For those disheartened by the relentlessly combative state of politics in Alberta, I give you last Wednesday night in the legislative assembly. In just 30 minutes, members of the UCP and NDP joined forces to pass a law giving all workers in the province three hours of paid leave when getting a COVID-19 vaccine. “I am glad that the legislature…

The mutineers haven’t tried to seize control of the boat or toss the captain overboard but you have to wonder if they’re getting ready to abandon ship. Alberta’s United Conservative government caucus is not a happy crew these days. In fact, on Wednesday, more than a dozen of them took a step unprecedented in Alberta’s political history by joining together…

I’m pretty sure this is 2021 but I’m beginning to wonder if I’m back in 2009. A troubling sense of déjà vu began descending on Tuesday during a news conference where Alberta politicians touted a government-supported technological solution to human-made climate change. Say hello again to carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), now under a new alias: carbon capture utilization and…

He is a one-man minefield—set to explode whenever Premier Jason Kenney makes a misstep. And there’s not much Kenney can do to defuse him. Say hello to Drew Barnes, United Conservative MLA for Cypress-Medicine Hat.

Before delivering the new provincial budget Thursday, Alberta Finance Minister Travis Toews bought himself new cowboy boots. A pair of ballet shoes would have been more appropriate. Toews’s budget does a lot of dancing, much of it on eggshells. This is a budget that is afraid of suffering another embarrassing pratfall like the one performed last year when Toews tabled…