Emboldened by the success of the social conservative coup plotters who overthrew Conservative Party of Canada leader Erin O’Toole in Ottawa Wednesday, the same anti-vaccine faction of Alberta’s United Conservative Party is now eyeing Premier Jason Kenney. Not that Mr. Kenney is a moderate. Far from it. United Conservative Party
Continue readingTag: Nathan Cooper
Alberta Politics: Another Alberta spring day: Premier lectures, Speaker apologizes, dissident pastor’s secret sermon revealed as anti-vaxxers chant ‘lock ’er up!’
Jason Kenney had barely decided what to do about his United Conservative Party’s dissident COVID-denial caucus when a mob of three or four hundred anti-vaxxers turned up on the steps of the Alberta Legislature yesterday and started yelling that Chief Medical Officer of Health Deena Hinshaw ought to be locked
Continue readingThe Daveberta Podcast: Episode 72: The COVID 18 and the Curriculum Catastrophe
Alberta politics moves at a mile a minute and there’s no time to waste. On this episode of the Daveberta Podcast, we dive into the United Conservative Caucus rebellion against mild public health restrictions to fight COVID-19 and challenges to Premier Jason Kenney’s leadership, the controversial draft K-6 curriculum, and
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Speaker Nathan Cooper’s signature on dissident MLAs’ COVID complaint an error of judgment, not quite a firing offence
Nathan Cooper, Speaker of the Alberta Legislature, sailed very close to the wind when he lent his name to a letter signed by a group of dissident United Conservative Party MLAs opposed to the province’s latest COVID-19 restrictions. While the position taken by the 18 rebel Conservative MLAs is repugnant
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Happy Canada Day! Or, as the UCP would have it in some corners of rural Alberta, Grumpy Dominion Day
Happy Canada Day! Alberta is the only place in Canada, I’d wager, where someone who was barely out of diapers when our country’s national holiday was renamed Canada Day would make the point they really think it oughtta still be Dominion Day. But these are strange times and Wild Rose
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 readingThe Daveberta Podcast: Episode 46: Best of Alberta Politics in 2019
With a provincial election, a change in government, a federal election, and much more in between, 2019 was a big year in Alberta politics. Tina Faiz and Natalie Pon join Dave Cournoyer on this episode of the Daveberta Podcast to discuss the year in Alberta politics and their hopes and wishes
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Being kicked out of the Legislature means never having to say you’re sorry
Apparently, being kicked out of the Alberta Legislature means never having to say you’re sorry! Judging by the smile on her face yesterday morning as a crowd of more than 800 Registered Nurses furious at the prospect of having their pay cut substantially by Premier Jason Kenney’s hard-right government roared
Continue readingAlberta Politics: There was actually something new in the leader’s debate Monday — alas, it’s not a good thing
The United States’ two-party political setup may not be much of a template for actual democracy, but at least it has lots of potential for interesting leaders’ debates. A televised leaders’ debate in a vibrant multi-party democracy like Canada? Not so much. For one thing, you have to invite the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Partisan signs in the Alberta Legislature Building’s windows? No rules, no problem!
Who knew? It turns out anyone can stick up anything they like in the windows of the stately and historic Alberta Legislature Building in Edmonton and they won’t be breaking any rules. This even includes Matt Wolf, Jason Kenney’s personal twitter troll, formally known as the Alberta premier’s director of
Continue readingThe Daveberta Podcast: Episode 40: Alberta Politics and Federal Election Q&A
We are back from our summer break with a special Question and Answer edition of the Daveberta Podcast. Dave dives deep into our mailbag to answer some of the great Alberta politics and federal election questions our listeners have sent in over the past few weeks. Thanks to our producer, Adam
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jason Kenney’s fuming response to Amnesty International was not the adversaries’ first go-round
Returned to power after four years, Alberta’s Conservative party is governing pretty much as you’d expect from a government that, as Talleyrand supposedly said of the restored House of Bourbon, has learned nothing and forgotten nothing. Consider the matter of the controversial letter from the head of Amnesty International Canada
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Symbolic MLA pay cut set stage for attack on public services – so why did the NDP support it?
Like neoliberals everywhere, Alberta’s Conservatives overrate the virtues of big business and undervalue those of democracy. This is not exactly news. This was a clear message yesterday from the vote of the Legislature’s Member Services Committee to cut MLA salaries by 5 per cent, and twice that for the premier’s
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Crib notes: Understanding yesterday’s United Conservative Party Throne Speech
As the documents that lay out the government’s policy agenda for the next couple of years, Throne Speeches are by nature tendentious. In the service of making what is a curse to many citizens appear to be a blessing they tend to be faintly Orwellian as well. That is, they
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Nathan Cooper chosen as Legislative Speaker – so how about those early mornings?
Now that Nathan Cooper has been chosen as Speaker of the Alberta Legislature, I wonder if the business of the Assembly will be getting under way at a more civilized hour, say 10 a.m., suitable for bankers, gentlemen of leisure, and elected Conservatives? Mr. Cooper, United Conservative Party MLA for
Continue readingThe Daveberta Podcast: Episode 24: Oil, Pipelines and Alberta’s next election.
The First Minister’s Meeting, oil prices, and Premier Rachel Notley’s performance on the national stage are where we started the discussion in this episode. Dave and Ryan also delved into the latest nomination news and what 2019 holds for Alberta politics, including when the next provincial and federal elections could be called.
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 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 readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: It’s not quite Wayne’s World and it’s not quite The Mercer Report. It’s The McIver Report.
Photo: UCP MLA Jason Nixon (left) and UCP MLA Ric McIver (right) as the host of The McIver Report. I was surprised to discover this week that Ric McIver, the United Conservative Party MLA from Calgary-Hays and former Calgary Alderman, is the host of a TV show which is recorded
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: UCP MLAs rush to help Angela Pitt in nomination fight against Sportsnet commentator Roger Millions
Photo: Angela Pitt and Wildrose Party leader Brian Jean during the 2015 election. It looks like Angela Pitt is in trouble. The first-term MLA from Airdrie is facing a stiff challenge for the United Conservative Party nomination in the newly redrawn Airdrie-East district. As first reported on this blog on
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