During the 2019 Alberta Election, a number of UCP candidates were tagged by opposition as having track records of peddling hate. Several of these candidates ended up stepping aside during the election as a result. One of these was Caylan Ford. At the time, I pretty much shrugged and thought
Continue readingTag: Jason Kenney
Alberta Politics: A Christmas contemplation of Cows, COVID, and shots — on goal and at cattle
Merry Christmas! Normally in the wee hours of Christmas morning, your blogger would have been trudging home from midnight mass, his mild annual winter rebellion against a Protestant upbringing. Canmore Eagles Coach Andrew Milne (Photo: Canmore Eagles/Facebook). So let’s talk about agriculture and hockey! After all, both are important to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – John Klein points out how Doug Ford’s combination of abject failure and laughable deflection in response to the avoidable spread of COVID-19 is par for the course among Canada’s conservative premiers. And Graham Thomson discusses Jason Kenney’s opportunistic use of the pandemic
Continue readingAlberta Politics: A thought on what the UCP’s elected members should find in their Christmas stockings tomorrow morning
It’s Christmas Eve. What should Santa Claus leave tonight for a government that knows the price of everything and the value of nothing? The aphorism is Oscar Wilde’s, but the great wit of the 19th Century certainly could have been describing the United Conservative Party Government of Alberta in the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: When it comes to COVID-19, our premier talks like Churchill but walks like Chamberlain
Alberta’s efforts to respond to the coronavirus pandemic with Jason Kenney in the driver’s seat are a lot like stand–up comedian Billy Connolly’s iconic routine about union negotiations, only without the profanity and without actually being funny. What’s going to happen tomorrow? Chief Medical Officer of Health Deena Hinshaw at
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Calgary judge makes short work of bid for injunction to block COVID-19 restrictions
A Calgary superior court judge yesterday made short work of the bid by the so-called Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms to get an emergency injunction blocking public health restrictions on activities likely to exacerbate the spread of COVID-19 during the holiday season. In a hearing that could be watched online,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Luke Savage weighs in on the false promise of tax giveaways to the rich as an economic strategy for anybody else. – Nichole Dusyk argues that it’s past time to bridge the gap between Canada’s climate change promises and our actual policies.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: When is a rule not a rule? When a maskless minister from Alberta’s United Conservative Party is breaking it
COVID-19 has now killed at least 790 Albertans. It fell to Chief Medical Officer of Health Deena Hinshaw to break the dark news yesterday that 30 COVID-19 deaths had been reported in the previous 24 hours. While not all had taken place in that time frame, it was the largest
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Brace yourself, Alberta, Toyota’s plan to build electric cars with solid-state batteries sounds like the real thing
Word about solid-state batteries out of Toyota City last week created a buzz in the automotive press and got some headlines on social media, but I doubt very many people out here in Wild Rose Country paid much attention. They probably should’ve. Sunset over an oilfield (Photo: Arne Hückelheim, Creative
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Tire-screeching reversal on COVID-19 vaccine timing shows Canada’s Conservatives can turn on a dime!
You can hardly blame The United Conservative Party’s leaders from trying to get out there as quickly as possible to take credit for the arrival of the first planeloads of COVID-19 vaccine in Alberta. Premier Jason Kenney, who evidently enjoys cosplay, even got dressed up as a UPS deliveryman and
Continue readingAlberta Politics: 10 months in the life of Jason Kenney: from bitter foe of illegal protests to fierce defender of protesters’ rights, or something
What a difference a year makes! Not even a year: Ten months in the life of Jason Kenney. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney (Photo: David J. Climenhaga). Ten months ago, blockades in support of opposition by members of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation to pipeline construction on ancestral lands in north-central British
Continue readingAlberta Politics: New Zealand eyes reopening borders a crack while Calgary crowd protests ‘draconian’ COVID-19 restrictions
After being declared COVID-19 free last June, New Zealand is ever-so-cautiously moving toward reopening its watery borders to some international travel. With Australia, that is. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (Photo: NewZild, Creative Commons). Australia hasn’t done quite as well countering the coronavirus as New Zealand has, but it’s
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Kenney’s Restrictions: A Jekyll and Hyde Story
A couple of months after Mr Kenney lost control of Covid-19, he lost control of his party. Consequently on Dec 13 Albertans find themselves here: our covid testing system is overwhelmed, contact tracing has collapsed, hospitals are at 120% capacity, ICU beds are filling up, the Red Cross and hospital
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Andrew Jackson summarizes and discusses Lance Taylor and Ozlem Omer‘s new book showing how the combination of wage suppression and growing inequality is the result of the conscious policy choice to weaken workers’ collective bargaining power: Taylor and Omer argue that the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Pretty much a dud, but still alive, Alberta’s ‘Energy War Room’ stumbles along after a year
Alberta’s “Energy War Room” was a year old yesterday and while the cash lavished on the self-described purveyor of a “fact-based narrative about Canadian energy” isn’t the worst investment ever made, or even the worst investment made by the Kenney Government, its return on investment is nothing to write home
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Tracy Fuller talks to Emily Oster about the process people can follow in minimizing COVID risks in the absence of full information. And Sarah Zhang writes about the impending period of vaccine purgatory as a limited number of people begin to be protected.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Carl Meyer writes about Denmark’s move to finally and fully shut down oil and gas production as part of a transition to clean energy. And Abacus finds strong public support for Canada to also be a world leader in that process – even
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Umair Haque discusses the tragic mistake governments in Europe and North America have made in refusing to make plans sufficient to wipe out COVID-19 altogether, rather than assuming a substantial level of spread could be controlled. Sarah Rieger talks to Stephen Duckett
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jason Kenney’s ineffective COVID-19 strategy mirrors his failing response to world demand for cleaner energy
Memo to United Conservative Party issues managers: Your boss will need to take some time today away from defending his COVID-19 response to attack the New York State pension fund for its decision to dump all fossil fuel stocks in the next five years and eliminate investments in companies that
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Marco Ranaldi and Branko Milanovic study the relationship between inequality of inputs and inequality of outcomes – finding in particular that countries with relatively equal sources of income reliably produce comparatively fair income levels as well. And they also note that it’s possible
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