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 readingTag: Justin Trudeau
The 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 readingAccidental Deliberations: On stitches in time
It’s no secret that Canadians’ individual finances have been getting perpetually more precarious, with most people lacking the ability to fund even a single urgent expense. But the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed what happens when the fragile finances of large numbers of individuals shatter all at once. And while our
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 readingMontreal Simon: Justin Trudeau and the Covid Cons
The other day, Cathie from the excellent blog Cathie From Canada, left this comment on my blog:I have never been more proud to be Canadian than I have been since this crisis began. Even Ford is rising to the occasion. Someday I hope to read the story of how Trudeau did
Continue readingWarren Kinsella: My latest: leadership in tough times
Leadership in good times means little. Leadership in bad times means everything. And these times, they are indisputably bad. Grim, grinding, grotesque. For the rest of our lives, we will all remember the dark days of 2020, when nothing was again the same. Everyone, everything, everywhere: it’s all different, now.
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,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: War Room will return, vows energy minister Sonya Savage, after government slashes propaganda unit’s budget for three months
Is it possible the United Conservative Party has a conscience? I know, I know, this seems highly unlikely. Even if it were true, like the Grinch’s heart, it’s bound to be a shriveled organ, at least two sizes too small. Canadian Energy Centre Ltd. Managing Director Tom Olsen (Photo: David
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Alberta government makes moves to lay off more public employees — this time provincial public service members
No one should assume Saturday’s mass layoff of 26,000 substitute teachers, teaching assistants and non-essential support staff at schools throughout Alberta is the last such action planned by the United Conservative Party Government as it attempts to game federal pandemic supports. In a bargaining update published this morning by the
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Andrew Scheer and the Monstrous Nature of the Cons
About a week ago I ran a picture of Andrew Scheer grinning and chuckling during a debate on the Coronavirus, no doubt thinking that he could use the medical emergency to try to destroy Justin Trudeau.But of course it's not easy to do that, not when Trudeau and his team
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On spin over substance
PressProgress is right to point out how many landlords are using the loud announcement of coronavirus relief – which, if you read the small print, won’t be available for months – as an excuse to keep charging rent as of April 1. (Not to mention to attempt to pressure tenants
Continue readingThe Daveberta Podcast: Episode 51: A new Alberta. Responding to COVID-19 and Oil Crash with Chris Henderson.
Wash your hands, don’t touch your face, stay at home. The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and the plummeting price of oil has sent shockwaves through Alberta politics over the past two weeks. Chris Henderson, Chief Strategist and Partner at Y Station Communications and Research, joins Dave Cournoyer and Adam
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The Impact of COVID-19 on Democracy
James Madison said tyranny arises “on some favourable emergency”. The COVID-19 pandemic is today’s “favourable emergency.” It’s being used by unscrupulous politicians as a smokescreen for undemocratic behavior in Alberta’s Legislature and an excuse for Jason Kenney to enlist the crème de la crème of right-wing conservative thinkers to reshape
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Justin Trudeau And The War On COVID -19
He has had to weather one crisis after another. His wife is sick with Covid-19, and he must take care of their children alone, while under self-isolation.But from that little office he is still governing this country.Still communicating with other world leaders.Read more »
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The coronavirus pandemic: Not good news for anyone, but probably worse news for the West than China
The novel coronavirus hit China first. Today was the first day China reported no new local infections since the global pandemic officially began in Hubei province in the fall of 2019. No new local infections means that while there were 34 cases reported in China in the previous 24 hours,
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Bill Morneau’s COVID-19 response: This economic and health crisis is no time for timidity or hesitation
According to Bill Morneau, “as Minister of Finance, my only job is to make sure that Canadians can keep food in the fridge.” That’s actually a rare useful thought for a federal finance minister to keep front of mind in calamitous circumstances like the present ones. Economist Jim Stanford (Photo:
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