Whatever it says on the menu, fast food restaurant owners, other employers of temporary foreign workers and their pals in the Harper Government are serving baloney. Below: Dominique M. Gross of Simon Fraser University; Charles Decatur “C.D.” Howe. Advocates of the Harper Government’s so-called Temporary Foreign Workers Program are using an occasionally legitimate need to […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Finance Minister Doug Horner meekly throws his support to heir apparent Jim Prentice
Alberta Progressive Conservative Party activists surround leadership candidate Jim Prentice at a recent $500-a-plate fund-raising dinner in Edmonton. Finance Minister Doug Horner is visible immediately to Mr. Prentice’s right. The painting in the background illustrates Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. Actual Progressive Conservative Party members may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: The actual Mr. Horner, […]
Posted inAlberta Politics, Canadian Politics
Explaining the screams for easy-to-exploit Temporary Foreign Workers: Canadians are just too uppity for many low-wage employers
Chinese workers building Canadian railways – another sordid story of “temporary foreign workers.” Below: B.C. Premier Christy Clark and Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan. British Columbia Premier Christy Clark rose in that province’s Legislative Building in Victoria yesterday and apologized for a stream of racist laws and policies that began to be introduced […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Cone of Silence descends over deeds of Tory leadership candidate Jim Prentice’s secret agents, real or imagined
An unidentified person, left, said to be close to undeclared Tory leadership candidate Jim Prentice, waits for the Cone of Silence to descend over his discussions with a member of Wildrose Leader Danielle Smith’s inner circle, also unidentified, at right. Actual unidentified anonymous political agents may or may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: a […]
Posted inUncategorized
Shorn locks and missing bowtie suggest Thomas Lukaszuk’s Progressive Conservative leadership announcement is imminent
A screen grab of Thomas Lukaszuk’s new boyishly coiffed, bowtie-free look. Below: Mr. Lukaszuk shortly after his demotion from deputy premier by Alison Redford; in distant, preppier, times; and as Lord Greystoke. (All photos grabbed from the Internet.) Sporting a new haircut and with his trademark bowtie tossed aside, Labour Minister Thomas Lukaszuk hardly needs […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
And then there were two … decline of the Alberta Tory leadership race mirrors decline of Progressive Conservative Party
Hail the conquering hero … now starring Jim Prentice, above. Actual Progressive Conservative Enlightened Beings may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Non-leadership contenders Ken … Ken, we hardly knew ye! … Hughes, Doug Horner, Diana McQueen and Jonathan Denis. And then there were two… Ken Hughes, the former minister of municipal affairs and energy […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Missing: Any discussion of what drove the Hancock Government’s Bill 10 attack on legally enforceable contracts
A system of contracts that can be enforced and adjudicated by an independent and disinterested court like this one is one of the key features of civilized society. This is a picture of the court used by a significant number Canadian law firms to illustrate their web pages. Actually, it’s the U.S. District Court for […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Aging long-shot ‘blockhead’ candidate knocks off huge Journal political team to capture Yeggie political category award
Yeggie winning blogger David Climenhaga with a familiar-looking Albertan. What was her name again? Below: The same guy with some other political types who look faintly familiar. When the podcast site for the Edmonton Journal’s entire 11-member political affairs team was nominated for one of this year’s Yeggies, the annual awards created last year “to […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Miraculously, no one trampled as Tories race for Alberta Legislature’s exits
Alison Redford crashes through the Alberta Legislature. Below: Frightened and relieved, Alberta Progressive Conservative MLAs race from the vicinity of the Legislative Building in Edmonton yesterday; Nostradamus; Moses. Actual Alberta politicians and legislative architectural renderings may not appear exactly as illustrated. It must have seemed a little like the panic scene in post-war Japanese monster […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Alberta Workers Compensation Board poised to give back more than $500 million to employers
Alberta Workers Compensation Board officials ready shipments of money to send back to employers. Actual WBC staff may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Labour Minister Thomas Lukaszuk and now-official Tory leadership candidate Ric McIver, who gave up the K in his first name for the benefit of all Albertans. The Alberta Workers Compensation Board […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Finance minister’s joint news conference with civil service union leader sure looked like a total climb-down
AUPE President Guy Smith, left, and Finance Minister Doug Horner on the podium together at yesterday’s news conference in Edmonton. Below: NDP leader Brian Mason as he spoke to reporters moments afterward. There’s no question, after a year of something approaching total warfare between the Government of Alberta and its civil service union, it was […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Pension ‘reform’ effort likely dead as PC government and all opposition parties refer Bills 9 and 10 to committee
Members of the Hancock PC Government pause to consider their current level in the public’s esteem, and what else they can do after today’s developments to make their way back to the surface. Actual Alberta politicians may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Finance Minister Doug Horner. Former Alberta premier Alison Redford’s ill-conceived anti-union project […]