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Alberta Diary

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 for the trade union movement. Alberta Diary focuses on Alberta politics and social issues.

Blog - Alberta Diary July 24
Rachel Notley and Sarah Hoffman when they were Alberta's premier and health minister -- admit it, don't you wish they still were? Image: David J. Climenhaga
Alberta NDP raises dramatically more in donations than the UCP during second quarter
David J. Climenhaga | Every afternoon we're told surging COVID-19 rates are a wake-up call for Albertans. Every morning the Kenney government sleeps through the alarm.
Blog - Alberta Diary July 23
Premier Jason Kenney and Minister of Education Adriana LaGrange during a news conference on May 28, 2020. Image: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr
UCP rush to reopen Alberta schools despite summer surge in COVID-19 cases
David J. Climenhaga | The Alberta government isn't prepared to spend the money needed to ensure physical distancing, more aggressive cleaning or even to provide masks.
Blog - Alberta Diary July 22
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney at the wheel of his rented recreational vehicle from the video of his recent Southern Alberta tour. Image: Screenshot of Facebook video
Was Jason Kenney's southern Alberta RV tour fake news?
David J. Climenhaga | On the road with Jason Kenney: Campfires and RVs, or crisp sheets and brunch on the patio?
Blog - Alberta Diary July 21
Tyler Shandro gives a press conference on June 23, 2020. (Image: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr)
Alberta government looks to side deals with specialists in war with provincial medical association
David J. Climenhaga | Efforts to explain the depth of the government's animus and aggression towards the Alberta Medical Association during a global pandemic have not cast much light on the conflict.
Blog - Alberta Diary July 20
Alberta Chief Medical Officer of Health Deena Hinshaw. Image: Chris Schwarz/Government of Alberta
Alberta now has the highest per capita rate of COVID-19 infections in Canada
David J. Climenhaga | Premier Kenney says he's making "a very strong recommendation" that Albertans wear masks, but there's no way he's going to order them to do it.
Blog - Alberta Diary July 17
Jonathan Wilkinson during a press conference in June, 2020. Image: Jonathan Wilkinson/Twitter
Federal environment minister Jonathan Wilkinson suddenly gives Alberta coal mine proposal the fish eye
David J. Climenhaga | Could Wilkinson's doubts have anything to do with the appointment of a climate change denier as a VP of the Alberta Energy Regulator?
Blog - Alberta Diary July 16
Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro during a press briefing on July 13, 2020. Image: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr
Alberta health minister tells college of physicians and surgeons it can't let doctors quit
David J. Climenhaga | Yesterday's desperation play confirms the UCP government's "war on doctors" isn't going well.
Blog - Alberta Diary July 15
Lethbridge-West NDP MLA Shannon Phillips, who was environment minister in the Notley government. Image: David J. Climenhaga
Lethbridge cops almost get away with illegal surveillance of an NDP minister
David J. Climenhaga | Left unmentioned so far in the affair is its relationship to the continuous abuse endured by female politicians in Alberta by right-wingers while the NDP was in power.
Blog - Alberta Diary July 14
Then British prime minister David Cameron, giving a speech in 2015. Image: Number 10/Flickr
From us to WE: former British prime minister David Cameron's neoliberal 'big society' concept lives on
David J. Climenhaga | The persistence of the "big society" concept helps explain Justin Trudeau's preposterous claim the WE Charity was the only organization in Canada capable of running a nationwide program.
Blog - Alberta Diary July 13
Alberta Health Minister Tyler Shandro. Image: Screenshot of Government of Alberta video
Whether or not half of Alberta's doctors are thinking of leaving the province, even a much smaller exodus would be a disaster
David J. Climenhaga | The echo chamber of UCP "issues managers" and press secretaries vilifies any doctor that talks back, and seems to be daring physicians to leave the province.
Blog - Alberta Diary July 10
Dave Rodney, still an MLA, in 2013. Image: David J. Climenhaga​
Former MLA Dave Rodney lands generous gig as Alberta's agent general in Houston
David J. Climenhaga | The former MLA who gave up his seat for Jason Kenney in 2017 is bound for a sinecure in Texas.
Blog - Alberta Diary July 9
NDP environment critic Marlin Schmidt. Image: David J. Climenhaga
Alberta NDP should be keeping the spotlight on Jason Kenney's racist speech writer, not Margaret Thatcher
David J. Climenhaga | The Alberta NDP should keep the spotlight shining where it's needed most -- including on Jason Kenney's determination to maintain a cozy space for racism in his government.
Blog - Alberta Diary July 8
Alberta Labour Minister Jason Copping addressing yesterday's "embargoed news conference" as "red tape reduction minister" Grant Hunter looks on. Image: Screenshot of Alberta Government video
Alberta's new labour law breaks old ground while undermining unions
David J. Climenhaga | Bill 32 has nothing to do with restoring balance in Alberta's workplaces. It's a wholesale effort to hamstring unions.
Blog - Alberta Diary July 7
Tyler Shandro during a June 25 news briefing. Image: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr
The United Conservative Party's health-care omnibus bill is bad, but not as bad as it could have been
David J. Climenhaga | Bill 30 opens the door to a higher degree of privatization and two-tier health care, and escalates the government's feud with Alberta's doctors.
Blog - Alberta Diary July 2
Image: Jason Kenney/Twitter
Canada Day mystery: Why was Jason Kenney's holiday message removed then replaced with alternative version?
David J. Climenhaga | Four hours and two minutes after Kenney's Canada Day wishes were published yesterday, they mysteriously disappeared and were replaced by a darker message.
Blog - Alberta Diary June 30
Alberta Finance Minister Travis Toews at a press conference on June 29, 2020. Image: Government of Alberta video screenshot/YouTube
The Alberta government's post-COVID recovery plan: we're all Keynesians, up to a point
David J. Climenhaga | The United Conservative Party's re-election bid will likely rely on claiming Alberta's economy was doing just fine before COVID-19 hit.
Blog - Alberta Diary June 29
The government of Alberta offices in Edmonton, photographed before social distancing rules came into effect. Image: David J. Climenhaga
Public service managers' return-to-workplace guide outlines plan to return public employees to government offices
David J. Climenhaga | Since the plan involves employees being required to come into the office but to act as if they were still working at home, it's not at all clear what the point is.
Blog - Alberta Diary June 29
Premier Jason Kenney, Minister of Energy Sonya Savage and Minister of Justice and Solicitor General Doug Schweitzer announce the launch of a public inquiry into foreign-funded "anti-Alberta energy" campaigns in April, 2019. Image: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr
Ecojustice will press ahead with legal action against Alberta government's secretive inquiry
David J. Climenhaga | Putting another $1 million and four more months into the Alberta government's effort may not be the best use of public money if the wheels are falling of the "anti-Alberta energy" inquiry.
Blog - Alberta Diary June 28
Jason Kenney's speechwriter, Paul Bunner. Image: David J. Climenhaga
Jason Kenney's highly controversial speechwriter is also listed as a constituency association CEO for the federal Conservatives
David J. Climenhaga | Will the federal Conservatives have a different reaction to Paul Bunner's role in their party than Premier Jason Kenney has about his continued job in the premier's office?
Blog - Alberta Diary June 26
Energy Minister Sonya Savage at a press conference in April, 2020. (Image: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr)
Alberta inquiry hasn't found any foreign-funded anti-energy campaigns yet, but promises to keep searching
David J. Climenhaga | Energy Minister Sonya Savage says the inquiry can have another $1 million and four extra months to look into Alberta's unsolved foreign-funded environmental campaigns mystery.
Blog - Alberta Diary June 25
Margaret Thatcher in York, England, in 1987. Image: christopher hogg/Flickr
'A device for dictators and demagogues': Jason Kenney should heed Margaret Thatcher's observation about referenda
David J. Climenhaga | Despite their superficial appearance of direct democracy, referenda have an anti-democratic effect.
Blog - Alberta Diary June 24
Image: Zbynek Burival/Unsplash
New report suggests Alberta is overspending public dollars on fossil fuel research and technology development
David J. Climenhaga | The study suggests the province's universities and the government agencies that fund them are helping to prolong the worst aspects of the fossil fuel era.
Blog - Alberta Diary June 23
AUPE president Guy Smith addresses media at the Edmonton Court House this morning as the union's lawyer, Patrick Nugent, looks on. Image: AUPE
Alberta union goes to court to challenge UCP law that criminalizes public protest
David J. Climenhaga | AUPE president Guy Smith vowed to fight the UCP's Bill 1 all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary, and to "defend any and all AUPE members or staff who are caught in the bill's cross-hairs."
Blog - Alberta Diary June 23
Image: Conservative Party/Twitter
The federal Conservative leadership race takes a sinister and juvenile turn
David J. Climenhaga | Probably the last thing the Conservative Party of Canada needs right now is a battle over allegations of dirty tricks between the campaigns of its two leading candidates.
Blog - Alberta Diary June 22
Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Drew Barnes. Image: David J. Climenhaga
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney should dump rebel MLA for pushing separatist screed
David J. Climenhaga | Barnes needs to be kicked out of the UCP if Kenney is to retain any patriotic credibility elsewhere in Canada.
Blog - Alberta Diary June 18
Fair deal panel members, UCP MLAs Tany Yao, Miranda Rosin and Drew Barnes (Photo: David J. Climenhaga).
Alberta's 'fair deal' panel reheats the 'Firewall Manifesto' to manufacture consent for unpopular policies
David J. Climenhaga | The report suggests the Stephen Harper-Jason Kenney wing of Canada's Conservative movement is made up of patriots of convenience.
Blog - Alberta Diary June 17
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney. Image: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr
'Fair deal' panel recommendations to be released today
David J. Climenhaga | Get ready for your first look at Alberta's warmed over 20th anniversary commemoration of Stephen Harper's 2001 Alberta sovereignty-association manifesto.
Blog - Alberta Diary June 16
Athabasca University president Neil Fassina. Image: David J. Climenhaga
Athabasca University could emerge as the Alberta government's favourite post-secondary institution
David J. Climenhaga | Athabasca University can enroll international students without them having to travel to Canada. If Jason Kenney harbours prime ministerial ambitions, he can try to sell that as a success for Canada.
Blog - Alberta Diary June 15
Demetrios Nicolaides explains his government's plan to overhaul Alberta's post-secondary education system in a video on June 12, 2020. Image: Demetrios Nicolaides/Screenshot of Twitter video
Nothing good is likely to come from the Alberta government's plan to 'transform' post-secondary education
David J. Climenhaga | Promises by highly ideological governments to enact ambitious change in institutions they have targeted as hotbeds of opposition should be viewed with some distrust.
Blog - Alberta Diary June 12
Alberta's associate minister of natural gas and electricity, Dale Nally, at a press conference on May 6, 2020. Image: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr
UCP associate minister lashes out over criticism at Pride flag raising
David J. Climenhaga | After NDP MLA Marie Renaud criticized the UCP government's track record on LGBTQ rights for students, Dale Nally expressed his outrage in a letter to St. Albert's mayor.

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