Last night Alberta’s electric system operator (AESO) issued a province-wide emergency alert asking Albertans to immediately reduce their electricity use to minimize the potential for rotating outages across the province. First the good news, Albertans responded to the call. Within minutes usage dropped significantly and rotating power outages were avoided.
Continue readingTag: Danielle Smith
Accidental Deliberations: Friday Afternoon Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Sara Moniuzsko reports on the World Health Organization’s recognition that COVID-19 is still causing nearly 10,000 reported deaths per month (to say nothing of unreported deaths and disabilities). And Michelle Ghoussoub reports on research confirming that access to prescribed opioids results in dramatic
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Squid Game
The UCP’s “bread and circuses”* approach to government is no longer working. The “bread” (low taxes and high employment) is no compensation for our crumbling healthcare, education, and social services. The “circus” of blaming the federal government for everything is wearing thin. And to make matters worse, the folks at
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Julia Conley reports that Massachusetts’ referendum-approved millionaire tax raised substantially more income than projected, contributing both to greater equality and more funding for public priorities. – Charlotte Kukowski and Emma Garnett discuss the need to overcome multiple forms of inequality in order to ensure
Continue readingAlberta Politics: He’s baaaack! Jason Kenney on Donald Trump – and maybe Danielle Smith and Take Back Alberta, too
When Jason Kenney talks about Donald Trump, it’s hard to shake the feeling he’s really talking about Danielle Smith. Interviewer Steven Edginton (Photo: Screenshot of Youtube video). We all remember “Perfesser Kenney,” back when he was the United Conservative Party premier of Alberta, taking off his blazer, rolling up the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Jessica Wildfire offers a reminder of the breadth and depth of harm continuing to be caused by COVID-19. Julia Doubleday calls out the role of the media in normalizing perpetual reinfection, while Arijit Chakravarty and T. Ryan Gregory discuss the importance of naming
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Ho! Ho! Ho! Christmas comes a little early for the Trans Mountain Pipeline as Ottawa guarantees another couple o’ billion
It appears Christmas came a little early for that unending and expensive Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project, with word of another couple of billion dollars in loan guarantees arriving from Ottawa on Tibb’s Eve, the celebration on the day before Christmas Eve that’s marked in Newfoundland – and, by logical
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Steven Guilbeault is keeping someone busy writing unhinged jeremiads for Danielle Smith!
Who’s writing Danielle Smith’s unhinged jeremiads? Alberta Premier Danielle Smith (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). Whoever it is, as an Alberta taxpayer I sincerely hope we’re not paying them by the word, because their screeds are definitely getting longer! Regardless of what it sounds like, we know it’s not some guy with
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Ethics investigations, Alberta, style – no rules were broken when Deena Hinshaw was fired! Now please move along, folks …
You were wondering about that ethics investigation into the way former Alberta chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw was immediately re-fired after she was hired as a member of Alberta Health Services’ Indigenous Wellness Core last June? Was it Premier Danielle Smith? She says not (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr).
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Danielle Smith celebrates her return from COP28 with unhinged attack on federal environment minister
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz celebrated their return from the COP28 United Nations climate change conference in Dubai by accusing federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault of “treachery against our province” in an unhinged rant published yesterday on the government’s official website. Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Guest Blog: An Open Letter from WCPH
I know I said we were taking a break during the month of December but last week I received a copy of a letter written by Lloyd and Linda Lovett on behalf of the Whitemud Citizens for Public Healthcare that eloquently expressed the concerns that many of us have with
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Replacing to Sovereignty Act so soon? Danielle Smith’s belligerent statement vows new attack on federal power
VICTORIA, B.C. – Is Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative Party Government now planning to introduce a new, tougher Sovereignty Act to fight Ottawa’s proposed emissions regulations? Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). As is well known, the plainly unconstitutional Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act has
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Layover in Dubai: Who are the ‘hundreds’ of Albertans accompanying Danielle Smith – and who’s paying the freight?
So, about this group of “hundreds” of Albertans who have accompanied Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on her field trip to dusty Dubai for the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference – are they part of an official mission, or just some sort of petrostate posse of uninvited interlopers? International sojourner
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Damian Carrington reports on Antonio Guterres’ warning to COP28 that we’re already in the midst of a climate collapse. Katelyn Reinhart discusses new research showing how existing climate studies underestimate the effects of extreme heat. And Nicholas Beuret writes about the unequal responsibility
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Mark Sumner discusses the World Health Network’s recognition that the damage from COVID-19 includes harm to people’s immune systems which has made the effect of other diseases more severe. – Patrick Metzger examines how the climate crisis is accelerating faster than anticipated. And
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – The Canadian Press reports on Statistics Canada’s findings that Canadian life spans have fallen for three years in a row – with Saskatchewan continuing to face the most extreme decline. And Codi Wilson reports on Toronto’s closure of its remaining COVID-19 vaccination clinics
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: We Value Your Feedback
When someone tells you Danielle Smith is a shrewd politician remind them of how she botched the APP consultation process. Last week, the Dinning panel wrapped up the last of its five telephone townhalls. When pressed by the NDP to explain why the UCP refused to hold in-person townhalls
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Danielle Smith to implement Alberta Sovereignty Act, legislation Jason Kenney called ‘full-frontal attack on the rule of law’
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith confirmed yesterday she’s about to use her Alberta Sovereignty Act – the clearly unconstitutional legislation that even her United Conservative Party predecessor Jason Kenney called “a full-frontal attack on the rule of law.” Former Alberta premier Jason Kenney a few days before he left office in
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Manning to Alberta Conservative MPs (and 1 Liberal): Supposedly non-partisan pandemic report ‘could be used by the CPC’
In case you were looking for another reason to want Preston Manning’s preposterous politicized pandemic panel report to be spiked, there’s this … Calgary Skyview Liberal MP George Chahal (Photo: Mahmoud Alshall, Creative Commons). Yesterday morning, George Chahal, the Liberal Member of Parliament for the Calgary Skyview riding, took to
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Danielle Smith Says the Darndest Things
Last week Danielle Smith was interviewed by Matt Galloway, the host of CBC’s The Current. Listening to her I was reminded of Art Linkletter’s show Kids Say the Darndest Things. Unfortunately the things Smith said weren’t funny. Here’s a sample. Leaving CPP Smith said Alberta is entitled to 53% of
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