I’ve previously pointed out the connection between Andrew Scheer and an explicit effort to elevate the burning of fossil fuels to goal surpassing any interest in human well-being. But it’s worth noting how much more extreme the same forces are becoming in order to serve the cause of extracting oil
Continue readingTag: Jason Kenney
Alberta Politics: We need an honest inquiry into foreign political funding – unfortunately, Jason Kenney’s ‘witch hunt’ inquiry isn’t it
In truth, Canada needs a thorough and honest inquiry into foreign political funding, online manipulation and influence. Unfortunately, the $2.5-million probe into “foreign funded defamation” of Alberta’s fossil-fuel industry announced by Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s government yesterday at a news conference in Calgary isn’t it. How could it be? It’s
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Corporate Mapping Project names top fossil-fuel emitters, enablers and legitimators, unlocks online database
“The fossil fuel industry … is the biggest obstacle to real action on climate change today,” says the co-director of the Corporate Mapping Project, which this morning published an eye-opening list of the 50 most influential players in the industry and a publicly accessible database with information on more than
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Happy Canada Day!
Dear Canada: Happy birthday! With hugs and kisses from Ms Soapbox. PS: You may have heard some silly talk to the effect that Alberta wants to separate from Canada because Albertans don’t think Canada appreciates their contribution to Confederation. They’re being egged on by a silly little man, our Premier,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: With Stephen Mandel’s resignation and zero Legislature seats, Alberta Party faces leadership vacuum and bleak future
So long, Stephen Mandel, at least we can’t say we hardly knew ye! Mr. Mandel announced in a news release yesterday he would step down on June 30 as leader of the Alberta Party – which he took over after an internal coup last year and turned from a vehicle
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: ‘Chuckles’ challenges consensus.
There will be no apology for calling federal conservative leader Andrew Scheer, Chuckles. He practically giggled his way through a ten-minute on-air version of an interview with Mercedes Stephenson on Global’s West Block last Sunday. Mercedes might not have the gravitas of a Tom Clark or a Vassy Kapelos, but
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The Senatorial Selection Act explained – a farcical, faux exercise, for sure, but a clever one
Never mind the details for a moment, this is all you really need to know about Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s constitutionally meaningless Senate elections law, introduced as Bill 13 in the provincial Legislature yesterday. Mr. Kenney has presented Alberta’s progressives, of whom there are many, and the politicians they support
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: About Those Ear Plugs…
Sigh. I expected to spend the next four years writing letters to my MLA, Doug Schweitzer, but I didn’t think the first one would be about ear plugs. But we play the cards we’re dealt so here goes. Dear Hon. Doug Schweitzer, Justice Minister and Solicitor General, I’m a lawyer
Continue readingMontreal Simon: How Justin Trudeau’s First Mandate Has Transformed Canada
In the dying hours of the 42nd Parliament, Justin Trudeau and his Liberals were still hard at work, trying to pass two major bills which the Cons and their Big Oil masters had been desperately trying to kill.Bill C-48 which would ban oil tanker traffic off the north coast of
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Lawrence Mishel points out that Donald Trump’s giveaways to the rich actually resulted in a sharp decline in bonuses paid to workers. – Robert Plummer reports on the precarity facing lower-income workers in the UK. And John Clapp writes from experience about the
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Greedy Canadians and the Pipeline Follies
If I was the Prime Minister of Canada I probably definitely would not have done this. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet have again approved the Trans Mountain expansion project, a crucial next step for the much-delayed pipeline project designed to carry nearly a million barrels of oil from Alberta's oilpatch
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellanous material for your mid-week reading. – David Dayen interviews Elizabeth Warren about the role of government in ensuring that the needs of people take precedence over the power of corporations. And Press Progress duly challenges the claim that corporate directors are overworked in putting in five to seven hours
Continue readingAlberta Politics: It’s time for a frank talk about the T-word: Just who’s advocating treason here anyway?
It’s time, my fellow Canadians, for us to have a frank talk about the T-word. Albertans who have been paying attention to politics for the past few years cannot have missed the fact certain elements of the right-wing ideological ecosystem have been sloppy and irresponsible in their use of terms
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Left by the pope with a choice between glory to God and death to the carbon tax, what will Jason do?
Turns out you really can’t serve God and Mammon! Who knew? Tout le monde Conservative Alberta was reeling over the weekend at Friday’s news from Rome that Pope Francis, leader of 1.3 billion Catholics, has declared global warming to be a real thing and putting a price on carbon to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – The Globe and Mail’s editorial board points out the gross dishonesty of Jason Kenney, Scott Moe and other spokesflacks for the oil sector who are looking to turn the slightest hint of consideration of the environment and Indigenous rights into grounds for a
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Circle your wagons; they’re on the warpath.
And here we thought war rooms in politics were a thing of the past? Now we see that the Toronto Sun has resurrected the idea with a one-time liberal in command. This must be the companion war room that PostMedia, owners of the Sun, promised Alberta premier Jason Kenney to
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The strategy behind the UCP’s Public Sector Arbitration Deferral Act explained
Albertans who don’t pay much attention to labour relations may be forgiven for wondering about the harsh reaction yesterday to the Alberta Government’s introduction of legislation to delay arbitration for thousands of public employees. Many readers not directly hostile to unions nevertheless may have wondered, “What’s the big deal? The
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Hiding behind UCP youth minimum wage cut, Edmonton Public Library slashes library pages’ pay
Using the wording of its collective agreement with Civic Service Union 52 as an excuse, and the United Conservative Government’s minimum wage reduction for students under 18 as the trigger, Edmonton Public Library is handing its youth pages pay cuts of $2.30 to $2.50 per hour. This is pretty shameful
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP bulls ahead with plan to ignore public employees’ collective agreements
One thing you can say for Jason Kenney’s United Conservative Party Government: they don’t even pretend to act in good faith! Early this month they mailed public sector unions a letter asking them to take part in “a consultation session” about the government’s wish to delay contractually stipulated wage arbitration
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Heather Mallick discusses the pattern of right-wing governments obsessing over undoing the good done by their predecessors, rather than paying the slightest attention to the public interest. And Mariana Mazzucato and Josh Ryan-Collins examine (PDF) about the importance of having leaders who
Continue reading