Dave Cournoyer

Dave Cournoyer is a writer, blogger, and political watcher living in Edmonton, Alberta.

He created daveberta.ca in January 2005 and in 2007 it was awarded the Best Political Blog, Best Progressive Blog, and Best Blogosphere Citizen in the 2007 Canadian Blog Awards. It was also listed in SEE Magazine as one of Edmonton’s top blogs. Dave has written articles and columns for SEE Magazine, VUE Weekly, Alberta Views Magazine, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

While studying at the University of Alberta, Dave was elected Vice-President (External) of the U of A Students’ Union and served as Chair of the Council of Alberta University Students from 2006 to 2007. In these roles, he served as  a spokesperson and advocate for 80,000 undergraduate students at Alberta’s three largest Universities. He was part of the team that negotiated the creation of the Universal Transit Pass (U-Pass) for students at the U of A.

After completing his term in office, he entered provincial politics as Communications Coordinator for the official opposition Liberal Party, where he worked closely with Edmonton-Riverview MLA Kevin Taft during his time as Leader of the Official Opposition.

Dave made national headlines when Premier Ed Stelmach threatened legal action over his ownership of the domain name edstelmach.ca. The Premier’s lawyer accused him of misappropriating the Premier’s personality, a claim that Dave responded to by saying that “I don’t know where Premier Stelmach’s personality is, but I certainly don’t have it.”

After spending time working as a freelance writer and communications consultant, in November 2009 he entered his current role as Communications Officer with the United Nurses of Alberta. He has presented social media and communications workshops to the Canadian University Press, Public Interest Alberta, the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, Next Up, the Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton, Homeward Trust Edmonton, and numerous other organizations.

He is a past member of the Programming Committee for the Edmonton’s Litfest and until recently served as the Community Representative on the Board of Directors of the Gateway Student Journalism Society. In 2010, he was named as one of Edmonton’s Top 40 under 40 by Avenue Magazine and in 2003 was awarded the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal in recognition of his volunteer work with the WarAmps of Canada.

You can follow his tweets at @davecournoyer, glance through his photos on Flick, watch his favourite videos on YouTube, and send your fan letters to david.cournoyer@gmail.com.

The opinions expressed on this blog represent my own and not those of my employer or any organization I may be affiliated with.

In addition, my thoughts and opinions change from time to time. I consider this a necessary consequence of having an open mind. This blog is intended to provide a semi-permanent point in time snapshot and manifestation of the various ideas running around my brain, and as such any thoughts and opinions expressed within out-of-date posts may not the same, nor even similar, to those I may hold today.