AUPE Correctional Officers rally at the picket line outside the Edmonton Remand Centre during their illegal strike in June 2013. Below: Arbitrator Andy Sims; former deputy premier Thomas Lukaszuk, as imagined by Sun Media; AUPE President Guy Smith. An independent arbitrator has overturned the firing of four Correctional Officers who took part in the illegal […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Still hoping for a ‘deal’ with AUPE, Alberta Deputy Premier Dave Hancock has a Seinfeld moment
Deputy Premier Dave Hancock holds forth in the Legislature this morning as a few bored reporters half-heartedly listen. Below: Comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who could have written Mr. Hancock’s script; former Reform Party and now former SIRC chair Chuck Strahl. With nothing to report in “negotiations” between the government of Alberta and the Alberta Union of […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
About those 620,000 missing patient files: the timing’s interesting but the accountability’s a bigger deal
Alberta Health Minister Fred Horne: He’s outraged about those 620,000 missing patient files. Below: Privacy Commissioner Jill Clayton. She’s looking in to it. Now, everyone go back to sleep. Alberta Health Minister Fred Horne claims to be outraged he’s only just learned the personal health records of 620,000 Albertans were on a laptop computer that […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Dunderdale’s departure relocates Redford deeper in premiers’ popularity sub-basement
Getting to know you… Getting to know all about you. Not necessarily a good thing with certain dancing partners! There’s just no way actual Canadian premiers, no matter whom they’re dancing with, ever look this good! Below: unpopular dance partners Alison Redford, premier of Alberta, Greg Selinger of Manitoba and all-but-departed Kathy Dunderdale of Newfoundland. […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
The ‘Petroleum Party’ in full cry about Neil Young: what are they afraid of? Not what Northwestern Alberta doctors fear
Neil Young: Giving as good as he’s been getting during an all-out attack by the Petroleum Party. Below: Dr. John O’Connor, vilified by the hirelings, toadies and pet legislators of the petroleum industry; Edmonton Journal reporter Sheila Pratt. Here in Alberta, the Petroleum Party dominates everything – the federal government, the provincial government, the government […]
Posted inAlberta Politics, Canadian Politics
With free expression under assault in Alberta, where’s ‘free speech advocate’ Ezra Levant?
So-called free-speech advocate and celebrity commentator Ezra Levant. Below: Free-speech opponent Alison Redford, Canada’s answer to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, shown below her; that Voltaire guy; nearly forgotten Tory political strategist Stephen Carter. Where’s Ezra Levant now that we need him? Mr. Levant, after all, is frequently billed as Canada’s foremost “free speech advocate,” although […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
It’s time to recognize the market-fundamentalist elephant in the airport security screening room
Some of the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority’s sub-contracted passenger screening supervisors at Edmonton International Airport. Fortunately for them, theirs won’t be the heads that roll. Below: Skylar Murphy, the 18-year-old brainiac with a recreational pipe bomb; the proverbial elephant in the room. Canadian airports really do have a security problem with fundamentalists: market fundamentalists! […]