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Politicians in Cowboy Hats
For a brief history of Stampede fashion, you can read the 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2013 round-ups – or “100 Years of Bad Photo-Ops“ This week’s pilgrimage of politicians to the Stampede was met with less fanfare than some years gone by. This wasn’t the first rodeo for any of the party […]
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Sing a Song for Jim
The Alberta PCs may very well be beyond saving, but if anyone can give new life to the 43-year old dynasty, it’s Jim Prentice.
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Redford has no one to blame but herself
No one, least of all politicians, likes to admit just how big a role outside forces play in one’s political success – and failure. Strong MPs are defeated when the national campaign goes south. Unexpected issues derail the best laid plans. Competing interests from within will undermine even the most successful leaders. That’s largely what […]
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Turbulence
Back in 2008, myself and a couple of young Liberals launched “Edspedia.ca“, a mock website to poke fun at some eyebrow raising travel expenses by members of the Ed Stelmach cabinet. The list included Mark Norris’ $50,000 Vegas vacation, and Rod Stevens Hawaiian stop-over to “study their gambling system”. If I hadn’t received a cheerful […]
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Will any Calgary Grits be going to Ottawa in 2015?
We’ve all heard the jokes. When Calgary was hit with flooding in 2005, the Calgary Herald ran a delicious cartoon showing a giant ark being loaded up at the Stampede grounds, and Noah lamenting that, despite his instructions to rescue 2 of each kind, he couldn’t find a second Liberal. It’s been 46 years since […]
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Alberta Envy
From my view in downtown Toronto, things aren’t looking so bad in “redneck” Alberta these days…
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Provincial Unrest
Angus Reid has released their quarterly Premier approval ratings. As per usual, Brad Wall is more popular than God, and everyone else is a little more human: Wall (SK): 64% approve, 28% disapprove Alward (NB): 41% approve, 50% disapprove Selinger (MB): 38% approve, 49% disapprove Wynne (ON): 36% approve, 37% disapprove Marois (QC): 33% approve, […]
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Ralph’s World
After the passing of Peter Lougheed last year, another Alberta PC titan is gone, with Ralph Klein passing away at the age of 70. Although it is customary to offer tributes and praise at times like this, many of my motivations for getting involved in politics grew from a strong dislike of the way Klein […]
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You Be The Finance Minister
Alberta is facing a bit of a budget crisis, with a deficit which, on a per capita basis, could be as big as Ontario’s. This has forced Alison Redford into making some tough choices…or, in the more likely event, building up debt. To help with these decisions, Redford has launched a Your Choice website, letting […]
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2012 in Pictures