Edmonton Journal

NDP Transportation Minister Brian Mason joins Emma Graney on this this week's interview. The long time MLA and for party leader is retiring this spring, and he reflects on years fighting in opposition trenches before capping his career in government. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Sarah O'Donnell fills in as host and is helped along the way with Keith Gerein, Clare Clancy and Dave Breakenridge. The Gallery tackles the controversy swirling around where UCP leader Jason Kenney lived while a federal MP. The team also looks at party fundraising and high profile NDP MLAs who will not be running in the upcoming election. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matt Jeneroux, the Conservative MP for Edmonton Riverbend, stops by the studio this week for a wide ranging interview to talk about a busy year ahead in the world of federal and provincial politics. What does Jeneroux think of the idea of Alberta separation? How would a Conservative government in Ottawa have the country further ahead on pipelines? What is the party's alternative to a carbon tax when it comes to fighting climate change? Take a listen to the episode to find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week in Alberta politics saw the release of the 2019 legislature session calendar (there will be a throne speech, mark it down for March 18) and more shenanigans added to the ever-growing list of political intrigue in the lead-up to the election. Join Press Gallery host Emma Graney with guests Keith Gerein, Clare Clancy and Dave Breakenridge to talk about what the session calendar means for election timing, and go over the four biggest instances of internal party chicanery. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Edmonton's mayor sat down with city columnist Elise Stolte for this week's The Press Gallery interview, pondering the risks for Edmonton in this upcoming provincial election, explaining the math behind the new provincial city funding deal, and taking a stand on the carbon tax. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Bighorn Country proposal rocketed into Alberta Politics news this week, starting with Environment Minister Shannon Phillips cancelled public consultations citing security concerns and ending with demands for her resignation. Join Press Gallery host Emma Graney with guests Clare Clancy, Keith Gerein and Elise Stolte to talk about how and why the issue got out of hand. The team also chats about the Case of the Missing Photo Radar Report. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Regular Press Gallery listeners will recognize this week's interviewee, who sits down to talk with host Emma Graney about being one of Canada's newest senators and what exactly happened with the vote on Bill c-69. Independent Alberta Senator Paula Simons joins us for the first Press Gallery Interview of 2019 to talk about life in the centre block and why Twitter caused her to miss out on sandwiches. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the first episode of 2019, the Press Gallery podcast team takes a look at the ream of official complaints being filed inside the world of Alberta politics. Over Christmas we had the UCP lodge an official complaint to the Election Commissioner about foreign funding to left-leaning third-party advertiser Progress Alberta, and Freedom Conservative leader Derek Fildebrandt doing the same about a donation in kind he made to Jason Kenney. Then, to kick off the new year, Alberta Party MLA Karen McPherson comp Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Press Gallery’s final episode of 2018 features a chat with a man who is under fire for the struggles of Alberta’s energy industry: Amarjeet Sohi. The Trudeau government’s natural resources minister has been in the spotlight since July, when he was appointed to the role that is overseeing the (delayed) construction of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. Sohi talks about Ottawa’s progress on conducting “meaningful” consultations with Indigenous communities needed to get the pipeline back o Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As is the tradition for the final Press Gallery panel podcast of the year, this week the team looks back at 2018 for the annual news quiz. Join host and quizmaster Emma Graney with contestants Clare Clancy, Keith Gerein and Dave Breakenridge to find out who remembers the most about what happened over the past 12 months in Alberta politics. Play along at home to pit your wits against Edmonton Journal politicos. Merry Christmas and happy new year from all of us in the Press Gallery studio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The fall legislative session is over, but the oil price crash and its impact on Canadian coffers is nowhere near done. Join Press Gallery host Emma Graney with guests Chris Varcoe, Dave Breakenridge and Keith Gerein to talk about Premier Rachel Notley's decision to curtail oil production, what that means for Alberta and reaction from the oil and gas sector. The team also takes a look at a couple of United Conservative nomination races in Calgary — Peter Singh, who is accused of buying votes with cash an Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alberta Liberal Leader David Khan joins host Keith Gerein. Leading a party in a fight for its political life, Khan discusses how he hopes to attract Albertans' attention in the next election with a unique platform, the prospects of a merger with the Alberta Party, and his party's relationship with the federal Liberals. The conversation delves into health care issues, particularly wait times for ambulance crews and whether decriminalization could be a solution to the opioid crisis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Between the oil differential and Premier Rachel Notley's commitment to buying rail cars to ship black gold, it was oil, oil, oil in Alberta politics this week. Join Press Gallery host Emma Graney with guests Chris Varcoe, Dave Breakenridge and Keith Gerein to talk about what's happening with the glut and what all this means for the province's coffers. Speaking of oil prices and the hit to the Alberta's books, Edmonton and Calgary will see their funding tied to provincial revenues under a new deal inked th Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former backbench NDP MLA Robyn Luff has sparked a debate on the role of parties in Alberta politics. Luff began the fall session by refusing to sit in the legislature, protesting what she called a “culture of fear and intimidation” in the NDP that doesn’t let MLAs properly represent their constituents. In a series of open letters, Luff outlined her complaints against party brass, including Premier Rachel Notley, and said she wouldn’t return until the culture changed. She was booted from the party Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rural crime reports are the hottest new thing in Alberta politics — the NDP has a strategy and the UCP and federal Conservatives each have a report about their planned approaches to tackle rural crime. Join Press Gallery host Emma Graney with guests Clare Clancy, Keith Gerein, Dave Breakenridge and Juris Graney to take a closer look at what that means for Albertans. The team also discusses the latest developments in MLA harassment, Robyn Luff's return to the house and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's vis Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Deputy premier Sarah Hoffman has been an avid listener of the Press Gallery podcast, and so we hoped to have her on as our first ever guest for the new Press Gallery Interview format we launched last month. Scheduling difficulties couldn't make that happen, but she is the first woman to join us on the show. This week she stops by the Edmonton Journal studio to talk about her role as the "attack dog" for the NDP government, concern over rising wait times for some health services and controversy over Covenan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gay-straight alliances in schools, UCP member John Carpay comparing the rainbow flag to the swastika, and yet another crash in oil prices — it's been a strange old week in Alberta politics. Join Press Gallery host Emma Graney with guests Clare Clancy, Dave Breakenridge and Sarah O'Donnell to take a look at the week that was, and what it all means for Alberta politics. Good Stuff from the Gallery Clare's pick: Season 3 of Life and Death Row, currently playing on Netflix, which explores the plan to exe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Keith Gerein talks with the MLA from Vermilion-Lloydminster — Richard Starke. Starke has seen the legislature from virtually all sides. He was both a backbencher and cabinet minister in the former Progressive Conservative government, was part of an opposition caucus, and now sits as an independent MLA after deciding not to join the United Conservative Party. From those vantage points, Starke has seen a rise in hyper-partisanship in recent years, an issue highlighted this session by former NDP MLA Robyn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alberta politics this week wasn't dominated by legislation and debate — it was Calgary-East MLA Robyn Luff who captured attention with her protest about treatment at the hands of NDP brass. Luff went public with her complaints about message control, whipped votes and bullying on Monday, and developments continued all week. Join Press Gallery host Emma Graney with guests Clare Clancy, Keith Gerein and Elise Stolte to talk about Luff and changes to municipal election finance laws. The team also takes on Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

UCP house leader Jason Nixon, the MLA for Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre joins host Keith Gerein in the studio to cover a variety of topics. Nixon discusses why he's been the only party leader (so far) talking to the media during the fall session, and offers his views on how the UCP is handling people with extreme views who seem to be attracted to the party. Health care wait times are also on the agenda, along with a new legislature drama involving an NDP backbencher who alleges bullying and intimidat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices