PHOTOS: Alison Redford takes the oath of office as Alberta’s 14th premier. Below: Ms. Redford speaks her first words as premier of Alberta and is greeted by enthusiastic well-wishers as she walks through the Legislature’s Rotunda. Bottom: Gary Mar, whom Ms. Redford defeated for the leadership of the PC party and the premiership of Alberta. […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
A compelling counter-narrative: Are Justin Trudeau and Rachel Notley singing from the same hymn book?
PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Chris Schwarz, Premier of Alberta/Flickr). Below: Brad Wall, Saskatchewan’s cranky premier (Photo: Daniel Paquet); a tease from the Calgary Herald’s web page that maybe, just maybe, swings and misses; SAIT journalism instructor and former Calgary Herald reporter Jim Cunningham. CALGARY Was Prime Minister Justin […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
NDP appoints former Liberal strategist Corey Hogan to head Alberta Public Affairs Bureau
PHOTOS: Corey Hogan, centre, in a screen shot from The Strategists political commentary show on CBC Calgary. On the left is Stephen Carter and on the right is Zain Velji. Below: Recent Public Affairs Bureau leaders Mr. Hogan again, Mark Wells and Martin Kennedy. I’m not sure why the Notley Government has given us so […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Rachel Notley’s demand for a pipeline quid pro quo demonstrates the steely side of Alberta’s premier
PHOTOS: Alberta NDP Premier Rachel Notley. Below: Peter Lougheed, Alberta’s first Progressive Conservative premier, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his father, the late prime minister Pierre Trudeau. GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alberta Rachel Notley’s decision yesterday to make support for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s plan put a national price on carbon conditional on getting a pipeline approved […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Alberta Tories pray ‘third time’s a charm’ as their effort to recover their party’s missing mojo begins today
PHOTOS: Ever wonder what happened to Hazel? Do you still think Father Knows Best? Did you love Donna Reed? Will Alberta’s PCs decide to try to take us Forward to the Fifties … in Jim Prentice’s car? That’s The $64,000 Question! Below: Declared PC leadership candidates Richard Starke, Jason Kenney, Byron Nelson and Donna Kennedy-Glans. […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Meet Alberta PC leadership candidate Richard Starke: thoughtful, centrist, kind to animals … and thus probably doomed
PHOTOS: Vermilion-Lloydminster Progressive Conservative MLA Richard Starke, looking appealingly Clint-Eastwood-like in this official portrait from his website, announced yesterday he is seeking the leadership of the Alberta PC Party. Below: NDP Advanced Education Minister Marlin Schmidt, another member of the Legislative Squeeze Box Caucus, and former Speaker Gene Zwozdesky, a caucus member back in the […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Right-wing newspaper owners want your taxes to subsidize their obsolete, mismanaged, biased publications
PHOTOS: A typical daily newspaper press, once a common sight in small cities and larger towns throughout North America. This one was photographed through a window Tuesday in Brigadoon, Alberta, so it should be good as is for another 10 years. Oh, wait, I made it out of town this afternoon … it must’ve been […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
‘Bernard the Roughneck’ campaign has been in preparation for months, may soon target Rachel Notley
PHOTOS: Neal (Bernard the Roughneck) Hancock’s first appearance on a well-known right-wing video blog in January 2015. (Screenshot) Below: Progressive Conservative leadership candidate Jason Kenney with his new friend Bernard, who was making a rare public appearance in mufti; Shannon Stubbs with her husband Shayne Saskiw and a friend; and Conservative Energy Critic John Barlow. […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
It can’t help the oil-well drillers’ campaign that ‘Bernard the Roughneck’ appeared in 2014 theatrical production
PHOTOS: Neal Hancock, nowadays better known as Bernard the Roughneck, with his co-star in a 2014 theatrical production in Quebec’s Eastern Townships (Ruth Garber photo, Journal Regional le Haut-Saint-Francoise). The play was about a boot-maker who had his foot amputated. Below: Lakeland MP Shannon Stubbs (from her Facebook account), Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Bernard the Roughneck in his own words: Neal Bernard Hancock responds to his critics
PHOTOS: “Bernard the Roughneck,” Neal Bernard Hancock, addresses the media in Ottawa in this screenshot of the CBC’s tape of his interview. Below: Mr. Hancock at the same event with Mark Scholz, president of the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors, David Lefebvre, director of the Quebec Oil and Gas Association (which the CAODC describes […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Rachel Notley does remarkably well in face of unrelenting campaign of vilification … Sun newspapers? Not so much …
PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley. Below: Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall, the Mr. Congeniality of Confederation if you believe his press clippings; Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister. Notwithstanding a flagging economy and an unprecedented campaign of continual vilification by mass media, Astro-Turf agitators, corporate-bankrolled think tanks, right-wing academics and a nearly hysterical online conservative rage machine, Alberta […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
We don’t need an inquiry – we need to bring the hammer of defunding down now on scofflaw private schools
PHOTOS: NDP Education Minister David Eggen – he’s trying to do the right thing, but he’s making it worse. The time has come to bring the hammer down and defund schools that won’t obey Alberta’s law on gay-straight alliances. Below: Rev. Brian Coldwell, chair of two private schools determined to break the law (CBC photo), […]