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 […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Juxtapose: Tories had loads of cash for junketing flunkies, none at all for dying addicts

PHOTOS: Alberta Progressive Conservatives enjoy an “international travel mission” during the Golden Age of Tory Travel. Actual PC staffers may not have appeared exactly as illustrated. Below: New Democrats Trevor Horne, the MLA for Spruce Grove-St. Albert and Health Minister Sarah Hoffman, and Stephen Mandel, the last PC health minister. Juxtapose: In the first half […]

Posted inAlberta Politics, Canadian Politics

Fearless champion of the corporate overdog snarls at CCPA’s eye-popping New Year CEO salary tally

PHOTOS: Beggars and bazillionaires, not really as far apart as you think, the Fraser Institute insists. Top 100 Canadian corporate executives may not appear exactly as illustrated. Minimum wage workers, though? Not so different. Below: CCPA researcher Hugh G. Mackenzie. The progressive Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ eye-popping annual New Year’s comparison of CEO salaries […]

Posted inAlberta Politics, Canadian Politics

Short-term jobs and profits notwithstanding, Canada’s interests are not served by Saudi armoured vehicle sale

PHOTOS: A Canadian LAV III similar to the armoured vehicles to be sold by General Dynamics Land Systems (Canada) of London, Ont., to the Saudi National Guard. Below: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Foreign Minister Stéphane Dion, former MI6 head Sir Richard Dearlove and former Saudi intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan. It’s one thing to […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

As widely predicted, Calgary-Bow MLA Deborah Drever invited to rejoin New Democratic Party Government’s caucus

PHOTOS: Surrounded and supported by NDP House Leader Brian Mason, Calgary-Varsity MLA Stephanie McLean and Finance Minister Joe Ceci, Calgary-Bow MLA Deborah Drever addresses the media in Calgary yesterday after being welcomed back into the Government Caucus (CBC photo). Below: Former PC premier Jim Prentice and current interim PC Leader Ric McIver. Alberta’s political right […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Shredding the public interest! Albertans will never know what Tory secrets were purged by the PCs last May

PHOTOS: Privacy Commissioner Jill Clayton and Public Interest Commissioner Peter Hourihan (CBC photo). Below: Results of some of the shredding that took place in the basement of the Alberta Legislature on May 6; Service Alberta Minister Danielle Larivee. Nobody knows if any dirty Tory secrets were destroyed when 344 boxes of documents from the Alberta […]

Posted inAlberta Politics

Alberta NDP defies voters by continuing to govern as if it won the election that put it in power: political scientist

PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, running the province as if she had a majority government! What next? Below: University of Calgary political scientist and Calgary Herald columnist Barry Cooper, Broadbent Institute Director Rick Smith and Wildrose Opposition Finance Critic Derek Fildebrandt. It seems some Albertans, particularly those on the political right, continue to have difficulty […]