Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley began her day in Calgary Friday where she announced a plan to invest $1 billion from Alberta’s Climate Leadership Plan to build a major new upstream reservoir on the Bow River.
“Because climate change is real,” Notley said. “Calgary is too important to leave it’s safety to chance.”
Later she headed to Edmonton for a Leader’s Speech at the Edmonton-Meadows campaign office, 5165 55 Ave NW.
Source:: Edmonton Journal – Politics
Math is difficult.
You may remember that ill-advised nugget of condescension then-Progressive Conservative leader Jim Prentice threw at the NDP’s Rachel Notley during the 2015 election debate.
It was a turning point in the campaign, cementing the transformation of Notley’s crew from upstart underdogs to legitimate election force.
Prentice never recovered from his gaffe. Math is difficult became a rallying point for the NDP, which went on to win its first majority government in Alberta.
Fast forward four years, and the phrase has taken on a different meaning.
In 2019, it turns out math really is difficult for the NDP.
Election math. As in, it’s difficult to calculate many realistic scenarios that add up to Notley winning a second term.
The race has barely begun and there’s a good chance it’s already over.
I don’t say this lightly or with any kind of merriment. No matter what party you might support, I believe it’s in Alberta’s best interests to have a real contest rather than a cakewalk.
But poll numbers released at the start of the campaign suggest the province is marching toward exactly that type of UCP coronation, and the only question left is how many jewels will be encrusted in Jason Kenney’s crown.
With some variance, the poll results essentially say the same thing. The NDP and UCP are waging a competitive battle in Edmonton, and almost nowhere else.
Battleground Calgary is more like Bloodbath Calgary at this point, where polls indicate the UCP has an edge of well over 20 points among decided and leaning voters.
(An Angus Reid Institute poll released Thursday showed a UCP lead of about half that size in the Calgary region.)
In the rest of Alberta, which includes rural areas and mid-size communities, the projected gaps are even more enormous. Other than Lethbridge, Red Deer and a couple of other areas that may still be in play, the UCP has this part of the province sewn up.
That gives Kenney a huge advantage to start the election.
Think of it this way.
Alberta has 87 ridings, about 35 of which can be characterized as distinctly rural. A total of 44 seats are needed to form a majority government.
In that sense, the election can be thought of like a hockey playoff series — a really long playoff series — in which the first team to secure 44 wins gets the trophy.
Because of their dominance in the rural ridings, the UCP is essentially starting off …read more
Source:: Edmonton Journal – Politics
Longer than Watergate, but much shorter than Iran-Contra or Whitewater. That’s how Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation stacks up compared to other independent probes by the Justice Department.
The investigation concluded Friday when Mueller sent a final report to Attorney General William Barr — 674 days after Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed him as special counsel to look into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. (The final number may be a few days longer, as a Mueller spokesman said staffers will stick around to close up shop.)
The next phase will begin shortly, as the Department of Justice, the White House and Congress hash out how much of the report to make public.
“I may be in a position to advise you of the special counsel’s principal conclusions as soon as this weekend,” Barr wrote in a letter to the leadership of the House and Senate Judiciary committees.
Given the complexity of Mueller’s investigation, which resulted in the indictment, conviction or guilty plea from 34 people and three companies plus several other investigations referred to career prosecutors, the probe moved swiftly. But it was also much shorter than some other notable probes by special counsels and special prosecutors in the past.
Here’s how the length of Mueller’s probe compares to previous investigations.
Watergate: 155 days
Five men were arrested while trying to bug the Democratic National Committee headquarters in June 1972, but it took several months before the Washington Post confirmed that break-in was linked to President Richard Nixon. A special prosecutor, Archibald Cox, was not appointed to investigate Nixon’s involvement until May 18, 1973. On October 20, 1973, Nixon was successful in requesting the Acting Attorney General to fire Cox, after both the previous attorney general and deputy attorney general refused and resigned. Cox’s investigation lasted 155 days. Nixon resigned nine months later, on Aug. 9, 1974.
Waco: 316 days
In February 1993, federal agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco raided a Branch Davidian religious compound near Waco, Texas, after the agency heard reports that the Christian cult, under the leadership of David Koresh, had stockpiled illegal firearms and explosives. A 51-day standoff resulted in a violent gun battle that resulted in 76 deaths, including more than two dozen children. The FBI did not believe Koresh when he said he and his followers would come out eventually, and so the FBI deposited containers of gas in the compound on April …read more
Source:: Time – Politics