This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Osita Nwanevu describes the higher-brow forms of bigotry and wilful ignorance being pushed by U.S. Republicans for upper-class audiences. And Kate Aronoff discusses the racial undertones of yet another wave of red-baiting. – Meanwhile, David Climenhaga highlights how Canadian right-wing governments are
Continue readingTag: Jason Kenney
Alberta Politics: Irony is dead but doublethink thrives as Calgary opts to cut services and subsidize hockey billionaires at once
Really, what can one say about the deal the City of Calgary struck with the Flames professional hockey club yesterday for the former Cowtown’s taxpayers to subsidize half the cost of a new arena for the team to the tune of $225 million at the same moment as this city
Continue readingWarren Kinsella: The Hidden Conservative Voter
They’re hidden. They showed up, however, at Brexit. They showed up in the U.S. presidential race in 2016. They showed up in Alberta in 2019, and Ontario in 2018, too. They’re the THCV – The Hidden Conservative Voter. And they’re changing politics. June 2016: shocking just about everyone, 52 per
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Why are Conservative-run Canadian provinces turning down federal cash? The answer’s in the Republican playbook
When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau observed back on April 16 that the Ontario provincial government led by Premier Doug Ford was throwing roadblocks in the way of Ontario municipalities accessing federal money for needed transportation infrastructure, Conservatives responded with angry denials, and not just in Ontario. The prime minister had
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Trump’s “Go Home” Tweet
Ms Soapbox found herself organizing the sock drawer this morning. She blames this burst of domesticity on Donald Trump. She’ll explain how this ties back to Alberta politics in a moment, but first a quick recap of the most recent Trump blowout. The Tweet Last week Mr Trump tweeted
Continue readingAlberta Politics: More questions than answers in last week’s fallout from 2017 UCP leadership campaign
Eight Alberta United Conservative Party MLAs, five of them cabinet ministers, now admit they’ve been interviewed by the RCMP in the federal police force’s ongoing investigation into the curious goings on during the party’s 2017 leadership race, from which Premier Jason Kenney emerged victorious. Every time another UCP Caucus member
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The Lesson of the Beaver: Something for Alberta’s fossil fuel boosters to think about
If you forget everything else, just remember this about our country’s incessant and often bitter debate about fossil fuels: “Canada is never going to run out of oil, just like we never ran out of beavers.” We owe this pearl of insight to Canadian economist Jim Stanford, late of the
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: ‘Yesteryear Politicos’ and ‘Tired Advice.’
Most people are probably unaware that they can get a good laugh from the Hill Times almost every day, for free. The Ottawa-based political newsletter will send you their headlines everyday in hopes of selling you a subscription. The problem they have with me is all I want from them
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Advice to Jason Kenney’s cabinet: curb your enthusiasms, one conspiracy theory at a time!
It’s sound advice in private and public life to restrict yourself to one nutty conspiracy theory at a time, lest folks start to wonder if you’re the one who’s, well, nutty. Take Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party Government in the context of this sensible and widely held rule of thumb.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: A house divided or a leaderless nation?
There was an excellent discussion in Progressive Bloggers the other day by the gentleman who writes under the nom de plume of The Mound of Sound. A very small quibble you might have with the article was there were a couple times that you might be confused as to whether
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Yet another annual message to the Calgary Stampede: real men don’t hurt animals for entertainment
There will be a “thorough review process surrounding chuckwagon safety” after the deaths of six horses during the 2019 Calgary Stampede, which is now mercifully over. Oh, please! There will be no meaningful review of the safety of the horses that are abused for fun at the Stampede, just as
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Assorted content to start your week. – Cédric Durand and Razmig Keucheyan highlight the return of economic planning as a widely-recognized public policy option – while pointing out the need for our democratic systems to allow for public direction of the planning process. And Lauren Townsend writes about the importance
Continue readingAlberta Politics: OK, he said nothing new, but why did Justin Trudeau’s pipeline presser make Conservatives so angry?
Conservatives’ faux shock at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s relatively news free pipeline construction announcement in Edmonton last week was a thing to behold. The tone generally was, “there oughtta be a law,” to wit, a law against making announcements when you have nothing to announce. Only with considerably harsher language,
Continue readingThe Daveberta Podcast: Episode 39: Wet Hot Albertan Summer
We’re taking a break from our summer vacations to record this special episode of the Daveberta Podcast. In this episode, Dave Cournoyer and guest co-host Michael Janz discuss Bill 8, the contentious Education Act and its impact on Gay-Straight Alliances, and how the political battles over pipelines, climate change, and
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Cowboys and Politicians
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 readingBabel-on-the-Bay: When Premiers come out to play.
It was an interesting pack of premiers around the conference table at this year’s Canadian premiers’ meeting. They hardly had Justin Trudeau under their thumb. And they hardly bothered to try. This was a meeting to plan for October’s federal election. The odd men out were the bookends—John Horgan of
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Mike Pearl discusses the climate despair of people understandably having difficulty working toward a longer term which is utterly neglected in our most important social decisions. But Macleans’ feature on climate change includes both Alanna Mitchell’s take on what a zero-emission future might
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Doug Ford, Jason Kenney And The Con Dictator’s Club
They are two of the most disgusting politicians this country has ever known, but their love for each other knows no bounds.They are both climate change deniers who are willing to torch the planet for crass political purposes.They are both brutish bullies who get a special thrill going after LBGT children.And
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta’s foreign-funded-fossil-fuel defamation inquisition: Stand by for an expensive gong show
Here are three predictions about Jason Kenney’s inquiry into that “foreign-funded defamation campaign” against Alberta’s fossil fuel industry. It will be a gong show It will cost far more than $2.5 million It will end up harming the industry, and Alberta The roots of this likely debacle are found in
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Nick Falvo writes that Alberta would be far better served implementing a tax system more in line with the rest of Canada’s provinces to increase revenue, rather than slashing social supports in the name of illusory budget balance. And the Globe and Mail’s
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