Tag: Demetrios Nicolaides

Alberta librarians and library boards quick to respond to Bill 28

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date May 13, 2026

The speed at which librarians and the community volunteers who sit on local public library boards across Alberta responded to Williams’ bill was swift.

The Town of Mayerthorpe Library Board took on Williams’ principal claims straight on in a statement published by the Mayerthorpe Freelancer:

The Mayerthorpe Public Library does not have pornographic material for children, nor does any other public library in Alberta. Our collection is guided by a board-approved collection development policy and is informed by professional library standards. Materials are catalogued and shelved appropriately by age. The library board has a formal process for patrons to request reconsideration of items – a process that has never been used in our community.

The Town of Olds Library board expressed concern that several aspects of a proposed bill could curtail library board autonomy and intimidate staff.

Read the rest on the Daveberta Substack

Tags Alberta Book Ban, Bill 28 Municipal Affairs and Housing Statutes Amendment Act, Canmore Public Library, Coalition of Alberta Public Libraries, Dan Williams, Danielle Smith, Demetrios Nicolaides, Joseph Schow, Town of Mayerthorpe Library Board, Town of Olds Library Board, United Conservative Party

Alberta Politics

Dan Williams’ Bill 28 aims to undermine public trust in public libraries and librarians

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date May 12, 2026

Minister of Municipal Affairs Dan Williams speaks to reporters on April 2, 2026 (screenshot: Government of Alberta / YouTube)

In the age of Artificial Intelligence, algorithms, easily spread misinformation, and privately owned social media platforms, who better is there to trust in our society than librarians? Like teachers and other educators, professional librarians and library staff are on the frontlines of the fight to preserve and protect credible public information and knowledge.

Public libraries are probably one of the last truly public spaces we have in our communities. They aren’t a private space that you have to pay to access by buying a ticket, membership, or a coffee. Public libraries are for everyone – and they offer much more than books. They provide programming for kids and adults, courses, resources, and a place for community gatherings.

Read all about it on the Daveberta Substack

Alberta Politics

Hard to Recall: Fast approaching deadlines for recall petitions targeting UCP and NDP MLAs

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date February 3, 2026

UCP MLAs Brandon Lunty, Ron Wiebe, Justin Wright, Jackie Lovely and Searle Turton at the Premier’s K-Days BBQ in 2025. Wiebe, Wright, Lovely and Turton are among the 26 MLAs facing recall campaigns (source: United Conservative Caucus / Facebook)

Will any MLAs lose their jobs because of these direct democracy campaigns? (Probably not)

It was always going to be really hard.

Two of the 26 recall campaigns launched against United Conservative Party and New Democratic Party MLAs have been submitted to Elections Alberta and have fallen short of the number of signatures needed to force a recall vote in those ridings.

The law introduced by the UCP government in 2021 allows a recall election to happen in a riding where petitioners are able to gather the in-person signatures amounting to at least sixty-percent of the number of people who voted the riding in the last provincial election. They only have three months to do it.

That’s a lot of signatures and not a lot of time.

Overturning a free and fair democratic election isn’t something that should be easy to do and, regardless of how you feel about the current government or how MLAs have behaved or misbehaved, they won their election three years ago fair and square.

Will Danielle Smith call an early election in Alberta?

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date January 22, 2026

Minister of Hospital and Surgical Health Services Matt Jones and Premier Danielle Smith at a government press conference in December 2025 (source: Alberta Newsroom / Flickr)

After months of speculation, Premier Danielle Smith said during her 2025 year-end interviews that she isn’t planning to call an early election in 2026, but anyone who pays attention to politics knows: circumstances change.

The next provincial general election is scheduled to happen in October 2027 but there continues to be wide speculation that an early election could be called — and there are plenty of reasons to believe why.

Smith’s UCP remains ahead of Naheed Nenshi’s Alberta NDP in the polls and the governing party continues to raise large amounts of donations. And there is little doubt that Smith remains one of the most effective and shrewd political communicators in Alberta and in Canada’s conservative movement.

Read all about it on the Daveberta Substack

Tags Abi Johnson, Abigail Johnson, Alberta Election 2026, Alberta Election 2027, Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission, Alberta Electoral Map, Alberta Health Services, Alberta NDP, Alberta Politics Substack, Alberta Prosperity Project, Alberta Separation Referendum, Alberta Separatism, Athana Mentzelopoulos, Avi Lewis, Battle River-Crowfoot, Ben Shapiro, Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul, Calgary-Bow, Calgary-Bow MLA Recall Campaign, Calgary-Shaw, Calgary-Shaw by-election, Canada as the 51st State, Canada Election Substack, Coal Mining, Coal Mining Referendum, Corb Lund, Danielle Smith, Daveberta Substack, Dawn Farrell, Demetrios Nicolaides, Dodgy Contracts Scandal, Donald Trump, Doug Wylie, Edmonton Riverbend by-election, Edmonton-Riverbend, Edmonton-Strathcona, Federal NDP leadership race 2026, Forever Canadian, Grant Hunter, Greenland, Heather McPherson, Major Projects Office, Mark Carney, Matt Jeneroux, Matt Jones, Mickey Amery, Minister of Hospital and Surgical Health Services, Mitch Sylvestre, MLA Recall in Alberta, Naheed Nenshi, Nathan Cooper, Nicholas Maduro, Pierre Poilievre, Rebecca Schulz, Recall Act, Rob Ashton, Taber-Warner, Tanille Johnston, Thomas Lukaszuk, Tony McQuail, United Conservative Party

Alberta Politics

Top 10 Daveberta columns of 2025

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date December 29, 2025

Alberta’s Legislature Building through the view of a broken glass panel in summer 2025 (credit: Dave Cournoyer)

It has been a big year in Alberta politics and a big year for Daveberta. Canada had a federal election, there was no shortage of news and (frequently troubling) political maneuvering in Alberta, Calgary and Edmonton elected new mayors, and I marked 20 years since launching my original blog and starting to write about Alberta politics online.

I’m taking it easy this week to enjoy the Christmas break with my family and friends but I did take a few moments to look at some of the top columns I published this year and wanted to share that list with you today.

Using Substack’s metrics, which combine traffic, likes and subscriptions generated, here are the top 10 columns I published in 2025.

Read all about it on the Daveberta Substack

Alberta Politics

4 ways Danielle Smith’s UCP could react to the Forever Canadian citizen initiative

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date December 2, 2025

Has Thomas Lukaszuk’s pro-Canada petition boxed in Danielle Smith on Alberta separatism?

If there is one big takeaway from last weekend’s United Conservative Party annual general meeting it’s that the separatist movement in Alberta is deeply intrenched in the governing party.

From jeers and cheers to at least half the board candidates endorsed by the separatist Alberta Prosperity Project getting elected, the weekend gathering was a showcase of how influential Alberta’s most prominent separatists are in Premier Danielle Smith‘s UCP.

Alberta Politics

Total Recall: Nine UCP MLAs now facing recall petitions in their ridings

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date November 25, 2025

UCP MLA Dale Nally faces a recall campaign in Morinville-St. Albert (source: CTV)

MLA Dale Nally lashed out at constituent organizing recall effort in Morinville-St. Albert

And then there were nine.

Elections Alberta approved the start of six additional MLA recall campaigns yesterday, adding to the list of three already ongoing recall efforts against United Conservative Party MLAs Demetrios Nicolaides in Calgary-Bow, Angela Pitt in Airdrie-East, and Nolan Dyck in Grande Prairie.

The local organizers now have until February 22, 2026 to collect in-person signatures to recall UCP MLAs Myles McDougall in Calgary-Fish Creek, Ric McIver in Calgary-Hays, Muhammad Yaseen in Calgary-North, Rajan Sawhney in Calgary-North West, RJ Sigurdson in Highwood, and Dale Nally in Morinville-St. Albert.

Premier Aberhart targeted with MLA recall in Okotoks-High River

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date November 15, 2025

It wasn’t until September 1937 that a formal application to start a recall petition against Premier William Aberhart in his Okotoks-High River riding was filed and submitted with the required $200 deposit (which is around $4,000 in current dollars).

“The said member, Hon. William Aberhart, has failed to implement promises and representations made by him to the electors prior to the election. He has supported government policies and enactment of statutes detrimental to the province and has lost the conference of the electorate of Okotoks-High River electoral division,” read the application submitted on September 20, 1937.

Alberta MLAs Joseph Beaudry and James Hansen the first MLA recall targets

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date November 15, 2025

Premier William Aberhart usually gets credit for being the first Alberta MLA to face the threat recall but that honour actually belongs to St. Paul MLA Joseph Beaudry and Taber MLA James Hansen.

Alberta’s first MLA recall experiment spiked when Premier Aberhart targeted

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date November 10, 2025

William Aberhart was Premier of Alberta from 1935 to 1943.

Social Credit’s recall law lasted 18 months on the books before it was repealed

A recent proliferation of MLA recall campaigns has fuelled speculation that Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party government could repeal the law, just like Premier William Aberhart did when his party’s MLAs faced recall campaigns 88 years ago.

Aberhart’s Social Credit government passed a recall law in April 1936 and then repealed it in October 1937 after the Premier was targeted by voters in his own riding.

Read all about it on the Daveberta Substack

Tags 1937 Social Credit Backbenchers' Revolt, Accurate News and Information Act, Airdrie-East MLA Recall Campaign, Alberta Politics Substack, Alberta Recall Election, Alberta Social Credit Party, Angela Pitt, Calgary-Bow MLA Recall Campaign, Calgary-Hays, Calgary-Lougheed, Calgary-North, Calgary-North West, Camrose, Canada Election Substack, Dale Nally, Danielle Smith, Daveberta Substack, Demetrios Nicolaides, Ed Gibbons, Ernest Manning, Gary Dickson, Grande Prairie, Highwood, Jackie Lovely, James Hansen, Joseph Beaudry, Karen Leibovici, Kaycee Madu, Ken Nicol, Laurence Decore, Leela Aheer, Mark Smith, MLA Recall in Alberta, Morinville-St. Albert, Muhammad Yaseen, Myles McDougall, Nolan Dyck, Operation Total Recall, Paul Hinman, Preston Manning, R.J. Sigurdson, Rajan Sawhney, Ric McIver, Searle Turton, Spruce Grove-Stony Plain, United Conservative Party, Wildrose Party, William Aberhart

Alberta Politics

Alberta is Recalling. UCP MLA Angela Pitt facing recall campaign in Airdrie-East

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date November 9, 2025

Airdire-East MLA Angela Pitt (source: Angela Pitt / Facebook)

Also: Look who’s running in the UCP AGM board elections

An MLA Recall law championed by United Conservative Party MLAs four years ago is coming back to haunt some of those politicians today.

A second recall campaign launched this month aims to recall UCP MLA Angela Pitt in her suburban Airdrie-East riding north of Calgary. Pitt is the second MLA to face a recall effort in recent weeks with a similar campaign being launched by constituents of Calgary-Bow UCP MLA and Minister of Education and Childcare Demetrios Nicolaides in October.

Danielle Smith’s job approval drops, Naheed Nenshi gets a bump

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date November 2, 2025

United Conservative Party Premier Danielle Smith’s own approval rating took a beating as well. The Premier saw her job approval drop from 44 per cent in May to 38 per cent this month. And, for the first time, that puts Smith below NDP leader Naheed Nenshi, who saw his approval jump up to 43 per cent in the same period.

Taking his seat in the Legislature this week, it definitely felt like Bill 2 gave Nenshi an opportunity to step into the spotlight and he didn’t disappoint.

UCP fumbling primed Albertans to support the teachers’ strike

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date November 1, 2025

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith (right) was photographed sitting at the Calgary International Airport while UCP MLAs were still in the Legislature pushing through Bill 2 on Monday night. Smith is spending the week in Saudi Arabia and Dubai. (photo: publicinterestalberta / Instagram)

Danielle Smith left for Saudi Arabia before invoking Notwithstanding Clause

The fall session of the Legislature started on Monday and Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party government wasted no time pushing through its legislation to force striking Alberta teachers back to work.

In a severely time-limited debate that took less than 12 hours in total, UCP MLAs voted on third reading to pass Bill 2: Back to Work Act at around 2:00 a.m. on Tuesday.

The bill imposed a new contract on 51,000 striking teachers until 2028, threatened hefty fines for any teachers who dared defy the UCP’s rushed law, and used the constitutional sledgehammer known as the Notwithstanding Clause to suspend teachers’ and the Alberta Teachers’ Associations’ rights to collective bargaining under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Where is Nenshi? He’s in the Legislature.

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date October 26, 2025

One of the biggest questions I get asked about Alberta politics these days is “where is Nenshi?”

Well, former mayor of Calgary and current Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi now has a seat in the Assembly and will be spending some time getting acquainted with what levers of the legislative process are available to opposition leaders.

While there will be a temptation to put extra effort into sparring with Smith and scoring points in Question Period, the NDP need to reintroduce a curiously absent Nenshi to Albertans and figure out what their pitch is to the province’s voters — and then get out there and sell it.

Nenshi’s decision to shuffle Sherwood Park MLA Kyle Kasawski into the role of Shadow Minister for Affordability and Utilities this week is a good start.

Campaign to recall UCP MLA Demetrios Nicolaides begins in Calgary-Bow

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date October 24, 2025

Minister of Education and Childcare Demetrios Nicolaides (foreground) and Minister of Finance Nate Horner (background) (source: Government of Alberta / Flickr)

As teachers rallied outside the Legislature, Minister of Education and Childcare Demetrios Nicolaides learned he will face the first MLA recall campaign since the UCP passed the law in 2021.

Nicolaides’ opponents will need to collect 16,006 signatures from residents in the Calgary-Bow riding he has represented since 2019. The number of required signatures represents 60 per cent of the total number of voters in the last provincial election in the riding.