At a recent town hall meeting Mr Trudeau reiterated his position on climate change. He said: “You can’t make a choice between what’s good for the environment and what’s good for the economy. We can’t shut down the oilsands tomorrow. We need to phase them out. We need to manage
Continue readingAuthor: susanonthesoapbox
Susan on the Soapbox: Marie Henein’s Take on Kellie Leitch
Last Friday Ms Soapbox attended the 2017 Milvain Lecture at the U of C Law School. It was given by Marie Henein who recently made headlines by successfully defending CBC radio host Jian Ghomeshi on sexual assault charges. While Ms Soapbox and Ms Henein do not see eye to eye
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The 2017 List
Last year Ms Soapbox made a list of New Year’s resolutions for Rachel Notley. Happily, Ms Notley delivered on the list, with the exception of resolution #4 (Ms Soapbox failed to anticipate the arrival of Jason Kenney on the political scene). Rather than rewrite the whole thing Mr Soapbox decided
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: A Double Dose of Christmas
This Christmas was unusual…even for the Soapbox family. Missy* our eldest daughter is a nurse working in Victoria. She was scheduled to work over Christmas which meant that for the first time ever the Soapbox family was not going to be together on Christmas Day. No problem we said, we’ll
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Lessons From Rex Tillerson*
If Rex Tillerson, the former head of ExxonMobil and Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, taught a class on pipeline strategy Brian Jean would be stuck at the front of the room wearing a dunce cap and Rachel Notley would be excused because she already knows this stuff. Conservative
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Viola Desmond: The Perfect Choice
Viola Desmond is the first Canadian woman to be featured on our bank notes. We know the outline of her story—Ms Desmond was arrested, jailed and convicted for refusing to leave the whites-only section of a movie theatre. Her story speaks to the pernicious nature of racism in Canada and
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Two Pipelines Approved: The Opposition Reacts (badly)
Do you have a headache? Are you an Alberta conservative wondering how to react to Trudeau approving the Trans Mountain and Line 3 pipelines and, horrors, singling out Notley’s Climate Leadership Plan as being vital to getting to yes? If so, your conservative leadership team has prepared a carefully considered,
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: It’s Electricity Week…and the Opposition Won’t Stand for it
After the events of this week it’s unclear who the Opposition is standing for. The NDP government announced it was: settling the PPA dispute over the enforceability of the “Enron clause” with Capital Power, TransCanada and AltaGas, leaving Enmax the sole outlier, compensating Capital Power, TransAlta and ATCO for the
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Running on Half a Platform
Can we stop campaigning on half a platform? Brian Jean and Jason Kenney are united in one thing—the conviction that they must free Alberta from the “socialists” and return it to its position of unparalleled greatness where it will once again become “the shining beacon of hope” to Canada
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Who Let the Monsters Out?
To paraphrase Mayor Nenshi, we must never forget how easy it is for a narcissist with a microphone to open the closet door and let the monsters out. Donald Trump, a woefully inexperienced blowhard, defeated Hillary Clinton by legitimizing attacks against women, minorities and immigrants. Donald Trump President-Elect Jason Kenney,
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Jason Kenney Takes a Page from the Donald Trump Playbook
Last night the Progressive Conservatives kicked off their leadership race in earnest. As expected Jason Kenney urged party members to “unite Alberta” (ie destroy the PCs by merging them with the rebranded Wildrose party) while the other five candidates reassured attendees that the PC party could rise from the ashes.
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The Calgary Police Service: Allegations of Harassment and Intimidation
If you’ve ever wondered why women are reluctant to bring forward allegations of sexual harassment, look no further than the furor unleashed when 15 female police officers contacted city councillor and police commissioner Diane Colley-Urquhart to discuss sexual harassment and the culture of intimidation and retaliation they’d experienced at the
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Ten Things We Learned from Trump’s Presidential Campaign
Barring a catastrophe Donald Trump will not become the 45th president of the United States. At the risk of tempting fate Ms Soapbox would like to present a top 10 list of things we learned from Trump’s doomed presidential campaign. The Top 10 List TEN: The Republican Party is in
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Sandra Jansen is right, there are Progressive Conservatives in Alberta
Yippee! Sandra Jansen just confirmed she’s running for the leadership of Alberta’s Progressive Conservative party. This is good news because her campaign will test Jason Kenney’s assertion that there’s no such thing as a progressive conservative. Kenney is peddling the line that there are only two kinds of people in
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Never Watch a Presidential Debate When You’ve Got the Flu
Ms Soapbox has the flu and missed Thanksgiving dinner last night with her family and friends. She stayed home and watched the second Presidential debate. It almost finished her off. But even in her foggy state of mind Ms Soapbox couldn’t help but notice that Mr Trump is a peevish,
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: “Post-truth” Politics in Alberta
Albertans can learn a lot about the importance of truth in politics from the Trump/Clinton presidential race. Political lies have moved beyond “misstatements” for which politicians “take full responsibility” and (sort of) apologize, to “truthiness”, a term coined by Stephen Colbert for a lie that appeals to a voter’s feelings,
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Air Horn Politics
“We’re all seriously suffering from a kind of Trump derangement syndrome…he uses up so much of the oxygen and it’s like having…a big air horn installed in your head and you just can’t get away from it.”— Garry Trudeau, the … Continue reading →
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Another Fine Mess: Thanks Stevie
It turns out the famous Laurel and Hardy phrase “here’s another fine mess you’ve gotten us into” is a misquote. What Oliver Hardy really said to the hapless Stan Laurel was “here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten us into”. At … Continue reading →
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Who should govern in times of significant disruption?
Chris Kutarna says this is the best time in history to be alive. We’re healthier, wealthier and better educated than at any other time in history…so why are we so miserable? Kutarna is a Fellow at the Oxford Martin School … Continue reading →
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Brian Jean Makes a Joke
Two things happened this week that reflect very poorly on the judgment of Wildrose Party leader Brian Jean and his supporters. The first was The Joke. The second was his apology for The Joke. Let’s take them in turn. The … Continue reading →
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