Tag: Alberta Politics Blog

Liberals tap Corey Hogan to run against Jeremy Nixon in Calgary Confederation

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date April 4, 2025

Liberals drop former NDP MLA Rod Loyola in Edmonton Gateway

Canada’s federal election is in full-swing and today’s Daveberta newsletter includes a quick update about candidate nominations in Alberta. I will be back early next week with a regular column and more analysis from Alberta in the federal election.

As of this morning, the Conservative Party, the New Democratic Party, and the Green Party are the only parties with candidates in all 37 ridings in Alberta. The Liberal Party briefly had a full slate but are down one after their candidate in Edmonton Gateway was removed yesterday (more about that below).

The deadline for parties to nominate candidates or for Independent candidates to put their names forward is Monday, April 7 at 2:00 p.m.

Alberta responds to Trump’s trade war still obsessed with border security

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date March 6, 2025

Danielle Smith joins Team Canada reluctant to use oil & gas trump card

One full day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and provincial premiers Doug Ford in Ontario and Wab Kinew in Manitoba announced retaliatory measures in response to American President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs on Canadian products, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith entered the fray.

“This economic attack on our country, combined with Mr. Trump’s continued talk of using economic force to facilitate the annexation of our country, has broken trust between our two countries in a profound way,” Smith said at a press conference where she was flanked by Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors Devin Dreeshen, Minister of Justice Mickey Amery, Deputy Premier Mike Ellis, and two law enforcement officers (one wearing a bullet proof vest and carrying an assault rifle).

“It is a betrayal of a deep and abiding friendship,” she said.

Read all about it on the Daveberta Substack

Quick note: Thank you for reading today’s Daveberta Newsletter! Paid subscribers can keep scrolling to read about the upcoming Edmonton-Strathcona provincial by-election and the federal Conservative Party candidate nomination votes being held in Bow River on March 6 & 7, Red Deer on March 8, and Edmonton Griesbach on March 9.

Alberta Politics

Peter Guthrie resigns from UCP cabinet over Dodgy Contracts Scandal

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date February 25, 2025

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

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.

Drugs, gaffes and good intentions: The Big Family Day Debate of 1989

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date February 16, 2025

Premier Don Getty, NDP leader Ray Martin, and Liberal leader Laurence Decore

That time of year is once again upon us: the annual Family Day long weekend in Alberta. Thirty-five years after Albertans first marked the third Monday in February as a provincial holiday in 1990, most of us who get the day off work take it for granted, but there is a big political story behind how this day was created.

Some readers will be familiar with the story about then-Premier Don Getty’s son getting arrested for possession and trafficking of cocaine and his father creating a holiday to celebrate family values in response. It sounds like a cynical take but it’s a big part of the story.

The idea to create a mid-winter holiday had been around for some time before it was announced in Alberta’s 1989 pre-election Speech from the Throne.

Read all about it 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

Subscribe to the Daveberta Newsletter on Substack

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date August 20, 2024

Alberta's Legislature Building (photo licensed by University of Alberta Libraries under the Attribution - Non-Commercial - Creative Commons license)

For about 15 years I published a post almost daily on Daveberta.ca. A growing family and full-time day job meant that I had to scale back the quantity of content I was publishing but moving to a Substack newsletter has been a good change of pace.

I enjoy having a bit of time to write a weekly (and bi-weekly in the summer) column about Alberta politics and not feeling the pressure to publish new content every single day.

Thank you so much to everyone who has stuck with me and joined the Daveberta readership since I launched Daveberta nearly 20 years ago.

I still publish links to my Substack newsletter on this site, but if you want them delivered directly to your email inbox you can sign up at Daveberta.Substack.com/Subscribe.

If you find my columns and podcasts about Alberta politics useful and interesting, please consider contributing $5/month for a monthly subscription or $50/year ($4.17/month) for an annual subscription. And if you’re feeling very generous, please consider becoming a Friend of Daveberta for $150/year (this includes some limited edition Daveberta swag).

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Thank you!

Dave

Tags Alberta Election Podcast, Alberta Liberal Party, Alberta NDP, Alberta Party, Alberta Podcast, Alberta Politics, Alberta Politics Blog, Alberta Politics Podcast, Alberta Politics Substack, Danielle Smith, Dave Cournoyer, Daveberta Podcast, Daveberta Substack, Naheed Nenshi, United Conservative Party, Writing about Alberta Politics