Jason Markusoff

While National Newswatch does not keep an archive of external articles for longer than 6 months, we do keep all articles written by contributors who post directly to our site. Here you will find all of the contributed and linked external articles from Jason Markusoff.

Alberta cabinet member urges Danielle Smith to remove health minister

Alberta cabinet member urges Danielle Smith to remove health minister

Peter Guthrie calls for Adriana LaGrange to be moved to 'another unrelated ministry' amid AHS probes. A UCP cabinet minister...

Former Alberta Health Services  CEO alleges wrongful dismissal in $1.7M lawsuit against province

Former Alberta Health Services CEO alleges wrongful dismissal in $1.7M lawsuit against province

The former CEO of Alberta Health Services has filed a $1.7-million wrongful dismissal lawsuit against AHS and the province, claiming...

Team Canada mates no more: how tariff threat put Ford and Smith on divergent tracks

Team Canada mates no more: how tariff threat put Ford and Smith on divergent tracks

As Albertans will testify after experiencing the Tory dynasty and the last couple of UCP premiers, conservatives are not all...

Lacombe-Ponoka MLA who made derogatory remarks about trans students could return to UCP caucus: Danielle Smith

Lacombe-Ponoka MLA who made derogatory remarks about trans students could return to UCP caucus: Danielle Smith

Premier Danielle Smith is open to letting MLA Jennifer Johnson back into the UCP caucus, but not until after the...

Inside the pressure campaign on Danielle Smith to make gun ownership (and more) an Alberta right

Inside the pressure campaign on Danielle Smith to make gun ownership (and more) an Alberta right

Premier Danielle Smith intends to strengthen the little-known Alberta Bill of Rights this fall to include protections for people who...

The cheers and jeers of Danielle Smith's private party summer

The cheers and jeers of Danielle Smith's private party summer

A couple of Tuesdays ago, Premier Danielle Smith's evening began with her facing heat for not rushing to ban COVID...

Helplessness and the Jasper inferno

Helplessness and the Jasper inferno

There's a wash of emotions that surely hit the firefighters having to retreat from the wall of flame, and the...

So many self-inflicted wounds, so few allies. Alberta's energy war room was long doomed

So many self-inflicted wounds, so few allies. Alberta's energy war room was long doomed

It was never really the war room that former Alberta premier Jason Kenney dreamed of. And even if it had...

Shannon Phillips targeted climate and parks action. Then she got targeted. The NDPer is now leaving office

Shannon Phillips targeted climate and parks action. Then she got targeted. The NDPer is now leaving office

The Rachel Notley government's consumer carbon tax wound up becoming a weapon the UCP wielded to drum the Alberta NDP...

Albertans think Danielle Smith is bad on affordability. Here's why she isn't paying for it

Albertans think Danielle Smith is bad on affordability. Here's why she isn't paying for it

The three most important issues to Albertans are health care, the cost of living and housing affordability — and fewer...

The 'Redmonton' party no more: Alberta NDP's base has shifted to Calgary

The 'Redmonton' party no more: Alberta NDP's base has shifted to Calgary

You don't have to go far back — 2012, or four elections ago — to find a time when the...

Danielle Smith, big government's unlikely fan

Danielle Smith, big government's unlikely fan

When Premier Danielle Smith put forth the ambition of building a multi-city passenger train network to link Banff, Calgary, Edmonton...

Can't they ever just get along, Justin Trudeau and Danielle Smith? Sometimes, yes!

Can't they ever just get along, Justin Trudeau and Danielle Smith? Sometimes, yes!

In among all the pokey words Premier Danielle Smith flung at the prime minister (and his environment minister) after meeting...

Danielle Smith bets Albertans would rather save than spend — finally

Danielle Smith bets Albertans would rather save than spend — finally

Premier pitches massive Heritage Fund as she shelves tax cut, tightens spending. There's paying attention, and then there's paying for...

NDP MP wants to treat oil like tobacco. Alberta NDP doesn't smoke the same stuff

NDP MP wants to treat oil like tobacco. Alberta NDP doesn't smoke the same stuff

New Democrat MP Charlie Angus's message this week that the oil and gas sector needs to have its "big tobacco...

Ex-mayor Nenshi loathes partisan politics. He may run for Alberta NDP leader anyway

Ex-mayor Nenshi loathes partisan politics. He may run for Alberta NDP leader anyway

Former Alberta justice minister Kathleen Ganley kicked off her bid Monday to lead the NDP, stressing her Calgary roots. By...

Danielle Smith bids to transcend politics with Canada's toughest trans youth rules

Danielle Smith bids to transcend politics with Canada's toughest trans youth rules

Premier Danielle Smith swore for months that she didn't want to politicize issues around the rights and aspirations of transgender...

Tucker Carlson brought controversy to Danielle Smith's Calgary — then took her somewhere dicier

Tucker Carlson brought controversy to Danielle Smith's Calgary — then took her somewhere dicier

U.S. commentator presses Alberta premier on convoy-related legal cases. Back at work in Alberta after two weeks of vacation, Premier...

Danielle Smith eyes an Alberta go-between for federal-city deals

Danielle Smith eyes an Alberta go-between for federal-city deals

Here's a non-exhaustive list of things that Premier Danielle Smith's government would like to know by month's end:

Danielle Smith warned about 'net-zero' 2035. Alberta power grid's woes showed up early

Danielle Smith warned about 'net-zero' 2035. Alberta power grid's woes showed up early

In white text on black boards, messages that were both visually and rhetorically stark flanked Premier Danielle Smith last fall...

Notley made Alberta NDP a winner and planted unlikely dream: winning again

Notley made Alberta NDP a winner and planted unlikely dream: winning again

For a sense of how colossal the Alberta NDP's debt is to Rachel Notley, consider this. Their three best election...

In 2024, Alberta NDP decides who it is without Rachel Notley as leader

In 2024, Alberta NDP decides who it is without Rachel Notley as leader

Since at least her days as premier, NDP Leader Rachel Notley has worn the same wristwatch. No luxury wrist bling...

A matter of time: Danielle Smith is putting in the hours to prevent UCP unrest

A matter of time: Danielle Smith is putting in the hours to prevent UCP unrest

A decade ago this coming spring, Alison Redford resigned as Alberta premier, largely under the crushing weight of revelations of...

Danielle Smith would never accept Ottawa's oil emissions rules, no matter how flexible

Danielle Smith would never accept Ottawa's oil emissions rules, no matter how flexible

It might not have mattered for the Alberta government's reaction that what the Trudeau government promised as a 42-per-cent cap...

Danielle Smith to invoke Sovereignty Act on Ottawa power rules next week, say sources

Danielle Smith to invoke Sovereignty Act on Ottawa power rules next week, say sources

The Danielle Smith government intends to put its Sovereignty Act into action next week to shield Alberta power companies from...

Preston Manning's fiction made real in his Alberta pandemic report

Preston Manning's fiction made real in his Alberta pandemic report

Preston Manning's report on the government's COVID response concluded that emergency management agencies should lead over the health department, demanded...

Danielle Smith's UCP base has big demands. She's wary of going quite that far

Danielle Smith's UCP base has big demands. She's wary of going quite that far

Alberta's premier leads a party whose most active members almost unanimously want the province to refuse to house trans women...

Alberta UCP activists want 'control' of party board — but to do what with it, exactly?

Alberta UCP activists want 'control' of party board — but to do what with it, exactly?

David Parker's bespectacled eyes widened as the leader of Take Back Alberta told fellow political activists what will go down...

Danielle Smith's pension numbers suggest bumpy ride for contributors — with cushions removed

Danielle Smith's pension numbers suggest bumpy ride for contributors — with cushions removed

When Danielle Smith says Albertans would save $1,425 a year in an Alberta Pension Plan and other Canadians would pay...

Danielle Smith's pension trifecta: Trudeau, Notley and Poilievre agree on something

Danielle Smith's pension trifecta: Trudeau, Notley and Poilievre agree on something

It's not clear if Pierre Poilievre had already devised a position on Alberta's proposed quitting of the Canada Pension Plan...

Pension becomes another Alberta-Ottawa fight. But this time, Trudeau's on offence

Pension becomes another Alberta-Ottawa fight. But this time, Trudeau's on offence

Jim Dinning, engagement panel chair: Thank you, Duane from Camrose. We appreciate all your comments on the potential Alberta Pension...

Danielle Smith's big-money sales pitch on Alberta pension plan hasn't worked yet

Danielle Smith's big-money sales pitch on Alberta pension plan hasn't worked yet

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau can usually only count on polite applause when he's talking to an Alberta business crowd. But...