PHOTOS: Canadian Taxpayers Federation operative Colin Craig makes a point involving a table, a pile of cash and a picture of Ralph Klein. Below: The real Ralph Klein; present-day Premier Jim Prentice; former Edmonton Journal editor Stephen Hume. The seven-member Canadian Taxpayers Federation yesterday instructed Alberta Premier Jim Prentice to “be like Ralph,” or, in […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
John Baird: This is one we can’t blame on Stephen Harper
PHOTO: Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird in his best-loved role as Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s foreign affairs tough guy. How about that John Baird resignation? The theories over the water cooler were pretty fanciful this morning – ranging from speculation about possible controversial wedding plans for the outgoing Foreign Affairs Minister to a falling out […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
If the era of cuts returns to post-secondary education, what’s Stephen Mandel going to say?
PHOTOS: Best Friends Forever? Stephen Mandel looks at his BFF Jim Prentice. Will he be as forthright stranding up for the University of Alberta and other post-secondary institutions as when he was mayor and Alison Redford was premier? Below: Former advanced education minister Thomas Lukaszuk, the object of Mr. Mandel’s wrath back in 2013, and […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Alberta Liberals reject Laurie Blakeman’s call for Hail Mary pass to Alberta Party, choose David Swann as interim leader
PHOTOS: Interim Alberta Liberal Leader David Swann, grabbed from his website. Below: Liberal MLA Laurie Blakeman and Alberta Party leader Greg Clark. Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time! But early Sunday afternoon the Alberta Liberal Party’s board rejected veteran Edmonton MLA Laurie Blakeman’s plan to attempt a merger of her foundering […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
St. Albert Mayor Nolan Crouse says no to a run for the Alberta Liberal leadership
PHOTOS: St. Albert Mayor Nolan Crouse: He says he’s not a candidate for the leadership of the Alberta Liberals. Below: Departing Liberal Leader Raj Sherman and rumoured candidates David Swann, Laurie Blakeman, Harvey Locke and Shelley Wark-Martyn. ST. ALBERT, Alberta If you didn’t happen to know there was an Alberta Liberal leadership race that must […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Here we go again: Jim Prentice’s ‘5% Solution’ is bad policy, but irresistible politics
PHOTOS: Déjà vu all over again – the Alberta Legislative Building back in the day. Below: Retired Judge John Major, Winston Churchill and the ever-quotable Yogi Berra. Alberta Premier Jim Prentice’s “5-Per-Cent Solution” announced yesterday, whereby political salaries are symbolically trimmed to help justify other unpopular cuts in public services and an across-the-board attack on […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
The dream of uniting Alberta’s left, revived in the wake of Raj Sherman’s resignation, remains unlikely
PHOTOS: Strange bedfellows? Some sort of accommodation between the Alberta NDP and the Alberta Liberals might be a good idea, but it’s not very likely to happen. Below: NDP Leader Rachel Notley, possible future interim Alberta Liberal Leader Laurie Blakeman, and former NDP leader Brian Mason. OTTAWA Just remember that the Conservative advantage in Alberta […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Alberta Liberal Leader Raj Sherman quits, completing last-place trifecta of disastrous party leaders
PHOTOS: Departing Alberta Liberal Leader Raj Sherman rallying his troops on the steps of the Alberta Legislature back in 2011. A little creative cropping made the crowd look bigger. Soon-to-depart Alberta Liberal MLAs Kent Hehr and Darshan Kang, both of whom plan to run soon for the federal Liberals. Three Alberta political parties laid low […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Death of Wildrose founder and Alberta Report journalist-ideologue Link Byfield a major loss to social conservative right
PHOTOS: Wildrose Party co-founder and candidate Link Byfield at then-party-leader Danielle Smith’s side during the kick-off of the party’s 2012 Alberta election campaign. (Photo found on the Internet, creator not identified.) Below: A more recent shot of Mr. Byfield grabbed from the website of a social conservative think-tank, Cardus. The death of Link Byfield at […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
256 years of Rabbie Burns: if the authorities had any idea what he was talking about, they’d round up the Caledonian Society
PHOTOS: Robert Burns, looking almost impossibly poetic for a guy who admired the French Revolution and wanted to put the ruling classes to the sword. Below: A sporran, in case you were wondering; Japanese whisky. Today is the 256th birthday of Robert Burns, the now almost entirely incomprehensible 18th Century Scots poet celebrated by the […]
Posted inUncategorized
Danielle Smith to former Wildrose supporters: I didn’t leave you, you left me!
Danielle Smith to Wildrose Party members: I didn’t leave you! It was you that left me! Ever since the former Opposition leader shocked Alberta and significant parts of the rest of the country on Dec. 17 by leading a parade of Wildrose Party MLAs over to the Progressive Conservative benches, we’ve been hearing her working […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Danielle Smith to former Wildrose supporters: I didn’t leave you, you left me!
PHOTOS: Danielle Smith to Wildrose voters: I’m sorry, but it’s you’re fault. Now get over it! Below: Ms. Smith hopes, presumably, that the long screed she published on Facebook yesterday will ensure she doesn’t have to go out in disguise. Danielle Smith to Wildrose Party members: I didn’t leave you! It was you that left […]