This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Antoine Flahault et al. offer a reminder that we can’t afford to be complacent about an ongoing COVID pandemic which continues to cause serious and sustained harm on a mass basis. And in case we needed another reminder of the aftereffects of
Continue readingTag: Danielle Smith
Susan on the Soapbox: No means No: Smith and the Ethics Commissioner’s Report
Yes, I watched the debate. No, I’m not going to write about it except to say Danielle Smith’s closing comment illustrates how slick she is. Smith said, “My commitment to each of you is to serve you with everything I have and to the best of my ability, however imperfect
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Notley tells throng of supporters of NDP plan to invest $1.8 billion in Edmonton over three years
Calgary may be the battleground in Alberta’s May 29 provincial election, but NDP Leader Rachel Notley stopped in Edmonton yesterday morning to tell a throng of supporters packed into the entrance hall of the Citadel Theatre in the city’s downtown what her party would do for Alberta’s nowadays-neglected capital city.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta premier’s worst moment in last night’s leaders’ debate happened before the opening bell rang
The worst moment in yesterday’s televised leader’s debate for Alberta Premier Danielle Smith came well before the hourlong event’s opening bell rang at 6 p.m. Premier Smith during the debate (Photo: Screenshot of broadcasters’ pool video). That was when Alberta Ethics Commissioner Marguerite Trussler issued her report on Ms. Smith’s
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Of Campaigns, Bigotry, and Dog Whistles
So, with UCP leader Danielle Smith regularly playing dodge-em with her own statements in the past, it shouldn’t come as any big surprise that something would come bubbling to the surface from one of the UCP candidates. This week’s entry into the bigot olympics comes via the UCP candidate
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Omar Mosleh discusses the growing damage being caused by repeated wildfires in Canada, while David Wallace-Wells writes that there’s no escape from the air pollution being spread across the continent. And Don Pittis points out how public accounts which don’t assess the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Two new polls Wednesday say UCP and NDP are close to ‘statistical dead heat,’ province-wide and in Calgary
If the latest Alberta voter intention polls are right – and who would be bold enough to predict that? – Canada’s richest province could soon end up in an excruciating political predicament. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on the campaign trail (Photo: Alberta Newsroom/Flickr). Well, at least it would be a
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Lisa Young writes about the stark difference in how Alberta’s main party leaders approach the role of women in politics and society. But Drew Anderson laments the lack of a meaningful willingness on the part of any substantial party to engage in
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Susie Madrak writes about the continued recognition by experts that the COVID pandemic is far from over. Chengliang Yang et al. examine how COVID-19 may be persisting (and causing havoc) in patients’ bodies long after it ceases to be detectable through current testing. Libby
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Thoughts on Danielle Smith’s Latest Comment
When is a person old enough to know better? I ask because Danielle Smith was 50 when she said 75% of the public who took the covid vaccine would support a tyrant like Hitler. She also said she wasn’t wearing a poppy because the politicians “ruined it for me this
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Things Could Be Worse
These days, I take my comforts wherever I can find them. In contemplating the state of my province, Ontario, under the administration of the Doug Ford government, I’m deriving some small solace in the fact that there is a jurisdiction even more ineptly led: Alberta. The Breakdown @TheBreakdownAB WOW! Smith’s presser
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The Horror! Danielle Smith’s news conference is interrupted for about 50 seconds by 3 mild-mannered protesters!
So, let me see if I’ve got this straight … Trucks block the streets of Ottawa in February 2022 (Photo: Maksim Sokolov/Creative Commons). The people who vociferously supported the occupation of downtown Ottawa by truckers and others blasting air horns 24/7 and spewing filth on the streets of the nation’s
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP health minister’s claim of record-breaking nurse recruitment drive is hard to justify
Yesterday’s United Conservative Party claim that Alberta is the beneficiary of a record-breaking drive to recruit nurses from abroad seems divorced from reality. A UCP social media ad attributing a misleading claim to the Globe and Mail (Image: Facebook/Jason Copping). In a UCP news release echoed repeatedly on social media
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Even more stuff Danielle Smith says: Privatize major public hospitals? Sure! Alberta’s premier has a plan
A video clip of Danielle Smith outlining how Alberta could privatize major public hospitals like the Peter Lougheed Centre, the Rockyview General Hospital, and South Health Campus appeared on social media last week. The massive South Health Campus public hospital facility in Calgary – targeted by Alberta’s premier for privatization?
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Unhinged: Danielle Smith says vaccinated Albertans are just like the German voters who elected Hitler
In an unhinged commentary recorded by Danielle Smith on Nov. 10, 2021, the day before Remembrance Day, Alberta’s future premier compared Albertans who got vaccinated against COVID-19 with Germans who voted for Hitler. NDP Opposition Leader and former Alberta premier Rachel Notley called Ms. Smith’s comments “horrifying” (Photo: David J.
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Wildfires and Gordon Lightfoot
“Do the best with what you’ve got.”—Gordon Lightfoot News of Gordon Lightfoot’s death, while not unexpected, still came as a shock. We didn’t think he’d live forever; truth be told we didn’t think about him very much anymore, then boom! he was gone. And I’ve been thinking about him
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Wildfire state of emergency introduces new calculus to Alberta election campaign
Declaration of a provincial state of emergency just 23 days before the spring election introduces a new level of complexity to Alberta’s electoral math. Alberta Opposition Leader Rachel Notley (Photo: Alberta NDP). Alberta is now dealing with electoral calculus, as it were, not just mere arithmetic. With dry conditions, hot
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP’s ‘Alberta is Calling signing bonus’ is mostly fluff, little substance, and likely to stir resentment
The United Conservative Party’s big “economic diversification” announcement yesterday, delivered by Premier Danielle Smith in what looked like a tire-repair shop, sounded like an uninspiring revival of former premier Jason Kenney’s “Alberta is Calling” subway advertising campaign in Toronto last fall. Jason Kenney during his lame “Alberta is Calling” News
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: The Darker Side of UCP Policy
Welcome to Alberta's 2023 election cycle. Campaigning has effectively been going on for some time now, but the writ was issued yesterday and now it's official. We're in an election cycle. This is basically a two horse race. Alberta either elects the UCP, now led by Danielle Smith, or it
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The Flames Arena Deal (What’s my vote worth?)
Last week the City of Calgary. the Province of Alberta and the billionaire owners of the Calgary Flames signed a nonbinding MOU for a new arena and related improvements. The tab is $1.2B with $800M for the arena and $400M for related improvements in the entertainment district. It looks like
Continue reading