As Elections Alberta approved five more recall petitions yesterday, bringing the number of United Conservative Party MLAs facing at least a theoretical threat of losing their jobs to 14, provincial government cabinet ministers kept repeating their dubious mantra that their party’s Recall Act was never intended to be used this way. Perhaps we can give […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Alberta’s growing list of MLA recall petitions is a grassroots phenomenon that’s turning into a grassfire!
Knowing that he’s almost certainly destined for the long jump, metaphorically speaking, it must be mildly satisfying for Chief Electoral Officer Gordon McClure to have to keep approving those MLA recall-petition applications. Nine applicants have now been given the stamp of approval by Mr. McClure’s office to start collecting signatures to remove their MLAs. Six […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Cringe as they may be, don’t assume Canada’s radical far right is going to fail, warns high-profile social media commentator
On her Instagram account, Rachel Gilmore describes herself as “your least favourite person’s least favourite journalist.” Judging from the reactions her aggressively progressive commentary gets on the various social media platforms she uses, this is pretty much nails it. If anyone knows how to make insecure incel brains explode or get those corporate bankrolled “weirdo […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Alberta moves to make quackery great again while protecting egregiously unprofessional behaviour
Rest assured, Alberta’s Bill 13, the so-called Regulated Professions Neutrality Act, has little to do with protecting freedom of expression. Despite Premier Danielle Smith’s claim during a news conference announcing the legislation yesterday that “professionals should never fear losing their licence or career because of a social media post, an interview, or a personal opinion […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Danielle Smith dared Eastern Slopes coal mine opponents to start a citizen initiative petition – so Corb Lund did
Albertan country music icon Corb Lund showed up in Edmonton yesterday to drop off a citizen initiative application at the offices of Elections Alberta for a referendum petition seeking permanent protection of the Eastern Slopes of the Rocky Mountains from coal mining. In other words, a situation much like what we had from 1976, when […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Danielle Smith has a plan: Alberta will destroy health care in order to save it!
Apparently, Danielle Smith and the United Conservative Party have decided they’re going to have to destroy health care in order to save it. That’s about the most positive spin that can be put on Ms. Smith’s plan, revealed by The Globe and Mail yesterday morning, to allow doctors to set up a private stream for […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
O Tempora! O Mores! UCP Cabinet minister’s inclusion of a crude epithet in phone call to constituent shocks almost no one
O Tempora! O Mores! In the great scheme of things, the fact a United Conservative Party cabinet minister referred to one of her constituents in a private conversation with an office staffer as a “motherfucker” is of nearly total insignificance. Public discourse in Alberta, and generally throughout North America in the age of Donald Trump, […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Desperate to hide what they’ve become, UCP goes to court to stop MLAs from calling themselves ‘progressive conservatives’
All the words of our magnificent English language have meanings, and those words and their meanings belong to all of us who speak and write in English. Which is to say I can declare myself to be a progressive conservative if I wish, and those of you who read this column are free to debate […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Are Mark Carney and Danielle Smith playing Grey Cup football footsie about that bitumen pipeline scheme?
Is it just me, or are Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney suddenly acting like a couple of kids from rival high schools who’ve noticed they both think the other one is kinda cute? Or are they just being cute with the rest of us and putting off their much anticipated […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Devin Dreeshen, UCP transportation minister, has a plan to make Alberta’s highways even more dangerous
There’s no question Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen will make Alberta’s highways deadlier with his plan to raise speed limits in several locations. He’s already made them more dangerous with his half-baked decision to eliminate photo radar on provincial highways and restrict its use at intersections, a policy that took effect, appropriately, on April Fool’s Day. […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Asymmetrical political warfare comes to Alberta in the form of recall campaigns targeting UCP politicians
Trying to challenge the United Conservative Party Government’s misuse of the Charter’s notorious Notwithstanding Clause may be a waste of time and money, but using the UCP’s ridiculous recall legislation as a strategy against the perpetrators is clearly rattling Premier Danielle Smith and her ministers and MLAs. This is an example of asymmetrical political warfare […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
Brouhaha over N.S. MP’s floor crossing descends into he-said/they-said story … who to believe?
The brouhaha over the departure of Acadie-Annapolis MP Chris d’Entremont from the Opposition benches in the House of Commons to the government side has now descended into a he-said/they-said story. Mr. d’Entrement says Conservative House Leader Andrew Scheer and Whip Chris Warkentin barged into his office last Tuesday, nearly bowling over his assistant, proceeded to […]