Danielle Smith’s Special Power

How does any politician endure so many self-inflicted wounds and still have a chance? It’s an Alberta thing.

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Alberta and Ottawa

At odds, no matter the leaders The Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act might have a clumsy and oxymoronic title, but you can boil it down to two words: If only. As in, if only we didn’t have a federal Liberal government under Justin Trudeau, we wouldn’t need a Sovereignty Act to protect the province’s interests. Or, if only we had…

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The Great Leveller

Healthcare reform is perilous It is the great equalizer in politics. And it will help determine who wins Alberta’s upcoming election. Say hello to healthcare reform.

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Long Live the King?

Maybe we need the monarchy. I once had dinner with the Queen. Well, me and several hundred of her closest friends and confidants in Edmonton, including politicians, journalists and other ne’er-do-wells. It was May 25, 2005, and the “gala” event inside the cavernous Northlands AgriCom (now the Edmonton Expo Centre) had all the intimacy of an aircraft hangar—and I never actually…

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How Not to Choose Leaders

The flaws of one-person-one-vote. Jason Kenney likes to say he was toppled by a coup. His complaint does have a sliver of merit. After all, his leadership was brought down by 16,660 members of the United Conservative Party in May 2022 even though, just three years before, the Kenney-led UCP captured a million votes from regular citizens to form a majority government.

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