PHOTOS: NDP Health Minister Sarah Hoffman. Is she the best person to hold Alberta’s finance portfolio as Alberta’s 2019 election edges nearer? Below: Finance Minister Joe Ceci and Jason Kenney, the conservative politician most likely to lead the United Conservative Party into the next provincial election. The pecuniary difficulties faced
Continue readingTag: Budget Deficits
Alberta Politics: Two views of Alberta third-quarter financial update: Steady as Joe goes, versus Faster, Pussycat! Cut! Cut!
PHOTOS: Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci, on a day when the sun was really shining. Below: Former premier Ralph Klein, the haze on fond memories as painted by his portraitist; interim PC Leader Ric McIver; Wildrose Jobs Critic Glenn van Dijken; and Alberta Party Leader Greg Clark. Despite the expected
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Conservatives have to tie themselves in knots to sustain their narrative about Alberta’s fiscal situation
PHOTOS: Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci, dressed in a sombre blue suit, delivers the fiscal report to predictable reactions from the opposition. Below: Wildrose finance critic and chief sloganeer Derek Fildebrandt as he appeared yesterday. Given the history of this province and its current goings on, our various stripes of
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Alberta Health Services trimmers toss out a couple of market-fundy myths to save cash
Alberta Health Services Board Chair Stephen Lockwood demonstrates how to trim a provincial health care budget. Actual AHS board members may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: The real Mr. Lockwood in his official AHS portrait. Two pernicious and slightly dissonant myths that cloud discussion of public health care are
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Postponing the Day of Reckoning, Alberta-style
Alberta Premier Alison Redford beseeches the Almighty for higher petroleum prices as Wildrose Finance Critic Rob Anderson looks on. Actual Alberta politicians may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: Social democratic men of God J.S. Woodsworth (Methodist), Tommy Douglas (Baptist) and Stanley Knowles (United). So what’s with the Redford Government’s
Continue readingAlberta Diary: With Alberta’s budget all but balanced, where’s Ted Morton now that we don’t need him?
Cock of the walk: Everybody wanted to talk to Ted Morton on June 26, 2011. His message to then-premier Ed Stelmach: Balance the budget or else. (Calgary Herald photo.) Below: Alison Redford, Rob Anderson. Can it be less than two years since Ted Morton, then Alberta’s steely-eyed finance minister and
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