David J. Climenhaga

David Climenhaga, author of the Alberta Diary blog, is a journalist, author, journalism teacher, poet and trade union communicator who has worked in senior writing and editing positions with the Toronto Globe and Mail and the Calgary Herald. His 1995 book, A Poke in the Public Eye, explores the relationships among Canadian journalists, public relations people and politicians. He left journalism after the strike at the Calgary Herald in 1999 and 2000 to work as Communications Director of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, which with more than 73,000 members is Alberta’s largest union and Canada’s 10th largest. Alberta Diary focuses on Alberta politics and social issues. Contact: albertadiary @ gmail.com

Message to Gary Doer: Now might be a good time to place a call to Ottawa, before you have to cross a picket line!

David J. Climenhaga

| May 4, 2013

The working stiffs of Canadian diplomacy, members of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers, were walking a picket line in Washington, D.C., yesterday -- which raised some eyebrows in the Imperial Capital and must have created some minor discomfort for the Canadian ambassador, a former NDP premier.

Premier explains Alberta politics to children: 'Opposition Leader, what big teeth you have!'

David J. Climenhaga

| May 3, 2013

Once upon a time, while Alberta's premier was telling fairy tales to impressionable children, some of her senior officials were spinning fairy stories of their own.

Actually, this all happened yesterday.

The premier told a group of Grade 1 students at an Edmonton school library a story about a good princess named Alison, who built schools for children just like them, and a very bad princess named Danielle, who wouldn't build any schools at all!

The Alison in question, of course, is Premier Alison Redford herself, the one telling the story. The Danielle is Danielle Smith, leader of the Opposition Wildrose Party. And maybe Redford didn't use exactly those words, but you get the general idea.

All lawbreakers will be punished … unless they happen to be Alberta Conservatives

David J. Climenhaga

| May 2, 2013

In Alberta, lawbreakers must be punished, and they will be punished -- unless, of course, they happen to be supporters of the ruling Progressive Conservative Party.

So, the government announced yesterday, it will be going after the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees for the full cost of the wildcat strike by 2,500 jail guards -- a figure the government ministers were somewhat fancifully suggesting yesterday will be about $6 million.

It was the government that blinked: Defiant Alberta jail guards have every right to declare victory

David J. Climenhaga

| May 1, 2013

Even without last night's deal with the Alberta government, Alberta's defiant jail guards would have been entitled to declare a victory in their illegal five-day wildcat strike.

And that was before the illegally striking guards reached the agreement to end their walkout largely on their terms.

Breaking News: Victory and vindication for Alberta jail guards

David J. Climenhaga

| April 30, 2013

Illegally striking Alberta Union of Provincial Employees jail guards have reached an agreement with the government of Premier Alison Redford in “discussions” that Deputy Minister Thomas Lukaszuk said would never happen.

AUPE announced five minutes ago that it had reached ago a deal with the provincial government that includes no retribution for any AUPE member who walked off the job and a full occupational health and safety review of all issues raised by the Correctional Peace officers in the new Edmonton Remand Centre.

Former Tory strategist Allan Gregg rips Harper Cons' 'systematic attack' on facts and reason

David J. Climenhaga

| April 30, 2013

Long-time Tory pollster and strategist Allan Gregg ripped into the Harper Government on Saturday for what he termed its "systematic attack on evidence-based research."

But since Gregg was speaking to the annual convention of the Alberta Federation of Labour, his startling comments went completely unremarked by Alberta's mainstream media -- notwithstanding the readily available "local angle" of an Edmonton native who did well in the big cities down east returning to his old stomping ground for a few hours.

Craziness in Alberta jails continues -- and may get worse today

David J. Climenhaga

| April 29, 2013

With Deputy Premier Thomas Lukaszuk at the helm, the stalemate in Alberta's provincial jails continued through the night with wildcatting Correctional Peace Officers still manning picket lines and the government making dubious claims guards were returning to work.

The dispute started months ago over occupational health and safety concerns about Edmonton's just completed $580-million Remand Centre, turned into a strike Friday when two CPOs were disciplined for complaining about them, and quickly spread to the province’s other seven provincial Correctional facilities.

Deputy Premier Tom Lukaszuk: The wrong man to solve Alberta's jail crisis

David J. Climenhaga

| April 28, 2013

"You know what a tense, sensitive and dangerous situation like an illegal strike at a prison needs? Thomas Lukaszuk."

So Tweeted well-known Edmonton New Democrat Lou Arab yesterday, the self-described political geek, Internet junkie, father, husband and smartass sarcastically nailing the problem with the Alberta government's borderline bizarre response to the wildcat strike by provincial jail guards at eight correctional facilities across the province.

Stompin' Tom Lukaszuk? The guy the Edmonton Sun once dubbed Mr. T. when he chased a car full of kids he reckoned were breaking the law through the snowy streets of an Edmonton bedroom community? The master of the ill-considered Tweet?

Mysterious 2011 review of Alberta Labour Code explained -- corporate influence, of course!

David J. Climenhaga

| April 26, 2013

Back in the summer of 2011, as Ed Stelmach's reign as premier of Alberta ground toward its inevitable terminal moment, then-employment-minister Thomas Lukaszuk sent around a letter advising stakeholders he was about to commence a review of the Alberta Labour Code.

It had to be done, said the minister responsible for the province's labour portfolio, "to ensure we remain competitive over the longer term."

Major players in Alberta's labour movement found this development disquieting, not because the Code doesn't need revising, but because no one in labour had any idea how such a thought had come to enter the minister's normally relatively empty headspace.

Tory Slime Machine is losing the fight it picked with Justin Trudeau -- for now

David J. Climenhaga

| April 25, 2013

Round One in the fight started with Justin Trudeau by the Tory Slime Machine pretty clearly went to Trudeau -- well, to Trudeau and the Canadian Liver Foundation.

Now, Round Two, Trudeau's riposte, a 30-second video ad released by the Liberal Party yesterday, seems to have gone his way too.

David J. Climenhaga

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