CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – By any reasonable standard, Tyler Shandro was an appalling minister of the Crown. Calgary-Acadia’s new MLA, Registered Nurse Diana Batten (Photo: Alberta NDP). It’s hard to think of any file he handled well, although it’s fair to say that it was during his tenure as minister of
Continue readingTag: Tyler Shandro
Susan on the Soapbox: Smith’s 11 Minute Phone Call with the Pastor
“That’s an astounding thing to say from the Premier of the province.” – Law prof Eric Adams On May 29 Danielle Smith issued a press statement to pre-empt a CBC story about a conversation she had with street-pastor Artur Pawlowski. People thought she was bracing for renewed accusations that she
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The UCP Government Responds to Justice Paul Rouleau’s Report on the Emergencies Act
On Friday Justice Paul Rouleau released his report of the inquiry into the Trudeau government’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act in response to the convoy protests in Ottawa and elsewhere in Canada. Rouleau determined the Feds’ decision met the “very high threshold” necessary to invoke the Act. The Alberta
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Shandro’s Disciplinary Hearing
The “boiling frog syndrome” is a metaphor used to describe the failure to act against a problematic situation which will increase in severity until reaching catastrophic proportions.—Wikipedia. Let’s talk about Tyler Shandro’s disciplinary hearing. While it’s easy to get drawn into the melodrama and pathos (key elements in a
Continue readingAlberta Politics: No matter what the Law Society decides about his conduct, Tyler Shandro’s reputation is bound to suffer
Whether or not the Law Society of Alberta hearing that started yesterday into Justice Minister Tyler Shandro’s conduct back when he was health minister in Jason Kenney’s cabinet results in any professional sanctions, it’s hard to believe his reputation will survive unscathed. Dr. Mukarram Zaidi described an uncomfortable visit from
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta: Doing everything in its power to protect ‘law abiding’ gun owners from having to obey the law!
Welcome to Alberta where you can now be a law-abiding citizen while defying the law! Says who? Says Tyler Shandro, minister of justice, who announced yesterday that the province will be taking over handling charges under the federal Firearms Act so people who violate the act but who our United
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Tyler Shandro’s performative complaint about RCMP commissioner is all part of the UCP’s provincial police campaign
There’s a certain irony, I suppose, to Alberta’s justice minister piously insisting “the commissioner of the RCMP must be held to the highest of standards” while he himself faces an investigation into whether he breached the Law Society’s code of conduct early next year. RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki (Photo: Royal
Continue readingAlberta Politics: ‘All options on table’ to block federal gun buy-back, vows Tyler Shandro … as clock runs out on Kenney Government
The Kenney Government will do whatever it can to block Ottawa’s plan to implement stricter firearms regulations that include buying back AR-15 military-style rifles and similar weapons that were banned two years ago, Justice Minister Tyler Shandro sternly vowed yesterday. Alberta Chief Firearms Officer Teri Bryant (Photo: Screenshot of Alberta
Continue readingAlberta Politics: After years spent building Alberta Health Services, UCP leadership candidates talk decentralization
Still spinning fairy tales about Alberta Health Services’ leadership conspiring to sabotage the United Conservative Party government, leadership candidate Danielle Smith yesterday published a statement vowing to “decentralize control of health care delivery to local decision makers and health professionals.” UCP leadership frontrunner Danielle Smith, the former leader of the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP appoints lawyer who wrote favourable review of book denigrating Islam to lead Human Rights Commission
Notwithstanding serious concerns raised about Collin May’s past praise for a tendentious book denigrating the Islamic faith, the United Conservative Party Government proceeded on Thursday with his controversial appointment as chief of the Alberta Human Rights Commission. Alberta Justice Minister Tyler Shandro (Photo: Government of Alberta). The Calgary lawyer who
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Justice Minister Tyler Shandro gives Edmonton City Council two weeks to solve a problem decades in the making
Alberta Justice Minister Tyler Shandro used a provision of the Police Act yesterday to order Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi to come up with a new public safety plan for Alberta’s capital city that would boost the presence of police in the city’s crumbing downtown and on public transit. Downtown Edmonton
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Kenney Government’s persistent habit of advocating U.S.-style gun laws bears repeating, and remembering
On May 17, just three days after the racial-hate-motivated massacre at Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo, N.Y., the Kenney Government was publicly complaining about new federal regulations intended to ensure that the increasingly frequent mass shootings in the United States stay south of the world’s longest undefended border. Alberta Premier
Continue readingAlberta Politics: After nearly a year gathering dust on a shelf, Kenney Government proclaims politician recall law and its sister act
After letting it sit un-proclaimed in legislative limbo for nearly a year, the Kenney Government has finally gotten around to taking the necessary steps to bring its politician-recall legislation into force. In a press release yesterday, the United Conservative Party Government announced the Recall Act and its sister act, the
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: A Traffic Ticket and a Phone Call
On Feb 25, 2022, Premier Kenney issued a misleading press release setting out his rationale for a Cabinet shuffle. Two cabinet ministers, who should have been (back) benched a long time ago, will swap ministries. Kaycee Madu will “step aside” from his role as Minister of Justice and Solicitor
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Job swap between justice and labour ministers illustrates shallow talent pool, low ethical bar in Jason Kenney’s government
Friday’s announcement of the job swap between Alberta’s justice and labour ministers illustrates just how shallow the talent pool of potential cabinet ministers still trusted by Premier Jason Kenney has become. It also shows how low the ethical bar now is for ministers in the United Conservative Party cabinet. Tyler
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Who’s On First: Jason Kenney’s Response to the 4th Wave
Abbott and Costello’s comedy routine “Who’s on First” was performed in the late 1940s. It’s based on a skit Abbott heard in an episode of a radio comedy show called “It Pays to be Ignorant.” Premier Kenney performed his own version of this routine in the Legislature last Thursday, only
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta Health Minister shuffled to Labour; Labour Minister shuffled to Health … premier says he won’t quit
VICTORIA – Say what you will about Jason Kenney, he never fails to disappoint. When the buzz hit social media yesterday morning that Alberta’s premier would attempt to shore up his shaky perch atop Alberta’s government with a post-federal-election cabinet shuffle, the assumption was natural that he was about to
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Talk of cabinet split over vaccine passports sparks buzz in Alberta government circles
Has the parlous state of Alberta’s health care system, said to be on the verge of collapse as the fourth wave of COVID-19 rampages through the province, opened a serious rift in the United Conservative Party cabinet? With Premier Jason Kenney missing in action for 33 of the past 35
Continue readingThe Daveberta Podcast: Episode 77: Back from the Best Summer Ever
We are back from the summer with the first episode of Season 4 of the Daveberta Podcast and we dive right into Alberta’s response to the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, speculation about how long Jason Kenney might last in the Premier’s Office, the federal election, municipal political parties
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Another Covid Solution, Another Non-Plan
Nero fiddled while Rome burned; Jason Kenney hid while Albertan’s lives and livelihoods went up in smoke. Last Thursday Health minister Shandro and Drs Hinshaw and Yiu unveiled the government’s latest non-plan to get Alberta through the pandemic. Alberta’s ICUs are at 130% capacity when surge capacity is excluded (87%
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