Shayne Saskiw

Neal Hancock, in mufti, with Jason Kenney

'Bernard the Roughneck' campaign has been in preparation for months, may soon target Rachel Notley

| September 27, 2016

The "Bernard the Roughneck" campaign rolled out against the Trudeau government in Ottawa a week ago has been in preparation for at least seven months, possibly longer.

However, while each of the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors, the Conservative Party of Canada, and Rebel Media appear to have been directly involved in aspects of the effort, and both Alberta's Wildrose Party and the frontrunner for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party have played supporting roles, it cannot be determined who started the ball rolling or the degree of co-operation among the participants in this piece of political performance art.

Shakeup? Lobby firms launch new publications to compete in a previously comfortable niche under the dome

David J. Climenhaga

| April 26, 2016

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At least two new lobbying firms now active in Alberta's capital have introduced legislative newsletters designed, in theory, to highlight their owners' analytical capabilities and lobbying potential.

The Annals of the Alberta Party: A mystery created, a mystery solved

David J. Climenhaga

| March 1, 2016

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It's a mystery why the Alberta Party would choose not to run a candidate in the March 22 byelection in the Calgary-Greenway riding.

"Running in this byelection is not the best use of our resources as we build towards 2019," Greg Clark, the Alberta Party's leader and sole MLA, said in a news release yesterday.

Tory-linked lobbying firm hires former CLC president, B.C. NDP minister

David J. Climenhaga

| June 8, 2015

The morning after the May 5 Alberta provincial election, the proprietors of a number of successful lobbying and political strategy firms awoke to the horrifying knowledge they hardly knew any New Democrats, let alone any NDPers who were likely to have any influence over Alberta's new majority government.

Now some of them are starting to take measures to try to fix that serious deficiency.

Keeping up with the floor crossers: Wildrose defection continues to generate plenty of heat, less light

David J. Climenhaga

| January 9, 2015

The intense furor over the defection of majority of Alberta Wildrose Opposition to the Progressive Conservative government seems to have prompted new clarifying statements from two of the MLAs widely reported to have played key roles in the negotiations between the two parties.

Lac La Biche-St. Paul-Two Hills MLA Shayne Saskiw, who remains a member of the five-member Wildrose remnant in the Legislature, told the CBC he was directed by then Wildrose leader Danielle Smith to set up meetings with the premier's chief of staff, former Alberta Liberal MLA Mike Percy.

Alberta Premier Jim Prentice is weaker today because of the Wildrose floor-crossing fiasco

David J. Climenhaga

| January 7, 2015

Surely the key message of the Wildrose floor-crossing debacle is that no one can feel confident Alberta Premier Jim Prentice will keep his promises.

This potential lack of reliability should concern anyone -- be they the premier of another province, the leader of another level of government, citizens seeking to influence government policy, members of the premier’s own caucus, or rank and file voters -- who needs or wishes to do business with the Prentice Government.

Poll says all is well in Alberta garden as disappointed Wildrosers file back into PC ranks

David J. Climenhaga

| January 4, 2015

As long as the roots are not severed, all is well. And all will be well in the garden.
— Chauncey Gardiner, Being There, 1979

Well, it worked, then, didn't it?

Enough with the fantasy Wildrose was Alberta's best opposition, already! It's baloney!

David J. Climenhaga

| December 24, 2014

One of the more irritating byproducts of mass defection by the Mudville Nine and two of their caucus colleagues who rejoined the Tory Mothership a few days earlier has been the outright wholesaling of the nonsensical claim the Wildrose Party was the most effective opposition Alberta has ever known.

Jim Prentice revealed as Hayek 'disciple'; Heather Forsyth to lead Wildrose rump; Preston Manning says he's sorry... and more!

David J. Climenhaga

| December 23, 2014

I don't know about you, but I didn't think the most interesting news tidbit yesterday was that Heather Forsyth will become the new "Wildrump" leader, Preston Manning's peculiar apology for accidentally uniting the right, the government's sneaky tuition fee increases, or even the poll showing the Progressive Conservatives lead massively despite public disapproval of their sleazy deal with the Wildrose caucus.

No, it was the breathless revelation by Wildrose-turned-Tory MLA Gary Bickman that Premier Jim Prentice is "a disciple" of Friedrich Hayek.

Say it ain't so, Danielle! Bulk of Wildrose caucus commits ritual political suicide

David J. Climenhaga

| December 17, 2014

Say it ain't so, Danielle?

Well, the Wildrose Party committed ritual political suicide today, defecting in even greater numbers to the Progressive Conservative caucus of Premier Jim Prentice than anticipated by the Edmonton rumour machine.

At the end of the day, not only had party leader Danielle Smith and House leader Rob Anderson abandoned their foundering Wildrose Party, so had seven other MLAs.

A chipper looking Prentice and an apparently tired Smith finally appeared at Edmonton's Government House just after 4 p.m., gamely trying to spin this astonishing surrender as a "unification" to a room packed with about 50 uncharacteristically skeptical and cranky Alberta journalists.

Shayne Saskiw

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