Even though I don’t agree with the man’s politics, I maintain it’s a crying shame Preston Manning didn’t run for the Alberta PC leadership in 2006, out of fear some chap named Dinning would beat him. Hindsight being what it is, it seems obvious Manning would have won, and his time as Premier would have […]

Again showing how ahead of the curve he is… The recession is over, the Bank of Canada said in its quarterly Monetary Policy Report released Thursday. After shrinking since the last quarter of 2008, the Canadian economy will grow by an annualized rate of 1.3 per cent in the current quarter, the bank said. Bank […]

1) I’ll give Flaherty props for the home reno tax credit in this year’s budget – it seems to be having the desired effect. As for the Tories’ festival funding…not so much. 2) Notice how it IS Tony Clement now making the funding decisions. Looks like Brad Trost may have been right about the Ablonczy […]

My interview with John McCallum, discussing what the Liberals would have done differently in this year’s budget and the need for more stimulus spending. See also: Ralph Goodale on Western Alienation, Scott Brison on the economy, Carolyn Bennett on the Change Commission, Justin Trudeau on youth in politics

And then there were 70. Alberta’s Tory caucus is one man smaller after Ed Stelmach’s booting of Guy Boutilier over the weekend: Premier Ed Stelmach is suddenly doing politics on steroids. Against a flood of public anger, and to the shock of some Tory MLAs, he kicked out a veteran Conservative for challenging him to […]

The Alberta Greens are de-registered as a party. From their website: The “Alberta Greens” Green Party of Alberta has been de-registered by Elections Alberta as a political entity in the Province of Alberta. De-registration of the party is an administrative opportunity to re-organize and rebuild the party into a viable political organization. The importance and […]

As part of my ongoing series, bad production value interviews, today I’m pleased to present Justin Trudeau…with set-up noise in the background. Regardless, the young political superstar was kind enough to chat with me about youth involvement in politics during May’s Liberal leadership convention. Here’s what he had to say: See also: Ralph Goodale on […]

Queen gives Chrétien Order of Merit Queen Elizabeth has appointed former prime minister Jean Chrétien to the Order of Merit, placing him in the exclusive ranks of such figures as Albert Schweitzer, Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela. The award, founded in 1902 by King Edward VII, is given to “individuals of exceptional distinction in the […]

Someone buy this man a watch…

The Daily Beast casts Daniel Baldwin as Stephen Harper (h/t Wherry). Beyond the physical similarities, I do like this casting. Both men have had to battle horrible problems – for Baldwin, cocaine addiction; for Harper, being tardy for photo-ops.