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The Wildrose Shrivels
It’s being spun as a “reconciliation”, but if reports are to be believed, it’s very much the Wildrose rebels crawling back to their former comrades and begging for their political lives. In exchange for blowing up their party, Danielle Smith and a half dozen MLAs will be given seats on the government benches and a […]
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2012 Woman of the Year
Every December, I like to name a “Person of the Year” – the individual who left their mark on Canadian politics over the past year. The only rules are that the PM is too obvious a choice, and that lame picks (“You!”) are strictly verboten. The Person of the Year doesn’t need to be someone […]
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Godwin’s Law of Alberta Politics
If you’re reading this post, you likely spend a good amount of time online, so I’m assuming you’re familiar with Godwin’s Law: “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.” This is true enough. However, I’d like to propose an Alberta political variant, as follows: “As […]
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Where do we go from here?
The end result of Monday’s Alberta election may have been yet another crushing PC majority, but it’s impossible to deny Alberta’s political climate hasn’t been permanently altered. With the Wildrose Party now her majesty’s loyal opposition, each party faces unique challenges in adapting to this new political climate. Voters showed a willingness to change their […]
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Alberta Votes Today
After the most only exciting election in nearly twenty years, Albertans head to the polls today, with the fate of the 41 year old Tory government hanging in the balance. The polls all show Danielle Smith and her lovable band of bigots homophobes racists misfits up by between 7 and 10 points 2 and 10 […]
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Alberta Votes Day 28: What to expect tomorrow
I’ve already written about the difficulties of using seat projection models due to the unique circumstances of this Alberta election. So rather than crunch the numbers, I thought it might prove more useful to conduct a “wisdom of the masses” exercise, by looking at the predictions being made in the Great Alberta Election pool. Here’s […]
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Alberta Votes Day 15: Paging Stockwell Smith
Like Stephen Harper in 2006, Danielle Smith now has 5 priorities, highlighted by an Accountability Act. However, in proposing citizen-initiated referendum, Smith evoked memories of an equally photogenic Albertan leading an upstart party. Remember this? Smith’s referendum idea has a higher threshold than Stockwell’s, but is equally wreckless. After all, she has left the door […]
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Alberta Votes Day 9: Ralphbucks Returns
On Sunday, the Wildrose Party released an April Fools press release, proposing to merge Alberta and Saskatchewan. On Monday, they took the silliness up a level: Wildrose promises cash rebates to Albertans if oil money creates budget surplus CREMONA, Alta. – Alberta’s Wildrose party is promising free oil money for all if it win’s the […]
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Alberta Votes Day 4: Danielle Smith comes out as the "anti-change" candidate
If you’ve been reading my Alberta political posts over the past few years, you’ve probably deduced that I’m a fan of Danielle Smith. Not in the sense that I’d vote for her (especially with socially regressive positions like this), but Smith is an impressive politician – smart, articulate, charismatic, thoughtful. From that perspective, this is […]
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Sixth Annual Politicians in Cowboy Hats
For a brief history of Stampede fashion, you can read the 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 round-ups. Although Rick Hansen served as Stampede Parade Grand Marshal, all eyes were on Will and Kate this year. I do find it somewhat perplexing how many of the same people who lambasted Ignatieff for his time outside […]