Categories
Alberta Politics Daveberta Podcast

In Session: Jeromy Farkas pushes back against Danielle Smith’s provincial property tax hikes — compares it to equalization

The Daveberta Podcast is back In Session

You’ve probably noticed I haven’t recorded an episode of the Daveberta Podcast in a while — so if you were missing listening to it, please know that I was missing recording it.

Starting today and over the next few weeks I’m going to record a series of short episodes in which I will share a few key things that I’m watching in Alberta politics in the week ahead and some other things that have caught my attention.

I decided to test this podcast series — which I’m calling Daveberta In Session — during the spring session of the Alberta Legislature. I’m planning to do this for eight or nine weeks until mid May when the Assembly breaks for the summer months — and then we’ll see where we go from there.

In this week’s episode, I discuss:

  • Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas’ threat to hold a municipal referendum on provincial property tax increases that he compared to equalization.
  • NDP MLA Heather Sweet’s private members’ bill to improve whistleblower laws for health care workers.
  • the storm of misinformation and disinformation that is barrelling towards us as Albertans are faced with ten or eleven referendum questions on October 19, 2026.

Listen to this episode of the podcast on the Daveberta Substack.

Categories
Alberta Politics

Rakhi Pancholi takes the lead – NDP deputy leader takes centre stage, again, in response to Danielle Smith’s nine referendum questions

“Cut the bullshit. Call the election.”

Those were the words Alberta NDP deputy leader Rakhi Pancholi directed at Danielle Smith the morning after the Premier took to the television waves to blame immigration for the provincial government’s budget problems and announce a suite of nine referendum questions to be put to Albertans on October 19.

The 38-MLA NDP opposition has struggled to gain traction and define itself since former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi replaced former premier Rachel Notley as leader a year and a half ago, but those six words from Pancholi last Friday cut through the noise and were a blunt reminder that she is one of the party’s most effective voices.

Read more on the Daveberta Substack