Jim Prentice prepares to be sworn in yesterday. Below: Health Minister Stephen Mandel and social media gadfly Olav Rokne. Things were going to change in Alberta so much once his capable hands were on the steering wheel, Jim Prentice warned us, that we’d better make sure we’d strapped on our seatbelts! Well, he might have […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Outgoing Premier pro tempore Dave Hancock: 17 years of going along to get along
Another fine mess? No, no, it was a Bitumen Bubble that caused it! Really! Dave Hancock, left, shown explaining cuts to post-secondary education, imposed by Alison Redford, right, back when the bitumen was bubbling. Actual Redford Government officials may not have appeared exactly as illustrated. Below: The real Mr. Hancock, who leaves Alberta politics after […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
Political business in great waters: When they that go down to the sea in ships are up to no good!
Prime Minister and First Lord of the Admiralty Stephen Harper. For all we know, actual Canadian prime ministers do appear in silk stockings and tri-corner hats exactly as illustrated. You know, in private. Below: The unlucky Sir John Franklin. O Eternal Lord God, who alone rulest the raging of the sea; who has compassed the […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
Dispatches from your crazy Uncle Steve: It’s all the fault of the media elite!
“Isn’t that Brian Mulroney talking to some guy … Hey! Isn’t that one-a those Trudeaus?! Mulroney’s just another Trudeau lover! Like the Ottawa media elite!” Yadda-yadda… Below: The real Crazy Uncle Steve, Mr. Mulroney again, Heather Mallick. You can tell she’s a member of the urban Ottawa media elite because she’s wearing pearls! VICTORIA, B.C. […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Cabinet making in a shallow talent pool: what’s Alberta’s Jim Prentice going to do?
The Alberta Tory talent pool in 2014. Shallow, and not much fun for the guy in charge. Actual Alberta PC leaders may not appear as illustrated. Below: The real Mr. Jim Prentice. Main photo grabbed from the Internet. Never mind the transition team. What about the cabinet? It’s not just a question of who will […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
How many PC memberships were given away? It’s time to get to know the known unknowns of the leadership campaign
Alberta’s PCs are smiling today as Jim Prentice, at right, takes over the helm of the RMS Titanic Tory. Actual just-elected leaders of the Progressive Conservative Party may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: The real Jim Prentice as he appeared surrounded by media last night. (Photo by Dave Cournoyer, used with permission.) VICTORIA, B.C. […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Prentice in a walk – but the low voter turnout tells the real story about the fate of the Alberta Progressive Conservatives
Jim Prentice, the winner in the Tory leadership race, makes the traditional Nixonian gesture of victory. Photo grabbed, with permission, from Dave Cournoyer’s Daveberta.ca blog. VICTORIA, B.C. Well! That’s it then. Jim Prentice in a walk, the first time the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party has actually chosen the frontrunner in the past three leadership races, […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
That Portrait of a Certain Lady: a bargain for Albertans at $12,000? Or not?
Is this what Alison Redford’s official portrait is going to look like? Below: Ms. Redford as she might have been seen by Pablo Picasso or Gustav Klimt. We can do better, people! VICTORIA, B.C. “Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.” — Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray While […]
Posted inAlberta Politics, Canadian Politics
The push-polls prove it again, Canadians hate unions … really, really, really they do! Happy Labour Day
The past is a foreign country: Labour Day in Vancouver, not so long ago. Below: The workers, united, will never be defeated! The goal of union “transparency,” “worker choice,” “right to work” and other Orwellian right-wing buzzwords is to ensure the workers are never united and always defeated. Below that: Stephen Kushner, president of the […]
Posted inAlberta Politics, Uncategorized
Opponents beyond PC ranks start to take aim at Alberta Tory leadership candidate Jim Prentice
Alberta Tory leadership candidate Jim Prentice, invisible, as everybody and their non-partisan friends pile on. Actual scenes from Alberta politics may not take place exactly as illustrated. Below: The real Mr. Prentice, in his lucky campaign shirt; Canadian Taxpayers Federation Alberta Director Derek Fildebrandt. VICTORIA, B.C. Jim Prentice, you’re in the crosshairs now (metaphorically speaking). […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
The ‘research’ the Fraser Institute produces is junk – have a happy Labour Day!
An unidentified Fraser Institute “fellow” explains to a couple of young Manning Centre interns how giving workers the right to bargain collectively stunts job growth, and also how dinosaurs and men walked the earth at the same time. Actual Fraser Institute employees may not appear or act exactly as illustrated. Below: Economist Andrew Jackson, who […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Thomas Lukaszuk’s campaign jumps the shark! Did Alberta’s PC government just do the same thing?
Thomas Lukaszuk looks cool as always, despite having just jumped the shark. Actual PC leadership candidates may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below, the real Mr. Lukaszuk. Yesterday was the day we were all supposed to be in agog at how Alberta is awash in cash again – a long-predicted lottery win for which the […]