Alberta Politics: Will Canadian Taxpayers Federation credibility suffer from fine for failing to register as third-party election advertiser?

The $6,000 administrative penalty levied against the Canadian Taxpayers Federation for failing to register as a third-party advertiser under Alberta’s election financing law is a long-overdue official recognition of the true role the self-described “tax watchdog” plays in Canadian politics. The CTF has been disproportionately influential in Canadian political discourse

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Alberta Politics: Advocates of more choice in education unite to condemn public school board chair’s call for more choice in education

PHOTOS: Edmonton Public School Board Chair Michael Janz, at the podium and on the job. Below: Canadian Taxpayers Federation Communications Vice-President Scott Henning, Parents for Choice in Education Director Donna Trimble, and the Edmonton Christian High School, which is run under the auspices of the EPSB. Conservative politicians, their vocal

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Alberta Politics: ‘Taxpayers Federation’s’ true Astro-Turf nature finally worms its way into public consciousness

PHOTOS: Canadian Taxpayers Federation Communications VP Scott Hennig at the 2013 Manning Conference in Ottawa, the annual spring bean-fest for right-wing activists organized by Preston Manning’s eponymous training camp for market-fundamentalists. Below: Winnipeg commentator Dougald Lamont, author of an opinion piece published yesterday by CBC Manitoba about the CTF; CTF

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Alberta Politics: Go figure! Major tobacco corporation’s unique Alberta lobbying effort focuses on Wildrose finance critic

PHOTOS: The benefits to young people of a low-tax regime for cigarettes. Real portrayals of the joys of smoking may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: Cigarette smuggling – bad for the books for sure; Wildrose Party Finance Critic Derek Fildebrandt, whose 2012 Canadian Taxpayers Federation publication argued contraband cigarettes

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Alberta Diary: Minuscule Canadian Taxpayers Federation in running for ‘Turfy Award’

Former Canadian Taxpayers Federation Alberta Director Scott Hennig, now the group’s Communications VP, in a nice AstroTurf-coloured sweater at last weekend’s Ottawa conference of the Manning Centre for Undermining Democracy. Below: CTF President Troy Lanigan; CTF member … rrrrrrr … supporter, Riley Climenhaga; CTF Operations VP Shannon Morrison. When it

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David Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Jack Major’s wise counsel too sensible to be adopted in neo-conned Alberta

Premier Alison Redford contemplates Justice Jack Major’s recommendations on MLA compensation. Actual Alberta politicians may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: Justice Jack Major. Former Supreme Court Justice Jack Major’s long-awaited report on Alberta MLA compensation doesn’t stand much chance of doing anything more than serving as a 327-page doorstop

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