Guest Post by Regan Boychuk Regan Boychuk is an independent researcher in Calgary and part of ReclaimAlberta.ca, which advocates solutions to the crisis of aging and expired Alberta oil and gas wells. He is the former public policy research manager of the Edmonton-based Parkland Institute. DJC It’s time for Albertans to wake up! Alberta’s Energy Regulator […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
11 days from the brink, and Rachel Notley’s dice roll brings back memories of Mulroney and Meech
Rachel Notley, Alberta’s tough NDP premier who has clearly concluded her government’s survival depends on there being shovels in the ground building a pipeline by the time she asks the lieutenant governor to call an election next year, rolls the dice a lot like Brian Mulroney. Well, not exactly like Mr. Mulroney. She is more […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Andrea Horwath is going to win Ontario on June 7 – that’s my story, and I’m stickin’ to it!
Happy Victoria Day! I’m feeling good about my prediction that the next Premier of Ontario will be Andrea Horwath. When I made that prediction back on Feb. 27, scads of commenters on social media and quite a few on this blog and at Rabble.ca said I was crazy. This being a blog that leans toward […]
Posted inBestsellers
Cobra Clutch by A.J. Devlin tops in fiction last week on Audreys Edmonton Bestseller List
Here is the list of the top 10 fiction and noir-fiction titles sold in Edmonton for the week ended May 13, 2018, compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. By the way, my apologies to Audreys and the BPAA for missing the previous week’s Edmonton best-seller list while I […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
‘NRA Strategy’ to block connection of climate change dots won’t work when the climate disaster’s in B.C.
As fear rises in British Columbia this week along with the province’s record floodwaters, the likelihood B.C. voters will connect the dots between man-made climate change and “natural” catastrophes is rising too. Politically speaking, this is not exactly good news for the determined advocates in Alberta and Ottawa of aggressive westward pipeline expansion, or the […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Dispatches from the front lines of Alberta politics: Jason Kenney reveals his nasty streak … again
My, my, Jason Kenney’s vow to become the new Mr. Congeniality of Confederation sure didn’t last very long, did it? Twitterists are having fun comparing the Alberta Opposition leader’s response to a gentle jab by Premier Rachel Notley in the Alberta Legislature Tuesday afternoon with what he had to say about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Prominent labour activist, plus well-known chanteuse and LGBTQ+ activist, named to Alberta Order of Excellence
What a pleasure it was yesterday to see Reg Basken’s name on the 2018 list of eight new members of the Alberta Order of Excellence. There was a day I wasn’t at all sure it was even possible for someone associated with a trade union to be honoured in this way. But, for sure, Mr. […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Call it what it is, says labour minister: successive Conservative governments denied Alberta working people their rights
CALGARY – For many years, Alberta working people were routinely denied rights other Canadians take for granted, Alberta Labour Minister Christina Gray said last weekend in a bluntly worded speech on labour relations policy in Alberta. The speech provided insights into the direction the NDP government of Premier Rachel Notley will take in its campaign […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
The United Conservative campaign strategy after Red Deer: Tom Olsen and the Wreckage offer hints
I think I’ve figured out the United Conservative Party election strategy for 2019. In light of the embarrassingly revealing policy resolutions passed at the UCP’s founding convention in Red Deer over the weekend and the party leadership’s subsequent effort at damage control, not to mention the emerging behaviour of candidates seeking UCP nominations, the strategy […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Admirably true to their Iron Age code, UCP delegates defy their leaders and the zeitgeist
Modern Conservatives indeed! The Wildrose Party base – by which I mean the United Conservative Party base, they are the same people – is a wild horse that cannot be ridden safely or broken easily for reasons of mere political expedience. This is partly because it contains many people of genuine principle, even if their […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Alberta then and now: Marking the third anniversary of the unexpected victory of Rachel Notley and the NDP
CALGARY – Three years ago today, Albertans did the unexpected in the province’s 29th general election and elected a majority New Democratic Party government. In truth, despite Albertans having been instructed for generations by those who are supposed to know better that they lived in the most conservative province in Canada, what voters did was […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Just get over it, WestJet! It’s time to negotiate like grownups with your pilots’ union
Message to WestJet: It’s time to negotiate with your pilots like grownups. After all, this is Canada and they’ve got a constitutional right to bargain collectively, so you need to just get over it. At this point, you’ll do more harm to your business by fighting them than you will by making an effort to […]