I’m Dave Cournoyer and this isn’t the Daveberta Podcast but it might be the next best thing.
A few weeks ago I joined my friend and former Daveberta Podcast co-host Ryan Hastman on his new podcast, the Alberta Edge, for a discussion about Alberta politics along with respected pollster Janet Brown.
I’m happy to share that episode of Alberta Edge with Daveberta subscribers today. Be sure to visit TheHub.ca and subscribe to Ryan’s podcasts.
Enjoy the show and thanks for listening.
It was 2005.
After a short stint on the dysfunctional Calgary Board of Education, former Fraser Institute intern Danielle Smith was in her fifth year as a columnist and editorial board member at the Calgary Herald. Smith joined the Herald a few years earlier while the journalists who worked for the paper were on strike.
Harvard-educated Naheed Nenshi was teaching non-profit management at Mount Royal College in Calgary. Nenshi was recovering from an unsuccessful first campaign for city council the year earlier and was about to build his profile as a civic affairs columnist in the same newspaper that employed Smith.
And somewhere on the University of Alberta campus in Edmonton, a young political science student named Dave plucked away at his laptop keyboard writing posts to publish on his new blog, Daveberta.
A lot has happened in the 20 years since. Time flies when you’re having fun.
I never expected or planned to still be writing about Alberta politics today but it turns out that it was something I enjoyed doing and people enjoyed reading, so I kept it up. And I’m glad I did.
To celebrate 20 years of Daveberta, I’m happy to offer free subscribers a 20 percent discount on an annual paid subscription ($40/year down from the regular $50/year). Paid subscribers get full access to all Daveberta newsletters and columns, full episodes of the Daveberta Podcast and a shout out on the podcast, and special Alberta politics extras.
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Danielle Smith’s sovereignty agenda gives the Liberals a generational opportunity to reset with Albertans
New and recent episodes of the Daveberta Podcast are available exclusively to paid subscribers of the Daveberta Substack.
The votes are counted and the surprising results of Monday’s federal election will have big ramifications for Canada. Friend of the pod and Partner & Chief Strategist at Y Station Communications and Research, Chris Henderson, joins us on the Daveberta Podcast to break down the election results and what they mean for the country, Alberta, and Premier Danielle Smith’s continued pursuit of a sovereignty agenda.
We also delve into Pierre Poilievre’s future as leader of the Conservative Party what opportunities Mark Carney’s Liberals have to reset their relationship with Albertans.
The Daveberta Podcast is hosted by Dave Cournoyer and produced by Adam Rozenhart. This episode was recorded on April 29, 2025 in the offices of Adverb Communications in beautiful downtown Edmonton.
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.
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.
New book delves into the conservative politics of former Premier Jason Kenney
Author and journalist Jeremy Appel helps us launch the 7th season of Daveberta Podcast with an in-depth conversation about his new book, Kenneyism: Jason Kenney’s Pursuit of Power.
In his book, Appel takes one of the first in-depth looks at Jason Kenney’s rise and fall in Canadian politics, and dissects the branches of conservatism and adherence to hierarchical social order that drove the former Premier to become a political animal unlike anything Alberta politics has seen before.
The Daveberta Podcast is hosted by Dave Cournoyer and produced by Adam Rozenhart. This episode was recorded on September 23, 2024 in the offices of Adverb Communications in beautiful downtown Edmonton.
Kenneyism in Alberta politics. An interview with Jeremy Appel by Dave Cournoyer
New book delves into the conservative politics of former Premier Jason Kenney
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).
Paid subscribers will have access to new episodes of the Daveberta Podcast and extras.
Thank you!
Dave
Calgary NDP MLA Kathleen Ganley joins the Daveberta Podcast to share why she is running to replace Rachel Notley as leader of the Alberta NDP.
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Longtime labour leader joins the Daveberta Podcast to explain why he’s running for the Alberta NDP leadership
Labour leader Gil McGowan joins the Daveberta Podcast to share why he’s running to succeed Rachel Notley as leader of Alberta’s NDP.
The full interview with Gil McGowan is available to paid subscribers of the Daveberta Substack
McGowan was first elected as President of the Alberta Federation of Labour in 2005 and is an outspoken advocate for working Albertans, especially when it comes to the impact of the incoming energy transition on the province’s workforce. He has been one of the most vocal critics of the United Conservative Party government’s plan to withdraw from the Canada Pension Plan.
The Daveberta Podcast is hosted by Dave Cournoyer and produced by Adam Rozenhart. This episode was recorded on April 30, 2024 in comfort of the fully-furnished bank vault-turned-podcast studio in the basement of the Homestead building in beautiful downtown Edmonton.
The full interview with Gil McGowan is available to paid subscribers of the Daveberta Substack
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 whole episode.
Extra! Paid subscribers can also read a federal nomination update accompanying today’s podcast about former Enoch Cree Nation Chief Billy Morin being acclaimed as the federal Conservative candidate in the new Edmonton Northwest riding.
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Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse joins the Daveberta Podcast to share why she is running to succeed Rachel Notley as leader of Alberta’s NDP and why she feels so passionately about protecting and conserving Alberta’s headwaters, strengthening childhood education, and defeating Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party in the next election.
The Daveberta Podcast is hosted by Dave Cournoyer and produced by Adam Rozenhart. This episode was recorded on April 29, 2024 in comfort of the fully furnished bank vault podcast studio in the basement of the Homestead building in downtown Edmonton.
The full interview with Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse is available to paid subscribers of the Daveberta Substack
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 whole episode.
A special weekend episode of the Daveberta Podcast
It’s rare that I send out a newsletter on the weekend but I thought subscribers would enjoy listening to a new episode of the Daveberta Podcast we recorded this week.
We cover a lot of ground in this episode of the Daveberta Podcast, including:
The full episode of this Daveberta Podcast is available to paid subscribers of the Daveberta Substack.
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Nenshi shares his thoughts on Rakhi Pancholi’s endorsement and what it means to be NDP in 2024
He’s a household name in Calgary, Alberta, and across Canada, and now he’s running to become the next leader of the Alberta NDP. Former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi joins the Daveberta Podcast to share why he jumped into the race to replace Rachel Notley.
Since Nenshi entered the race on March 11, the NDP has seen the size of its membership double from around 16,000 to more than 30,000, a factor that likely played a big role in convincing rising political star Rakhi Pancholi to bow out of the race and endorse Nenshi.
“We must move forward to offer a positive alternative to the UCP that Albertans can enthusiastically support in the next election. And I believe that means uniting behind the next leader, Naheed Nenshi,” Pancholi said in her surprise endorsement of the now perceived frontrunner.
In this episode of the Daveberta Podcast, we sit down with Nenshi to discuss Pancholi’s endorsement, what it means to be an Alberta New Democrat in 2024, his time as mayor of Calgary, growing up in Red Deer, empathy in politics and much more.
The Daveberta Podcast is hosted by Dave Cournoyer and produced by Adam Rozenhart. This episode was recorded on March 26, 2024. The Daveberta Podcast was the 2020 winner in the Outstanding News & Current Affairs Series category in the Canadian Podcast Awards.
The full interview with Naheed Nenshi is available to paid subscribers of the Daveberta Substack.
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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.
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You shared your Alberta politics questions and we answered them in our annual Ask Me Anything episode of the Daveberta Podcast.
New and recent episodes of the Daveberta Podcast are available to paid subscribers of the Daveberta Substack. In case you missed them, you can catch up on recent Daveberta Podcast episodes with Edmonton Public School Board chairperson Trisha Estabrooks, thewrit.ca publisher Éric Grenier, and strategist Chris Henderson.
The Daveberta Podcast is hosted by Dave Cournoyer and produced by Adam Rozenhart. This episode was recorded on July 12, 2023.
I joined Éric Grenier of TheWrit.ca on his excellent podcast this week to discuss Alberta’s election and the candidates who will be on the ballot on May 29. Éric was generous enough to share the audio from that episode so I can share it with the lucky paid subscribers of the Daveberta Substack.
Thank you to Daveberta Podcast producer Adam Rozenhart for editing this so we can share it with you today.
Listen to this episode of the Daveberta Podcast by signing up for a paid subscription to the Daveberta Substack.
Edmonton Public School Board trustee and chairperson Trisha Estabrooks joins the Daveberta Podcast for a broad discussion about education, provincial funding, curriculum, charter schools, student mental health and what the 2023 provincial election means for public education in Alberta.
The Daveberta Podcast is hosted by Dave Cournoyer and produced by Adam Rozenhart. This episode was recorded on April 26, 2023.
Subscribe to the Daveberta Substack to listen to this and future episodes of the Daveberta Podcast.
