PHOTOS: The next Apocalypse is scheduled for Friday morning. There will be an embargoed media briefing first. Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, Wildrose Leader Brian Jean and Royalty Review Advisory Panel Chair Dave Mowat. Brace yourself for a storm of hostility from many of the usual suspects on Friday when Premier Rachel Notley finally releases […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
C’mon … admit it, Wildrosers! Denis Coderre’s zinger burned because it landed a little too close for comfort
PHOTOS: Welcome to Bedrock City, AB. Actual rural Wildrose ridings in Southern Alberta may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Alberta Opposition Leader Brian Jean (CBC photo), Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre, former Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day and Barney Rubble, MLA. It sure doesn’t look as if the pipeline safety concerns of Montreal Mayor Denis […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Below the radar: Athabasca University and St. Albert quietly discuss partnership to develop joint office space near Edmonton
PHOTOS: St. Albert City Hall on a nice warm summer night, as seen from the possible location of a joint office building that’s been discussed by the city and Athabasca University. Below: The sign welcoming visitors to Athabasca University in the Town of Athabasca and the sign at the entrance to the city of St. […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
A good day for Rachel Notley – but you’d never know it with media and opposition in full-scale, unrestrained meltdown
PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne at yesterday’s press conference in Toronto. Below: Ms. Notley, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, British Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn and U.S. Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. You may have missed it, but something truly remarkable happened in Alberta politics yesterday. Premier Rachel Notley, after less […]
Posted inAlberta Politics, Media
Hints of Sun news-management style emerge in plans for Edmonton’s combined Postmedia newsrooms
PHOTOS: “Well, Fred, they used to wrap the grocery flyers in these things. They were called ‘newspapers.’” Below: Gerry Nott, senior Postmedia functionary, and Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister most hated by the Canadian newspaper industry since that other Trudeau guy. It’s a little soon to say for sure, but despite the best efforts […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Meditations on booms, busts, oil prices, sales taxes, Albertans and their governments
PHOTOS: Alberta in the spring of 2014. Actual Alberta drilling operations may not have appeared exactly as illustrated. Below: Conservative premiers Peter Lougheed and Ralph Klein. If God gives us another oil boom like the one us Albertans are all praying for nowadays, what are the chances that this time we won’t piss it all […]
Posted inAlberta Politics, Media
Can one newsroom plus one editor add up to two newspapers? That’s Postmedia’s story and they’re stickin’ to it!
PHOTOS: The Edmonton Journal’s building in downtown Edmonton as it appeared today. Below: Margo Goodhand, Paul Godfrey (Nick Kozak, Toronto Star photo) and Stephanie Coombs. After a day of merger mania accompanied by brutal newsroom cuts at Postmedia’s daily newspapers in Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa and Vancouver, it is very clear the media chain’s Toronto-based management […]
Posted inAlberta Politics, Media
Senior editorial heads roll at Edmonton Journal and more may drop soon
PHOTOS: The Edmonton Journal’s headquarters in downtown Edmonton, one of the Postmedia assets that still retains some value. Below: Departing Journal editor-in-chief Margo Goodhand and managing editor Stephanie Coombs. There’s already blood on the floor at the Edmonton Journal (metaphorically speaking) and there may be more by the end of the day. Other media are […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Disturbing echoes of ‘Organized Pseudolegal Commercial Arguments’ heard in Alberta #kudatah talk
PHOTOS: Edmonton’s courthouse, home of the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench, not long after it was built. Below: Associate Chief Justice John Rooke of the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley. Anti-NDP petitioners tacitly supported by the Wildrose Party who imagine they can magically and instantly overthrow the government of Premier […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
It’s not just the #kudatah – it’s the feeling Alberta’s conservatives are all boarding the Crazy Train
PHOTOS: George Clark, Alberta’s answer to Joan of Arc. (Screen grab from Youtube.com.) Below: Wildrose Party Leader Brian Jean, who with his MLAs is tacitly supporting Mr. Clark’s efforts; the origin of the #kudatah meme; Preston Manning, a conservative godfather to whom your blogger obviously owes an apology; and St. Joan herself. Are there any […]
Posted inAlberta Politics, Canadian Politics
Curing ‘Kevinismus’ in Canada: Should Kevin O’Leary run to lead the sad-sack federal Conservatives?
PHOTOS: Kevin O’Leary, in a typical pose (CBC photo). Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump and perpetual Alberta conservative leadership candidate Thomas Lukaszuk. Give Kevin O’Leary his due. At least the guy is faintly entertaining. Perhaps Mr. O’Leary should run for public office himself, or at least the leadership of […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Board of Governors appears to openly defy Notley Government as Athabasca University crisis deepens
PHOTOS: Athabasca University’s administrative building, just outside the Town of Athabasca, about 150 kilometres north of Edmonton, as seen from the air. Below: Alberta Advanced Education Minister Lori Sigurdson, interim Athabasca University President Peter MacKinnon and interim AU Board of Governors Chair Margaret Mrazek. The Notley Government, clearly aware of the serious problems faced by […]