PHOTOS: Thomas Lukaszuk in his political heyday during the summer of 2012, telling a scrum of reporters about his bid to run for the leadership of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party. Below: Alberta Information and Privacy Commissioner Jill Clayton, former PC premier Alison Redford, and premier pro tempore Dave Hancock, who temporarily replaced Ms. Redford. […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
A dispatch from the road: Enron and the power boys played Ralph Klein’s government for suckers
PHOTOS: With the revelations about how Enron and like companies got what they wanted from Ralph Klein’s government, are we seeing the sunset of Alberta’s disastrous experiment with electricity “deregulation”? Below: The old Kleinster himself and Enron’s logo as pricey corporate art. The release over the weekend by Alberta’s NDP government of an exchange of […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
AlbertaPolitics.ca is taking a short break, with possible interruptions, staring now
PHOTO: Don’t be fooled. The plan is for this blog to be closed for the virtual equivalent of overnight, not forever. AlbertaPolitics.ca will be back soon. There hasn’t been a dull moment in Alberta politics for about four years now. Which makes it hard to believe that, before 2011, when Alison Redford stumbled confidently onto […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Jason Kenney on the road: time theft, corporate gifts and the mysterious absence of ‘Porky the Waster Hater’
PHOTOS: The Jason Kenney shotgun-marriage campaign’s convenient and colourful motorhome, with Mr. Kenney, exiting, in the foreground. Who owns it? Who is paying for it? Below: A billboard advertising Mr. Kenney’s campaign near Grande Prairie. Same question. Photos grabbed from Mr. Kenney’s supporters’ social media sites. Go away. Don’t bother us. That was the message […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Wildrose blames NDP for a sensible labour relations practice implemented in 2013 by Alison Redford’s Tories
PHOTOS: Alberta Premier Alison Redford was welcomed to the annual convention of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees by AUPE President Guy Smith in October 2012. And what does the Wildrose Party make of that? Below: Former Tory Premier Ralph Klein with his pal, former AUPE president Dan MacLennan; Wildrose labour critic Grant Hunter (Airdrie […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Mel Hurtig, a great Canadian – and, full of beans, as we used to say
PHOTOS: Mel Hurtig with his Canadian Encyclopedia, without which, once upon a time, no respectable Canadian home was considered complete. I am grateful to Mr. Hurtig for one thing not mentioned in the short commentary below, and that is my accidental introduction to Alex Waterhouse-Hayward’s constantly engaging blog on photography and many other topics, A […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Ottawa’s ethics commissioner should review MP Jason Kenney’s activities and ethics as Alberta PC candidate
PHOTOS: Freshly made up, MP Jason Kenney arrives at his news conference yesterday on the grounds of Alberta’s Legislature, where he one day hopes to have a legal parking spot. (Screenshot of CBC video.) Below: Parliamentary Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson, plus proof that not all provincial political Dodge Ram tours end well. The question also […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
One year ago, Stephen Harper, master of all he surveyed, called an election – what could possibly go wrong?
PHOTOS: Then prime minister Stephen Harper with his strategic brain trust, back when they still seemed like the masters of Canada’s political universe and would seem so for a few more weeks. (Source unknown.) Below: Screen shots of Mr. Harper’s Aug. 2, 2015, news conference announcing the call of the Oct. 19 federal general election […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
News Satire: U.S. will not tolerate foreigners acting like Americans, officials say
ILLUSTRATIONS: A map showing some of the countries in which the United States has interfered in the political process (grabbed from Geology.com). Below: U.S. CIA Director John O. Brennan, Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican candidate Donald Trump. The United States will not tolerate the countries of the world acting like the United States, […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
New York Times coverage of Russian hacking deserves another Pulitzer – for fiction!
PHOTOS: Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, who the New York Times blames for everything. (Photo from Kremlin.ru.) Below: Democratic Party presidential candidate Hillary R. Clinton; former Nixon speechwriter Patrick J. Buchanan; Republican Party presidential candidate Donald J. Trump; and Felix E. Dzerzhinsky, director of the Soviet secret services from 1917 to 1922. As readers shall […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Brad Wall: a day late and a dollar short on Husky’s Prince Albert pipeline rupture
PHOTOS: Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall speaking with reporters in the halls of Saskatchewan Legislative Building in Regina yesterday (screen grab from the CBC’s feed). Below: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley and the city of Prince Albert on the bank of the North Saskatchewan River. Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall’s lame defence yesterday morning of his strange inaction […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
NDP moves to end secret Klein-era scheme to offload corporate losses on the public – the opposition, predictably, screams
PHOTOS: Deputy Premier Sarah Hoffman, a photo that wasn’t taken yesterday, obviously, but has the advantage of having been taken by your blogger. Below: Wildrose electricity and renewables critic Don MacIntyre, Progressive Conservative interim Leader Ric McIver and the late PC premier Ralph Klein, author of the costly-to-Albertans scheme the NDP is asking the courts […]