It’s the last day of the Calgary Stampede. It’s also the last day for politicians to dress up as cowboys for one last photo-op before getting back to business of politics. The issue we have with this photo isn’t that these men aren’t real cowboys but that they’re not
Continue readingTag: Energy & Natural Resources
Susan on the Soapbox: Mr Kenney’s Laundry List
In a manner befitting the serious business of governing, the Alberta UCP caucus celebrated the end of the spring session by jumping into the reflecting pool in front of the Legislature. Perhaps it was the strain of being held to account by the NDP Opposition for seven whole weeks
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Mr Kenney’s Speech on Bill No. 1
Mr Kenney and Bill No. 1 There comes a time for politicians who spent the campaign trail foaming with righteous indignation to transform into thoughtful representatives of the people who elected them. Sadly, for Mr Kenney that time did not come before he rose in the Legislature to speak
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Is It Too Late For The Facts?
Where is Sgt Joe Friday when you need him? Sgt Friday is the detective from Dragnet known for saying, “Just the facts, ma’am” when he’s investigating a crime. Why are we talking about facts? Joe “Just the facts, ma’am” Friday Because Jason Kenney has yet to be sworn into office
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: A Guide to UCP “Conservatives”
The Peter Lougheed Progressive Conservatives parted company with the Kenney “conservatives” when Kenney created the free enterprise unity party. Those three little words signaled the transformation of the conservative party into one that cares only about money. With the Lougheed PCs gone the UCP turned elsewhere to fill out their
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Don’t Look Away
We’re on the cusp of the election and many moderate conservatives still don’t know who they’ll support. Will they ignore the allegations of vote tampering in the UCP leadership race and the slate of unfit candidates stacking up “25 deep” to support Jason Kenney or will they follow the lead
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The Day Jason Kenney Edited the UCP Policy Document…
The UCP policy document opens with a letter from Jason Kenney which cribs Ronald Reagan’s well known question, “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” Kenney’s answer is no, and he lists a number of reasons why it’s time for a change. The “time for a
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: CAPP Meet Mr Kenney
Recently Mr Kenney told municipal leaders in Cochrane that in addition to multi-billion dollar deficits and rising debt levels Alberta was drowning in red tape. To illustrate his point Kenney said it takes a week to approve a conventional oil well in Texas but a year or more to approve
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Alberta Separatism Rears its Goofy Head
Ms Soapbox was thinking about the fog of words when she received a mass mailout letter from someone she’ll call Mr X urging her to join him and thousands of others (who shall remain nameless because their names were not provided) in an effort to motivate Canadians to make the
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Politics in the Age of Bewilderment
The historian and philosopher Yuval Noah Harari says we’re living in the Age of Bewilderment, the old stories have collapsed and the new stories have not yet been written. Ms Soapbox thinks some politicians are trying to bridge this gap by pretending it doesn’t exist. They hope to turn this
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The Day the Market Broke
It finally happened. Someone broke the free market and the NDP government has to fix it. Weird, eh? Albertans spent the last few weeks being whip-sawed between companies (Cenovus) who said the market was broken and companies (Imperial, Husky, Suncor) who said the market was just fine, thank you very
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Albertans Aren’t Feeling the Love
Last week Ms Soapbox wrote an article for CBC in which she called out the hypocrisy of the energy industry and various conservatives who want the Alberta government to impose temporary industry-wide production cuts to prop up oil prices. Isn’t government meddling in the free market a big no-no?
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Razzle Dazzle ‘Em: Part Two
Last week Jason Kenney unveiled his Fight Back Strategy. No longer would Alberta be apologetic about the energy industry. From now on Alberta, the federal government and the industry were going to fight back. Prepare to be razzle dazzled! War Room Kenney will set up a war room in the
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Razzle Dazzle ‘Em: Part One
“Give ‘em the old Razzle Dazzle…how can they see with sequins in their eyes?” —Richard Gere as a corrupt criminal lawyer in the musical Chicago Prepare to be razzle dazzled! Jason Kenney spoke at the Calgary Chamber of Commerce and the Energy Relaunch conference recently. This post will cover the
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Political Discourse in Alberta: Seen through Orwell’s Lens
“Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”—George Orwell It was fascinating to consider Jason Kenney’s comments on two issues that arose this week in the context of George Orwell’s commentary on political discourse. George Orwell
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The Trans Mountain Pipeline Court Decision
Ms Soapbox spent the long weekend poring over the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision nullifying the Order-in-Council that approved the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion (TMX). Mr Bumble’s comment in Oliver Twist comes to mind. Mr Bumble said if the court thought he could control his domineering wife, the law was
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: What do Jason Kenney, John Horgan and Elizabeth May have in Common?
This just in from the “strange-bedfellows” department: When it comes to the Trans Mountain pipeline, Jason Kenney, BC premier John Horgan and Green Party leader Elizabeth May are singing from the same song sheet. They all agree that the federal government’s decision to buy Trans Mountain changes nothing. Elizabeth
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The Country is Broken!
Just when Albertans thought things couldn’t get any worse, Jason Kenney declared the country was broken. What? Did Trumpism seep across the border while we were sleeping? Canada survived the FLQ Crisis and the War Measures Act, the bitter negotiations over the repatriation of the Canadian Constitution, and the Quebec
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Jason Kenney Debates a Motion
An update from the Kenney-channelling-Trump department. After weeks of flooding the airwaves with demands for an emergency debate on a motion condemning BC’s interference with the Trans Mountain pipeline Jason Kenney finally got a chance to demonstrate what he meant when he called for the government to speak with “one
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The Role of the Political Journalist
“The journalistic mission remains at its simplest: know your patch and use your knowledge to try to tell readers what’s actually going on.”– Katharine Murphy, Journalism Professor & Guardian Australia’s deputy political editor. Is it right for a political journalist to simply quote a politician’s comments without challenging their veracity
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