PHOTOS: Into the evening Friday, the mood in the Bavarian city of Munich was surreal (Polizeipräsidium München image). Below: The scene of Friday’s shooting in Munich. The person I know best in Munich described the mood in the Bavarian city Friday as “surreal,” so it seems fitting the Tweet from the Munich Police that night […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Brad Wall Government’s Saskatchewan beer trade piffle turns out to be all fizz and no flavour
ILLUSTRATIONS: A group of Albertans enjoying one of our province’s excellent craft beers, unfortunately unavailable in Saskatchewan because of the province-to-the-right’s unfair trade practices. (The Wikipedia illustration is actually of François Jaques’ Peasants Enjoying Beer at Pub in Fribourg.) Below: Brad Wall, Saskatchewan’s disagreeable premier gestures disagreeably in the Saskatchewan Legislature (photo paid for by […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Grim proposed Athabasca University budget to be shown faculty today projects insolvency by 2017-2018
PHOTOS: Athabasca University’s main building in the Town of Athabasca, 130 kilometres north of Edmonton. Below: AU’s logo; Interim President Peter MacKinnon; and Alberta Advanced Education Minister Marlin Schmidt. Athabasca University Interim President Peter MacKinnon will present a grim proposed three-year budget this morning to the institution’s General Faculties Council that projects growing deficits and […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
If Jason Kenney’s anti-abortion views don’t matter, why are anti-choice activists supporting him so enthusiastically?
PHOTOS: The young Jason Kenney, speaking out to the San Francisco CNN station against the right of pro-choice activists even to speak in support of their views on the U.S. university campus he attended for one year. Below: St. Albert MLA Marie Renaud and anti-choice activist Alissa Golob, with Mr. Kenney, grabbed from her Twitter […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Appointment of environmentalist Tzeporah Berman sparks Wildrose hysteria – here’s why
PHOTOS: Environmentalist Tzeporah Berman, whose appointment to the Alberta Government’s climate panel prompted a full-scale freak-out by the province’s right, which, apparently, sees her as, well, an Orc. Below the Orc: B.C. Premier Christy Clark and former Progressive Conservative finance minister Robin Campbell. Last year, when environmentalist Tzeporah Berman was appointed to British Columbia Premier […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Wildrose Party wins the second-quarter fund-raising horserace – but can the pace be sustained?
PHOTOS: Wildrose Party Leader Brian Jean has every right to smile about the party’s second-quarter fund-raising results. The question is: Can they be sustained? (Photo grabbed from Wildrose.ca.) Below: Results for all parties, as compiled by your blogger from Elections Alberta’s confusing website. There’s a link to a readable version in the first paragraph. Any […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
O Canada? Sorry, no ad libbing, please! We’re Canadian!
PHOTOS: Don Cherry, Canada’s best-known right-wing weirdo, wearing a suit that ought to be illegal. (Toronto Star photo.) Below: Boston-born tenor Remigio Pereira, the man who fiddled with the words of O Canada, much to Mr. Cherry’s distress, and Bacchus, the god of grapes, wine, winemaking, fertility, theatre, and ritual madness, who figures in this […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
About those conservative coup attempts: once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, but three times has got to be enemy action!
PHOTOS: Jason Kenney and Stephen Harper seal the deal. Actually, I think Mr. Harper was welcoming Mr. Kenney to his cabinet as defence minister in this official looking portrait found on the Internet without attribution. I’m assuming it was created with taxpayer dollars and grabbing it on that basis. Below, a few of the people […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
The Calgary Stampede’s vital cultural and political role explained, sort of …
PHOTOS: The Stampede chuckwagon races … exciting, but traditionally bad news for horses. Below: Stampede duds last year on Justin Trudeau, Stephen Harper and Thomas Mulcair. Did last year’s effort work out as intended by the Stampede Board? The Calgary Stampede, according to our national broadcaster, is “a key cultural and political event in Alberta.” […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Does the federal Tory pivot toward Alberta show they’ve given up on power in Ottawa?
PHOTOS: Stephen Harper, the former prime minister, not exactly as he appeared at the Conservative Party’s Calgary Stampede barbecue Saturday night, but close enough. Below: Jason Kenney, Mr. Harper’s former sidekick in Ottawa, whom the former PM endorsed Saturday as a candidate for the leadership of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party; Justin Trudeau, the prime […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
‘I had an abortion and I thank God I was able to,’ says MLA, pointedly asking Jason Kenney: ‘Pro-choice or not?’
PHOTOS: St. Albert MLA Marie Renaud. Below: A young Jason Kenney in a 1990 TV interview, Archbishop Emeritus John R. Quinn of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, and British MP George Galloway. Marie Renaud, the New Democrat MLA for St. Albert, is a brave and forthright woman. Yesterday she named the elephant in the room […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Jason Kenney makes it official with fresh-faced extras and unattributed tribute to the Nixon Era
PHOTOS: A screen grab from yesterday’s video feed of Jason Kenney announcing his candidacy for the leadership of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party in Calgary. Immediately behind him is Caitlyn Madliner, who has prominently figured in anti-PC campaigns. Below: The late Alberta premier Ralph Klein, defeated Conservative MP Joan Crockatt, President Richard M. Nixon and […]