TweetHundreds of students and staff from the University of Alberta marched to the Alberta Legislature yesterday to protest the 7% cut to the Advanced Education budget. Students and staff were joined by Liberal leader Raj Sherman, NDP MLA Rachel Notley, and NDP MP Linda Duncan. In response to the provincial budget cuts, University of Alberta [...]
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TweetMost media and political watchers are focused on today’s release of the provincial budget, but last week Human Services Minister Dave Hancock focused on the human-side of government with the release of the much anticipated ‘Social Policy Framework.’ “It’s part of taking an intelligent look at the social policy agenda,” Human Services Minister Hancock told [...] TweetWhat does 2013 hold for Alberta’s political leaders? Do their performances in 2012 shed any light on how the next year will play out? Saved from defeat by controversial comments made by social conservative elements of the Wildrose Party, Premier Alison Redford led the Progressive Conservative Party to its 12th consecutive electoral victory since 1971. [...] Alberta Health Minister Fred Horne, at right, and a representative of the media go inside the Cone of Silence to discuss the latest health care expense account revelations. Alberta politicians may not appear exactly as illustrated, but, boy, Maxwell Smart sure looks like Dalton McGuinty! Below: Premier Redford’s sister Lynn, CBC reporter Charles Rusnell and … . . . → Read More: Alberta Diary: Cone of Silence won’t make Albertans any less angry at expense account shenanigans TweetCALGARY STAR-TRIBUNE In 1935, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers’ hit song “Cheek to Cheek” topped the music charts and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers became the first western Canadian team to win the Grey Cup. It was also the year that t… . . . → Read More: daveberta.ca – Alberta politics: Social Credit celebrates 77 years in government. TweetNew Democrats from across Alberta have gathered in Edmonton this weekend to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their party’s founding. Attendees at this weekend’s annual convention will hear from NDP leader Brian Mason, MLAs Rachel Notley, Deron Bilous, and David Eggen, Member of Parliament Linda Duncan, and federal NDP leader Thomas Mulcair. With only 4 elected MLAs [...] TweetThe Alberta NDP ad in the 2012 Edmonton Folk Music Festival program. TweetRolling power blackouts yesterday across Alberta have some politicians raising questions about the accountability of privately-operated electrical utility companies. The blackouts also reignited the long-standing debate over the construction of controversial new electrical transmission lines in rural Alberta. A total of four power generating plants went down across the province causing electrical blackout during one of the [...] TweetSkeena-Bulkley Valley New Democrat Member of Parliament Nathan Cullen is jumping into Calgary’s Stampede celebrations next week to host a workshop on uniting progressives in advance of the inevitable by-election in Calgary-Centre. On July 11, Mr. Cullen will co-host a workshop with Edmonton-Strathcona NDP MLA Rachel Notley with the goal of sending “Stephen Harper a [...] Your blogger, with Alberta Liberal Leader Raj Sherman. Where were the PCs? Below: Some of the throng in Churchill Square, NDP MLAs David Eggen, Rachel Notley and Deron Bilous, Liberal MLA Laurie Blakeman. Edmonton’s Pride Parade yesterday can only be described as a massive success, proof of the assertion real Albertans don’t care a fig about a person’s sexuality, gender identity or even how they dress. Surely there were 20,000 people in the streets for the parade, including, God bless them, Albertans in hijabs and Hutterite bonnets. Rain was promised by the weatherperson but the warm sun beamed down, approval . . . → Read More: David Climenhaga’s Alberta Diary: Alison Redford opens Edmonton Pride Festival – but goes AWOL from parade Tweet By: Richard Liebrecht Going into the election, the two-person caucus of Brian Mason and Rachel Notley was well known among media insiders and observers for punching above their weight in earning coverage. Having served as communications officer for the caucus, I like to think I also played a small part in that excellent coverage. You get it by being relevant and timely. Brian Mason But relevancy and timeliness weren’t required this past election. New Democrats got solid coverage everyday. As did the Liberals, PCs and Wildrose. When I say solid, as a professional public relations practitioner (read: flack), I . . . → Read More: daveberta.ca – Alberta politics blog: guest post: the real worry about election 2012. What’s an election without a couple of predictions? And to avoid any of that “I said that would happen!”/”No you didn’t!” stuff I thought I’d write down a few of mine. (And instead revel in the multiple “Boy, was that guy way off!” that will no doubt come my way.) So here are my thoughts as we head into the final hour of the Alberta provincial election every news outlet has already deemed “historic”. Let’s start with the questions everyone will ask: Who will win? My bet is the Wildrose Party. Majority or minority? Minority. Seat breakdown? (Read more…) Alberta MLA's at a meeting of the Privileges and Elections Committee. More information has been relvealed about controversial $1,000 monthly payments made to Alberta MLA’s for being members of a committee that has not met for three years. Retiring Edmonton-Gold Bar Liberal MLA Hugh MacDonald revealed late last week that Premier Alison Redford was briefly a member of the committee while she served as Minister of Justice & Attorney General (though Premier Redford has no recollection). It was also revealed that Liberal leader Raj Sherman sat on the committee and collected the extra pay while he was a Progressive Conservative . . . → Read More: daveberta.ca – Alberta politics blog: more on alberta mla extra pay and the privileges & elections committee. Your intrepid blogger, with Alberta Finance Minister Ron Liepert. Below: New Democrat MLA Rachel Notley. Oddly enough, there actually was a lesson that could be learned from the first budget of Alberta Premier Alison Redford’s government.While the Budget Speech read yesterday by retiring Finance Minister Ron Liepert was self-evidently an election-year creation designed to offend no one who might wield influence, one ox was gored: post-secondary education. While the media were reporting a 2.7-per-cent increase to post-secondary operating funds, they weren’t saying anything about the effects of inflation, huge population increases and big cuts to maintenance budgets that . . . → Read More: David Climenhaga’s Alberta Diary: Few oxen gored in Alberta Tories’ exquisitely political budget As I first wrote about in yesterday’s post, former Calgary-McCall MLA Shiraz Shariff has been disqualified as the Progressive Conservative candidate in Calgary-West after complaints of voting irregularities at the recent nomination meeting. Shiraz Shariff Mr. Shariff narrowly defeated former Alberta Health Services chairman Ken Hughes, who sits in Premier Alison Redford‘s inner circle and was widely seen as the front-runner in the contest. Both Mr. Shariff and Mr. Hughes entered the contest only weeks before the nomination meeting. Mr. Shariff had been seeking the nomination in Calgary-Hawkwood until late 2011, when he switched constituencies. Posting a . . . → Read More: daveberta.ca – Alberta politics blog: pc party shoots the [shiraz] shariff. premier redford to appoint a new candidate in calgary-west. Premier Alison Redford Following claims of voting irregularities at the recently held Calgary-West Progressive Conservative nomination meeting, Tory sources are saying that Premier Alison Redford may find a new candidate to carry her party’s banner in that constituency. The hard fought nomination battle saw former Calgary-McCall MLA Shiraz Shariff shock political watchers by defeating past Alberta Health Services Chairman Ken Hughes. A former Member of Parliament, Mr. Hughes was a member of Premier Redford’s transition team and was seen as a star candidate for the PCs. The constituency is currently represented by Finance Minister Ron Liepert, who is not . . . → Read More: daveberta.ca – Alberta politics blog: alison redford to appoint a new candidate in calgary-west, say tory sources. As an election approaches, Alberta’s political parties are busy nominating candidates across the province. Listed below are some of the most recent updates made the list of nominated candidates, including recent Progressive Conservative nominees in Calgary-Fish Creek, Calgary-McCall, Calgary-West, Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre, and Sherwood Park. Nominated Alberta Election candidates by region – January 23, 2012 Shiraz Shariff Calgary-West: Former MLA Shiraz Shariff surprised political watchers by defeating past Alberta Heath Services Chairman and former Member of Parliament Ken Hughes and Calgary Police Officer Mike Ellis to win the Progressive Conservative nomination contest. Mr. Shariff served . . . → Read More: daveberta.ca – Alberta politics blog: alberta election candidate update – january 2012. “If Alberta increased its tax rates by $11 billion our province would still have the lowest tax rate in Canada.” This was only one of the notable figures presented by Kevin Taft at the launch of his new book, Follow the Money, held last night at the Garneau Theatre in Edmonton. The outgoing MLA and former Liberal Party leader released his latest book along with a short film directed by award-winning director Tom Radford. The book and the film focus on what Alberta’s reach-for-the-bottom taxation rate really means for our province and the potential that is lost when . . . → Read More: daveberta.ca – Alberta politics blog: kevin taft goes rogue with new book: follow the money. Each year, the political parties represented in Alberta’s Legislative Assembly produce short videos for the Press Gallery Christmas Party. Typically funny, though not always very good, the videos are always best when they are self-depricating (everyone likes politicians that can make fun of themselves). At this year’s party, the tiny two MLA NDP caucus of Brian Mason and Rachel Notley produced a tribute to the Godzilla films titled Conzilla and the Opposition Robots. Tweet This Post The Alberta Liberals: running out of gas and running out of road? Below: Liberal Leader Raj Sherman, NDP Leader Brian Mason, NDP candidates Shannon Phillips and Deron Bilous. If you want a useful yardstick of the relative health of Alberta’s opposition parties, you need look no further than the number of candidates they have nominated for the next provincial election.Using this measure, it is very unlikely the increasingly marginalized Alberta Liberal Party under Leader Raj Sherman will be capable of fielding a full slate of candidates on election day. There will be 87 seats in the provincial Legislature after . . . → Read More: David Climenhaga’s Alberta Diary: Future bleak for Alberta liberals; among progressive parties, only NDP has momentum Bridget Pastoor, still a Liberal to the party’s missing webmaster. Below: Raj Sherman. No one can say the Alberta Liberals don’t have movement. The trouble is, it’s all down hill. That the slow-motion implosion of the Alberta Liberal Party is gathering speed was evident on two fronts yesterday, as one of the party’s veteran MLAs skedaddled for the government benches and a new poll by Environics Research Group confirmed the party is mired in third place among the province’s opposition parties.The departure of Lethbridge-East MLA Bridget Pastoor, 71, was hardly the surprise the media made it out . . . → Read More: David Climenhaga’s Alberta Diary: Alberta Liberals hit by defection as implosion continues; new poll suggests NDP potential for growth The two-day sitting of Alberta’s Legislative Assembly has come and gone with little fan fare. Despite the continental shift in the Assembly seating plan – the entire back row of the Tory caucus was sitting in the front bench this time last year – little appears to have actually changed over the past 48 hours. [...] . . . → Read More: daveberta.ca – Alberta politics blog: alberta’s 48 hour legislative lightning round I have updated the list of declared and nominated candidates standing for the next Alberta provincial general election. By my count, the parties have now nominated the following number of candidates out of 87 constituencies in the next election: Alberta Party 11/87, Liberal 20/87, New Democratic Party 49/87, Progressive Conservative 39/87, Wildrose 53/87. Here are some of the recent additions to [...] . . . → Read More: daveberta.ca – Alberta politics blog: alberta candidate nomination update – october 2011 (part 2) I have updated the list of declared and nominated candidates standing in the next provincial election. Airdrie: The Airdrie City View is reporting that former Airdrie Mayor Linda Bruce is volunteering for Gary Mar‘s PC leadership campaign, adding to the speculation that she may seek the PC nomination to challenge Wildrose MLA Rob Anderson. Banff-Cochrane: [...] . . . → Read More: daveberta.ca – Alberta politics blog: alberta candidate nomination update – september 2011. |
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Alberta Diary: Why wait? Read 2013’s shocking political headlines right now on Alberta Diary!
The Dagny Taggarts, a synchronized skating team from Ottawa get ready to do their popular routine, “Where Is John Galt?” Defence Minister Joan Crockatt is in the front row, second from right. Below: Senator Tom Flanagan; U of C economics student Kim Jong-un, in full Calgary drag; Deputy Premier Thomas Lukaszuk, ecstatic for his boss; and Nobel Prize winner Raj Sherman with the author. Actual events may not turn out exactly as predicted.
Why wait for 2013’s headlines when you can read them here on Alberta Dairy right now? In a spirit of transparency bordering on clairvoyance, Alberta Diary
. . . → Read More: Alberta Diary: Why wait? Read 2013’s shocking political headlines right now on Alberta Diary!