PHOTOS: Independent MP Brent Rathgeber, in a typical pose, chats with a couple of constituents at last night’s candidates’ forum in St. Albert, Alberta. Below: Conservative candidate Michael Cooper, Mr. Rathgeber again, New Democrat Darlene Malayko and Liberal Beatrice Ghettuba. ST. ALBERT, Alberta The only Independent candidate in Canada with any hope of winning on […]
Posted inAlberta Politics, Canadian Politics
Fortune favours the brave? Trudeau risks advocating sane gun laws and ripping PM’s dog-whistle bigotry
PHOTOS: Liberal Party Leader Justin Trudeau during a visit to Edmonton last year. Below: NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair and Prime Minister Stephen Harper. It should have been natural for the leader of the NDP to finally be the one who clearly called out Prime Minister Stephen Harper for his unprincipled and unpatriotic campaign of dog-whistle […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Fireworks notably absent during final Edmonton royalty review public consultation
PHOTOS: Royalty review chair Dave Mowat, top left, addresses the small and polite crowd that showed up in Edmonton for the panel’s open house last night. Below: Mr. Mowat again and committee members Peter Tertzakian and Leona Hanson. The biggest challenge the Notley Government’s royalty review committee faces may turn out to be persuading the […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Campaign Life website changes candidate’s answers to ‘no response’ – so what does Michael Cooper really think?
PHOTOS: St. Albert-Edmonton candidate Michael Cooper with his campaign manager, former St. Albert mayor Richard Plain. (Photo from Mr. Cooper’s campaign Facebook page.) Below: Screen shots of the Campaign Life questionnaire response page on Friday and the same page today. ST. ALBERT, Alberta A website operated by an extreme anti-abortion group has deleted a page […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
St. Albert-Edmonton Conservative candidate Michael Cooper must clearly state his position on women’s reproductive rights
PHOTOS: St. Albert-Edmonton Conservative candidate Michael Cooper, centre, with former Alberta Justice Minister Jonathan Denis, left, and Employment Minister Pierre Pollievre in a photo grabbed from Mr. Cooper’s campaign website. Below: A shot of Mr. Cooper snapped on my doorstep when he turned up campaigning for the Conservative nomination. ST. ALBERT, Alberta St. Albert-Edmonton Conservative […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
One day after his graceless departure, former Alberta ‘envoy’ to Washington lands lobbying gig
PHOTOS: Sour grapes! Actual former Alberta trade representatives may not appear exactly as illustrated. (Photo from Barkpost.com.) Below: Alberta Conservative-connected lobbyists Rob Merrifield, Hal Danchilla, Brian Storseth and Rick Orman. Rob Merrifield’s parting shot at the Alberta government: tacky. Canadian Strategy Group’s decision to hire Mr. Merrifield as a lobbyist: Um, are you sure you’re […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
Fate of Canadian Wheat Board a disturbing harbinger for Canada’s dairy, poultry and egg farmers
PHOTOS: Tractors in the streets of Ottawa on Tuesday, their drivers protesting the Harper Conservatives’ barely concealed plans to destroy the supply-management agricultural sector. (Grabbed from @amkfoote on Twitter.) Below: Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz and CCPA economist Bruce Campbell. GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alberta With the farmer-owned Canadian Wheat Board gutted by legislation […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
Russian boots on Syrian ground create new reality for Canadian leaders, whether they discuss it or not
PHOTOS: Russian President Vladimir Putin – creating new realities for Canadian leaders to talk about … or not. Below: The three Canadian debating amigos, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper and NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair. As the three principal contenders for the job of running the country were sparring entertainingly over the […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
What’s next? F-35 boondoggle to land on the deck of a Canadian Mistral carrier?
PHOTOS: The F-35, possibly the worst military aircraft ever made, dollar for dollar or pound for pound, photographed to make it look less like a brick. A hovering version of the same plane. A not-quite-finished Mistral-class helicopter carrier. SANTA FE, N.M. I suppose a hotel in the desert, just down the block from the address […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Public health care: We have it, Americans still don’t, they wish they did – there’s a lesson in that
PHOTO: Sorry, no relevant photos tonight. Just this shot of a typical American public servant crossing the rotunda of the New Mexico State Capitol in Santa Fe, deep in thought. She is doubtless wishing the United States had Canada’s system of health care. SANTA FE, N.M. The economy, Harper Fatigue Syndrome or however one should […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Go figure! Major tobacco corporation’s unique Alberta lobbying effort focuses on Wildrose finance critic
PHOTOS: The benefits to young people of a low-tax regime for cigarettes. Real portrayals of the joys of smoking may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Cigarette smuggling – bad for the books for sure; Wildrose Party Finance Critic Derek Fildebrandt, whose 2012 Canadian Taxpayers Federation publication argued contraband cigarettes are a problem that could […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Rachel Notley to Alberta’s trade ‘envoy’ to Washington: Nice seeing you ’round! Here’s your hat!
PHOTOS: Departing Alberta trade ‘envoy’ to Washington, D.C., Rob Merrifield, back in the day when he was a federal cabinet minister. Below: Former Alberta premier Jim Prentice, who hired Mr. Merrifield a year ago, and Premier Rachel Notley, who let him go at the end of last week. It was an easy mistake to make: […]