While National Newswatch does not keep an archive of external articles for longer than 6 months, we do keep all articles written by contributors who post directly to our site. Here you will find all of the contributed and linked external articles from Rick Bell.
Premier Danielle Smith is no dummy. She is well aware the pipeline deal she made with Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday would not be an easy sell but sell it she must. There are UCP voters and UCP members motivated enough to spend a couple of days at a political gabfest in Edmonton who have had it with Canada...
The political temperature in Ottawa appears to be hot. A pipeline that doesn’t even exist and isn’t even close to existing and politicians and insiders in Liberal Ottawa are all over the map on this one. A pipeline Alberta wants, a pipeline Alberta Premier Danielle Smith wants — some in the nation’s capital can’t stomach the thought, including people who...
'We believe the government of British Columbia has to agree,' says Prime Minister Mark Carney, of a new pipeline to the northwest B.C. coast. Pierre Poilievre was ready. The Conservative leader was ready to rumble. Article content On Thursday, Prime Minister Mark Carney will be in Calgary. As reported in this column this past Saturday morning, Carney and Premier Danielle...
'Keep going. Keep going. Don't give up." That's what Pierre Poilievre says Canadians are telling him. He smiles. Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative leader, was asked how he feels. After all, conservatives had so much hope. Finally, they could see the defeat of the Liberals.
No more playing nice. For Premier Danielle Smith, it is time. Time to light a fire under Prime Minister Mark Carney. Time to cut through his weasel words. The clock is ticking on Carney, the master of talking out of both sides of his mouth. On Tuesday, in Calgary, Smith will roll out what she calls her Alberta Next panel...
Will a pipeline be considered as one of the projects Prime Minister wants fast-tracked? 'It depends,' says Carney.
You didn’t really think it would be that easy to get rid of him. No, Trudeau lives on. The spirit of the former Liberal prime minister is alive. The phase out the oilsands prime minister, the I listen to my green guru Steven Guilbeault and can’t see that he is a walking disaster prime minister, the I screwed up so...
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith plays ball with Carney unless or until he screws over Alberta
Over to you, Mr. Carney! “I haven’t witnessed independence sentiment being as high as it right now. Really, the ball is in Carney’s court,” says Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, in an interview with Postmedia. “I’m watching it. I’m taking it seriously. I think he’s watching it. I think he’s taking it seriously.
Truth be told this is not a column where the headline is shouting outrage, where Alberta against Ottawa sounds like an old-school wrestling cage match. You know the headline. DANIELLE SMITH SLAMS MARK CARNEY. Alberta premier says Prime Minister Carney is just another Justin Trudeau.
In a five-page letter, Premier Smith makes her big push to Prime Minister Carney for a west coast pipeline and dumping all Liberal anti-oil policies, in advance of possible June 2 fireworks when Carney and the premiers meet
The question. A simple question. Easy to answer if you’re not playing games. Easy to answer if your words have any meaning. Prime Minister Mark Carney will roll out his plans for the country Tuesday. King Charles III will read the script. Ottawa insiders expect it to be mostly high-minded words. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she will be listening...
'So far I'm not seeing anything to suggest there's been a true change of heart,' says Premier Danielle Smith, of Prime Minister Mark Carney and his Liberal government
What does Alberta Premier Danielle Smith want? What does Smith want right now? What does she want from Prime Minister Mark Carney? Article content Smith presented Carney with nine demands. She wants Carney to roll back the harmful Liberal laws and regulations attacking Alberta and Alberta’s oilpatch.
'If she doesn't come over to our side, well, there's going to be a problem,' says Mitch Sylvestre, leading the charge on Alberta independence and warning Premier Danielle Smith
Carney Liberals once again want to link Pierre Poilievre to Donald Trump, this time with dirty tricks of their own
'It's like saying you'll win an Olympic swimming medal with an anvil tied around your foot,' says Alberta Premier Smith, on how Canada will never be an energy superpower with anti-oilpatch laws
'I resile to no one in terms of my understanding of the West,' says Liberal Leader Mark Carney, leading people to rush for the closest dictionary.
The idea of Alberta leaving Canada is increasingly not being written off as raving lunacy
Well, no doubt about it. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is on the political warpath, with the federal election campaign expected to kick off Sunday. The premier already has a lot of demands for the new prime minister after the dust settles, either the Liberal Mark Carney or the Conservative Pierre Poilievre.
This is going to be a brawl. This is going to be a brutal battle. It will get ugly. There is too much at stake and too much bad blood for it to be anything but a political street fight.
'It absolutely is real, as real as the earth going around the sun,' says ThinkHQ pollster Marc Henry, of a polling trend showing a Mark Carney Liberal party could beat the Conservatives
We’re getting it. We’re finally getting it. Getting some of our hard-earned cash back, putting some of our dough back in our pockets. This Thursday, the UCP government led by Premier Danielle Smith will give Albertans the income tax cut they promised in their kickoff to the last election campaign two years back, vowing to make life a little more...
People I run into here in Alberta are thinking about it and talking about it. Some in quiet voices, others more openly. Few want to contemplate the possibility for very long. It is that bad. Their tone of voice is one of disbelief, usually followed by a prediction. If it happens, many Albertans will blow a gasket.
Poll shows Mark Carney-led Liberals are neck-and-neck with Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives. Other polls show Liberals gaining. Now Canada is really broken
'As premier, I was not involved in any wrongdoing,' says Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, responding to allegations of political interference in the health care system
We have questions. We have no answers. It is said we will hear from Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. Next Saturday. On her radio show. That’s Feb. 15. This column is being written Feb.7.
Canadians get 30 more days without tariffs from President Trump because people like Premier Danielle Smith and not Justin Trudeau won the day
'I think Eastern Canada has to be very, very careful what they wish for,' says Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, on using oil as a weapon in a trade war with Trump
Albertans aren’t traitors. We’re just pissed off. It confirms what people in Alberta have been saying for way too long.
Just when you think President Donald Trump is going one way, he’s going another.
'When I'm defending Alberta, I will never back down,' says Alberta Premier Danielle Smith
We know Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is not backing down. She is not blinking. Far from it.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith sure stirred up the hornet’s nest and upset the apple cart.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith draws a line in the sand, won't join Team Canada and sell out the province's oilpatch.
You want to crank up talk of Alberta splitting from Canada, folks looking at all the options beyond staying put and playing the patsy.
You’ve got to admit, it is bigger news than Prime Minister Justin Trudeau going down to Florida.
Conservative party Leader Pierre Poilievre is not a man known to pull his punches. So when it comes to the latest obscenity from the theatre of the absurd also known as the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, why would he hold back? Especially now, when the country needs strong leadership and is left with Trudeau instead. On Friday...
U.S. president-elect Donald Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau facing off for all the world to see. Oh, the chattering classes this side of the border are wringing their hands over Trump being a big bad meanie with our Justin.
Just say it ain’t so, prime minister. Just say it ain’t so. They say politics makes strange bedfellows. Still, the very thought of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Bloc Quebecois head honcho Yves-Francois Blanchet sleeping together politically makes a lot of stomachs turn in Alberta and hopefully causes all kinds of indigestion throughout much of Canada.
Pierre Poilievre says there are those already trying to paint him as one scary dude. It’s a dog-eared move out of a well-worn playbook and the federal Conservative leader insists it will go absolutely nowhere. “How can you be scared of the alternative when the present reality is bloody terrifying?” says Poilievre, in an exclusive interview with Postmedia during the...
It takes mere seconds to realize the man is dead serious. When he says the country is broken it is not a slogan for him. He means what he says. He is describing what he sees. He believes it is what Canadians see and a recent poll confirms most do. “We can’t go on like this. The situation is dire...
Took you long enough. Yes, earlier this week a swanky riding in Toronto saw the light. They really did. It was national news. Enough of these Toronto residents didn’t vote for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberal candidate, allowing Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives and their candidate to win in a byelection.
Premier Danielle Smith insists she is not looking for a fight but if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wants to drop the gloves she is more than ready to put him in his place. Smith, in an exclusive interview, makes her point clear from the get-go. Article content She is not going to tolerate Trudeau sticking his nose into the province’s...
This scribbler asks the question but I am not alone. Other newshounds figure it has to be asked. Article content After all, Premier Danielle Smith heard Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was going to be in Calgary Wednesday and so she came down from Edmonton and had a meeting with him.
Parker is still with Take Back Alberta, still raising money, running campaigns, working on what he calls game-changing projects. David Parker sounds like, well, David Parker. The Take Back Alberta main man is asked about where he thinks he stands with Premier Danielle Smith now.
One thing about reality. You can’t talk your way around it forever. You can cook up all the fantasies you want, burp up all the pie-in-the-sky pronouncements you conjure up, dream up all kinds of perfect worlds and have them swirl around in your head.
If this was supposed to be a Hail Mary pass in the direction of Trudeau's political redemption, the pass was incomplete, under-thrown, hopelessly off-target