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By David Climenhaga, on April 23, 2013, at 1:24 am Alberta Premier Alison Redford, second from right, with Environment Minister Diana McQueen and Culture Minister Health Klimchuk, watch as Deputy Premier Tom Lukaszuk celebrates the Progressive Conservative Party’s victory on this day last year with a sip of champagne. Actual PC cabinet members may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: the real Premier Redford, swearing the oath of office.
Today is the first anniversary of Alberta Premier Alison Redford’s unexpected but comfortable election victory.
If you follow Alberta politics, you’re bound to have been reading a lot of stuff lately about how unpopular Ms. Redford is just now and how (Read more…) really has no reason to celebrate.
“There is no cause to party,” the Edmonton Journal’s political columnist wrote gloomily, recommending against her drinking anything more expensive than Baby Duck.
He, like everyone else at the moribund local rag and its similarly declining Postmedia counterpart in Calgary, . . . → Read More: Alberta Diary: Never mind the pundits: Alberta Premier Alison Redford has plenty to celebrate today
By bigcitylib, on April 8, 2013, at 7:01 pm …it’s just pictures, is back in The Globe. And Margaret Wente remains there. Globe is all but invisible behind its firewall these days. I’m not sure its worth boycotting.
By David Climenhaga, on March 11, 2013, at 12:41 am Former Australian PM John Howard at the Manning Centre’s Ottawa gabfest Sunday. Below: Tom Flanagan pictured on a button worn by many at Preston Manning’s “big-tent” conservative revival meeting, “Calgary School” professor Rainer Knopff seen in passing sporting his Flanagan button.
OTTAWA
Was former Australian PM John Howard sending Canadian conservatives a coded message about their future Saturday, or was his research just not up to snuff now that he’s no longer a prime minister?
Mr. Howard is a Liberal, which in Australia means he’s a conservative, which almost anywhere else would mean he’d be termed a neoliberal, which here
. . . → Read More: Alberta Diary: Former Aussie PM’s unintended message to Canadian progressives: coalitions work!
By daveberta, on March 9, 2013, at 4:32 pm TweetSpeaking about the state of Canada’s conservative movement at this weekend’s Manning Centre Networking Conference in Ottawa, former Reform Party leader Preston Manning denounced the ethical and financial state of Premier Alison Redford‘s Progressive Conservatives. “…in Alberta an aging Progressive Conservative administration has lost its way ethically and fiscally and needs to be overhauled or [...]
By David Climenhaga, on March 5, 2013, at 2:33 am Weakened but still standing: The mighty Tory edifice. Don’t panic. This is a metaphor! Below: Alberta Premier Alison Redford.
It’s interesting to juxtapose the results of two new polls on related but different topics that were released yesterday – a Think HQ poll of Alberta voter intentions and an Environics poll of Albertans attitudes about taxes and public services.
The results of the former were published in the afternoon by CTV; the results of latter were released in the morning by the Alberta Federation of Labour, for which the survey was done.
If you believe them, the Think
. . . → Read More: Alberta Diary: Two polls show how, and maybe why, Alberta’s Tory coalition is crumbling
By Obert Madondo, on March 4, 2013, at 3:15 pm By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive | March 4, 2013: Tom Flanagan, Prime Minister Stephen Harper‘s former strategist, now claims he “walked into a trap” when he made the pornography comments that led to his spectacular downfall last week. In a guest column on the National Post, the University of Calgary professor (soon to retire) says the question READ MORE
By LeDaro, on March 4, 2013, at 11:36 am
…and rightly so. Flanagan thinks viewing child pornography is a liberty issue? What about the victims, the children? There is a great column on this by the Toronto Star’s Heather Mallick, rightly title “Flanagan puts personal liberty ahead of victims’ pain.” How on earth can Flanagan neglect the victims in what is rightly a criminal act? Flanagan has received a lot of backlash over this, and rightly so.
This guy has advised the Wildrose Alliance party in Alberta and Stephen Harper, current Conservative prime minister. Are these the kinds of people CON-artists have in their inner circle? Flanagan’s earlier
. . . → Read More: LeDaro: Tom Flanagan, Dropped by the University of Calgary…
By bigcitylib, on March 3, 2013, at 6:04 am Arnell Tailfeathers is the guy who uploaded the footage that blew up Tom Flanagan:
“It wasn’t to completely discredit him. I mean when we came into that discussion that evening, we didn’t know what to expect,” said Arnell Tailfeathers, a freelance videographer.
“We just thought … if something happens — we better document it.”
Yeah, I’m not buying it. Somebody found that old article in the Manitoban where Flanagan talked child pornography. And someone made sure a question about that article got asked when Flanagan appeared at the University of Lethbridge. And then Mr. Tailfeathers posted the video, and seems
. . . → Read More: BigCityLib Strikes Back: Innocent No More
By David Climenhaga, on March 3, 2013, at 1:11 am Neocon Icarus Tom Flanagan (appropriately covered, thank goodness) at right, falls to earth after flying too close to the sun. Preston Manning hovers nearby. The flameout of actual neoconservative avatars may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: Health Minister Fred Horne, Education Minister Jeff Johnson, and retired judge John Z. Vertes, who are the people this post is really about.
Even word that Tom Flanagan, the Icarus of Canada’s neoconservative movement, had flown too close to the sun and was coming down to earth in flames was not enough to save Alberta’s crisis-prone Progressive Conservative government from more pain!
. . . → Read More: Alberta Diary: Despite neocon flameout distraction, Redford Tory bumbling dominates Alberta news
By The Ranting Canadian, on March 2, 2013, at 12:03 pm
There’s been so much bullshit and insanity in the Canadian political scene lately, it’s hard to keep on top of it all. Here are just a few recent examples:
fraud and theft being officially endorsed in the Canadian senate prime minister Stephen Harper and his stooges lying through their teeth every day in parliament Service Canada treating all Employment Insurance claimants as criminals who are guilty until proven innocent Tom Flanagan — University of Calgary brainwasher, Globe and Mail columnist, CBC pundit, Conservative Party of Canada/Alberta Wildrose Party strategist, and friend/mentor of Stephen Harper, Ezra Levant and Danielle Smith — . . . → Read More: The Ranting Canadian: There’s been so much bullshit and insanity in the Canadian…
By Zoom!, on March 1, 2013, at 7:03 am
I have what I know will be a very unpopular opinion about a highly volatile subject. I should probably keep it to myself, but I feel compelled to share it.
It’s about Tom Flanagan’s remarks about child pornography. The remarks for which he was roundly lambasted, fired as a CBC commentator, denounced by the Prime Minister’s Office, and cut loose by Alberta’s right-wing Wildrose Party. Based on the response I’ve seen so far, it seems the left, the right, the center and the apolitical have finally found something they can all agree on. The subject can’t even be described as
. . . → Read More: knitnut.net: I agree, somewhat, with Tom Flanagan
By David Climenhaga, on March 1, 2013, at 2:14 am
Conservative icon Tom Flanagan’s defining moment. Below: Dr. Flanagan in happier times; the six signatories of the Alberta separatist Firewall Manifesto; Richard Nixon saying goodbye during his 1952 Checkers speech. Unlike Dr. Flanagan’s likely career trajectory, Mr. Nixon came back.
Who could have predicted that yesterday would be the pope’s last day on the job?
I speak, of course, of Professor Tom Flanagan, spiritual leader of the neoconservative movement in Canada.
Well, Dr. Flanagan is the neocon pope no more, having uttered the astonishing opinion at a seminar the previous evening in the deep-south Alberta city of Lethbridge that
. . . → Read More: Alberta Diary: Tom Flanagan, neoconservative spiritual leader, consigned to utter darkness
By Simon, on March 1, 2013, at 1:54 am As you may know, I have for many years portrayed Tom Flanagan as Dr Strangelove.I've always considered him a bizarre right-wing crank, and Alberta firewall separatist.I never understood why the CBC hired him, and then didn't fire him after he said Julian Assange should be murdered.So I'm not really surprised by his latest outrageous statement.Read more »
By daveberta, on March 1, 2013, at 12:01 am TweetComments made by conservative election strategist Tom Flanagan about child pornography on Wednesday night have sparked outrage and condemnation of the University of Calgary professor. Speaking at an event hosted by the reputable Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs in Lethbridge, Dr. Flanagan was recorded telling the audience that viewing child pornography shouldn’t be a [...]
By Obert Madondo, on February 28, 2013, at 8:19 pm “I do have some grave doubts about putting people in jail because of their taste in pictures” – Flanagan By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive | Feb. 28, 2013: Prime Minister Stephen Harper‘s former senior adviser, Tom Flanagan, has questioned the jailing of people who view child pornography. And paid a huge price for it. “I certainly have no READ MORE
By bigcitylib, on February 28, 2013, at 11:59 am The PMO takes him out to the woodshed:
MacDougall is this guy. Wow! That blew up bigger than I expected! Who says Idle No More is washed up?
Wow x 2! Wildrose condemns and, essentially, fires Flanagan. Did INM take down Tom flanagan?
By bigcitylib, on February 28, 2013, at 9:21 am So Chris Slothouber notes that someone one is mucking with twitter to get that Flanagan video to trend. I think its this fellow, who uploaded the video and may have some connection to the folks at Idle No More. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. While I don’t think it shows Flanagan excusing child porn, its an intriguing bit of footage, and hopefully Mr. Flanagan will see fit to address it.
By bigcitylib, on February 28, 2013, at 7:41 am I’m still trying to decide if this is shocking or not.
By David Climenhaga, on February 21, 2013, at 12:29 am Freddy Lee Morton, in happier times, with your blogger. Below: Firewaller Tom Flanagan; the entire separatist 2001 Firewall team (grabbed from the National Post).
Freddy Lee “Ted” Morton, the worst premier Alberta never had, was back in the pages of the Calgary Herald the other day, bloviating at length about the need for brutal attack on public service salaries because this province’s frequently fluctuating principal revenue source has gone and fluctuated again.
Alert readers will recall Dr. Morton describing himself as “every liberal’s nightmare, a right-winger with a PhD.” He was also the owner of the mysterious “Frederick Lee”
. . . → Read More: Alberta Diary: ‘Freddy Lee’ Morton, the journalistic sequel: We’ve already seen this horror movie, thanks!
By David Climenhaga, on February 5, 2013, at 2:03 am Steve Khan, eyed suspiciously by a fox. Below: Richard Starke, Christine Cusanelli, Richard III and Thomas Lukaszuk.
Right on the heels of a new poll suggesting a decline in support for the Progressive Conservative government of Alberta, Premier Alison Redford announced a mini-shuffle of her cabinet yesterday, sacking a couple of rookie ministers who for different reasons had turned out to be liabilities.
Coincidence? I think not.
The telephone survey of Alberta public opinion conducted from Jan. 14 to 20 by Leger Marketing was covered by most media and commentators as if it were good news for Ms. Redford’s PCs.
. . . → Read More: Alberta Diary: Khan, Cusanelli canned: Alberta premier sacks two rookie ministers in wake of poll
By matttbastard, on February 3, 2013, at 10:11 am Sabina asks:
Tom Fucking Flanagan. Why?
Answer: Because chicks [sic] dig “the full buffalo”.
No, really:
“[I]t is kind of a chick magnet. Women are drawn to the coat. They want to come up and feel the coat.”
Tom Fucking Flanagan, “icon of Canadian history,” ladies and gents.
Filed under: Canadian politics, frivolity Tagged: bison coat, full buffalo, Ikea Monkey, Tom Flanagan
By LeDaro, on January 31, 2013, at 1:47 pm
By David Climenhaga, on January 1, 2013, at 2:08 pm 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!
By David Climenhaga, on December 30, 2012, at 1:34 am 2013 could be a big year for Alberta’s NDP – if they play their cards right. Members of the Alberta NDP caucus and their opponents may not be exactly as illustrated. Below: NDP Leader Brian Mason.
Surely the strategic goal of Alberta’s New Democrats between now and the next provincial election must be to move the NDP from being the fourth party in the Legislature to the second one after 2016.
In other words, although an NDP government in Alberta is simply not in the cards over the medium term, the NDP could form the Opposition in 2016 if the
. . . → Read More: Alberta Diary: A last thought for 2012: 2013 is bound to be an important year for Alberta’s NDP
By david, on December 19, 2012, at 1:23 am Singing along: What we were promised by the Reform-Conservative platform. Below: What we got.
Alberta’s Wildrose Party blossomed at the edges of the same muddy spring whence sprang the federal Reform Party of Preston Manning and Stephen Harper.
As is well known, the Reform Party went on to engineer the hostile takeover in 2003 of the old Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, after renaming but not successfully re-branding itself as the Canadian Alliance.
By this mechanism the Reform Party evolved over a short time from a populist Prairie uprising into the most autocratic and secretive government in Canadian history, including
. . . → Read More: Alberta Diary: The Stephen Harper model for Wildrose power: promise free votes and deliver the Borg Hive
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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!