Aug 18 2017 — Don Braid — Calgary Herald — Brian Mason, a top NDP cabinet minister, blasted the United Conservative Party Thursday for snuggling up to Rebel Media. The two main leadership candidates, Brian Jean and Jason Kenney, responded by fleeing Ezra Levant’s alt-right outfit at light speed. At the same time, they reviled Mason for suggesting they had any link at all with […]
Aug 10 2017 — Don Braid — Calgary Herald — Thursday was one bad day for Alberta politicians, both on the left and right. First, Brad Wall is leaving as premier of Saskatchewan. He’s the idol of many Alberta conservatives. The United Conservative Party was looking forward to a cross-border alliance to fight the federal carbon tax, with Wall in the vanguard. Now the new […]
Aug 1 2017 — Don Braid — Calgary Herald — “One and done,” Jason Kenney likes to say about the NDP. It’s his one-term dream for the government. A new poll from Mainstreet Research shows that if the NDP isn’t quite done yet, it’s at least half-baked. The United Conservative Party — still leaderless, with not a single policy to its name — has a […]
Jul 30 2017 — Don Braid — Calgary Herald — Charging that the NDP “poured gasoline on the fire of recession,” Jason Kenney joined the United Conservative Party leadership race on Saturday. He didn’t say anything really new, but then, he doesn’t have to. The regular stuff had his Calgary crowd applauding and hollering.
Jul 23 2017 — Don Braid — Calgary Herald — Enjoy your temporary jobs.” That was Brian Jean’s instant slam at the NDP after his Wildrose Party voted 95 per cent to merge with the Progressive Conservatives into a new entity, the United Conservative Party. Two hours later, the PCs announced their own unity landslide, with the identical majority 95 per cent. Some people might […]
Jul 22 2017 — Don Braid — Calgary Herald — Progressive Conservative Leader Jason Kenney. Wildrose Leader Brian Jean. Roll those titles around on your tongue like fine grassroots wine. By Monday, they will be out of stock. If the conservative unity referendum passes Saturday, Kenney and Jean will no longer be leaders of anything. Both parties will cease to exist as active political entities, […]
Jul 16 2017 — Don Braid — Calgary Herald — Two phenomena follow Prime Minister Justin Trudeau everywhere these days – his own monumental celebrity, and anger at the $10.5 million settlement paid to Omar Khadr. Trudeau is now so instantly recognized that he’s featured on a new episode of The Windsors, a brutally funny British comedy show about the royal family. The Trudeau character […]
Jul 15 2017 — Don Braid — Calgary Herald — In a boiling universe of hot gas, new bodies will form. That may not be a cosmic law, but it works in Alberta politics. By next Saturday we should know if the PCs and Wildrose have decided to merge into one United Conservative Party. The PCs will vote over three days, from July 20 to […]
Jun 15 2017 — Don Braid — Calgary Herald — Alberta politicians hurl a lot of words at each other. “Cowardly” is seldom one of them. But Premier Rachel Notley used it Wednesday, when she accused conservatives of ignoring anti-gay people within their memberships. “Their collective skirting of the issue is cowardly and does not in my view warrant people thinking of them in a […]
May 31 2017 — Don Braid — Calgary Herald — If there was any hope for pipeline peace in our time, it’s gone now, deflated by B.C. Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver’s attack on Premier Rachel Notley. He was patronizing, petty, inaccurate and inflammatory. Weaver gave not the slightest nod to Notley’s climate-change policy, which is far more vigorous than B.C.’s. NDP Leader John Horgan […]
May 30 2017 — Don Braid — Calgary Herald — Alberta government officials hit speed dial to Ottawa as soon as they heard the B.C. Greens and NDP have a deal to form a government. They were looking for assurance from the Prime Minister’s Office that approval of Kinder Morgan’s pipeline expansion is still solid. The answer was a firm federal “yes,” according to a […]
May 20 2017 — Don Braid — Calgary Herald — Brian Jean and Jason Kenney want to create a united conservative party but, while they’re dealing with that little chore, they’ll scratch like bobcats for the top job. The unofficial race for the leadership of the United Conservative Party was underway less than 24 hours after the unity proposal was announced. We’re talking about the […]
May 19 2017 — Don Braid — Calgary Herald — It may be possible, at least mathematically, to jam a bunch of car parts into a can, shake the hell out of it, and get a Maserati at the other end. Alberta conservatives hope so. They’ve made a rattling can stuffed with every Wildrose and Progressive Conservative fear, tension and uncertainty. They hope these random […]
May 17 2017 — Don Braid — Calgary Herald — Rona Ambrose insists she doesn’t want the prize, but, like it or not, she’s now a shadow contender for leadership of a merged Alberta conservative party. Ambrose has consistently said she will not run when, or if, the Progressive Conservatives and Wildrose come up with a merger deal and then hold a leadership contest. Her […]
Apr 29 2017 — Don Braid — Calgary Herald — Rumours of floor crossings. Talk of a Wildrose-PC merger agreement as early as this weekend. Alberta’s conservative world is still in turmoil, although a bit more private about it these days. The two-party merger committee held long and intense meetings Thursday and Friday. They’re trying for an agreement as soon as possible. The self-imposed deadline […]