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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 June 11 David J. Climenhaga | No one in the Alberta government appears to be taking responsibility for deciding who in fact has a legitimate journalistic reason to attend government media events. |
Blog - Alberta Diary June 9 David J. Climenhaga | Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has promised to release his "fair deal" panel's report next Monday, but it's not at all clear Albertans are going to like what they hear. |
Blog - Alberta Diary June 8 David J. Climenhaga | The size of the crowd is a telling sign of how troubled young people are by the institutionalized racism that continues to plague many countries -- including Canada. |
Blog - Alberta Diary June 5 David J. Climenhaga | Passage of Alberta's Critical Infrastructure Defence Act demonstrates Premier Jason Kenney's contempt for the rule of law. |
Blog - Alberta Diary June 1 David J. Climenhaga | In a speech in the legislature last week, Kenney referred half a dozen times to influenza, sometimes in ways that clearly tried to blur the distinction between the two respiratory diseases. |
Blog - Alberta Diary May 29 David J. Climenhaga | The Alberta Investment Management Corp.'s first quarter report is due soon, and there's going to be bad news in it -- and probably more in later quarters. |
Blog - Alberta Diary May 28 David J. Climenhaga | Dr. Deena Hinshaw told a reporter she hadn't "had the opportunity" to speak to the premier about the government's plan not to renew the state of public health emergency on June 15. |
Blog - Alberta Diary May 27 David J. Climenhaga | Canadian nurses have been warning for years about the deteriorating situation in long-term care, and the potential for catastrophe. |
Blog - Alberta Diary May 26 David J. Climenhaga | "Now is a great time to be building a pipeline because you can't have protests of more than 15 people," Savage told a podcaster at the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors. |
Blog - Alberta Diary May 25 David J. Climenhaga | Alberta's United Conservative Party will apply for funds from the federal government's Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy to keep party staff employed. |
Blog - Alberta Diary May 22 David J. Climenhaga | More than a month has passed since the UCP promised a $2-per-hour coronavirus-crisis top-up to Alberta's lowest-paid health-care workers. There's still no sign of it. |
Blog - Alberta Diary May 20 David J. Climenhaga | Alberta Conservatives always thought they could afford some rebellion to open the Overton window further to the political right. The NDP's Rachel Notley proved them wrong in 2015. |
Blog - Alberta Diary May 19 David J. Climenhaga | Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has called sinking $7.5 billion into the Keystone XL pipeline "a solid bet." But the investment is not likely to benefit Alberta's taxpayers. |
Blog - Alberta Diary May 15 David J. Climenhaga | If ever there was a time to recognize that privatization of health-care services, in particular public-sector long-term care, is a bad idea, the current pandemic is that moment. |
Blog - Alberta Diary May 15 David J. Climenhaga | Twitter users were quick to point out to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation's Aaron Wudrick that any horse hoping to defraud Ottawa of CERB funds would need a valid social insurance number. |
Blog - Alberta Diary May 14 David J. Climenhaga | University of Calgary Professor Jack Mintz, appointed in March to lead Jason Kenney's "emergency economic panel," has joined other right-wing commentators in calling for public-sector rollbacks. |
Blog - Alberta Diary May 13 David J. Climenhaga | The timing of Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Drew Barnes's tweet was especially bad, since public-sector workers are currently on the front lines battling the COVID-19 pandemic. |
Blog - Alberta Diary May 12 David J. Climenhaga | A new report finds that the 'big five' oil sands producers shipped $8 billion to their mostly foreign shareholders in the first three quarters of 2019. |
Blog - Alberta Diary May 11 David J. Climenhaga | Jason Kenney's UCP has chosen the pandemic as an opportunity for an assault on physician pay and an ugly attack on the Alberta Medical Association. |
Blog - Alberta Diary May 8 David J. Climenhaga | The Bloc Québécois leader said oil "is never coming back" while the former Green party leader stated "oil is dead." The Alberta premier called those remarks 'divisive.' |
Blog - Alberta Diary May 7 David J. Climenhaga | Kenney has an approval rating of 44 per cent, and a disapproval rating of 48 per cent, the only premier in a recent poll with a higher disapproval rating than approval rating. |
Blog - Alberta Diary May 6 David J. Climenhaga | Ottawa has the power if it chooses to use it. It has regulatory jurisdiction over any meat-packing plant that sells meat outside its province of origin. |
Blog - Alberta Diary May 5 David J. Climenhaga | When health-care professionals have been able to call the shots, Albertans seem to have mostly fared OK. But where Conservative politicians have been involved, the results are disastrous. |
Blog - Alberta Diary May 4 David J. Climenhaga | Since neither low oil prices nor COVID-19 are going away any time soon, at least Ottawa's ban on assault-style firearms gives Alberta Premier Jason Kenney something to talk about. |
Blog - Alberta Diary May 1 David J. Climenhaga | The pandemic has taught us some powerful lessons about the usual way we do business. Is business as usual where we really want to go? |
Blog - Alberta Diary April 30 David J. Climenhaga | Canadian Conservatives care deeply and profoundly about where politicians live, or even what passport they might be inclined to use -- until they don't. |
Blog - Alberta Diary April 28 David J. Climenhaga | A post harshly critical of Health Minister Tyler Shandro has appeared on a blog used as a platform by "fair deal" panel member Donna Kennedy-Glans. |
Blog - Alberta Diary April 27 David J. Climenhaga | The former Alberta finance minister did get one thing right in his Calgary Herald article: If Alberta is to survive its current bust it's going to need a sales tax. |
Blog - Alberta Diary April 24 David J. Climenhaga | No matter what Premier Jason Kenney and the United Conservative Party may wish, this story is not going to go away. |
Blog - Alberta Diary April 23 David J. Climenhaga | Last week illustrates something about Jason Kenney's UCP government: it's not just remarkably incompetent, it's remarkably unlucky too. |