PHOTOS: Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall, smiling like old times, says farewell in this video screenshot to an adoring media on his last day in the provincial Legislature in Regina yesterday. Below: U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and Alberta Trade Minister Deron Bilous. Political coverage was wall-to-wall Brad Wall yesterday as mainstream
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Alberta Politics: The Great Alberto-Saskatchewanian Licence Plate War of 2017: Everything you need to know …
PHOTOS: Tough talk from Alberta Economic Development and Trade Minister Deron Bilous, above, was directed at Saskatchewan’s cranky government. Below: Saskatchewan’s lame duck premier, Brad Wall (Photo: Jake Wright, Wikimedia Commons); Alberta United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney, who calls Mr. Wall “the real leader of Western Canada”; Saskatchewan Highways
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Mid-week Alberta Politics Roundup
Photo: Kent Hehr with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the Calgary Stampede in July 2017. (Photo from Kent Hehr’s Facebook Page) It has been a busy week for me, so without the time to write a full column-type post, here is a quick summary of what I have been watching
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Alberta politics never slows down, even in the summer.
Politics never slows down in Alberta, even in the summer. Here is a quick look at some of what has been happening: New UCP caucus has a spending problems A day after the United Conservative Party lined up to criticize Alberta Finance Minister Joe Ceci, it was revealed that the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The tragedies we ignore: Recent Wildrose gaffe won’t end right’s bogus equivalencies in Canadian political discourse
PHOTOS: The Famine Memorial in Dublin. The Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s and ’50s is ignored in current Canadian political discourse while the Ukrainian Famine of the 1930s is frequently evoked. Both are real historical events with ideological roo…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta Opposition Leader Brian Jean now officially ‘embattled’ as Wildrose insurrection appears to spread
PHOTOS: Is Wildrose Party Leader Brian Jean contemplating being given the boot by his party’s radicals … or giving it to them? (Wildrose.ca photo.) Below: Lac La Biche-St. Paul-Two Hills MLA David Hanson (photo also from Wildrose.ca), Twitter infor…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: What new laws did Alberta’s NDP government pass in Spring 2016?
The Spring session of the Alberta Legislature ended yesterday after forty-days of debate. The evacuation of more than 88,000 Albertans sparked by the wildfires in Fort McMurray dominated the attention of our political leaders during this session. In …
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The mystery of NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair’s long fall: Why didn’t he see it coming?
PHOTOS: NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair accepts his defeat at his party’s national convention in Edmonton yesterday. Below: Deputy Premier Sarah Hoffman, Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan, former Ontario NDP leader Stephen Lewis and Albert…
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Trudeau On Pipelines: Maybe
Last week Justin Trudeau walked into the lion’s den—a boardroom filled with the country’s top oilpatch executives—and got it half right. Luckily he had the good sense to take Premier Notley with him. Mr Trudeau, Ms Notley and Big Oil … Continue reading →
daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Notley spreads out the workload in new expanded NDP cabinet
Alberta’s provincial cabinet grew by six today as Premier Rachel Notley announced an early 2016 cabinet shuffle. These appointments bring the size of Alberta’s cabinet up to 19, which is larger than the initial 12 cabinet ministers appointed af…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: A Rookie Crew: Eleven Alberta MLAs to watch in 2016
The past few years in Alberta politics have reminded us that politics can be an extraordinarily unpredictable and forecasting the future can be a very tricky business for political pundits. Aside from the obvious choices of Premier Rachel Notley, Finan…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Sky does not fall as Alberta NDP presents its first budget
When Finance Minister Joe Ceci stood in the Legislature on Oct. 27 to deliver the Alberta NDP’s first budget, it marked the first time since 1972 that the budget was not tabled by a Progressive Conservative finance minister. The first budget of Premier Rachel Notley‘s… Continue Reading →
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Notley creates Economic Development ministry, appoints rural Municipal Affairs minister
Alberta’s provincial cabinet grew from twelve to thirteen today with the appointment of Lesser Slave Lake MLA Danielle Larivee to the posts of Minister of Municipal Affairs and Service Alberta. Ms. Larivee takes over those roles from Deron Bilous. Mr. Bilous, one… Continue Reading →
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta’s NDP government gets serious about economic diversification, an overdue change
PHOTOS: Premier Rachel Notley with Economic Development and Trade Minister Deron Bilous and Municipal Affairs Minister Danielle Larivee moments after the two cabinet members were sworn into their new portfolios. Below: Labour and Advanced Education Minister Lori Sigurdson. A key part of the business of any government is the business
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Guest Post: How the Alberta government can reform Payday Loan rules
There are differing opinions on payday loans and the government of Alberta wants to hear yours. One thing is certain though, they are extremely expensive and targeted at Albertans living in poverty. For many Albertans who need quick cash a… Continue Reading →
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: NDP needs to explain why they changed their mind on Carbon Capture and Storage
“The Tories have bet $2 billion taxpayer dollars and our oil and gas industry’s sustainability on CCS. There’s no scientific consensus that the technology is safe in the long term. Any report of a failed CCS project should have the… Continue Reading →
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Federal Candidate Nomination Update in Alberta
Preparation for the 2015 federal election continues as parties nominate their candidates in Alberta’s 34 ridings. The Conservatives and Liberals have most of their candidates in place, with the New Democratic Party now holding a flurry of nomination meetings across the… Continue Reading →
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Sunshine, ice cream and a mellow multitude of 10,000 or so usher in the NDP era in Alberta
PHOTOS: Here’s my shot of the crowd as it began to break up after the ceremony had ended and I’d managed to run upstream to the steps of the Legislature. The Canadian Press photo below shows what the crowd looked like as Premier Rachel Notley and her cabinet were sworn
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Notley’s Crew: Alberta’s First NDP Cabinet
Thousands of Albertans packed the Legislature Grounds for the swearing-in ceremony of Premier Rachel Notley and Alberta’s first NDP Cabinet. This marked the first time in 44 years that a party other than the Progressive Conservatives were sworn-in to office… Continue Reading →
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Picking a cabinet is never an easy job – it’ll be tougher, with higher stakes, for Rachel Notley
It’s a pretty safe bet these four MLAs will be in the Notley Government’s first cabinet. From left to right, Deron Bilous, Brian Mason, David Eggen and, of course, Premier Designate Rachel Notley, who together made up the entire NDP caucus before the May 5 election. Below: Three other possible
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