Alberta Premier Jason Kenney moved quickly to kick Pat Rehn out of the United Conservative Party Caucus this morning, a day after an Edmonton researcher revealed the Lesser Slave Lake MLA spent almost all of last April, May, June and July in Edmonton while constituents complained he was never in the riding. In a Facebook […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Expense claims show MLA who rarely visits his own riding spent almost every day in Edmonton for four months last year
Lots of Pat Rehn’s constituents may think the Lesser Slave Lake MLA is about as helpful as a screen door on a submarine, but it turns out the fellow’s been able to dine out on his exalted status just the same. Quite literally, it would seem. Researcher Tony Clark recently dug into Mr. Rehn’s expense […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Teachers are bound to be furious about UCP’s Christmas coup to consolidate control over their pensions
If the Kenney Government’s Christmas Eve coup to consolidate control over $18 billion in Alberta Teachers Retirement Fund assets shows anything, it’s that the United Conservative Party’s investment strategy is as good as its political strategy! Or maybe we should put that the other way: that the government’s political strategy is as good as its […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
What’s next for former Wildrose leader Danielle Smith now that she’s dropping out of right-wing talk radio?
Former school trustee, former Wildrose Party leader, and former controversial legislative floor-crosser, Danielle Smith announced yesterday she will add right-wing talk-radio bloviator to her long list of former occupations. The woman thought in 2012 to be on track to become Alberta’s first Wildrose Party premier announced yesterday she is ending her six-year stint as the […]
Posted inBestsellers
Our Only Home by the Dalai Lama tops independent booksellers non-fiction bestseller list for first week of 2021
Well, we’ve had a few exciting days. Let’s just take a breath tonight and contemplate the top selling books sold by Alberta’s independent booksellers during the week ended Sunday, Jan. 3, 2021. No. 1 on the non-fiction list last week is Our Only Home, by the 14th Dalai Lama, subtitled “A Climate Appeal to the […]
Posted inGeopolitics
Notice to Canadian Conservatives: de-Trumpification is coming and it’s time to burn your MAGA caps!
Is the United States about to embark on a program of de-Trumpification? Less than a week ago, that seemed highly improbable. In the aftermath of the startling events of the 6th, another early December date which will live in infamy, it’s sure starting to look like it. It remains to be seen if the storming […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Clarity on pandemic travel: it’s bad, but it’s safe; it’s not recommended, but it’s facilitated … OK?
Travelling by air is safer than going to the grocery store, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney explained to yesterday’s COVID-19 news conference. But that doesn’t mean you should travel by air. Or shouldn’t go to the grocery store. Or something. It’s always a little dispiriting when Mr. Kenney steps up to the microphone at one of […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Alberta premier piously pleads for restoration of order in Washington, smooth ascension of Joe Biden to U.S. presidency
“Alberta has always had close ties to the United States, so it’s painful to watch the bizarre scenes unfolding at the U.S. Capitol,” Jason Kenney lamented yesterday, presumably tweeting from a secure command post atop the office building that overlooks the Alberta Legislature. “Political violence is always wrong, especially when it seeks to interrupt the […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
In the aftermath of Aloha-gate, that report on ‘anti-Alberta energy campaigns’ is likely to be a dud
Before the Aloha–gate travel scandal upset the United Conservative Party’s applecart, Commissioner Steve Allan’s big report on “anti-Alberta energy campaigns” was supposed to be Alberta’s first major political story of 2021. But if the report is released as scheduled later this month – no certainty given its sputtering progress to date – it’s more likely […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
In epic flip-flop, Jason Kenney reverses course, disciplines globe-trotting MLAs and sacks migratory chief of staff
After a weekend of unprecedented denunciation from all points of the political compass, including many of his own loyal supporters, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney yesterday folded and accepted resignations from two cabinet members and a top aide, while demoting four backbench MLAs for ignoring repeated pleas by health officials not to travel during the pandemic. […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Hola Tany Yao! You’ve got voicemail! Meanwhile, Energy Minister Sonya Savage completes essential holiday home maintenance in B.C.
One of Our MLAs is Missing! I know, this sounds like the title of a bad movie, the kind that might earn three rotten tomatoes on an online review site, but it’s for real. It’s now Day 4 of the Hawaiigate Scandal, and Tany Yao, United Conservative Party MLA for Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo is somewhere […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Alberta’s Hawaiigate Scandal grows, uncovering new non-essential Conservative trips to Mexico, Arizona, California, Las Vegas
Alberta’s Hawaiigate travel scandal continued to grow yesterday with four more United Conservative Party MLAs and one Conservative Party of Canada MP from Calgary confirmed to have been out of the country in defiance of COVID-19 restrictions on non-essential travel. In addition, rumours about several more Conservative politicians are circulating. Albertans furious that Premier Jason […]