Jul 19 2019 — Don Braid — Calgary Herald — In another world, at another time, a government would be in deep trouble over current voting and financing scandals. The UCP leadership vote, allegedly involving bogus email addresses, is being investigated by the RCMP, with a special prosecutor from Ontario appointed. The Mounties have interviewed five UCP cabinet ministers. One leadership candidate, Jeff Callaway, has […]
Jul 17 2019 — Don Braid — Calgary Herald — Alberta’s politics are carved in stone right now. It seems that the UCP dynasty, like the Sphinx, won’t begin to erode for a couple of millennia. That’s the prevailing thought, especially among conservatives. They earnestly believe that with a stark right-left choice the NDP will now start to fade and lose most of its 25 […]
Jun 19 2019 — Don Braid — Calgary Herald — Tuesday’s Trans Mountain pipeline approval was no whoop-de-do moment. There won’t be a Raptors-style victory parade in downtown Calgary. As Premier Jason Kenney said, the real test is construction — not the courtroom stop-and-start kind, but continuous physical progress of the pipe to Burnaby. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said several times that construction will start […]
Jun 12 2019 — Don Braid — Calgary Herald — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, bent on re-election, is already playing a divisive, dangerous game with the country he claims to lead. On Tuesday, six premiers including Jason Kenney sent him a letter warning that Bill C-69 in its original form, as well as Bill C-48, will damage the economy from coast to coast. On Bill […]
May 15 2019 — Don Braid — Calgary Herald — Take a wary look at British Columbia; a shaky NDP government, supported by three Greens, fiercely hostile to the Trans Mountain pipeline. Now, imagine the same dynamic in Ottawa after the fall federal election. Try not to pass out. It’s by no means unthinkable that the Liberals will be reduced to a minority. To stay […]
Apr 17 2019 — Don Braid — Calgary Herald — They arrived on a wind of change in 2015, only to be blown out of office four years later by an even more powerful gale. Rachel Notley’s New Democrats, with all their dreams and hopes and agonies, succumbed exactly as UCP Leader Jason Kenney said they would, overwhelmed by a united conservative bloc that is […]
Apr 15 2019 — Don Braid — Calgary Herald — This election campaign comes to no gentle end. Rather, it slams into the finish line, brakes screeching, as hot and emotional as ever. On Sunday, Alberta Party Leader Stephen Mandel charged that phony robocalls were going out with a voice that sounds like his, saying that he wants people to vote for UCP Leader Jason […]
Jan 16 2019 — Don Braid — Calgary Herald — Some Alberta fantasists thought provincial conservatives would truly unite after the mass floor-crossings of 2014, or the formation of the United Conservative Party in 2017. It was not to be. Maybe it will never be. Our homegrown conservatives are born to brawl. They’re at it right up to the eve of a crucial provincial election […]
Dec 29 2018 — Don Braid — Postmedia — “No apology if this sounds bellicose,” says UCP Leader Jason Kenney, explaining why he believes Alberta should fight back hard against anti-oil activists. The counter-attack shouldn’t just come from government, according to Kenney. He insists that industry leaders join his battle. If he’s elected, he says, “I will call in the CEOs of major oil […]
Dec 28 2018 — Don Braid — Calgary Herald — Premier Rachel Notley knows exactly where she stands on this Alberta separatism thing. “I say that my Canada includes Alberta, and my Alberta is part of Canada,” she says in a year-end interview. “We have an obligation as political leaders to find a solution. We absolutely have to find a solution. “Nobody wins in the […]
Dec 12 2018 — Don Braid — Calgary Herald — After lying dormant for nearly 40 years, talk of Alberta separatism is again boiling to the surface. On Tuesday, Premier Rachel Notley said she’s well aware of the increasing chatter about giving up on Canada. And she dealt with the question exactly as the first PC premier, Peter Lougheed, did back in the 1980s. “I […]
Dec 3 2018 — Don Braid — Calgary Herald — The imposition of oil production cuts in Alberta isn’t just the sign of a province in trouble. It’s proof of a country in trouble. The Notley government is doing this because it’s the only way to force up prices and begin closing the extreme price gap between Alberta oil and West Texas crude.
Nov 21 2018 — Don Braid — Calgary Herald — There’s long been a view in Alberta that the Trudeau government is intentionally winding down Alberta’s oilsands, and ultimately the entire fossil fuel industry. This belief has a basis in fact. Indeed, you could say it’s not a fake fact, but an honest-to-goodness fact fact. It was Prime Minister Justin Trudeau himself who said in […]
Nov 12 2018 — Don Braid — Calgary Herald — “Vile” is a mild word for John Carpay’s linking of the swastika and the hammer and sickle with the rainbow flag of Gay Pride. His comments at a Rebel gathering on Saturday were disgusting, demeaning and dangerous. Referring to totalitarianism, he said: “We gotta think about the common characteristics. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the […]
Nov 6 2018 — Don Braid — Calgary Herald — Robyn Luff left in a huff, shocking her caucus and dealing a rare blow to Premier Rachel Notley’s image as a benign and cheery leader. By 9:50 Monday evening, the NDP caucus had voted to kick her out, saying other NDP MLAs “have lost confidence in her ability to participate as a productive and trustworthy […]