Tag: Edmonton-Strathcona by-election

What to make of Mark Carney’s meeting with Danielle Smith

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date March 21, 2025

Premier Danielle Smith speaks to supporters at the United Conservative Party Leader’s Dinner fundraiser in Edmonton on March 19, 2025 (source: Danielle Smith / Facebook)

Liberal PM expected to call federal election on Sunday for an April 28 or May 5 vote

Prime Minster Mark Carney was in Edmonton yesterday for his first visit since winning the Liberal Party leadership and becoming leader of the government. Carney met with Premier Danielle Smith, who re-endorsed Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre the night before at a sold out Leader’s Dinner fundraiser in the capital city.

The Prime Minister and Premier did not make themselves available to speak with the media after the meeting and there were no photos taken of the two politicians together, which is probably an indication of how well we can expect the meeting went (Smith’s office later posted a photo of her meeting with Ambassador of Austria Andreas Rendl, which also gives us an idea of where the Prime Minister fits in her pecking order).

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

Changing the channel on the Dodgy Contracts Scandal

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date February 13, 2025

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith speaks to reporters in Washington DC on February 12, 2025. Standing behind her are Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston, and Ontario Premier Doug Ford (screenshot CPAC)

When scandal threatens to envelop a government, the politicians spin hard

“Changing the channel” might be an outdated metaphor in a world where online streaming is how a lot of people now watch “television,” but it is a term that remains in use by politicians and political communicators to describe a strategy to draw attention away from something you don’t want to be on the top of people’s minds or the front pages of the news websites.

That’s exactly what Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party government has been trying to do since Globe & Mail reporter Carrie Tait broke the Dodgy Contract Scandal last week.

The bombshell story revolves around allegations that senior political staff in the government were involved in a $600 million procurement scandal and that AHS CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos was fired by the government two days before she was scheduled to meet with the Auditor General “to discuss her investigation into procurement contracts and deals for private surgical facilities.”

NDP’s Rob Miyashiro wins by-election in Lethbridge-West

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date December 19, 2024

Lethbridge-West NDP candidate Rob Miyashiro was joined by NDP leader Naheed Nenshi at his victory party last night in Lethbridge (source: Alberta NDP / Facebook)

Alberta NDP candidate Rob Miyashiro won the provincial by-election in Lethbridge-West.

Unofficial results from Elections Alberta:

Rob Miyashiro, NDP: 7,239 votes (53.4%)
John Middleton-Hope, UCP: 6,089 votes (44.9%)
Layton Veverka, Alberta Party: 233 votes (1.7%)

Danielle Smith’s charm offensive in Trump’s America

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date December 13, 2024

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith with South Dakota Governor and Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem (source: Danielle Smith / Facebook)

More MAGA, Less Ottawa

With the impending electoral defeat of Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau growing more likely by the day, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has embarked on her own Team Alberta diplomatic charm offensive in the United States.

Just days after American President-elect Donald Trump threatened to impose a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods imported into his country, Smith jetted off to the Western Governors conference in Las Vegas. Smith held a handful of one-on-one meetings with Republican and Democratic governors as part of her pitch to US law-makers to exclude Canadian oil and gas from Trump’s tariff war.

“I am a fan of our biggest trading partner” Smith’s told a Fox News host when she was asked on-air if she was a fan of Trump. In response to Trump’s now frequently repeated threats that Canada should become America’s 51st state if Canadians don’t like the tariffs, Smith said he was “hilarious.”

Can Nenshi charm the NDP old guard? He’ll need to at this weekend’s Provincial Council meeting

Post author By Dave Cournoyer
Post date October 4, 2024

Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi speaks at a healthcare town hall forum in Lethbridge on October 1, 2024 (source: Naheed Nenshi / Instagram)

First, the Lethbridge by-election; then the federal NDP – do they stay or do they go?

The next step in the Alberta NDP’s transformation from Rachel Notley’s NDP to Naheed Nenshi’s NDP takes place this weekend in Calgary.

NDP members from across Alberta will gather in the province’s largest city this weekend for the party’s first meeting of its Provincial Council since Nenshi won his landslide victory in the race to replace Notley.

Nenshi’s 84% win with 62,746 votes means there is no doubt who the vast majority of the party’s membership wanted as leader. But meaningfully connecting with the people in the room this weekend will be Nenshi’s next big step.

Expect a charm offensive.

Tags Alberta Federal Candidate Nomination Update, Alberta NDP, Alberta Pension Plan, Amarjeet Sohi, Black Hat Gang, Blake Desjarlais, Brad Lafortune, Brian Mulroney, Calgary McKnight, Calgary-Buffalo, Calgary-Buffalo by-election, Calgary-Falconridge, Calgary-Foothills, Calgary-Glenmore, Chemtrails, Christina Gray, Court Ellingson, Danielle Smith, Daveberta Substack, David Eggen, David Harrigan, Drew Yewchuk, Edmonton Centre, Edmonton-Ellerslie, Edmonton-Greisbach, Edmonton-Strathcona, Edmonton-Strathcona by-election, Edmonton-Whitemud, Fair Compensation Project, Federal NDP, James Cumming, Joe Ceci, Kelly Cryderman, Lethbridge-West, Lethbridge-West by-election, Lisa Young, Luanne Metz, Malik Ashraf, Max Fawcett, Mitch Sylvestre, Naeem Chaudhry Bhai, Nagwan Al-Guneid, Naheed Nenshi, NAVCAN, NORAD, Parmeet Singh Boparai, Preston Manning, Public Interest Alberta, Rachel Notley, Rakhi Pancholi, Ranbir Singh Parmar, Rob Miyashiro, Rod Loyola, Sarah Hoffman, Sayid Ahmed, Strong and Free: My Journey in Alberta Politics, Tanveer Taj, Ted Morton, The Pentagon, Trisha Estabrooks, United Conservative Party, United Conservative Party Leadership Review, United Nurses of Alberta, Will Tigley