If United Conservative Party leaders like Premier Danielle Smith are looking for another fight to pick with the Trudeau Government, they could always complain about Canada’s slavish and continuing support for U.S. efforts to get rid of the Venezuelan government of Nicholas Maduro. Former, and possibly future, U.S. president Donald
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Alberta Politics: UCP opposition to pharmacare deal encounters stiff headwinds from an unexpected quarter; Edmonton hospital gets put on the shelf
The United Conservative Party’s knee-jerk vow to opt out of the national pharmacare program agreed to by the Liberal and NDP caucuses in Parliament last week is encountering stiff headwinds from an unexpected point of the political compass. Calgary Chamber of Commerce President Deborah Yedlin (Photo: Calgary Chamber of Commerce).
Continue readingAlberta Politics: A national pharmacare program at last? Forget about it, says Alberta’s UCP – just give us the cash!
No sooner did the federal Liberal and New Democratic parties say they’d reached a deal on a national pharmacare program at the end of last week than Alberta’s United Conservative Party Government insisted it wanted no part of the plan. Friends of Medicare Director Chris Gallaway (Photo: David J. Climenhaga).
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Rakhi Pancholi’s notion Alberta’s NDP should split from the federal party is a risky idea that should be left undisturbed
Leadership candidate Rakhi Pancholi has proposed disaffiliating the Alberta NDP from the federal party to deprive the province’s Conservatives of a talking point they’ll use anyway. NDP leadership candidate Kathleen Ganley is open to talking about the idea (Photo: Facebook/Kathleen Ganley). “Membership in one political party should not require membership
Continue readingScripturient: WWCD: What Would Cicero Do?
Throughout his career, Marcus Tullius Cicero fought tyranny, stood up to dictators and bullies, defended the Republic, and paid for his principled stand with his life. He put himself in harm’s way frequently by openly challenging and even suing the elites, the rich, and the powerful who were controlling —
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Former justice minister Kathleen Ganley makes her bid to lead Alberta NDP official; others to follow soon
Yesterday was the official start of the Alberta NDP leadership race and Kathleen Ganley was the first to make official what pretty well everyone in political Alberta already knew – to wit, that, yes, the former justice minister is running to replace Rachel Notley as the leader of the Opposition
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: A Muddled Mess
So, this past week, Federal Court justice Mosley issued a ruling on a group of cases attacking the Federal Government's use of the Emergencies Act as somehow illegal/unconstitutional/whatever. Let me start off by saying that I've read a good number of rulings from Canadian judges, and usually they're pretty readable.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: If it is to be properly settled, the divisive argument over use of the Emergencies Act needs to go to the Supreme Court
Another day, another fatuous statement from Alberta United Conservative Party attacking the Trudeau Government. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). This time the news hook for the UCP’s fatuity was the ruling by a Federal Court of Canada justice that the Liberal Government’s use of the Emergencies Act on
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: It’s A Confession
In the wake of Rachel Notley stepping down as leader of the Alberta NDP, the geniuses over at National Post decided to publish an “opinion” piece that tries to lay all of Alberta’s political problems at her feet. Besides being partisan drivel, it’s interesting to go through this particular example
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Judge upholds Canadian Taxpayers Federation’s $6,000 fine but the organization’s dubious credibility will likely survive
Back in January 2019, observers of the Alberta political scene wondered if the $6,000 administrative penalty levied against the Canadian Taxpayers Federation for failing to register as a third-party advertiser under Alberta’s election financing law would result in a long-overdue recognition of the partisan role the self-described “tax watchdog” clearly
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Battling bovine belches and fighting farmyard flatulence was all very well until Ottawa got involved – now it’s an outrage!
Using the COP28 climate conference in Dubai as a news hook, on Sunday the federal government announced a new draft protocol on reducing enteric methane emissions from beef cattle, which is a fancy way of saying bovine burps and farmyard flatulence. The deceptive image tweeted by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Replacing to Sovereignty Act so soon? Danielle Smith’s belligerent statement vows new attack on federal power
VICTORIA, B.C. – Is Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party Government now planning to introduce a new, tougher Sovereignty Act to fight Ottawa’s proposed emissions regulations? Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). As is well known, the plainly unconstitutional Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act has
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Layover in Dubai: Who are the ‘hundreds’ of Albertans accompanying Danielle Smith – and who’s paying the freight?
So, about this group of “hundreds” of Albertans who have accompanied Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on her field trip to dusty Dubai for the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference – are they part of an official mission, or just some sort of petrostate posse of uninvited interlopers? International sojourner
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Danielle Smith to implement Alberta Sovereignty Act, legislation Jason Kenney called ‘full-frontal attack on the rule of law’
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith confirmed yesterday she’s about to use her Alberta Sovereignty Act – the clearly unconstitutional legislation that even her United Conservative Party predecessor Jason Kenney called “a full-frontal attack on the rule of law.” Former Alberta premier Jason Kenney a few days before he left office in
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Manning to Alberta Conservative MPs (and 1 Liberal): Supposedly non-partisan pandemic report ‘could be used by the CPC’
In case you were looking for another reason to want Preston Manning’s preposterous politicized pandemic panel report to be spiked, there’s this … Calgary Skyview Liberal MP George Chahal (Photo: Mahmoud Alshall, Creative Commons). Yesterday morning, George Chahal, the Liberal Member of Parliament for the Calgary Skyview riding, took to
Continue readingAlberta Politics: H * l y S h * t! Who could possibly have known why China picked on those Two Michaels back in 2020?
A few days less than three years ago, I asked in this space: “Why did China’s government pluck the Two Michaels from among 300,000 Canadians in China?” Michael Kovrig (Photo: Twitter/Michael Kovrig). The answer, I suggested then, was that both Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor had “the kind of backgrounds,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Premiers can agree not to poach health care workers from one another, but that’s easier said than done
A week ago, Canada’s premiers ended a meeting in Halifax agreeing that they shouldn’t poach health care workers from one another. Nova Scotia Conservative Premier Tim Houston (Photo: Screenshot of CPAC video). There’s a shortage all round, they seemed to be saying, let’s poach from poor countries instead of each
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Chrystia Freeland says Canada’s chief actuary will determine how much cash Alberta would actually get if it pulls out of the CPP
When we heard Alberta Finance Minister Nate Horner say yesterday he’s encouraged to hear that the federal government will ask the Government of Canada’s chief actuary to determine how much cash Alberta would actually get if it were to pull out of the Canada Pension Plan, we could predict with
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Continuing CPP uproar means Danielle Smith and the UCP are getting what they want: the grownups are paying attention!
Like any teenager acting out, Danielle Smith must be delighted to have the entire country in a swivet about her government’s preposterous claim that even though Alberta has only about 16 per cent of Canada’s population less Quebec, which has its own pension plan, the country owes it 53 per
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Congratulations on your appointment, Mr. Dinning, your pension ‘consultation’ has a few flaws: CPP public affairs leader
Michel Leduc, the Canada Pension Plan’s head of public affairs and communications, recently demonstrated how to swiftly and skilfully eviscerate a goat, metaphorically speaking. Canada Pension Plan public affairs and communications chief Michel Leduc (Photo: Linked-In). I speak of Mr. Leduc’s Oct. 17 letter to Jim Dinning, the old Tory
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