It’s hardly reassuring to learn Alberta’s new Danielle Smith Government is apparently so inept it didn’t know that it needed a minister to oversee the administration of the province’s labour laws. Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). Leastways, that’s what the government wants us to
Continue readingTag: Leela Aheer
Alberta Politics: Whoever decided to pay Deena Hinshaw a 63% COVID bonus did no favours for the former cabinet ministers running to replace Jason Kenney
Who made the decision to give Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s already controversial chief medical officer of health, that eye-popping $227,911 cash bonus for 2021? It was not a good announcement for UCP leadership candidate Travis Toews (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). Whoever it was, when they primed that ticking time bomb, they did
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Another poll shows Daniel Smith leading UCP leadership race – and Rachel Notley’s NDP ahead province-wide
Another day, another Alberta political poll, this time from Leger. UCP leadership candidate Danielle Smith in a video she made doing damage control for her controversial remarks about cancer (Photo: Danielle Smith/Twitter). This one, like last week’s Mainstreet Research poll, shows Rachel Notley’s New Democrats in the lead, although not
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Danielle Smith, campaigning to lead the United Conservative Party, sounds crazy – but is she crazy like a Trump?
Former Wildrose Party leader Danielle Smith, campaigning to replace Jason Kenney as leader of the United Conservative Party, apparently thinks we should “Uber-fy public services,” let teachers set up their own one-room multi-grade school houses in their homes, and declare everyone aboard charter plane loads of anti-vaxx Albertans to be
Continue readingAlberta Politics: If the UCP’s Leela Aheer still has political ambitions, she’ll likely need a new political party to pursue them
If Leela Aheer hopes to continue her career in Alberta provincial politics, she’ll probably need to find a new political party. Well, sure, the United Conservative Party MLA who lately has become a frequent and vocal critic of Premier Jason Kenney could theoretically still win the United Conservative Party nomination
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Despite a few dissenting voices, unsettling new nomination-stacking law shows Jason Kenney firmly in control of party and caucus
Presumably the risk remains small that deep-pocketed United Conservative Party activists will ever buy party memberships in the names of hundreds of random Albertans, funnel the funds to the party, and use the new “members’” stolen identities to vote for nomination candidates who meet the approval of the party’s leader.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP Government imploding? Sexual harassment scandal hits Premier’s Office hours after supposed referendum victory
Premier Jason Kenney had less than 24 hours to savour his dubious victory in Alberta’s anti-equalization referendum before a serious scandal involving accusations of sexual-harassment, heavy drinking in the office, and the firing of a victim hit the headlines. It’s not clear if the revelation a former ministerial chief of
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Two defiant UCP ministers tell Jason Kenney to apologize for breaking COVID-19 restrictions at Sky Palace patio party
The good ship United Conservative Party, the vessel carrying Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s ambitions, sprang a couple more leaks yesterday. This time it was two female members of the UCP cabinet who dared to criticize the boozy pandemic patio party last Tuesday on the roof of Edmonton’s notorious Sky Palace,
Continue readingThe Daveberta Podcast: Episode 65: The Best of Alberta Politics 2020
With the help of two special guests, Jessica Littlewood and Matt Solberg, we are thrilled to announce and discuss the results of the 2020 Best of Alberta Politics survey. Jessica Littlewood was the Alberta NDP MLA for Fort Saskatchewan-Vegreville from 2015 to 2019 and during that time served as Parliamentary
Continue readingAlberta Politics: It’s late for snowflakes, but UCP gas minister melts down over criticism at St. Albert Pride flag raising
St. ALBERT, Alberta — My goodness, it’s rough being a government minister in this province! Sometimes people will even criticize you! Dale Nally, associate minister of natural gas and electricity and MLA for Morinville-St. Albert (Photo: Government of Alberta). I mean, seriously, the nerve! This never used to happen to
Continue readingAlberta Politics: More questions than answers in last week’s fallout from 2017 UCP leadership campaign
Eight Alberta United Conservative Party MLAs, five of them cabinet ministers, now admit they’ve been interviewed by the RCMP in the federal police force’s ongoing investigation into the curious goings on during the party’s 2017 leadership race, from which Premier Jason Kenney emerged victorious. Every time another UCP Caucus member
Continue readingAlberta Politics: It takes all kinds to make a cabinet, not necessarily good news when Jason Kenney’s making the picks
Premier Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party cabinet contains a guy who once went down south to campaign for Donald Trump, a woman who opposes school gay-straight alliances and wrote a university president attacking a professor’s critical commentary on Catholic education, a man who fired a single mom he employed after
Continue readingThe Daveberta Podcast: Episode 32: GSAs, GSAs, GSAs. Week 2 of Alberta’s Election.
Alberta’s provincial election is 16 days away and for the duration of the campaign, we are going to be recording a new episode of the Daveberta Podcast each week. In this episode Dave and Ryan talk about the United Conservative Party reopening the Gay-Straight Alliance debate, the transphobic comments that
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta Party and Freedom Conservative Party leaders form weekend blips on provincial political radar
Here comes the leader of the One True Conservative Party! Here comes the leader of the other One True Conservative Party! Actually, there are three One True Conservative parties in Alberta nowadays. Maybe more if you don’t blink. But there are three that have the potential to play a consequential
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Rick Strankman ousted by Nate Horner in Drumheller-Stettler, UCP dumps Dale Johnson in Lac Ste. Anne-Parkland
Photo: Rick Strankman and Jason Kenney (source: Facebook) Rick Strankman is the first incumbent MLA to lose his party’s nomination in this election cycle as he went down to defeat at the hands of Pollockville rancher and political family scion Nate Horner in last weekend’s United Conservative Party nomination contest
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Sarah Hoffman secures NDP nomination in Edmonton-Glenora, MLA Dave Hanson fends off two challengers in Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul
Minster of Health and Deputy Premier Sarah Hoffman has been nominated as the New Democratic Party candidate in Edmonton-Glenora for the next election. Hoffman was first elected as MLA for this district in 2015 with 68 percent of the vote, unseating two-term Progressive Conservative MLA Heather Klimchuk. She previously served
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Janis Irwin running for NDP nomination in Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood, Daniel Williams wins UCP contest in Peace River
Photo: More than 200 people packed into the Bellevue Community Hall tonight to support Janis Irwin’s bid for the NDP nomination in Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood. Janis Irwin launched her campaign for the New Democratic Party nomination in Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood this evening at the Bellevue Community Hall. Irwin is a community advocate and educator, and she
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Didn’t care or didn’t know? UCP MLAs endorse author of offensive social media posts for nomination
Well, that certainly didn’t take long! Mere hours after AlbertaPolitics.ca published its semi-satirical, semi-serious “Jimmy the Geek” Vegas odds piece about the potential for bozo eruptions among the current members of the United Conservative Party Legislative Caucus than, well, some of the bozos erupted. Yesterday’s AlbertaPolitics.ca post assigned Rick Strankman,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Odds-on favourites for disaster … ‘Jimmy the Geek’ sets Vegas odds for the UCP MLAs most likely to resign next
Now that Alberta’s Opposition United Conservative Party has been around for a year – it’s first anniversary was on Sunday – we note that the right-wing party has seen the resignation of no fewer than six of its MLAs for various reasons in its first year of operation. In fairness,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Freedom Conservative Party’s Derek Fildebrandt demonstrates his talent for getting up his opponents’ noses
Derek Fildebrandt, the self-described “Alberta redneck” who now leads the minuscule Freedom Conservative Party, has a talent for getting up his opponents’ noses. This has served the university-educated Ottawa native extremely well in his tireless quest to earn himself a place in the headlines, and it worked for him again
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