Edmonton Journal

The Press Gallery, Edmonton Journal’s weekly politics podcast, celebrates its first anniversary on-air this week with a lively debate on roaming charges, brown envelopes and the Progressive Conservative leadership campaign. A $20,000 cell phone bill racked up in 2012 threw a wrench into Thomas Lukaszuk’s campaign for the PC’s top job and very quickly exploded into a problem for the larger PC party, as well as the government. Columnist Paula Simons, political columnist Graham Thomson and provincial af Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is it time for term limits in Alberta politics? This week on The Press Gallery podcast, the panel weighs in on Progressive Conservative leadership candidate Jim Prentice’s plan to legislate term limits on Alberta politicians. Host Sarah O’Donnell talks with provincial affairs reporter Mariam Ibrahim, content editor Kathy Kerr and city editor Mark Iype about why a politician would want to propose capping people’s time in elected office and whether this is the kind of accountability Albertans are looki Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Press Gallery #51: O’ Captain, My Captain edition We have a Robin Williams-inspired episode this week in The Press Gallery. Columnist Paula Simons and reporters Mariam Ibrahim and Sheila Pratt join guest host Keith Gerein to discuss the latest developments in the race to become captain of the Alberta Tories’ (sinking?) ship. The panelists also weigh in on Finance Minister Doug Horner’s political future, a new report on pollution in the oilsands region, and a very quiet NDP leadership campaign. As Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Press Gallery #50: Aura of Power edition Planes, trains, and… well, actually just planes: Press Gallery panelists have a lot to talk about from a very heated week at the legislature. Columnist Paula Simons and reporters Mariam Ibrahim and Sheila Pratt join guest host Keith Gerein to discuss former premier Alison Redford’s final goodbye from provincial politics, and the scathing auditor general’s report that likely helped drive her out the door. The report was one of the most explosive we’ve seen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Phantom passengers, pay bumps and protecting Alberta lakes: Press Gallery panelists take on all three hot topics this week. Columnist Paula Simons, reporter Alexandra Zabjek and provincial affairs reporter Mariam Ibrahim join podcast host Sarah O’Donnell to discuss the auditor general’s draft report leaked to CBC news that raises serious questions about former Premier Alison Redford’s use of the government’s planes and the quiet lifting of the three-year pay freeze imposed on senior civil servants i Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s making noise in Alberta politics this week? The Press Gallery, Edmonton Journal’s politics podcast, gets you up to speed on the hot topics when columnist Paula Simons, provincial affairs columnist Graham Thomson and legislature reporter Mariam Ibrahim sit down for a weekly roundtable debate with podcast host Sarah O’Donnell. The controversy over the change to Alberta’s license plates is still brewing; the Wildrose party released a new justice platform that includes a plan to end penalties a Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From Legal Aid to first aid for Alberta’s hospitals, from sex ed to senate reform, this week’s Press Gallery is a smoking hot episode talking about some of the big issues in Alberta politics this week. Health reporter Keith Gerein, provincial affairs reporter Mariam Ibrahim and columnist Paula Simons join podcast host Sarah O’Donnell to talk about the crisis in Legal Aid and why opposition MLAs worry about a backlog of hospital repairs creating a crisis of its own. Good Stuff from the Gallery wraps Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Press Gallery careens into a debate over Alberta’s new licence plate and ends up heading in some surprising directions. Is the great plate debate timed to distract us from the auditor general’s report? Is Wild Rose Country a slogan from the past worth dropping? Are there legitimate reasons to change the plates? And should we even be talking about the licence plate poll? Then, host Sarah O’Donnell leads provincial affairs reporter Karen Kleiss, politics columnist Graham Thomson and columnist Paula Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Money, money and “meh”: That’s a quick way to sum up the three topics on this week’s The Press Gallery. Columnist Paula Simons, provincial affairs columnist Graham Thomson and politics reporter Mariam Ibrahim kick off the show with host Sarah O’Donnell, talking about the state of Alberta’s finances at the end of the 2013-14 fiscal year and whether Finance Minister Doug Horner had good news for Albertans. Then there’s more money talk, this time in the health sector, as we learn about the size Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week’s Press Gallery podcast is all about new twists on common themes. Another pipeline project is under review. Where the heck did this come from and is it a project that Alberta needs? An election on the horizon causes ripples in the Wildrose camp, with incumbent MLA Joe Anglin facing a challenger for his party’s nomination. And the Progressive Conservative leadership race jumps into the education debate as candidate Jim Prentice makes a big school construction promise. This week, provincial Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Northern Gateway pipeline got the nod it needed from Stephen Harper’s Conservatives this week to proceed, albeit with conditions. Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership hopeful, Calgary MLA Ric McIver, found his campaign in hot water after participating in a march led by an anti-gay religious group. And NDP MLA Rachel Notley announced she will enter her party’s leadership race, taking on MLA colleague David Eggen. Provincial affairs columnist Graham Thomson, columnist Paula Simons and politi Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Not to be outdone by other parties’ leadership contests, Alberta’s Wildrose Party is now laying out its own new plans for what it would do if elected as government. Last week, leader Danielle Smith unveiled how her party would fund LRT projects in Edmonton and Calgary. This week, she moved to the energy portfolio, making a pitch to a Vancouver audience for a single, dedicated industrial corridor from Northern Ontario to the West Coast. The Press Gallery’s Sarah O’Donnell, Paula Simons and Mariam Ib Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A recent poll says Edmonton isn’t feeling the love for any of the Progressive Conservative leadership candidates. This week podcast host Sarah O’Donnell talks with columnist Paula Simons, health reporter Keith Gerein and senior reporter Sheila Pratt about why Edmontonians are playing hard to get. The panel also weighs in on the controversy over plans to close Red Deer’s Michener Centre for developmentally disabled adults and the $1.3 million in fines levied this week against a major pipeline company Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The silly season in Alberta leadership politics could easily be called the Selfie season, as the three Progressive Conservative candidates tour the province, taking plenty of “selfies” along the way to share via social media. This week, provincial affairs columnist Graham Thomson, along with senior reporters Keith Gerein and Sheila Pratt talk with host Sarah O’Donnell about how Jim Prentice, Ric McIver and Thomas Lukaszuk are trying to distinguish themselves. Then, the panel talks about a new report Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week’s Press Gallery is a quick study on the latest twists and turns in the Progressive Conservative leadership race and the controversies facing Alberta’s education system. Podcast host Sarah O’Donnell talks with provincial affairs columnist Graham Thomson and columnist Paula Simons about Jim Prentice’s official campaign kick-off in Edmonton, and Thomas Lukaszuk’s entry into the race one day later. Then, the trio discuss Alberta education system, which has come under the microscope so much Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After two months of lead-up, the Progressive Conservative party’s leadership race officially started on Thursday, when a pair of candidates – Jim Prentice and Ric McIver – picked up their nomination papers in Calgary and put down the first $20,000 deposit needed to enter that race. But in the days leading up to nomination day, there was as much talk about what was taking place behind the scenes as in the public eye. This week, The Press Gallery host Sarah O’Donnell, senior report Sheila Pratt, colu Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

And suddenly, it was over. The spring session of the Alberta legislature wrapped up this week with a flurry of bill passing, back-tracking, apologies and the return of Alison Redford, who talked directly to reporters in for the first time since her dramatic resignation as premier in March. In an omnibus-style episode of the podcast, columnists Graham Thomson, Paula Simons and provincial affairs reporter Mariam Ibrahim join host Sarah O’Donnell to talk everything from pension reform to zombie skypalaces Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alberta NDP leader Brian Mason announced he will hand over the wheel of his party’s leadership in October, just as word came that former federal cabinet minister Jim Prentice will enter the race already underway to lead the Progressive Conservatives. As if that wasn’t enough, Premier Dave Hancock announced the government has struck a deal with the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees – something that from all outward appearances seemed to be impossible just days earlier. There are plenty of stops o Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Just how free is information in Alberta? And how much political interference is there in freedom of information requests? There have been plenty of questions on that subject at the Legislature as opposition parties grilled the PC government and minister Thomas Lukaszuk about a memo he wrote as deputy premier about a new policy to track the release of FOIP requests. Provincial affairs columnist Graham Thomson, columnist Paula Simons and legislature reporter Karen Kleiss join host Sarah O’Donnell to debate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alberta’s Progressive Conservative caucus says it will finally scrap parts of the provincial marriage act that define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, to get in line with federal legislation and public sentiment that wants the rights of gays, lesbian and bisexual Albertans recognized. Premier Dave Hancock says the government also will introduce changes so transgendered people can change their birth certificates without having to have gender reassignment surgery. Provincial affairs reporter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices