Mike Schreiner – daveberta.ca – Alberta Politics and Elections

Episode 13: Doug Ford’s big win, Andrew Scheer’s deal with the Cheese Mafia, and more.

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In this episode of the Daveberta Podcast, Dave Cournoyer and Ryan Hastman discuss Doug Ford’s win in Ontario’s election, the NDP’s mid-campaign surge, and the Green Party’s surprising growth across Canada. We also tackle Andrew Scheer’s deal with the Cheese Mafia and his purging of Maxime Bernier from the Conservative front benches in Ottawa, and Ryan delves into GOTV strategies in our “so you want to be a candidate segment.”

We also talk about the latest Alberta candidate nomination news, including the Airdrie-East dogfight between Angela Pitt and Roger Millions, and NDP MLA Michael Connolly’s decision to run for re-election in Calgary-Varsity.

We also announce the results of our review contest – congratulations to Sebastien Togneri, who is the new owner of a copy of The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America by Thurston Clarke and a hand-full of Alberta politics swag, including a vintage Alberta Party t-shirt. Thank you to everyone who left a review!

The Daveberta Podcast is a member of the Alberta Podcast Network powered by ATB Financial. The network includes more than 30 podcasts, including the awesome Let’s Find Out Podcast.

You can listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you find podcasts online.

We’d love to hear what you think of this episode, so feel free to leave a comment on the blog, Facebook or Twitter or send us an email at podcast@daveberta.ca.

We are always thankful to our hard working producer, Adam Rozenhart, who helps make each episode of the Daveberta Podcast sound so great.

Thank you for listening!

Green Party of Alberta will choose a new leader in September 2018

Photo: Green Party of Alberta interim leader Coral Bliss Taylor.

It’s too small to be a Green Wave, so let’s call it the Green Ripple.

Last week, as Doug Ford swept the election in Ontario, Mike Schreiner cruised to victory in Gueph to become that province’s first ever Green Party MPP. The Greens have two MLAs in Prince Edward Island and are tied with the Liberals going into next year’s election. The New Brunswick Greens have one MLA and are competing with the NDP for third place in this year’s election. And, as most Albertans now know, Andrew Weaver’s Greens hold the balance of power in British Columbia’s legislature.

Closer to home, the Green Party of Alberta may have a way to go before it experiences its own Green Ripple. The party has spent most of its existence on the political fringe, achieving its best results in 2008 when it earned 4.5 percent of the province-wide vote. The Greens earned 0.49 percent in 2015.

But the first step to achieving any breakthrough that might be in the party’s future will be choosing a new leader.

Five months after being elected leader in a five-candidate race, Romy Tittel stepped down in March 2018, leaving the party leadership vacant one year ahead of the next election. Tittel released a statement on April 18, 2018 stating her resignation was a result of troubling internal party decisions and personality conflicts with party activists.

The party executive appointed Coral Bliss Taylor as interim leader in April 2018. Taylor is a past provincial and municipal candidate who some Calgarians may remember gave Ward 1 Councillor Ward Sutherland a run for his money in 2017.

The Green Party has scheduled a vote to choose its next leader on September 22, 2018. The deadline to enter the race is July 31, 2018.