Posted inAlberta Politics, St. Albert

St. Albert native and former NDP candidate Michelle Mungall appointed as energy minister of British Columbia

PHOTOS: St. Albert-born Michelle Mungall was appointed yesterday as British Columbia’s Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources. (Photo: Michelle Mungall candidate website.) Below: B.C.’s NDP premier, John Horgan, who appointed her. ST. ALBERT, Alberta You could argue that it’s too bad for Alberta the good people of St. Albert didn’t have the good sense […]

Posted inAlberta Politics, Canadian Politics

Something useful for the premiers to talk about: the right’s perpetual myth making about equalization

PHOTOS: Edmonton’s stately old Macdonald Hotel, named for the prime minister of the same name and site of Canada’s premiers’ annual summertime beanfest this week. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons.) Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall (Photo: Wikimedia Commons, Jake Wright) and B.C. Premier-Designate John Horgan, who will be busy being sworn in tomorrow. […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Jason Kenney’s Conservatives extend their registration deadline for unity vote

PHOTOS: Yo, Jason! Voting so easy, you can phone it in from the Okanagan! Or not. Below: Progressive Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney and PC Referendum Committee Chair Casey DesChamp (Photo: LinkedIn). Jason Kenney’s Progressive Conservative Party told members yesterday it has extended the deadline for members to register to vote on merging with the […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

The Annals of Conservative Unity: Typhoons, coups, force majeure and the idea of Alberta

PHOTOS: Force Majeure! The Wildrose Party executive committee, like the guys in this Jeep, has a plan. Actual Wildrosers confronting Acts of God may not appear exactly as illustrated. (Photo: Screenshot of Jeep advertisement.) Below: Would-be United Conservative Party leaders Brian Jean and Jason Kenney. Is the Wildrose Party’s Executive Committee planning a coup, or […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

The view from different planets: connecting dots between fire and climate change proscribed only on Planet Alberta

PHOTOS: A wildfire in B.C. (Photo: B.C. Wildfire Service). Below: The Fort McMurray Fire (Photo: CBC/Tia Morari); Green Party of Canada Leader Elizabeth May (Twitter). Apparently Alberta and British Columbia exist on different planets. Literally, I mean. Not metaphorically. How else are we to explain the political discourse among, essentially, the same people in geographically […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Report calling for big changes to Workers Compensation in Alberta is a step toward ending WCB’s ‘culture of denial’

PHOTOS: Alberta Labour Minister Christina Gray. Below: Alberta Workers Compensation Board CEO Guy Kerr and the members of the WCB Panel, labour relations consultant Mia Norrie, labour lawyer John Carpenter, and Covenant Health labour relations consultant Pemme Cunliffe. Perhaps the two most symbolically important and potentially beneficial changes to Alberta’s Workers Compensation system contained in […]

Posted inAlberta Politics, Canadian Politics

Canadian Taxpayers Federation’s position on Khadr case exposes the group’s partisan inclinations

PHOTOS: Omar Khadr, left, with his Edmonton lawyer, Dennis Edney, at right. Mr. Edney’s wife, Patricia Edney, is in the middle. (Photo: CBC) Below: Mr. Khadr at age 14, not long before his capture by U.S. forces in Afghanistan in July 2002, and Aaron Wudrick, Federal Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. If you have […]

Posted inAlberta Politics, Canadian Politics

Conservative politicians’ reaction to PM’s missing-Alberta gaffe suggests they suffer from world-class insecurity

PHOTOS: Are the hillbillies above what our conservative politicians want the rest of Canada to think of when they hear the word Alberta? They should just stop! Below: Calgary Nose Hill MP Michelle Rempel (Photo: Wikimedia Commons, Robert Thivierge), Wildrose Party Leader Brian Jean, and Alberta’s grownup premier, Rachel Notley. Bad luck for Prime Minister […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Big Tobacco will be pleased as Derek Fildebrandt’s ‘liberty’ video assails restrictions on flavoured cigarettes

PHOTOS: Young smokers, circa 1910. Below: A screenshot of Wildrose Finance Critic Derek Fildebrandt’s social media video, Mr. Fildebrandt himself, former Wildrose Party leader Danielle Smith, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose marijuana-legalization strategy Mr. Fildebrandt appears to endorse. Wildrose Finance Critic Derek Fildebrandt is continuing his party’s tradition of supporting Big Tobacco’s right to […]