Tag: Chris Spearman

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Alberta Politics

Alberta Referendum Day is 41 days away.

Elections Alberta issued a statement correcting a series of errors and confusing instructions included in Special Ballot packages that have been mailed to more than 200,000 Albertans ahead of the October 19 referendums. The elections authority also announced the deadline for applying for a mail-in Special Ballot is now September 25 instead of the previously announced October 9.

There has been no shortage of attention on the Alberta separation question that Albertans will be asked on October 19, but a cadre of former and current municipal and provincial politicians have written an op-ed warning of the divisions created by the five referendum questions that frame immigrants as scapegoats for the strain on Alberta’s health care and education systems.

The op-ed published in the province’s Postmedia newspaper was penned by former premier Rachel Notley, former Edmonton mayor Don Iveson, former Lethbridge mayor Chris Spearman former St. Albert mayor Cathy Heron, former Brooks mayor Barry Morishita, former Slave Lake mayor Karina Pillay, lawyer Avnish Nanda, and current High River Mayor Craig Snodgrass (Premier Smith lives in High River).

The immigration referendum questions were a hot topic at the Edmonton launch of Public Interest Alberta’s referendum campaign at the Beverly Heights Community Hall on September 3. The well-attended event in the packed community hall featured a handful of speakers including PIA executive director Brad Lafortune, comedian Henry Sir, Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan, and Senator Paula Simons (who recently wrote about the “Noxious Nine” in Alberta Views Magazine).

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Alberta Politics

Evasive maneuvers! Alberta politics on a collision course!

A large rally of around 30,000 striking teachers gathered outside the Legislature to welcome MLAs back for the fall session on October 23 (source: @atalocal8 / Instagram)
A large rally of around 30,000 striking teachers gathered outside the Legislature to welcome MLAs back for the fall session on October 23 (source: @atalocal8 / Instagram)

A loud crowd of 30,000 teachers and their supporters welcomed MLAs back to the Legislature

When MLAs returned to the Legislature yesterday for the Speech from the Throne and the start of the fall session they were welcomed back by a very large and very loud crowd of around 30,000 Alberta teachers.

More than 51,000 teachers from public, Catholic, and Francophone schools across the province have been on strike since October 6 with workload challenges being their biggest issue, namely class sizes and per-student funding.

Instead of getting back to the bargaining table to negotiate a deal that could satisfy both the government and teachers, Premier Danielle Smith has signalled her government’s plans to fasttrack back to work legislation — and there is wide speculation that it could use the constitutional sledgehammer known as the Notwithstanding Clause to block any court challenges of the law.

The Order Papers for next week shows that Minister of Finance Nate Horner will soon introduce Bill 2: Back to School Act along with motions to severely limit debate at all stages of reading. With a 6 vote majority in the Legislature, UCP MLAs should have no problem pushing it through swiftly, though the opposition NDP can be expected to try its best to delay the passage of the bill.

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Alberta Politics

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

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

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