PHOTOS: Kevin Davediuk, whose appointment as a senior public sector negotiator by the Alberta Government was announced on March 9. (Screenshot of Global News broadcast.) Below: Recently retired Canadian ambassador to the United States Gary Doer and the late Dennis McDermott, Canadian ambassador to Ireland. The Wildrose Party’s troublingly vicious personal attack on Kevin Davediuk […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Retired journalist’s call to privatize control of Legislature media access unlikely to defuse controversy for NDP
PHOTOS: Former Canadian Press journalist Heather Boyd, author of yesterday’s report on media accreditation and access to the Alberta Legislature. Below: Right-wing Internet commentator Ezra Levant, who started the controversy that led to Ms. Boyd’s appointment by the Notley Government last month, and newsletter author and consultant Paul McLoughlin, the only independent member of the […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Throne Speech suggests Alberta NDP won’t let oil price crisis go completely to waste
PHOTOS: Status of Women Minister Stephanie McLean with her new son, Patrick, in the rotunda of the Alberta Legislature Building after yesterday’s Throne Speech. Below: Royal Canadian Artillery Band conductor Capt. Patrice Arsenault starts the proceedings on the right note; Tourism and Culture Minister Ricardo Miranda, Alberta’s first openly gay cabinet member, poses for a […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Study highlighting large and growing gender income gap makes grim reading on International Women’s Day
PHOTOS: Status of Women Minister Stephanie McLean, at left, announced the NDP Government’s plan to improve gender equality yesterday. (Government of Alberta photo.) Below: Queen’s University Law Professor Kathleen Lahey, the cover design of the Parkland study. Today is International Women’s Day, and it’s more than a little disheartening to learn on this date that […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Deconstructing political discourse in Alberta: Doublethink is alive and well in recessionary Wild Rose Country
PHOTOS: Parson Manning spreads the Gospel of Market Fundamentalism in his days as leader of the Reform Party of Alberta. The actual neoliberal preacher-men of Confederation may not appear exactly as illustrated. Photo grabbed from Elmer Gantry, the movie. Below: Brian Jean, leader of the Wildrose Opposition (from wildrose.ca); the prime minister Trudeau whose policies […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
What’s behind ‘Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation’ campaigns like its stunt calling for rollbacks in Alberta teachers’ pay?
PHOTOS: A typical Canadian Taxpayers Federation stunt, moved from place to place across Canada with the goal of undermining public services and speeding the race to the bottom. The picture at bottom right shows Alberta Wildrose Opposition Finance Critic Derek Fildebrandt in his previous role as CTF Alberta spokesthingy. Below: CTF Board member and anti-union […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Government asks Athabasca University to hold off on financial details; new minister to meet president
PHOTOS: A scene from Athabasca University’s 2015 Convocation ceremony, where the honorary degrees are handed out. Below: Advanced Education Minister Marlin Schmidt, former AU Board chair and award recipient Barry Walker, AU President Peter MacKinnon, Wildrose Finance Critic and Tweeter Derek Fildebrandt, and Alberta Party Leader Greg Clark. What’s shakin’ at Athabasca University? Something is, […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
There’s nothing ‘independent’ or ‘blue-ribbon’ about the Wildrose Party’s ‘Equalization Fairness Panel’
PHOTOS: How the Frontier Centre views Canada’s Equalization Program. Oh! Wait! That’s a 19th Century temperance poster. Same difference, basically. Below: The Wildrose Party’s four Frontier-Centre-associated “equalization fairness” panelists: Frank Atkins, Marco Navarro-Genie, David MacKinnon and Ben Eisen. All photos grabbed from right-wing think tank sites except Mr. Navarro-Genie’s, which comes from the CBC. All […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
The Annals of the Alberta Party: A mystery created, a mystery solved
PHOTOS: Alberta Party Leader Greg Clark, the party’s sole MLA in the Alberta Legislature. Below: Then-Wildrose leader Danielle Smith during the campaign leading up to the October 2014 “mini-election” and Alberta Party President Pat Cochrane (photo grabbed from her Twitter account). It’s a mystery why the Alberta Party would choose not to run a candidate […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Wherever there’s Alberta unite-the-right chatter, Preston Manning’s name keeps popping up
PHOTOS: Preston Manning, looking right as usual, photo taken at the 2013 Manning Conference in Ottawa. Below: Alberta PC leader Ric McIver, Wildrose Party Leader Brian Jean Wildrose Party photo), federal Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose (CBC photo) and Wildrose Finance Critic Derek Fildebrandt. He’s really sorry about the last time, but it sure seems as […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Don Getty, premier who battled economic downturn much like today’s, among the last of Alberta’s Red Tory leaders
PHOTOS: Don Getty and Peter Lougheed, going places politically back in the day. Below: Mr. Getty again, and Mr. Lougheed , as professional football players with the Edmonton Eskimos in the 1950s, the former in an Eskimos photo, the latter in a shot snapped for the Edmonton Journal; Ralph Klein, another Alberta premier in a […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Appointment of Michael Phair as chair U of A Board of Governors sends exactly the right message
PHOTOS: Newly appointed University of Alberta Board of Governors Chair Michael Phair, left, with Advanced Education Minister Marlin Schmidt at yesterday’s announcement (photo grabbed from MLA David Shepherd’s Twitter feed). Below: Former U of A Board Chair Douglas Goss and Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson. Bottom: Interim PC Leader Ric McIver. The appointment of Michael Phair […]