At 4:02 o’clock on the afternoon of Sunday, May 23, 2021, somebody pressed the “tweet” button on Jason Kenney’s Twitter account, sending an enigmatic message about the government’s response to COVID-19 whizzing into cyberspace. Perhaps it was Mr. Kenney himself who clicked the click. Perhaps, since he is the premier or Alberta, ex officio the […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Teachers give Education Minister Adriana LaGrange a 99% non-confidence vote – but it’s Jason Kenney who’s driving the school bus
Ninety-nine per cent of the delegates to the Alberta Teachers Association’s virtual annual representative assembly voted Sunday to affirm a motion of non-confidence in Education Minister Adriana LaGrange. There’s no question that as education minister Ms. LaGrange has possessed a sort of reverse Midas touch – virtually every policy the former Catholic school trustee from […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
What does the UCP do now that its favourite researcher says she never thought Canadian environmental groups were being used by U.S. interests?
What is the United Conservative Party’s position, pray, about Vancouver blogger Vivian Krause’s bombshell assertion she always understood the environmental conspiracy to landlock Alberta’s oilsands she promoted so energetically had nothing to do with the U.S. oil industry advancing its interests at Canada’s expense? Wherever it came from, the notion big American corporations and foundations […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
State of the Media: Postmedia, looking for a future, post media as it were, wants to deliver your parcels!
Let’s give ourselves some respite from the horror of living in Alberta under Jason Kenney and his United Conspiracy Party. Instead, here’s an inspiring, upbeat story about an old business we all thought was on its last legs that is thinking outside the box about how to grab the low-hanging fruit by pro-actively finding new […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Foundering public inquiry gets another two months to find evidence; UCP gets even more time to figure out what to do with it
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has announced his government’s foundering “public inquiry” into the supposed conspiracy by American interests to bankroll environmental charities to help landlock Alberta’s fossil fuel resources will get another two months to come up with some evidence. After that, the government will give itself an additional three months to figure out what […]
Posted inCanadian Politics
If you like going to the bottle depot, you’ll love the Conservative carbon tax, says Calgary MP Ron Liepert
I hear that Calgary Signal Hill Conservative MP Ron Liepert – who the Canadian Press kindly described as an experienced Alberta politician – has been using the deposit you pay on a bottle of beer to explain party Leader Erin O’Toole’s carbon tax proposal. This is a flawed metaphor, but first a word or two […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Jason Kenney, speaking directly to rural COVID skeptics, tries an end-run around his rebellious caucus
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney used the daily COVID-19 briefing yesterday to send a message directly to the supporters of his opposition in the Legislature. Not the official NDP Opposition. Those guys aren’t the premier’s biggest problem just now, especially with the Legislature still shuttered, supposedly to reduce the threat to politicians from the coronavirus pandemic. […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Former city councillor and federal minister Amarjeet Sohi to announce bid to become Edmonton Mayor today
If a pipeline to tidewater is as important to Alberta as folks around here seem to think it is, Amarjeet Sohi has done far more to make one a reality than Premier Jason Kenney ever did. In 2018 and 2019, as natural resources minister in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal cabinet, Mr. Sohi played a […]
Posted inBestsellers
The Rose Code by Kate Quinn returns to the top of Alberta’s independent booksellers’ fiction bestseller list for week ended May 9
Here are the lists of the top 10 fiction and non-fiction titles sold by independent booksellers in Alberta during the week ended Sunday, May 9, 2021. The lists are compiled by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta, and include sales at Audreys Books in Edmonton and Glass Bookshop in Edmonton. Interesting to note that at No. 4 on the […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Judge gives green light to ‘anti-Alberta energy campaigns’ inquiry – a ruling the UCP may come to regret
At the end of a terrible week, there was a smidgen of solace for Jason Kenney and his United Conservative Party. Yesterday, Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Karen Horner rejected Ecojustice Canada Society’s arguments the Kenney Government’s so-called “Public Inquiry into Anti-Alberta Energy Campaigns” was just a politicized attempt to intimidate environmental groups and […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Jason Kenney, wounded by UCP Caucus dissent, manages to kick out two rebellious MLAs
Can Alberta Premier Jason Kenney remain in office longer than Alison Redford was premier? Until yesterday, I would have answered that despite his current unpopularity, Premier Kenney’s rule would obviously last longer than Ms. Redford’s short, unhappy tenure. Now I am not so sure. Mr. Kenney has not emerged looking stronger after it took him […]
Posted inAlberta Politics
Todd Loewen becomes first UCP MLA to call for Premier Jason Kenney’s resignation
Todd Loewen, United Conservative Party MLA for Central Peace-Notley, called in a letter dated this morning for the resignation of Alberta Premier Jason Kenney. Damning the Kenney Government as “out of touch and arrogant,” Mr. Loewen also quit as chair of the UCP Caucus. “I feel it is best to resign this position to be […]