Posted inAlberta Politics

Canadian government publications still don’t belong to the people as Ottawa maintains its iron grip on Crown copyright

PHOTOS: Government documents. Really! (Photo: Libraries and Archives Canada.) Legislators in Ottawa need to get cracking to make Canada’s Crown copyright law responsive to the needs of the citizens of a democracy. Below: University of Alberta Copyright Librarian Amanda Wakaruk and Saskatoon West NDP MP Shari Benson. Canada’s Crown copyright law hasn’t even caught up […]

Posted inAlberta Politics, Media

Unionization campaign at the National Post is steeped in irony, and not just because hell has frozen over

PHOTOS: A couple of strikers picket the Calgary Herald Building, proudly bearing its National Post sign, in 1999 or 2000. You’ll probably recognize one of them. The other is my friend, the late Brock Ketcham. The building is now for sale and its tiny journalistic staff is holed up, appropriately enough, in the single room […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Unable to raise the entry fee, Paul Hinman drops out of UCP leadership race almost as soon as he dropped in

PHOTOS: Would-be/won’t-be UCP leadership candidate Paul Hinman, gone from the contest after the shortest Alberta leadership campaign in living memory, your blogger’s anyway. Below: Jason Kenney and Andy Warhol. Talk about a Minute Man! Paul Hinman, the former Wildrose Alliance leader who ran his flag up the virtual flagpole on Monday with his announcement he […]

Posted inBestsellers

November, poems by Alberta’s Jaspreet Singh, lead Audreys Books’ Edmonton Fiction Bestsellers List this week

Here is the list of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold in Edmonton for the week ended Sept. 10, 2017, compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. EDMONTON FICTION BESTSELLERS 1. November: Selected Poems – Jaspreet Singh* 2. Glass Houses – Louise Penny 3. The Golden House […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Paul Hinman wants to contest UCP leadership! He has till tonight to raise $57,500! I’m not making this up!

PHOTOS: Would-be UCP leadership candidate Paul Hinman, back when he was Wildrose Alliance MLA for Calgary-Glenmore. Below: Preston Manning, Ted Hinman, and Ernest Manning. Paul Hinman? Seriously? Has somebody stumbled over a mysterious time capsule buried by the Wildrose Alliance Party way out on the lone prairie? Probably somewhere down there in Southern Alberta around […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Outraged when Rebel was shut out, Alberta Legislature Press Gallery won’t help with role it said government must drop

PHOTOS: The Alberta Legislature … no sign of the Press Gallery. Below: Retired journalist Heather Boyd, author of last year’s report on journalist accreditation at the Alberta Legislature; Cheryl Oates, communications director of the Premier’s Office; and Dean Bennett, president of the Alberta Legislature Press Gallery.  Where’s Alberta’s Legislature Press Galley when you actually need […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Political words before elementary school audiences could’ve, should’ve been a teaching moment, literally

PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley with the school children at Lois E. Hole Elementary School in St. Albert, before whom she dared to speak political words. (Photo: CBC.) Below: St. City Councillor Sheena Hughes and former Progressive Conservative Alberta premier Alison Redford, who committed the same sin in 2013, and the late Lois Hole, Lieutenant […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Guest Post: United Conservative Party stance on climate change amounts to not much more than hot air

PHOTOS: Hurricane Harvey batters Corpus Christie, Texas. (Photo: ABC News.) Below: Guest post author Barret Weber, Conservative leadership contenders Jason Kenney and Brian Jean, and Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives researchers Shannon Daub and Seth Klein. Guest Post by Barret Weber One truly surprising aspect of the United Conservative Party leadership race to date has […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

This week at the UCP: huge cuts, social conservative sins, and complaints of fractious fibs dominate the conversation

PHOTOS: A screenshot of United Conservative Party leadership frontrunner Jason Kenney as he appeared during his Internet town hall Tuesday. Below: UCP leadership contenders Doug Schweitzer and Brian Jean, U of A Professor Russell Cobb and Alberta NDP Premier Rachel Notley. Jason Kenney, front-running candidate to lead Alberta’s United Conservative Party, doesn’t put very much […]

Posted inAlberta Politics, St. Albert

Has St. Albert mayoral candidate Cam MacKay moved from opposition to a branch library to opposition to libraries?

PHOTOS: A children’s reading event at the St. Albert Public Library, illustrating the level of partication in some of the library’s programs. (Photo: YesForTheLibrary.ca.) Below: Councillor Cam MacKay, who is running for mayor of St. Albert on a platform that prominently features opposition to a new branch library, and St. Albert Mayor Nolan Crouse, against […]

Posted inBestsellers

Lightfinder, young adult book by Edmonton author Aaron Paquette, tops this week’s Audreys Books bestseller list

Here is the list of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold in Edmonton for the week ended Sept. 3, 2017, compiled by Audreys Books and provided by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. EDMONTON FICTION BESTSELLERS 1. Lightfinder (Young Adult) – Aaron Paquette* 2. Glass Houses – Louise Penny 3. A Legacy of […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Celebrating a different kind of Labour Day in Alberta – one with something to celebrate!

PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and friend with unionized firefighters at last year’s Edmonton and District Labour Council Labour Day BBQ. Below: Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan at the same event, and Labour Minister Christina Gray. Today is Labour Day, which in recent years has become a traditional season for attacks on the […]