Could the Wildrose collapse mean an early 2015 election?
This week’s defection of nine Wildrose MLAs to the Progressive Conservative Caucus has drastically impacted Alberta’s electoral map. The governing PCs now hold 72 of 87 electoral constituencies with...
View ArticleA Dozen Alberta MLAs worth watching in 2015
As 2014 reminded us, politics can be an extraordinarily unpredictable and forecasting the future can be a tricky business for political pundits. Aside from the obvious choice of Premier Jim Prentice,...
View ArticleTop 10 moments in Alberta Politics in 2014
In my nearly ten years writing about politics in Alberta on this blog, 2014 was easily the most exciting. The sheer number of scandals, controversies, fumbles and resignations made for new content on a...
View ArticleWho will be the next leader of the Wildrose Party?
After 11 of the party’s 16 MLAs crossed the floor to the Progressive Conservatives in November and December 2014, the conservative opposition Wildrose Party was thrown into chaos. Left without its most...
View ArticleGoodbye 4H Club – Horne, Horner, Hughes and Hancock now gone
The announcements this week by former Finance Minister Doug Horner and former Health Minister Fred Horne that they are leaving politics did not come as a surprise to anyone watching politics in...
View ArticleWhen is Alberta Election 2015? What We Know versus Speculation
What we know: The last provincial General Election was held 2 years, 9 months and 3 days ago on April 23, 2012. The Election Amendment Act introduced by Wetaskiwin-Camrose Progressive Conservative MLA...
View ArticleMonday morning candidate nomination updates in Alberta
The Progressive Conservatives held their first “Super Saturday” on Feb. 21, 2015, during which contested nominations were held in seven constituencies. The handful of contested PC nominations have been...
View ArticleCandidate nomination update on International Women’s Day
In recognition of International Women’s Day, today’s candidate update focuses specifically on the total number of women nominated to run for Alberta’s political parties in the upcoming provincial...
View ArticleAre the wheels falling off the Wildrose bus?
A short few months ago, it almost felt inevitable that the Wildrose Party would sweep into a majority government at the next election. Their support in the polls was skyrocketing and the 43-year...
View ArticleAs 2 more Wildrose MLAs leave, can Danielle Smith’s leadership survive?
Last week, the wheels were falling off the Wildrose bus. This week, the passengers have flung open the emergency exits and started leaping out into traffic. The Wildrose Official Opposition started the...
View ArticleLet’s Review Oil Royalties and Start Acting Like Owners Again.
Alberta’s new NDP government has taken steps to fulfill one of their key election promises by appointing a panel to ensure Albertans are receiving their fair share from their natural resource wealth...
View ArticleA look at who is backing Jason Kenney’s bid for the PC Party leadership
Conservative Member of Parliament Jason Kenney is expected to announce his candidacy for the leader of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta tomorrow, July 6, in Calgary, deliver a speech...
View ArticleCalgary Midnapore and Heritage by-election updates
With federal by-elections expected to be called in the next few months in the ridings of Calgary-Heritage and Calgary-Midnapore, candidates are stepping up to seek party nominations. In...
View ArticleO’Leary skips Conservative debate, federal NDP debate skips Alberta
The most high-profile candidate running for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada will be skipping tomorrow’s leadership debate in Edmonton. As the thirteen other candidates for the...
View ArticleWhat if Paul Hinman had lost the 2009 by-election in Calgary-Glenmore?
Former Wildrose Alliance Party leader Paul Hinman staged an odd and brief reappearance on Alberta’s political stage this week when he announced his plans to run for the leadership of the United...
View Articledanielle smith’s free-ride.
Since stepping into her new role as leader of the Wildrose Alliance, Danielle Smith has taken on more of a celebrity role than that of the leader of a party with 3 seats in a 83 seat Legislative...
View Articlespring session of the alberta legislature cut short.
The 2010 Spring session of the Alberta Legislature wrapped up yesterday with little fanfare. Ending a month and a half earlier than the increasingly pointless Legislative calendar had scheduled,...
View Articlealberta politics: 3 things more important than hal walker that happened today.
Today’s much hyped Wildrose Alliance news conference in Calgary did not live up to expectations. When announced yesterday that leader Danielle Smith would “be making an important political...
View Articlewildrose denied as expected.
Five backbench Tory MLAs voted today to deny the Wildrose Alliance increased funding for their now three MLA caucus. As the third largest party in the Assembly, the Wildroses receive $395,000, which is...
View Articlewildrose nominates eight candidates.
This email landed in my email inbox today. The Wildrose Alliance has nominated eight candidates for the next election (only 79 candidates away from a full-slate). As far as I am aware, the only other...
View Articlealberta politics inside and outside the dome.
Alberta’s Legislative Assembly resumes for Fall Sitting in a constantly changing political environment. As the leaves fall and winter approaches, so does the resumption of the venerable institution...
View Articleraj sherman suspended from progressive conservative caucus.
According to the Edmonton Journal, government caucus whip Robin Campbell has confirmed that Edmonton-Meadowlark MLA Raj Sherman has been suspended from the PC caucus and will sit as an Independent MLA....
View Articleyear in review 2010: alberta mla edition.
Raj Sherman (Independent Edmonton-Meadowlark) The Emergency Room Doctor turned MLA shook the Tory establishment when he went public with his concerns about how the PC government has handled health...
View Articlethe sergeant – an alberta politics spoof.
Thanks to the Alberta NDP Caucus for posting their video from the annual Press Gallery Christmas Party on YouTube. Thanks to the NDP, Wildrose Alliance Caucus, and Independent MLA Raj Sherman for...
View Articlehow much money do alberta’s political parties have in the bank? comparing...
Submitted to Elections Alberta earlier this year, the 2010 financial disclosures from the constituency associations of Alberta’s political parties have been released (the central party financial...
View Articledid danielle smith’s wildrose peak too early?
With the departure of Premier Ed Stelmach soon upon us, and the Tories choosing a new leader this fall, has the wave that carried the Wildrose high in the polls in 2010 crested in 2011? In 2010, the...
View Articlealberta candidate nomination update – november 2011 (part 2).
With a fixed election “period” expected to be set for sometime between March 1 and May 31, 2012, Alberta’s political parties are still in the process of nominating candidates in the 87 new...
View Articlealberta’s second fall sitting starts today with redford’s tories on a high.
Part two of the Fall sitting of Alberta’s Legislative Assembly begins today for a short two-weeks of business. Aside from the two-day speech driven sitting held last month, this will be the first time...
View Articlealberta election candidate update – december 2011 (part 2)
The list of candidates nominated to stand in the next provincial general election continues to grow. Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock: Westlock Town Councillor David Truckey is the first candidate to enter...
View Articlejanuary kick-off: big changes or status-quo in 2012?
Fresh back into the new year, it would be easy to assume that January would be a slow month for most of Alberta’s elected officials as they ease back into their regular 80 hour work week. If the first...
View Articlealberta’s super saturday – tories voting in hotly contested nomination races...
Supporters of Joey Oberhoffner, who is running for the Progressive Conservative nomination in Calgary-Fish Creek, rap for their candidate in this YouTube video. Mr. Oberhoffner is facing former Mount...
View Articlemore on alberta mla extra pay and the privileges & elections committee.
More information has been relvealed about controversial $1,000 monthly payments made to Alberta MLA’s for being members of a committee that has not met for three years. Retiring Edmonton-Gold Bar...
View Articletories scramble into damage control mode over no-work committee pay and mla...
Scrambling to balance damage control with party unity on the eve of an election call, MLA’s in Premier Alison Redford‘s Tory caucus are returning pay earned over the past six months from the Standing...
View Articlewho should be invited to the televised leaders’ debate?
The televised Leaders’ debate for Alberta’s 2012 election will be aired on April 12 at 6:30pm to 8:00pm on Global Television. The debate will include Progressive Conservative leader Premier Alison...
View Articlethe day after: alberta election analysis.
What was expected to be the most exciting provincial election in history of our province turned out to be a continuation of the 41-year old Progressive Conservative dynasty. The pollsters, the media,...
View Articlewho are they? meet alberta’s wildrose official opposition.
When Alberta’s Legislative Assembly reconvenes in the next few months, for the first time since 1982 the title of Official Opposition will given to a caucus of MLA’s representing a party other than the...
View Articleassembly housekeeping: new staff, new speaker, & new public accounts...
As the Opposition Caucuses and Parties reorganize following electoral changes caused as a results of the April 23 election, there will be a number of staff and role changes in Assembly. The new...
View ArticleBeyond Question Period: Debating Bill 1.
If you pay attention to political pundits or follow the #ableg hashtag on Twitter, you will have read about how nasty and partisan the fall sitting of the Legislative Assembly has been. But if you...
View ArticleDisappointed Wildrosers sit outside as Redford Tories abandon Klein-era...
Alberta’s opposition parties are traditionally notorious for being unforgiving towards leaders who fail to meet or beat electoral expectations. Take for example former Edmonton Mayor Laurence Decore,...
View ArticleTories versus Wildrose: Year One in Alberta’s new political game.
On April 23, 2012, Alberta’s most hotly contested election in decades culminated with the re-election of the twelfth consecutive Progressive Conservative majority government since 1971. Despite holding...
View ArticleWildrose to PC MLAs: It’s not your fault, your party left you. Come on over.
The Wildrose Caucus has released a flashy new YouTube video encouraging Progressive Conservative MLAs to join the Official Opposition. The video begins with two former PC MLAs making the pitch to cross...
View ArticleWhat Civil War? After Joe Anglin quits, Wildrose MLAs rally behind Danielle...
In a move designed to quash any further internal party dissent, Wildrose MLAs rallied around their leader yesterday by unanimously requesting their party’s executive committee cancel a leadership...
View ArticleWho might and might not be invited to the Leaders’ Debate in Alberta’s 2019...
Photo: Alberta political party leaders – Rachel Notley, Jason Kenney, Stephen Mandel, David Khan, and Derek Fildebrandt. We are now somewhere between seven and ten months away from the next provincial...
View ArticlePaul Hinman is back, again, maybe! Former Wildrose leader to lead new...
Alberta’s oldest newly rebranded separatist party has a new interim leader, maybe. A now deleted tweet from the newly renamed Wildrose Independence Party announced that former Wildrose Alliance leader...
View ArticleVP Weissenberger, Agent-General Rodney and the ABCs of patronage
“This Alberta is a meritocracy” – Jason Kenney (April 30, 2019) It was first reported this week by the CBC that John Weissenberger has been hired as the Alberta Energy Regulator’s new vice president of...
View ArticleRandy Boissonnault planning a comeback in Edmonton-Centre, Erika Barootes...
Randy Boissonnault announced plans to try to make a political comeback by seeking the federal Liberal Party nomination in Edmonton-Centre. Boissonnault was elected as the Liberal MP for the district in...
View ArticleUCP MLA Richard Gotfried not running for re-election, NDP nominate former...
Calgary-Fish Creek MLA Richard Gotfried has announced he will not run for re-election. Gotfried was the only rookie Progressive Conservative MLA elected in 2015, stealing the south Calgary seat from...
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