It’s a little difficult to miss the torrent of anti-transgender hatred spreading about these days. Whether it is street preachers organizing “protests” over transgender people existing, or failed political candidates trying to whip up a mob on Twitter, it seems as though they are everywhere. The lie is always
Continue readingTag: Calgary Stampede
Alberta Politics: Canadian prime minister and Alberta premier exchange vapidities in public for 5 minutes and 10 seconds
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith had a five-minute-and-10-second televised conversation of remarkable vapidity in Calgary yesterday. Why is this man smiling (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). Notwithstanding the frenzied spinning of some local newshounds, what little news there was at the Calgary Stampede photo-op needs to be prised
Continue readingAlberta Politics: With Alberta enjoying an unexpected oil boom, Rachel Notley vows an NDP government won’t piss it all away
With Alberta enjoying another rather unexpected oil boom, Rachel Notley has promised that an NDP government won’t piss it all away. Soon-to-depart Alberta premier Jason Kenney was all dressed up for the next oil boom, and now no one wants him around (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). That’s exactly what she said.
Continue readingDJ Kelly | Ward 4: A Journey to Truth and Reconciliation
And any man who knows a thing Knows he knows not a damn, damn thing at all I often think of this lyric from K’naan’s “Take A Minute”. The concept is as old as Socrates, but there’s something about his underlying beats and the rest of the song that gives
Continue readingAlberta Politics: How the Kenney Government could push us back into another wave of COVID in the name of reopening
Will the Kenney Government lose interest in its vaccination campaign the instant Premier Jason Kenney’s arbitrary 70-per-cent vaccination threshold for allowing the Calgary Stampede to open is met? If past behaviour is a guide, this seems quite possible. The Calgary Stampede is a great place for Conservatives to meet Conservatives.
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Rebooting Calgary’s downtown core
Calgary’s downtown core has long been a hive of commercial activity, a major energy centre in more ways than one. Not long ago the city had the second-highest number of head offices in the country. But in the evening it largely hollowed out, workers went home and citizens looking for
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Death of an elm
The idea that trees have personalities may be offensive to science, but sometimes they just do. Such is the massive elm that sits in the middle of a Calgary Stampede parking lot. It boldly claims its place in the universe as it has done for more than 120 years, a
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Yet another annual message to the Calgary Stampede: real men don’t hurt animals for entertainment
There will be a “thorough review process surrounding chuckwagon safety” after the deaths of six horses during the 2019 Calgary Stampede, which is now mercifully over. Oh, please! There will be no meaningful review of the safety of the horses that are abused for fun at the Stampede, just as
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Girls Just Want to Have Fun…at the Calgary Stampede
“When the working day is done. Oh girls, they wanna have fun.”—Cyndi Lauper After a rough few weeks Ms Soapbox and her family dug out their cowboy hats, found some denim shirts and went stampeding. Ms Soapbox decided to retrace the steps of the all-time Stampede champion, Premier Rachel Notley,
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Episode 15: Politicians pretending to be Cowboys. It’s Stampede Week in Calgary!
It is Calgary Stampede season, which means politicians from across Canada are flocking to Alberta’s largest city to show off their recently purchased plaid shirts and cowboy hats. In this episode of the Daveberta Podcast, Dave Cournoyer and Ryan Hastman discuss politicians pretending to be cowboys, the latest federal and provincial nomination news, including
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Another Season of Stampede Politicking in Calgary
Politicians of all stripes descended on Alberta’s largest city this week for the annual Calgary Stampede festivities. Though most of them have probably never ridden a horse or woke up at 5am (or earlier) to start their day on the farm, they were almost all brandishing big shiny belt buckles,
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Two weeks until decision day for Conservatives in Alberta
On July 6, 2016, Jason Kenney officially launched his campaign to capture the leadership of Alberta’s Progressive Conservatives and lead them into a merger with the right-wing Wildrose Party. After 19-years as an Ottawa politician, Kenney was easily able to stage a hostile take-over the broken and battered former governing party.
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Stampede!
“Sometimes you need a little break”—Ms Soapbox’s Mom The fun started when Ms Soapbox’s sister Roz and her husband Jay came to town. They flew in from Vancouver where it rains 168 days a year–to spend a week in Calgary … Continue reading →
Alberta Politics: The Calgary Stampede’s vital cultural and political role explained, sort of …
PHOTOS: The Stampede chuckwagon races … exciting, but traditionally bad news for horses. Below: Stampede duds last year on Justin Trudeau, Stephen Harper and Thomas Mulcair. Did last year’s effort work out as intended by the Stampede Board? The C…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Annual message to Calgary Stampede: real men don’t hurt animals for entertainment
PHOTOS: Stampede chuckwagon races – exciting for spectators, but deadly and cruel for horses. Real men don’t hurt animals for entertainment. There will be a safety “review” after the death of a fourth horse on Sunday at the 2015 Calgary Stampede, which is now mercifully over. Oh, please! There will
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Calgary Stampede an important marker of political change in Alberta
Billed as the Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth, the Calgary Stampede is a must-stop destination for political leaders of all stripes and all levels of government. The event also provides a good historical marker of how quickly the political winds of change can… Continue Reading →
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper’s Most Sad and Pathetic Calgary Stampede
Well there he was in this PMO picture, at the Calgary Stampede in his black bad guy cowboy hat, framed between a horse and a horse's ass.Watching the parade and trying to put on a brave face, or smile like a winner. Or at least open his mouth and show his
Continue readingVancouver Humane Society gives CBC Stampede coverage a thumbs down
Only 26 days to the Calgary Stampede. Yee-haw! This is our premier event of the year—the greatest outdoor show on Earth. Mostly it’s great fun for Calgarians and visitors alike: agricultural exhibits, a huge midway, entertainment from around the world plus Calgary’s very own Young Canadians, Stampede breakfasts, endless bar-hopping—10
Continue readingAlberta Politics: ‘Parson’ Manning, in the pulpit, preaches a formula of failure to Alberta’s New Democrats
PHOTOS: Preston Manning, Godfather of the Canadian right. Below: Alberta Premier Designate Rachel Notley, Liberal prime minister Wilfrid Laurier, Social Credit premier E.C. Manning and United Farmers of Alberta leader Henry Wise Wood. Preaching from the highest pulpit in the land, the opinion pages of the mighty Globe and Mail,
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper and the Ill wind from Alberta
Well nobody at this beach on the Toronto Island today was complaining about an ill wind from the West.Because it was warm and wild, and summer like life is so short and precious.However, had they been in Calgary this weekend, they would have encountered another kind of wind.Hot, foul, and
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