Alberta’s Auditor-General has completed six performance audits of the United Conservative Party Government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. But as you may already have seen on social media, Doug Wylie won’t be allowed to tell anyone about them. Alberta Auditor General Doug Wylie (Photo: Office of the Auditor General). That
Continue readingTag: Marlin Schmidt
Alberta Politics: Thatcher brouhaha: When your slippery opponent’s on the ropes, maybe you should focus on keeping him there!
When you’ve got a slippery political opponent on the ropes with a completely legitimate issue, what’s it profit a New Democrat to stand up in the Legislature and create a massive distraction from the fight the party’s winning with one that has no advantage for it? This is what NDP
Continue readingAlberta Politics: No one should fault Jason Kenney for his Hope Mission photo op — but that N95 mask is another matter
No one should fault Premier Jason Kenney too much for visiting Edmonton’s Hope Mission, having a few photos taken and posting them on social media with an uplifting message about pitching in to fight COVID-19. It’s what politicians of all stripes do, and arguably it’s not a terrible use of
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Cuts & Critics: Expect fireworks in the Legislature, but no real brakes on radical UCP agenda
Alberta’s 24 NDP Opposition MLAs were sworn in yesterday and Opposition Leader Rachel Notley, not so long ago the province’s premier, named the MLAs who will fill her shadow cabinet portfolios. Meanwhile, Premier Jason Kenney’s MLAs will have to wait a few days while their boss gets on with his
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Athabasca University and its faculty approach an impasse in bargaining; the province drops a hint of what might be next
Is Alberta’s NDP Government getting ready to bring some serious pressure to bear if that’s what it takes to get a contract agreement between Athabasca University’s administration and its faculty association? If I’m right about the meaning of changes to the Athabasca University Regulation ordered by the provincial cabinet last
Continue readingAlberta Politics: NDP introduces to post-secondary tuition-fee setting a measure of fairness for students
Alberta’s Legislature returned to work yesterday as Rachel Notley’s NDP Government got the ball rolling with a bill that will keep a lid on post-secondary tuition and ensure foreign students don’t get stuck with unscheduled tuition increases part way through their studies. This may be a long way from what’s
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Vue Weekly Best of Edmonton 2018
Thank you to the readers of Vue Weekly for voting daveberta.ca as one of the city’s Best Local Affairs Blogs in the annual Best of Edmonton list for 2018. I’m thrilled this website was tied for first place with Mack Male’s excellent mastermaq.ca blog, which has long been a solid standard source of information
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Karen Principe defeats former MLA Janice Sarich to win UCP nomination in Edmonton-Decore, NDP nominate MLA Marlin Schmidt in Edmonton-Gold Bar
Past City Council candidate Karen Principe defeated former Progressive Conservative MLA Janice Sarich and real estate agent Gordon Reekie to secure the United Conservative Party nomination in Edmonton-Decore last night. Principe is a dental hygienist who placed a strong third in the October 2017 city council race that saw incumbent councillor Dave
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Doug Schweitzer wins UCP nomination in Calgary-Elbow, Danielle Larivee selected as NDP candidate in Lesser Slave Lake
Photo: Doug Schweitzer, Danielle Larivee, Travis Toews, and Mo Elsalhy. Former United Conservative Party leadership candidate Doug Schweitzer defeated past city council candidate Chris Davis to secure his party’s nomination in Calgary-Elbow on September 13, 2018. As noted last week, Schweitzer is a lawyer who briefly considered running for the PC Party
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Rod Loyola secures NDP nomination in Edmonton-Ellerslie, Mark Smith beats challenger Boitchenko for UCP nomination in Drayton Valley-Devon
Photo: Rod Loyola nominated as the NDP candidate in Edmonton-Ellerslie. (Source: @JanisIrwin on twitter) New Democratic Party MLA Rod Loyola secured his party’s nomination in Edmonton-Ellerslie on August 28, 2018. Loyola was first elected in 2015, earned 61.5 percent of the vote in this suburban southeast Edmonton district. Loyola currently
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Good new/bad news: Things are looking up for Athabasca University, so why is there no progress on a contract with faculty?
If readers will forgive me for turning away for a moment from the fascinating and highly entertaining topic of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s bizarre attempt to mud-wrestle Canada into submission, we need to look at a topic a little closer to home, to wit: Athabasca University. Readers will recall
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Alberta Candidate Nomination Update: A Big One.
Photo: Prasad Panda, Abagail Douglass, David Eggen, Kate Potter, and Graham Sucha We are now about one year away from Alberta’s next provincial general election and the list of candidates running for party nominations is growing. The Alberta Party has announced that Abagail Douglass will be their candidate in the upcoming Innisfail-Sylvan Lake by-election.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: University top brass salaries capped; David Suzuki to get honourary degree from U of A! Stand by for fireworks!
PHOTOS: High-profile B.C. environmentalist, scientist, author and broadcaster David Suzuki. Below: Alberta Advanced Education Minister Marlin Schmidt, University of Alberta President David Turpin (Photo: The Gauntlet), and United Conservative Party Opposition Leader Jason Kenney. The Alberta government has put a much-needed cap on the salaries of top university administrators, providing
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Who is running in Alberta’s 2019 Election?
A handful of aspiring elected officials have already put their names forward to run in Alberta’s next provincial general election, which, due to our odd-ball fixed-election period, is expected to be called between March 1, 2019 and May 31, 2019. One candidate has already been nominated. Omar Masood was acclaimed
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Dave Hancock, Alberta’s second-to-last Progressive Conservative premier, named by NDP as Provincial Court judge
PHOTOS: Dave Hancock as premier, in pink shirt at left, at the Edmonton Pride Parade in June 2014. With him are former Edmonton City Councillor Michael Phair and City Councillor Scott McKeen. Below: Mr. Hancock speaks with the media at Government House in Edmonton on one of the darkest days
Continue readingAlberta Politics: A wacky idea for getting more value from university administrators: pay them less and never mind competitiveness
PHOTOS: Alberta Advanced Education Minister Marlin Schmidt serving pancakes at yesterday morning’s Premier’s K-Days Breakfast on the south lawn of the Alberta Legislature in Edmonton. Below: Just to stick with the photographic theme, even though it has nothing to do with the story, Premier Rachel Notley cooking up the flapjacks
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Recommendations of independent review of Athabasca University seem unlikely to survive Alberta political reality
PHOTOS: University of Saskatchewan Professor Ken Coates, author of the independent review of Athabasca University released last week. Below: Athabasca U President Neil Fassina, AU Board Chair Vivian Manasc, and Alberta Advanced Education Minister Marlin Schmidt. Recent news reports about the continuing woes of Athabasca University and in particular coverage
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Big changes coming to academic faculty, graduate student and postdoctoral bargaining rights in Alberta
PHOTOS: Could we someday see scenes like this one at Boston University in 1979 at an Alberta University? The late Howard Zinn, author of the People’s History of the United States (banned in Arkansas), is visible, quite naturally, I suppose, near the front on the left. (Photo from the Boston
Continue readingAlberta Politics: New board chairs appointed at Athabasca University and Northern Alberta Institute of Technology
PHOTOS: Ray Martin at the side of NDP Leader Rachel Notley, back in the days before she was premier. He once sat in the Legislature with Premier Notley’s father, Grant Notley. Mr. Martin has been appointed chair of the board of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. Below, Edmonton architect
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Athabasca U’s future seems brighter as Saskatchewan prof named to conduct sustainability review
PHOTOS: The participants in this morning’s Athabasca University news conference in Edmonton. From left to right: Saskatchewan Professor Ken Coates, Athabasca University Board Chair Margaret Mrazek, Advanced Education Minister Marlin Schmidt and AU President Neil Fassina. Below: A closer look at Mr. Schmidt’s new beard; newly appointed Municipal Affairs Minister
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