Yesterday we learned that Jonathan Wilkinson, the federal environment minister, is reconsidering a decision he made in December to leave it up to the industry-funded Alberta Energy Regulator to decide if a huge coal mine expansion should be approved near Hinton, just east of the Jasper National Park gate. Even
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Alberta Politics: Making Child Labour Great Again! Alberta’s new labour law breaks old ground while undermining unions
Alberta’s about to Make Child Labour Great Again! If you think this is a breakthrough, you’re probably a fast-food franchise owner. Cabinet’s “private sector union liaison,” MLA Searle Turton (Photo: Screenshot of Alberta Government video). Yesterday, Premier Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party introduced a bill called the Restoring Balance in
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Calgary-Fish Creek bozo-eruption raises questions about “rigorous” UCP candidate screening process
Photo: UCP leader Jason Kenney and Calgary-Fish Creek MLA Richard Gotfried (source: Twitter) MLA Richard Gotfried fended off a nomination challenge on September 7, 2018 against opponent Cindy Ross, becoming the United Conservative Party candidate in Calgary-Fish Creek. It was a contentious nomination race, with accusations of negative campaigning being
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Past PC taxes disappear down conservative Memory Hole amid apocalyptic claims about similar NDP policies
PHOTOS: Then finance minister Robin Campbell and premier Jim Prentice explain their plan to increase taxes in March 2015. Criticism was mild. Below: Premier Ralph Klein and Stockwell Day, who was Mr. Klein’s provincial treasurer in the late 1990s (CBC photo); Wildrose MLA Heather Forsyth, who was interim Opposition leaders
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Appointment of environmentalist Tzeporah Berman sparks Wildrose hysteria – here’s why
PHOTOS: Environmentalist Tzeporah Berman, whose appointment to the Alberta Government’s climate panel prompted a full-scale freak-out by the province’s right, which, apparently, sees her as, well, an Orc. Below the Orc: B.C. Premier Christy Clark a…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca – Alberta Politics: Are the Alberta NDP keeping their promise to improve ethics in government?
Days after the Alberta New Democratic Party was elected with a majority government in 2015, I wrote a column outlining the promises made in the party’s election platform to improve ethics in government. One year later, here is a look at thos…
Continue readingAlberta Politics: A complaint about a former politician’s coal industry advocacy yields more significant results than expected
PHOTOS: Coal mining in Alberta (CBC photo). Below: Former Tory finance minister Robin Campbell, president of the Coal Association of Canada, on his way to Ottawa this morning; Duncan Kinney of Progress Alberta; and Alberta Ethics Commissioner Margaret …
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 readingAlberta Politics: Happy Canada Day: Alberta has an extra billion, which was good luck for the NDP
PHOTOS: Finance Minister Joe Ceci at yesterday’s news conference, in a government of Alberta photo, imparting the happy news that former premier Jim Prentice’s Tories left $1.1 billion lying around and didn’t bother to tell anyone about it. Below: Opposition Finance Critic Derek Fildebrandt and PC Leader Ric McIver. Presumably
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Where did Alberta’s party leaders spend the first week of the 2015 election?
With the first full week of Alberta’s 2015 election campaign coming to an end, I took a look at where the leaders of Alberta’s political parties have visited in the last seven days [see the map above]. The day the writ… Continue Reading →
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Prentice re-election budget tough on sinners, easy on corporations
OTTAWA, ONTARIO “If Alberta can deliver a budget, why can this minister of finance not,” Liberal MP Scott Brison asked of Finance Minister Joe Oliver, who was absent from the House of Commons today. Opposition Members of Parliament have been chastizing the Conservatives… Continue Reading →
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Bill 45 deserved to die. Thanks for killing it, Jim Prentice.
One year ago, the PC Party was on verge of meltdown as Alison Redford resigned as leader and Premier. Since then, the political landscape has shifted so dramatically that the only significant thing that remains the same is the PC Party is still… Continue Reading →
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Who is really to blame for Alberta’s financial situation? #PrenticeBlamesAlbertans
Are Albertans are to blame for the province’s current financial situation, as Premier Jim Prentice would have you believe? Mr. Prentice faced a public backlash this week when he commented on a CBC Radio call in show that “in terms of who… Continue Reading →
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Sometimes living in Alberta is like living in Bill Murray’s Groundhog Day
Sometimes living in Alberta is like living in the classic film Groundhog Day, in which actor Bill Murray finds himself in a time loop, repeating the same day again and again. In Alberta, relying on the cyclical nature of oil prices while… Continue Reading →
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Sharpen Your Pencils, Alberta. Slash-and-burn is back.
Living in the land of the lowest taxation rates in Canada allows many personal benefits but long-term government stability has not been one of them. Relying heavily on natural resource revenues, our political leaders continue to stumble from embarrassment of riches to poverty and never… Continue Reading →
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Sunday night candidate nomination updates in Alberta
Edmonton Public School Board Trustee Sarah Hoffman is expected to make an announcement on Monday, January 19 that could signal a jump into provincial politics. Speculation is rampant that Ms. Hoffman could be announcing plans to seek the New Democratic Party nomination in Edmonton-Glenora constituency. The… Continue Reading →
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Friday morning provincial candidate nomination updates from Alberta
Alberta MLAs will return to the Legislature for a spring sitting on March 10, 2015, the Progressive Conservative Party plans to have candidates nominated in all 87 constituencies by March 15, 2015 and Finance Minister Robin Campbell is expected to introduce… Continue Reading →
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta politics: A Dozen Alberta MLAs worth watching in 2015
TweetAs 2014 reminded us, politics can be an extraordinarily unpredictable and forecasting the future can be a tricky business for political pundits. Aside from the obvious choice of Premier Jim Prentice, here is a list of a dozen Alberta MLAs worth watching in 2015. Rob Anderson (Airdrie): The outspoken rookie MLA left
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Tory resistance to Wildrose interlopers? Don’t believe it! Here’s why Danielle Smith will soon get her cabinet post
Preston Manning joins the sales team for the new, new, newly united Wildrosey Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta. Actual beloved godfathers of the conservative movement may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: The real Mr. Manning smiling benevolently, Alberta Premier Jim Prentice in a Joe-Clark-like moment, former Wildrose Party leader
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Prentice Government takes Alberta from boom to bust in one weekend, breaking all records
Premier Jim Prentice points the way for public spending in Alberta now that our boom has gone bust again. Oil prices, ya know… But read the Reaper’s grim lips: “No new taxes!” Actual Alberta premiers may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Finance Minister Robin Campbell, Infrastructure Minister Manmeet Bhullar
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