Calgary Grit

The highest profile discussions about the future of the Alberta Liberal Party have focused on one word – “liberal”. In fairness, there are more important debates to be had on structure, organization, and ideology, and I fully intend to look at them as part of this yet-to-be-cleverly-named post series on the future of the ALP. […]

First Ed Stelmach blames a punk blogger for stealing his personality, and now Stephen Harper is accusing the Liberal party of stealing his. While Harper’s personality is clearly missing, I doubt the Liberals stole. If they did, they’d be using it themselves and they’re definitely not, judging from Dion’s own personality deficiencies. No, the Liberals […]

Layton hoping for Alberta ‘breakthrough’ with Ray Martin as a candidate CALGARY — Federal NDP Leader Jack Layton says he’s thrilled that long-time Alberta New Democrat Ray Martin has agreed to seek the candidacy for the national party in the riding of Edmonton East. Martin served as the Alberta NDP leader for eight years in […]

The Calgary Stampede – when Calgarians take a break from complaining that the rest of the country sees them as Wild West hicks and dress up as cowboys for a week – kicks off this weekend but, alas, I’ll be missing it. I don’t so much mind missing the rodeo, parade, or mini-donuts, but I […]

As the parliamentary year ends, here’s a recap of the second half of last Thursday’s At Issue Panel. Overlooked and Under Reported Hebert: Smitherman and Couillard leave their health portfoliosCoyne: Shift of power to the westGregg: Can/US energy relationsRex: Human rights commissions Hebert suggests a worthy choice, but I tend to disagree with her claim […]

CBC’s At Issue Panel had their season finale last week, and while there was no bombshell cliff-hanger (Is Chantal Hebert the final cylon? Tune in this September…), it did make for enjoyable TV, or podcasting. Here’s the recap of what their panel said, with my two cents tossed in – if nothing else, it’s a […]

The best of Colbert’s green screen “make McCain exciting” contest. I’ve watched this one a dozen times already and keep laughing every time. h/t Wells

Question Period was hyping Jack Layton’s new radio “attack ad” today (not yet up on NDP website…way to stay on top of things guys). Although the ad itself is rather harmless, it appears to be running in only Northern Ontario, the same region targeted in the last NDP ad buy. And if you look at […]

The verdict on Monsieur Gomery, my friends, is not pretty. As Wells correctly points out, this is the final blow in completely discrediting the Gomery circus. That’s not to say this proves that Adscam was no big deal (it was). Or that the inquiry should never have been called (it shouldn’t have). But it does […]

Kevin Taft made it official today, announcing that he will step down as leader of the Alberta grits by January at the latest. I suspect the media evaluations of his time as leader will be mixed – after all, he leaves the party with only two more seats than he inherited and many members are […]