We live in an age of populist political solutions but we never expected to have to deal with a populist pandemic. The problem is that a populism pandemic is blind. It strikes the rich and powerful one per cent as easily as the person in poverty. It can kill the
Continue readingTag: Jason Kenney
Babel-on-the-Bay: Jason Kenney puts on his black hat.
Just when you start to think Alberta premier Jason Kenney is not such a bad guy, he drops a political stink bomb. He says his province can ignore our federal health professionals and do whatever they want. And just the other day, I was saying how good the cooperation is
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Justin Trudeau needs to do something bold to fix the long-term-care disaster: here’s a suggestion
Surging deaths in Canadian long-term care facilities have blown Canada’s COVID-19 death projections to smithereens. Last night, the CBC reported the number of deaths from COVID-19 is already double what Ottawa thought it would be only a week ago. “As more deaths are reported and counted over the next day,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta spends up to $20K touting medical mask giveaway on Facebook to build social license for pipelines
The Alberta Government spent between $14,000 and $20,000 on Facebook advertisements promoting Premier Jason Kenney’s announcement Alberta would donate 750,000 N95 medical masks and other personal protective equipment to Ontario, Quebec and B.C., political blogger Dave Cournoyer revealed in a tweet yesterday afternoon. The heaviest promotion was in Ontario, Mr.
Continue readingAlberta Politics: That goofy letter from Kingston to Jason Kenney — promise made, promise kept?
Now, about that goofy letter from Kingston, the one wherein the generous author or authors sent Alberta Premier Jason Kenney $1,000 to help out the Alberta treasury, I have a contrarian point of view. To wit: My opinion is that it’s totally legit, the real McCoy, it actually happened, the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jason Kenney offers medical equipment to Ontario, Quebec and B.C.; pitches national solidarity on resource development
One hates to play the skunk at a tea party, but somebody needs to ask the question a lot of Albertans must be thinking. To wit, if less than a week ago we barely had enough N95 medical masks for Alberta’s hard-pressed nurses, doctors and other front-line health care workers
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Damian Carrington reports on the connection between air pollution and more severe death rates caused by the coronavirus. Clyde Russell writes that there’s every reason to expect clean energy to win out over fossil fuels as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Rachel Notley and the NDP can thank their lucky stars they didn’t eke out a victory last April
I don’t imagine running Alberta is much fun right now. I’m afraid, though, I can’t summon up much sympathy for Jason Kenney and his United Conservative Party. Be careful what you wish for, goes the ancient proverb, you just might get it. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney during his rambling presentation
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Afternoon Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Brendan Kennedy discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic is proving to be the last straw for far too many workers already facing precarious finances. And Theodore Schleifer warns of the dangers of counting on billionaires to save us from breakdowns in public capacity which
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Jason Kenney lays out the bad news on COVID-19 capably enough, then wanders into the economic weeds
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney actually sounded pretty good on TV last night as he laid out the hard facts about COVID-19, what it’ll probably do, and what might do if too many of us act like jackasses and don’t stay close to home for the next couple of months. Mr.
Continue readingThe Daveberta Podcast: Episode 52: Jobs, economy and pipelines? COVID-19 pushes small business to the brink.
Justin Archer joins Dave Cournoyer and Adam Rozenhart on this remotely recorded episode of the Daveberta Podcast to discuss the federal government’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan, the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, how our political leaders are responding to the pandemic and crashing oil prices. We also discussed the Alberta government’s
Continue readingAlberta Politics: OK, Canada’s good to go for those 3M medical masks — at least until Donald Trump changes his mind again
As is often the case when dealing with Donald Trump, the saga of the five million N95 respirators built by Minnesota’s 3M Co. and purchased by Ontario keeps changing. On Saturday, the U.S. President invoked the Defense Production Act to force the Maplewood, Minn.-based multinational to stop sending Canadians the
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Jason Kenney and the KXL Deal
Last week Mr Kenney threw away (yet again) his belief in the sanctity of the free market by announcing his government (ie. us) would invest $1.5 billion in TC Energy (formerly TCPL) to complete Keystone XL and provide a $6 billion loan guarantee. Saved by the Alberta government Mr Kenney
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Afternoon Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Jim Stanford writes about the need for a new Marshall Plan to rebuild once we’ve won the fight against COVID-19: For many years to come, Canada’s economy will rely on public service, public investment and public entrepreneurship as the main drivers of
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Grace Blakeley points out the importance of putting our relief and recovery funding toward public investments, rather than the further enrichment of people with already-appalling concentrations of wealth: We cannot rely on this crisis to undermine the ideology of shareholder value, which has
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The premier is disappointed? Where did Alberta’s Mr. Belligerence go when Donald Trump told 3M not to ship N95s to Canada?
Where’s the tough guy we got to know during the last Alberta election campaign, the Jason Kenney of the Summer of Repeal, the War Room and the War on Foreign Funded European Urban Greens? The Alberta premier’s favourite American president, Donald J. Trump, say’s he won’t let 3M Co. of
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Kenney dives into pipeline financing.
In a time when the rest of the world is expending all energy and funds into the war against the novel coronavirus, Alberta premier Jason Kenney is following his own drummer. In a time when you cannot get $5 a barrel for the bitumen from the tar sands, Kenney is
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Smoke and mirrors aren’t cutting it — Alberta’s health minister still needs to go
Despite a lot of smoke and mirrors, Alberta’s United Conservative Party Government has never dispelled the queasy feeling many Albertans have that Tyler Shandro’s personal business dealings render him unsuitable to serve as minister of health. It was Mr. Shandro’s personal conduct, publicly berating a neighbour who posted a critical
Continue readingAlberta Politics: April Fool aftermath: UCP says it’s broke, AUPE job protections back on, spill reporting suspended, Greens choose leader, and more
Whether or not Bob Buckle meant it to be an early April Fool’s joke when he posted his deep thoughts on public education on social media, opining that “perhaps it’s time to reduce our physical plant and footprint with large structures and move to virtual online learning,” he’d be smart
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta government to strike new Blue Ribbon Panel on Blue Ribbon Panels
Alberta’s United Conservative Party Government plans to strike a Blue Ribbon Panel on Blue Ribbon Panels. With the global coronavirus pandemic and the worldwide collapse of oil prices, the United Conservative Party Government believes it will need even more “expert panels” to justify potentially unpopular policies it intends to enact,
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