Tag: Adriana LaGrange

Peter Guthrie voted the Best Alberta Cabinet Minister and Most Effective Government Backbencher of 2025

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date December 31, 2025

Airdire-Cochrane MLA Peter Guthrie (source: Peter Guthrie / Facebook)

It has been a roller coaster year in politics for Airdrie-Cochrane MLA Peter Guthrie, who is the winner of this year’s Best Alberta Cabinet Minister and Most Effective Government Backbencher of 2025.

Guthrie started the year as a Minister of Infrastructure in the United Conservative Party government and is ending it as an Independent MLA affiliated with the Alberta Party who is trying to restart the Progressive Conservative Party.

Guthrie resigned from cabinet in February 2025 after he raised concerns at the cabinet table about the alleged corruption and political interference in health care procurement practices and government contracts with private surgical companies.

“I’m not going to stand by and see potential corruption exist within government and be a part of that,” Guthrie told the Globe & Mail after he resigned from cabinet. “I felt profound disappointment in their ability to be able to ignore these clear conflicts,” he said.

After two months in the backbenches, the second-term UCP MLA was kicked out of the government caucus after voting in favour of an NDP motion calling for an independent public inquiry into the dodgy contracts scandal that convinced him to resign from cabinet.

“If we have nothing to hide, we should take that path,” Guthrie said of an independent public inquiry. “I would like to see people feel free to be able to share their thoughts with the auditor general without feeling that there may be retribution for them,” he said in response to allegations the government was using external lawyers to slow down an ongoing investigation by the Auditor General.

Now in the opposition benches, Guthrie has remained a steadfast conservative critic of the UCP government’s involvement in the alleged corruption scandal.

Read all about it on the Daveberta Substack

Tags Adriana LaGrange, Airdrie-Cochrane, Alberta Party, Alberta Politics, Alberta Politics Substack, Best of Alberta Politics 2025, Danielle Smith, Daveberta Substack, Peter Guthrie, Progressive Tory Party of Alberta, United Conservative Party

Alberta Politics

Health care chaos the most underreported Alberta politics story of the year

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date December 20, 2025

The complete dismantling of Alberta Health Services, which is almost certainly a vendetta for the role the organization played in implementing public health measures meant to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, is one of the most underreported stories of the year.

The province-wide health authority that was created by Premier Ed Stelmach’s Progressive Conservative government in 2008 is being carved into five or six different administrative silos (depending how you count) which will have a real impact on hospitals and health centres from big cities to small rural communities — and health ministers like Adriana LaGrange and Matt Jones haven’t been able to clearly answer the question of how this will make patient care better for Albertans.

Danielle Smith’s wild ride. What to make of Alberta politics in 2025?

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date December 20, 2025

Premier Danielle Smith speaks at the Canada Strong & Free Networking Conference (formerly known as the Manning Centre) (source: Danielle Smith / Instagram)

As 2025 comes to an end, it’s hard to describe the past twelve months in Alberta politics, but Edmonton-Whitemud NDP MLA Rakhi Pancholi summed it up well in the opposition’s year-end press conference by describing it a “wild ride.”

It has been a chaotic 12 months in Alberta politics. Even for someone who pays very close attention to provincial politics, the pace of the past year was so fast and frantic that it has been hard to keep track. The recently ended fall session of the Legislature might have been one of the most chaotic in recent memory.

It’s clear that Premier Danielle Smith’s governing United Conservative Party is using a “flood the zone” strategy but there were many times when it looked like the government was just flying by the seat of its pants and no one was really in control of the political agenda.

And if it’s hard for political watchers to keep track, that means it’s probably almost impossible for normal Albertans to figure out what’s going on — and that’s the point. The strategy keeps the opposition off balance and doesn’t give them time to respond before the next big announcement or political controversy steals the attention of shrinking newsrooms and a fast paced social media eco-system.

Anyone familiar with the chaos of American politics will recognize this strategy because it’s employed almost hourly by President Donald Trump.

Read the rest on the Daveberta Substack

Tags Adriana LaGrange, Airdrie-Cochrane, Alanna Smith, Alberta Coal Policy, Alberta Health Services, Alberta NDP, Alberta Party, Alberta Politics Substack, Alberta Prosperity Project, Alberta Separation Referendum, Alberta Separatism, Ben Shapiro, Best of Alberta Politics 2025, Cameron Davies, Canada Election Substack, Carrie Tait, Corb Lund, Danielle Smith, Daveberta Substack, Donald Trump, Edmonton-Castle Downs, Edmonton-Ellerslie, Edmonton-Strathcona, Edmonton-Whitemud, Flood the Zone, Forever Canadian, Janis Irwin, Jeff Rath, Jeffrey Rath, Jordan Peterson, Matt Jones, Mickey Amery, Mitch Sylvestre, Naheed Nenshi, Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills, Peter Guthrie, Progressive Tory Party of Alberta, Rakhi Pancholi, Real Talk, Republican Party of Alberta, Ryan Jespersen, Thomas Lukaszuk, United Conservative Party

Alberta Politics

Redrawing Alberta’s electoral map

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date May 22, 2025

Voters only getting 2 more MLAs despite huge population boom

Alberta will have a new electoral map when the next provincial election is called. An Electoral Boundaries Commission has been named and will begin travelling the province next week to collect feedback from Albertans about how new riding boundaries should be drawn to reflect population changes since the last time the map was redrawn in 2017.

Peter Guthrie gets kicked out of the UCP Caucus

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date April 17, 2025

Peter Guthrie and Premier Danielle Smith at the cabinet swearing-in ceremony in 2023 (source: AlbertaNewsroom / Flickr)

Confusing hodgepodge of government investigations shows need for independent public inquiry into Dodgy Contracts Scandal

There is a lot happening in Alberta politics this week, including the news that Airdrie-Cochrane United Conservative Party MLA Peter Guthrie has been officially removed from the UCP caucus. The former cabinet minister resigned as Minister of Infrastructure in February 2025 as a protest against allegations of corruption, cover-ups and political interference in government contracts related to health care supplies and private surgical companies.

“I’m not going to stand by and see potential corruption exist within government and be a part of that,” Guthrie told the Globe & Mail when he resigned from cabinet in February. “I felt profound disappointment in their ability to be able to ignore these clear conflicts,” he said.

Danielle Smith threatens a national unity crisis if Canadians re-elect Mark Carney’s Liberals

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date March 31, 2025

Liberal Party leader Mark Carney on the campaign trail (source: Mark Carney / Facebook)

UCP MLA writes that Canada is broken and Team Canada is a “fake team”

Mark Carney has only been Prime Minister of Canada for 17 days but last week he may have made one of the most consequential statements by a Canadian political leader in recent memory.

“The old relationship we had with the United States based on deepening integration of our economies and tight security and military cooperation is over,” Carney said in response to American President Donald Trump’s almost daily threats against Canada.

Trump backed down on his threats last week to level 25 percent tariffs against the Canadian automobile manufacturing industry, probably temporarily, after Carney announced retaliatory tariffs, but this week could feature Trump’s next big intervention in a federal election campaign where he has become the biggest villain. April 2 is what the Trump is calling “Liberation Day.” It’s the day he says he plans to level more huge tariffs on products being imported into the US.

Read the rest on the Daveberta Substack

Tags Adriana LaGrange, Alberta Federal Candidate Nomination Update, Alberta NDP, Alberta Separatism, Alberta Sovereignty Act, Alberta Sovereignty within a United Canada Act, Ben Shapiro, Calgary-Confederation, Calgary-East, Canada Election 2025, Chris Brown, Chris Spearman, Conservative Party of Canada, Danielle Smith, Derek Chauvin, Devin Dreeshen, Donald Trump, Donald Trump Tariff, Edmonton Centre, Edmonton Manning, Eleanor Olszewski, Fair Deal Panel, Free Alberta Strategy, George Floyd, Gina Rinehart, Jagmeet Singh, Jared Wesley, Jason Stephan, Lesley Thompson, Liberal Party of Canada, Liberation Day, Mark Carney, Naheed Nenshi, Nathan Svoboda, PragerU, Priti Obhrai-Martin, Rachael Thomas, Red Deer-South, Rob Anderson, Sayid Ahmed, Searle Turton, Shannon Phillips, Thomas Keeper, Trisha Estabrooks, United Conservative Party, Western Alienation

Alberta Politics

Peter Guthrie resigns from UCP cabinet over Dodgy Contracts Scandal

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date February 25, 2025

Echoes of Donna Kennedy-Glans and Len Webber resignations from 11 years ago

I usually try to avoid writing too much about breaking news and I typically don’t publish more than one article per day, but I made an exception after today’s news that Minister of Infrastructure Peter Guthrie had resigned from United Conservative Party Premier Danielle Smith’s cabinet.

“I’m not going to stand by and see potential corruption exist within government and be a part of that,” Guthrie was quoted as saying to the Globe & Mail in reference to the ongoing scandal and alleged cover-up related to government contracts with private surgical companies. “I felt profound disappointment in their ability to be able to ignore these clear conflicts,” he said.

10 things I’m watching in the Alberta Legislature this spring

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date February 25, 2025

The Rotunda of the Alberta Legislature Building ahead of the provincial budget announcement in February 2024 (photo credit: Dave Cournoyer)

Political scandals, resignations, budget cuts, strikes and coal mining – Alberta politics is never boring

The familiar voice of Speaker Nathan Cooper calling out “order!” and “the honourable member for…” will once again echo through the hallowed halls of Alberta’s Legislative Assembly when MLAs return to Edmonton for the start of the spring session today.

Government House Leader Joseph Schow released the United Conservative Party government’s legislative agenda for the session, which I will write about over the next few weeks, but here is a broader overview of what I’m watching as MLAs return to the Legislature:

1. Private surgical contracts scandal

Some people are calling it the Dodgy Contracts Scandal and the opposition NDP have gone all in on naming it CorruptCare, but whatever you are calling this political scandal there is no doubt it will be front and centre in this legislative session.

This morning’s news that Minister of Infrastructure Peter Guthrie is resigning from cabinet in protest of the scandal and how Premier Danielle Smith has handled it is sure to add fuel to the political fire.

“I’m not going to stand by and see potential corruption exist within government and be a part of that,” Guthrie is reported to have said. He plans to sit in the Legislature as a UCP MLA, but whether Smith wants him to remain in the government caucus is unclear (and unlikely).

Cracks in UCP cabinet unity started to show when Guthrie’s proposal to remove Minister of Health Adriana LaGrange from her current cabinet post was leaked to the media, though it is unclear who leaked it.

Smith and LaGrange tried to change the channel on the scandal at a press conference last week by pinning the blame on Alberta Health Services procurement staff, but an almost never-ending series of scoops from Globe & Mail investigative reporters Carrie Tait and Alanna Smith have undermined the UCP government’s efforts to spin their way out of the political storm.

Expect the NDP opposition, with the protections of parliamentary privilege, to spend a lot of time questioning and prodding UCP cabinet ministers about this scandal during Question Period.

Read the rest on the Daveberta Substack

Tags Adriana LaGrange, Alanna Smith, Alberta Federal Candidate Nomination Update, Alberta Health Services, Alberta NDP, Amber Murray, Athana Mentzelopoulos, Blake Desjarlais, Bow River, Calgary McKnight, Calgary-Skyview, Carrie Tait, CorruptCare Scandal, Dale McFee, Danielle Smith, Dave Quest, Daveberta Substack, David Bexte, Dodgy Contracts Scandal, Edmonton-Griesbach, Foothills, Graham Abela, Grande Prairie, Jennifer Villebrun, JL DeCosta, John Bruinsma, Joseph Schow, Josh Senneker, Karen Principe, Kattie Aurora, Lethbridge, Mark Carney, Mickey Amery, Naheed Nenshi, Nathan Cooper, Nathan Svoboda, Peter Guthrie, Ritesh Narayan, Rufus Awharitoma, Spring Session of the Alberta Legislature, Tanveer Taj, United Conservative Party

Alberta Politics

Changing the channel on the Dodgy Contracts Scandal

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date February 13, 2025

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks to reporters in Washington DC on February 12, 2025. Standing behind her are Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston, and Ontario Premier Doug Ford (screenshot CPAC)

When scandal threatens to envelop a government, the politicians spin hard

“Changing the channel” might be an outdated metaphor in a world where online streaming is how a lot of people now watch “television,” but it is a term that remains in use by politicians and political communicators to describe a strategy to draw attention away from something you don’t want to be on the top of people’s minds or the front pages of the news websites.

That’s exactly what Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party government has been trying to do since Globe & Mail reporter Carrie Tait broke the Dodgy Contract Scandal last week.

The bombshell story revolves around allegations that senior political staff in the government were involved in a $600 million procurement scandal and that AHS CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos was fired by the government two days before she was scheduled to meet with the Auditor General “to discuss her investigation into procurement contracts and deals for private surgical facilities.”

Can Danielle Smith dodge and weave her way through the AHS scandal allegations?

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date February 8, 2025

Premier Danielle Smith in an ad announcing the UCP’s “Public Health Guarantee” during the 2023 election (source: United Conservative Party / YouTube)

Carrie Tait’s bombshell exposé rocked Alberta politics this week

When I first sat down to start writing today’s column I was planning to write a follow up to my piece about Premier Danielle Smith’s reaction to American President Donald Trump’s tariff threat, but a week in politics can be an eternity and to say this has been a busy week in Alberta politics is an understatement.

If you read one news article this weekend, I strongly recommend it be intrepid Globe & Mail reporter Carrie Tait’s bombshell exposé about the United Conservative Party government firing Alberta Health Services CEO Athena Mentzelopoulos “two days before she was scheduled to meet with the province’s Auditor General to discuss her investigation into procurement contracts and deals for private surgical facilities.”

Read the rest on the Daveberta Substack

Alberta Politics

Danielle Smith does a victory lap on Trump’s oil and gas tariffs

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date February 3, 2025

The Canadian flag waving in the wind in Jasper National Park in January 2025 (source: Dave Cournoyer)

But remember, this is not a trade war.

With American President Donald Trump announcing 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian products imported from Canada into the United States and a 10 per cent tariff on Canadian oil and gas, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announcing retaliatory 25 per cent tariffs on US imports, the era of free trade between Canada and the United States appears to have come to an end.

But despite all the tariffs, this is not a trade war.

Trump’s tariffs were not imposed as a retaliation to any trade dispute or economic disagreement his country has with Canada. Trump claims the tariffs are a response to illegal fentanyl crossing the US border from Canada and Mexico, but his frequent rants on social media about annexing Canada to make it the 51st State mean it’s unlikely that any action on border security taken by Canadian federal or provincial government’s will actually appease the US President.

Read the rest on the Daveberta Substack

Alberta Politics

Danielle Smith’s charm offensive in Trump’s America

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date December 13, 2024

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith with South Dakota Governor and Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem (source: Danielle Smith / Facebook)

More MAGA, Less Ottawa

With the impending electoral defeat of Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau growing more likely by the day, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has embarked on her own Team Alberta diplomatic charm offensive in the United States.

Just days after American President-elect Donald Trump threatened to impose a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods imported into his country, Smith jetted off to the Western Governors conference in Las Vegas. Smith held a handful of one-on-one meetings with Republican and Democratic governors as part of her pitch to US law-makers to exclude Canadian oil and gas from Trump’s tariff war.

“I am a fan of our biggest trading partner” Smith’s told a Fox News host when she was asked on-air if she was a fan of Trump. In response to Trump’s now frequently repeated threats that Canada should become America’s 51st state if Canadians don’t like the tariffs, Smith said he was “hilarious.”

Lethbridge-West by-election a big test for Naheed Nenshi and Danielle Smith

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date November 22, 2024

NDP leader Naheed Nenshi and Lethbridge-West NDP candidate Rob Miyashiro (source: Naheed Nenshi / Facebook)

Race to replace Shannon Phillips called for December 18

Nearly five months after Alberta NDP MLA Shannon Phillips resigned her seat in the Legislature, a by-election has been called in Lethbridge-West and it’s happening on December 18.

For the past five years, this urban riding located in southwest Alberta has been an electoral anomaly: a lone orange island surrounded by a sea of blue. The riding was one of two won by the NDP in 2023 that was outside of the immediate Edmonton and Calgary areas.

Can Danielle Smith survive the UCP political circus in Red Deer?

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date October 31, 2024

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith (photo: Danielle Smith/Facebook)

Alberta politics is unpredictable and sometimes it’s best to expect the unexpected

The main event of Alberta’s political season is nearly upon us. No, I’m not talking about the return of the Legislature or the impending by-election in Lethbridge-West. I’m talking about the United Conservative Party’s Annual General Meeting and leadership review that is happening this weekend in Red Deer.

With more than 6,000 people expected to attend, it will likely be the biggest single political convention in Alberta’s history. And it is going to be a circus.

Read the rest on the Daveberta Substack.

Tags 1905 Committee, Adriana LaGrange, Airdrie-Cochrane, Alberta Federal Candidate Nomination Update, Alberta First Pension Plan, Alberta NDP, Alberta Prosperity Project, Black Hat Gang, Blaine Higgs, Calgary Crowfoot, Calgary-Lougheed, Chemtrails, COVID-19 Pandemic, Cynthia Moore, Danielle Smith, Daveberta Substack, David Parker, Demetrios Nicolaides, Edmonton-Manning, Elections Alberta, Eric Bouchard, Glen Resler, Gordon McClure, Ian Brodie, Jason Kenney, Jason Nixon, Jim Prentice, Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse, John Middleton-Hope, Joseph Schow, Kathleen Ganley, Lesley Thompson, Lethbridge-West, Lethbridge-West by-election, Mathew Jammaz, Matt Jones, Naheed Nenshi, National Firearms Association, Ralph Klein, Rob Miyashiro, Sarah Hoffman, Scott Moe, Shahnaz Munir, Stephen Harper, Take Back Alberta, Tiffany Nixon, Transgender policy, Transgender Rights in Alberta, Umair Ahad, United Conservative Party, United Conservative Party AGM, United Conservative Party Leadership Review, Wildrose Party

Daveberta Podcast

Why Sarah Hoffman is running for the Alberta NDP leadership

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date March 2, 2024

Edmonton-Glenora MLA Sarah Hoffman launches her campaign for the Alberta NDP leadership (source: Sarah Hoffman / Facebook)

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The former health minister shares her plans for health, climate, and housing

NDP MLA Sarah Hoffman joins the Daveberta Podcast to talk about why she is running for the Alberta NDP leadership and her plans for health care, climate, and housing.

We discuss Hoffman’s experiences as Minister of Health and chair of the Edmonton Public School Board, the NDP’s challenges in rural Alberta, the party’s focus on Calgary and it’s relationship with the federal NDP. We also chat a bit about the possibility of former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi entering the race to replace Rachel Notley.

The Daveberta Podcast is hosted by Dave Cournoyer and produced by Adam Rozenhart. This episode was recorded on March 1, 2024.

New and recent episodes of the podcast are available to paid subscribers of the Daveberta Substack. Sign up for an annual or monthly subscription to listen to the entire episode.