We are not getting much provincial leadership in Canada these days. Despite liking both Andrew Furey in Newfoundland and Labrador and John Horgan of B.C., I cannot say much for the premiers in the mushy middle. I must admit that I really dislike Doug Ford of Ontario and Jason Kenney
Continue readingTag: Alberta
Dead Wild Roses: Alberta: Low Vaccination Turnout While Front Line Workers Go Without.
Statistics are a part of our lives. Sadly, most people do not have a clue how they work and how they are to be interpreted. Our conservative government here in Alberta continues to find unique and exciting new ways to drop the ball when it comes to dealing with the
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others (The Alberta Edition)
In KenneyLand (aka Alaberta or Bertabama), it seems that there are two sets of rules at play. First, let me introduce you to the saga of GraceLife Church in Parkland County. This organization has been holding services and ignoring public health orders since Fall of 2020. The province has
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Alberta GraceLife Covid Church Finally Shut Down
Organized religion makes people stupid. This is a tale of a church and congregation in Alberta that kept going without following any public health guidance, as if we were not in a pandemic and that everything was right as rain. Reminds me of the religious wisdom available circa 1347:
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Alberta government fails school curriculum
To comment on the new school curriculum proposed by Alberta’s Department of Education, I’ll do something it apparently didn’t. I’ll rely on experts. Specifically, four professors who teach in the Curriculum and Learning specialization at the University of Calgary’s Werklund School of Education. Earlier this week they wrote an op-ed
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Canute-like Kenney confronts Canadians.
In the supposedly moralistic story of King Canute of the North Sea Empire, Canute was demonstrating that even a king could not control the tides. It is somewhat strange that premier Jason Kenney of Alberta never paid attention to this story when in grade school. Instead, Kenney challenges the facts
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Alberta—big winner of Covid relief
The Covid pandemic has, among other things, reminded us that we are indeed “all in it together,” requiring government leadership and assistance unprecedented in recent history. According to a report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, “federal and provincial governments have announced almost $600-billion in spending commitments across 849
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Katie Raso describes the coronavirus pandemic as the neoliberal Chernobyl, having exposed how we’re not only unable to respond to a disaster in progress – though it’s worth adding the even more alarming reality that we’re even falling short of consensus as
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Mr. Kenney, take back control of the damn tax!
It’s encouraging to hear someone in the upper reaches of the Canadian establishment recognize reality. Ruling on the appeal by Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan against the federal carbon tax, the Supreme Court stated, “Climate change is real. It is caused by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resulting from human activities, and
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: The 2021 alberta budget
On 25 February 2021, Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party government tabled its third budget, announcing very few major changes to either spending or taxation, while also projecting a deficit of $18.2 billion for the 2021-22 fiscal year. I’ve written an 900-word overview of the budget here.
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Shannon Phillips and the Lethbridge cops
Women in politics are routinely subjected to hate mail from assorted misogynists. Lethbridge-West MLA Shannon Phillips is no exception. According to her constituency assistant, “We used to say that if we hadn’t been called a bitch by nine in the morning, we weren’t at work yet.” It continues today, but it
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: With a heavy heart…
I haven’t been blogging these last couple of weeks because Fran, my mother, had to go to the hospital. She had an persistent UTI, which upon further investigation at the University of Alberta Hospital also coincided with a pneumonia. Fran was already suffering from the damage of two previous heart
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Kenney opts for debt over taxes.
It seems obvious that premier Jason Kenney of Alberta is a strange sort of conservative. His and previous conservative regimes in Alberta have managed to piss away another fortune in resources royalties because of their fear of balanced taxing of the voters of Alberta. It is hard to compare the
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Sensible Alberta voice appointed to Net-Zero Advisory Body
I was pleased to hear that the Pembina Institute’s executive-director, Linda Coady, has been appointed to the federal government’s new Net-Zero Advisory Body. The body is an independent group of 14 experts who will provide advice to the government on the best ways for the country to achieve net-zero greenhouse
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Lauren Krugel reports on a push by Alberta doctors to avoid the further lifting of public health restrictions which will increase the risk of COVID-19 transmission. Sarah Zhang notes that we’re just now seeing a return to widespread recognition of the importance of
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Alberta business proposes more taxes
We don’t generally think of proposals for more taxes coming from the business community but that’s exactly what happened in Alberta this week. The Business Council of Alberta has issued a report, Towards a Fiscally Sustainable Alberta, saying that the province not only needs a harmonized sales tax but it
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: An apology to Gillian Steward.
Fair is fair. For years I have thought that Gillian Steward, a freelance journalist in Calgary who frequently writes for the Toronto Star, was an apologist for the oil interests. Her scathing indictment of the Kenney government’s public enquiry into anti-Alberta energy campaigns the other day helped correct my opinion.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Gabrielle Drolet discusses how essential workers have been left to bear the physical and emotional burdens of workplaces designed to prioritize the interests of bosses and customers first. And Bruce Western and Jake Rosenfeld study (PDF) the effect unions have in pushing
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Jerusalem Demsas discusses the strong popular support for affordable social housing even as governments continually fail to provide it. Daphne Bramham rightly asks why we haven’t seen far more of a move toward the Housing First models (including both secure housing and the
Continue readingViews from the Beltline: Albertans support net-zero by 2050, but …
A recent survey by Janet Brown Opinion Research, commissioned by the Pembina Institute, showed some encouraging attitudes of Albertans toward climate change. For example, two-thirds of those surveyed support the goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Albertans are not impressed by their government’s fight-back strategy in defending Alberta’s
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