PHOTOS: NDP Labour Minister Lori Sigurdson chats with anti-Bill-6 protesters in front of the Legislature on Friday. Below: The crowd of protesters at its zenith and members of the Legislative Press Gallery interviewing a turkey, not for the first time, either! From here in the city, it almost looks as if rural Alberta has worked […]
Posted inAlberta Politics, Canadian Politics
Reassessing NATO: Canada shouldn’t let itself be ‘Article Fived’ into a war by Turkey’s Islamist president
PHOTOS: A bunch of NATO political bureaucrats try to look busy in this file photo. Recognize anyone? Below: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Does it benefit Canada in any way to remain part of NATO, an organization that harbours at least one member country that […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
New board in; CEO Vickie Kaminski out … just another day at Alberta Health Services!
PHOTOS: Outgoing AHS CEO Vickie Kaminski at an Edmonton news conference last year. Below: Redford-era health minister Fred Horne, PC premier pro tem Dave Hancock, NDP Health Minister Sarah Hoffman and Premier Rachel Notley’s just-appointed deputy chief of staff, Anne McGrath. If you expected yesterday’s health care news merely to be the resumption of board […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Alberta’s PCs may not survive the damage done by Alison Redford; NDP faces risk of collateral damage from CBC revelations
PHOTOS: Alison Redford in 2011, as she was running for the leadership of the Alberta Progressive Conservatives. Below: Alberta Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley and CBC investigative reporter Charles Rusnell. The Alberta Progressive Conservative Party may not survive the damage done by Alison Redford. It’s been 20 months since Ms. Redford was fired as premier of […]
Posted inAlberta Politics, Canadian Politics
Hello Canada? This is London calling! … and we’re mildly confused
PHOTOS: BBC listeners, suitably equipped because they think they’re listening to Ezra Levant, tune into my words of wisdom from Canada. Actual 21st Century “media consumers” may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: The weather in Britain … way better than here in Alberta … and a small digital bit of post-media cultural ephemera. What […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Sudden death of young PC star Manmeet Bhullar in road accident stuns Alberta Legislature
PHOTO: Progressive Conservative MLA Manmeet Bhullar, who was killed yesterday in a traffic accident on his way to Edmonton from Calgary (PC Party photo). The sudden death of Calgary-Greenway MLA Manmeet Bhullar in a traffic accident yesterday on the highway between Calgary and Edmonton was a shock to everyone involved in the political life of […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Alberta’s climate-change strategy: Rachel Notley builds a coalition of big business, environmentalists and civil society
PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley with leaders of the remarkable coalition on climate change her NDP government has built (Government of Alberta Photo). Below: Brian Jean, Alberta’s complaint-of-the-day Opposition leader; Gary Doer, three-term NDP premier of Manitoba; and former U.S. vice-president and environmental leader Al Gore. Finding a balance between effective action on climate change […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Big Tobacco’s doubtful claim high taxes encourage cigarette smuggling finds support on Alberta’s Wildrose benches
PHOTOS: Young cigarette smokers in 1910. The tobacco industry and its friends on the Opposition benches think high tobacco taxes are a problem. Below: Wildrose Party Finance Critic Derek Fildebrandt, an advocate of this view; NDP Finance Minister Joe Ceci, whose Bill 4 will enable higher taxes on tobacco. It looks as if Wildrose Finance […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
End of exile seems likely for Calgary MLA Deborah Drever, expelled from NDP caucus for tasteless social media posts
PHOTOS: Calgary-Bow MLA Deborah Drever around the time of her banishment from the NDP caucus for tasteless social media posts she had published before her political career (CBC Photo). Below: Lethbridge-East MLA Maria Fitzpatrick and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley. A welcome effort to rehabilitate Independent Calgary MLA Deborah Drever, pilloried soon after the victory of […]
Posted inAlberta Politics, Canadian Politics
Brad Wall’s call to block refugees from Syria is just more of the same old conservative wedge politics
PHOTOS: Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall (CBC Photo). Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott and B.C. Premier Christy Clark. Bottom: Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is either demonized or ignored by Western mainstream media. In light of the inevitably angry and emotional response to the Paris terror attacks on Friday the 13th, for […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Bill 6, Alberta’s new farm safety legislation, will be a test both for the NDP Government and the Wildrose Opposition
PHOTOS: Down on the Alberta farm, successive Conservative governments have made sure farm animals had more rights than farm workers. Below: Alberta Labour Minister Lori Sigurdson and Agriculture Minister Oneil Carlier, who may be about to fix this. It’s an embarrassing blot on the record of successive Progressive Conservative governments and the premiers who led […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Every time you bug this 85-year-old city councillor, your library could lose a few books! Have you got that, people?
PHOTOS: St. Albert City Councillor Bob Russell – fending off annoying letters from voters since 1950-something! Time to send him back to the greenhouse? (St. Albert Gazette photo.) Below: A crowd of irritating readers at a recent library event. Probably every one them sent an email to Bob Russell, dammit! Below that: Proof that I […]