Dr David Dick is fascinated by money. Ms Soapbox isn’t…or wasn’t until she tried to understand why Albertans kept telling pollsters they’re okay with the NDP’s plans for greening the environment, funding education and healthcare and protecting paid farm workers … Continue reading →
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Susan on the Soapbox: Bill 6: What are we really talking about?
“Between what was explicitly stated, and what was intended, fear and miscommunication has filled the gap.” – Rachel Notley on Bill 6 Safety is paramount. Everyone says so. And yet all hell broke loose when the NDP government tried to … Continue reading →
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Notley Reads the Tea Leaves: The Climate Leadership Plan
Last Sunday hell froze over, or so it seemed to many Albertans. Alberta’s NDP premier, Rachel Notley, unveiled her government’s Climate Leadership Plan. She was surrounded by representatives from NGOs and aboriginal groups as well as the CEOs of Suncor, … Continue reading →
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Refuges? Paris? Wait, what?
What’s the difference between these two sentences? Sentence “A”: “You terrorist, you don’t belong here.” Sentence “B”: “You might be a terrorist, you don’t belong here.” Sentence “A” was uttered by two white males who attacked a 31 year old … Continue reading →
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Brian Jean Embarkes on Post Truth Politics
“Fact-checking was a great development in accountability journalism…[but] one-off fact-checking is no match for the repeated lie.” Brian Jean, leader of the Wildrose opposition, published an article in the Calgary Herald last week. It was heavy on the repeated lie and light on everything else. Jean’s premise is: pipelines
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: POTUS Kills Keystone XL
On Friday Barack Obama refused to issue a presidential permit allowing TCPL’s Keystone XL pipeline to cross the border between Canada and the United States. POTUS Obama rejected KXL because it wouldn’t meaningfully contribute to the economy, reduce gas prices or enhance America’s energy security. He described the urgent need
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Budget 2015: The Neutrino Problem
Scientists solved the problem of the Ghost Particle in less time than it’s taken the Alberta government to come up with a creative approach to economic diversification. For 40 years Tory premiers talked a good line about diversification but with the exception of Premier Lougheed, they failed to deliver. Now,
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Sunny Ways?
“If it were in my power I would try the sunny way…Do you not believe that there is more to be gained by appealing to the heart and soul of men rather than to compel them to do a thing?”—Sir Wilfrid Laurier “Sunny ways my friends, sunny ways.” When Justin
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The Globe and Mail Jumps the Shark
We’ve reached that point in the election cycle where the mainstream media peppers us with political endorsements telling us who, in their learned opinion, we should vote for on Oct 19. Once again the mainstream media does not disappoint. The Globe and Mail, the Edmonton Journal and the
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: If Not Harper, Then Who?
“I’ve seen issues come up before that get a lot of press attention, and sometimes a photograph or sometimes a side issue can move votes, but I always believe that the big votes are moved on the big issues. I don’t believe that most people are attracted by the rabbit
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Bill C-24: An Exercise in Cognitive Dissonance
“We know Stephen Harper is a dictator in the making, but he’s convinced some people that they’re going to be financially better off under him, which is untrue.”—Margaret Atwood on cognitive dissonance. Bill C – 24 is the epitome of cognitive dissonance. It purports to strengthen Canadian citizenship by stripping
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: A Pop Quiz for Canadian Citizens
Lost in the hoopla over whether Ms Ishaq can take the Oath of Citizenship while wearing a niqab is the fact that she actually passed the citizenship test. Which made Ms Soapbox wonder: how many Canadians, veiled or unveiled, could pass the citizenship test if they were asked to take
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Santa Gets Citizenship, Zunera Ishaq Does Not
Citizenship is a serious matter, right? That’s why Santa Claus is a Canadian citizen but Zunera Ishaq is not. Or to put it more accurately—that’s why a man covering his face with a fake beard and dressed in a Santa suit was officially declared a Canadian citizen by Jason Kenny
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Can Lynton Crosby Save Stephen Harper?
Big news this week for the Harper campaign watchers—uber political strategist Lynton Crosby joined the Harper campaign team. Why this is news now and not when Crosby started working with the Harper team in March is a mystery, but never mind. Mr Crosby has a stellar record. He brought John
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: A Poll Assesses Harper’s Response to the Syrian Refugee Crisis
Nelilfu Demir’s photograph of the body of three year old Alan Kurdi washed up on a Turkish beach has taken its place among other iconic photographs that, in the words of Ryerson prof Paul Roth, have the power to concentrate the mind. Canadians are concentrating their minds on one question:
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Excuse me, your ideology is showing
When conservative politicians run out of meaningful things to say about Alberta’s NDP government they whip out the “ideology” card and last week’s debate featuring candidates vying for the seat left vacant by Jim “all-or-nothing” Prentice was no exception. The Wildrose candidate, Prasad Panda, accused the NDP of carrying out
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: What Nigel Wright (PMO) Could Learn From Andrew Fastow (Enron)
“It’s like inviting Kim Kardashian to talk to your daughters about chastity.”—Andrew Fastow, former CFO of Enron in a speech on ethics You know it’s bad when Nigel Wright could take pointers on ethical conduct from Andrew Fastow, the man who cratered Enron. Fastow describes himself as Enron’s “chief loophole
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Nigel Wright Trips Over Duffygate
“When I refer to the government as an elected dictatorship it’s not personal in any way to the Prime Minister nor to his party, it’s a reference to what’s happened, a creeping growth, an unhealthy growth of power in the Prime Minister’s Office—Elizabeth May, Leaders Debate Less than one
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The Leaders Debate: No One Won And Why It Doesn’t Matter
Tempting though it may be for those of us in the peanut gallery to rattle on about who won and who flopped in the Leaders Debate, the really important question is this: did we learn anything new about the men who would be king, er, prime minister? A healthy economy?
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The One Question to Ask a Conservative Candidate in This Election
He did it. Stephen Harper dropped the writ and we’re heading into a 78 day election campaign. Oh joy! I’m serious. I intend to have a real conversation with my Conservative MP, the ditzy Joan Crockatt. I expect our conversation to go something like this: Ding dong. (Dog erupts into
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