“Huge pothole on #StAlbert Trail right now! This is a preview of Canada’s future if Justin Trudeau is re-elected as prime minister, as he continues to implement his terrible anti-automobile agenda.” Were I to take to Twitter and say such a thing, dear readers, presumably many of you would conclude
Continue readingTag: Jason Kenney
Susan 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 readingMontreal Simon: Doug Ford’s Vacation and the Hidden Hand of Stephen Harper
When I heard that Doug Ford had decided to give himself and his government a five-month vacation until the federal election was over, I wasn't really surprised.I'd heard he'd found running a province about a hundred thousand times more exhausting than running a small label factory, and needed to take the whole
Continue readingAlberta Politics: How will Alberta politicians respond now that groups like Canada’s nurses are demanding action on climate change?
FREDERICTON – On the last day of their national convention in New Brunswick’s capital city today, the approximately 900 delegates of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling on Canadian governments to recognize climate change is a global crisis and a health emergency, and to act
Continue readingAlberta Politics: There’s not much Jason Kenney’s ‘war room’ can do to ease medical concerns about health impacts of climate change
FREDERICTON, N.B. – Whatever will Jason Kenney’s $30-million “war room” do about people like the nurses and physicians around the world growing increasingly troubled by the health impacts of climate change? They are, after all, members of two professions most trusted by the Canadians according to survey after survey going
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Opportunity calling Andrew Scheer.
For a guy who got his job by surprise, conservative leader Andrew Scheer MP is a happy camper. He can hardly believe it when public opinion polls show him defeating liberal leader Justin Trudeau. All he could do two years ago when he got the job of leading the party
Continue readingThe Daveberta Podcast: Episode 38: Students get a pay cut and big corporations get a tax cut
The cut to minimum wage for Alberta students under the age of 18 and cuts to corporate income taxes are the big topics discussed by Dave Cournoyer and guest co-host Brad Lafortune on this episode of the Daveberta Podcast. We also discuss Attorney General Doug Schweitzer’s decision to appoint a
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The UCP Addresses Conversion Therapy…”in due course”
By a strange coincidence Ru Paul’s Drag Race Season 11 came to town the same week that Premier Kenney and his Health Minister, Tyler Shandro, explained (sort of) the UCP government’s position on conversion therapy. Ms Soapbox and her daughters had tickets to the Ru Paul show and were delighted
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Sunday Morning Links
This and that for your Sunday reading. – Stephen Maher writes that Michael Cooper’s choice to give voice to the Christchurch shooter’s manifesto represents a test of Andrew Scheer’s willingness to take action to match his words. And Scheer’s choice to quietly shuffle Cooper out of a single committee assignment
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – The NDP has released its Power to Change climate plan, including steps to create green jobs and give effect to Indigenous rights while meeting emission reduction targets needed to contribute to the international fight against climate breakdown. And Christo Aivilis offers his first
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Joseph Stiglitz points out the need to move beyond neoliberalism and offers a useful policy framework to do so – though framing an alternative as “progressive capitalism” cedes far more ground than necessary in continuing to prioritize capital over social well-being. – The
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Here’s a bet: Alberta Health Services review announced yesterday will cost more than any savings it finds
Tyler Shandro was pretty bold yesterday when he put out a Government of Alberta news release announcing the United Conservative Party Government’s promised review of Alberta Health Services. Mr. Shandro is the baby-faced MLA for Calgary-Acadia who was made minister of health by Premier Jason Kenney. He is a lawyer
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Is Alberta’s ‘Yes to TMX’ campaign a sly tax-funded attack on the Trudeau Liberals?
Things are certainly different on the pipeline front now that Jason Kenney and his United Conservative Party are in power in Alberta! Yesterday, the airwaves were full of reports Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage had announced an advertising campaign urging Parliamentarians to say “Yes to TMX.” (We’ll get back to
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Why wouldn’t Justice Minister Doug Schweitzer appoint an independent prosecutor in the Kamikaze Campaign case?
So riddle me this: Why wouldn’t Justice Minister Doug Schweitzer appoint an independent Crown prosecutor to oversee the Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigation into allegations of voting fraud in the 2017 United Conservative Party leadership race? Especially now it’s been revealed by the CBC that Mr. Schweitzer, who himself was
Continue readingAlberta Politics: United Conservative Party introduces the Open for Fast Food Act – sorry about the 13% pay cut, kids
Premier Jason Kenney’s newly elected United Conservative Party introduced its second bill yesterday, calling it the Open for Business Act. The NDP immediately dubbed Bill 2 the Pick Your Pockets Bill, seeing as its provisions include a 13-per-cent pay cut to $13 an hour from $15 for students under 18
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Thanks UCP Voters
So the NDP lost the last election and the UCP has formed the new government in Alberta with Jason Kenney at the helm. Old news. So I’ve been pretty demoralized about this because I see a lot of bad shit coming. So I’ve decided to share it with everyone, here,
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: It’s Europe Calling, Justin. You Might Want to Take This. No? Okay.
The EU elections showed that voters are abandoning old school politics and the same old, same old. Small wonder. Right wing populists appear to be the big winners but also rising is the Green Party. People are worried. They can see what’s coming. They can feel what has already arrived.
Continue readingBabel-on-the-Bay: Kenney’s Conundrum, Capturing Carbon.
It was in the business news recently. It was about the success of Shell Oil’s $1.3 billion carbon-capture plant, Quest, near Edmonton. The Quest plant is designed to capture and store carbon from the Scotford upgrader, a refinery that upgrades tar sands bitumen into synthetic crude oil. The Scotford upgrader
Continue readingAlberta Politics: B.C. Appeal Court’s Trans Mountain ruling may not be quite the slam-dunk Alberta thinks it is
The unanimous ruling Friday by the British Columbia Court of Appeal that the B.C. Government does not have the constitutional authority to control what goes inside the federally regulated Trans Mountain Pipeline is being hailed as a great victory in Alberta. Church bells didn’t actually ring on Friday, but the
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Quebec premier vows drive to slash oil use; Alberta premier calls climate worry ‘flavour of the month’
Over the weekend, Quebec Premier François Legault vowed to implement an ambitious electrification drive that would reduce the province’s use of oil by 40 per cent by 2030, which in case you’re not counting happens to be in only 11 years. Quebec will electrify transportation systems, buildings and businesses to
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