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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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Mulcair Takes on the West
What started out as musings on the health of Ontario’s manufacturing sector has quickly escalated into a full fledged war of words between Tom Mulcair and the western Premiers. It’s an important shift in the dialogue, because going to war with the West is a lot different than going to war with the oilsands – after […]
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Did the left blow it in Alberta?
Even though the end result was a Stephen Harper majority government, the NDP took a giant leap forward last May. In one election, the party may very well have taken the first step in killing off Canada’s natural governing party, positioning the Dippers to one day form government. Although last Monday’s Alberta election was a […]
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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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"40 more years! 40 more years!"
How certain was I that Alison Redford would be dealt a humiliating blow last night? I had my “morning after” post time stamped to go up at 8 am, detailing Smith’s victory using a colourfull “Wildrose chinook of change” analogy. It turns out that politics, like the weather, can be unpredictable. Not that a PC […]
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Alberta Votes Live Blog
6 pm (mountain time!): The much anticipated downtown Toronto Alberta election night party is ready to roll: the Alberta flag has been proudly hung, the Big Rock beers have been opened, and I’m sportin’ a Supportin’ Morton button. Polls are still open for another two hours, but the room is already full with a dozen ex-Albertans – […]
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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 8: Losing control of the agenda
One week into the election, and Alberta’s 40 year PC dynasty is on the ropes. It’s premature to write the obituaries, but it’s never too early to write about what went wrong – and what went wrong in week one was a complete inability of Alison Redford to control the agenda. One day, the Tories […]
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What Saturday’s Win by Red Tory Redford Means in Alberta
Alison Redford was Saturday’s surprise winner of the Alberta PC leadership race. As stunned as frontrunner Gary Mar was, the most surprised may have been Alberta’s opposition parties, who had no doubt begun positioning themselves against Mar. So how does this shocker change Alberta’s already rocky political landscape? Progressive Conservatives Redford’s first task will be […]
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Alison Redford’s First Mistake
Alison Redford is seen to have won the Alberta PC leadership on a policy-heavy campaign. She promised change, so one would imagine she’s eager to get going and introduce herself to voters through a bold agenda. After all, here’s what she said after winning the leadership: “I am not going to unnecessarily delay decision-making,” she […]