Once upon a time, not so long ago, Alberta’s New Democrats hoped Premier Jason Kenney would not stay long in provincial politics. They longed for the day he’d use his election victory in Alberta to catapult himself back to his first love: federal politics. But they dream of that no more. Not because Kenney has made it clear he is…

If nothing else, Alberta’s UCP government has proven itself remarkably efficient. This week it passed a piece of legislation — Bill 22 — that managed to infuriate teachers, upset democracy and prompt a warning from the province’s ethics commissioner. And the government did all this in a matter of days. Hours, really. Opposition leader Rachel Notley called Bill 22 an…

Politics in Alberta is taking a turn from the bizarre to the surreal to the dangerous. On Monday, the UCP government announced its new Bill 22 would eliminate Lorne Gibson’s job as the province’s independent election commissioner. The news hit like a bombshell. Gibson has been investigating fiscal wrongdoing in the UCP’s 2017 leadership race, and has so far levied…

Anyone who says a leopard can’t change its spots has never met an Alberta provincial politician. Over the years the spot-changing has included Liberal MLAs who “crossed the floor” to become Conservatives, a New Democrat who became a Conservative, a Conservative who became a New Democrat, Conservatives who became Wildrosers, and, in the infamous stampede of 2014, 11 Wildrosers who became…