Alberta Liberal Caucus Podcast for November 27, 2010

My colleague Tanara McLean has put together another fun podcast that illuminates the silly side of the serious issues that drive Alberta politics. The songs about Alberta politicians, including Official Opposition Leader David Swann, are a sceram. You can listen to the podcast here.

C is for cookie - and crisis

I can scarcely believe how Alberta Health Services CEO Stephen Duckett reacts to questions in this video.

If you've been following the continuing Raj Sherman story, you'll know that the Tory MLA and (parliamentary secretary for health) attacked first the Premier, then Alberta Health Services, and now former Health Minister Ron Liepert for the emergency room crisis now facing Alberta. Earlier today some reporters tried to track Mr. Duckett down, and as you'll see in the video, he responds with "I'm eating my cookie" repeatedly in a childish falsetto, at one point even shoving his cookie in a reporter's face.

I'm sure Dr. Duckett must be under a good deal of stress right now, and boy, it's really showing.

H1N1: The Next Generation

The on-again, off-again H1N1 vaccination story here in Alberta reminds me an awful lot of this early Star Trek: The Next Generation episode: poorly timed, bad plot, broadly-drawn stereotypes, arrogant antagonist, gratuitous catfight, heated rhetoric...the only thing missing are the long lineups and immunized hockey players. It's easy to imagine Health Minister Ron Liepert barking "There will be NO VACCINE!"

The Annex

I co-wrote and directed this video, prepared for last night's Legislature Press Gallery Christmas party. After a couple of weeks of hard work and stress, I wasn't at all sure whether or not the crowd of MLAs and reporters would like it, so I was very relieved when people laughed at all the right spots - and quite enthusiastically. My coworkers told me that Premier Stelmach, Health Minister Ron Liepert, and a number of reporters and broadcasters all had very nice things to say.

Whew. I was worried, because the video I prepared in 2006 was, frankly, terrible.

There are a few inside jokes here, since the video was directed at MLAs and members of the media, but there are still some chuckles for the wider Alberta audience.

I'm very grateful to Amanda Krumins, who came up with the idea of parodying The Office, to Kim Dewar, who acted as cinematographer, to Derek Volker, who handled the props and music, and to the Alberta Liberal MLAs and Alberta Liberal leadership candidate Mo Elsalhy, who were such good sports about the whole thing.

I'm most grateful to Kevin Taft, who provided the hobbyhorses and indeed the idea for the hobbyhorse scene. Kevin's self-effacing sense of humour really shines here.