly for all the hype, and UCP […]

Posted inAlberta Politics, St. Albert

Wildrose-style insurgency smacked down in St. Albert as progressive Cathy Heron elected as mayor

PHOTOS: St. Albert Mayor-elect Cathy Heron with the author of this blog post last night at her victory celebration. Below: Newly elected councillors Natalie Joly, Ken MacKay, Ray Watkins, Jacqui Hansen, and re-elected incumbent Wes Brodhead. ST. ALBERT, Alberta Let’s start with the basic score: Cathy Heron, widely perceived as the most progressive candidate for […]

Posted inAlberta Politics, St. Albert

Cathy Heron is the candidate for mayor of St. Albert with a compelling and positive vision for the future

PHOTOS: St. Albert mayoral candidate Cathy Heron at her official campaign launch. Below: Candidates Cam MacKay and Malcolm Parker, and outgoing Mayor Nolan Crouse; St. Albert Place architect Douglas Cardinal, and first artistic director Maralyn Ryan. ST. ALBERT, Alberta In the first few moments of Wednesday’s mayoral candidates’ forum in St. Albert’s treasured Arden Theatre […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Wildrose leader complains UCP voting system may be rigged, and not in his favour

PHOTOS: Then Wildrose Party leader Brian Jean, holding microphone, addressing an anti-carbon-tax, anti-Bill-6, anti-etc. rally on the steps of the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton in December 2016. The visible sign may or may not have represented the opinion of more than one participant in the event. (Photo grabbed from Daveberta.ca.) Below: Mr. Jean and his […]

Posted inSt. Albert

St. Albert politics in five Tweets: Trying to get a little illumination from an uninspiring mayoral forum

PHOTO: Your blogger’s lousy iPhone photo of St. Albert’s three mayoral candidates – from left to right, Cam MacKay, Malcolm Parker, and Cathy Heron – on the stage at the Arden Theatre last night. ST. ALBERT, Alberta OK, everyone here should at least be able to agree city council in St. Albert, the bedroom city […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Alberta appoints new deputy minister of health to replace department’s controversial former top civil servant

PHOTOS: Milton Sussman, Alberta’s new Deputy Minister of Health, as president and CEO of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (Photo: CBC). Below: His controversial predecessor, Carl Amrhein, whose last day of employment with the Alberta Government was Friday (Photo: Government of Alberta). The Alberta government has appointed a new deputy minister to oversee the province’s […]

Posted inSt. Albert

Sitting through a three-hour candidates’ forum: painful, but a civic duty just the same

PHOTOS: All or part of 14 of the 25 candidates who took part in the City of St. Albert’s city council candidates’ forum last night. Below: Author Darryl Raymaker and the cover of his just-published book. ST. ALBERT, Alberta What’s worse than sitting through a three-hour city council candidates’ forum with 25 participants on stage […]