Last month TransAlta kicked a damaging allegation into the court of public opinion: did it manipulate the electricity market by improperly shutting down six power plants during peak demand hours in order to jack up power prices and make millions in the process? There are only two things the court
Continue readingTag: Politics and Government
Susan on the Soapbox: Alberta’s “Traffic Court Reform”: One Step Closer to a Police State
Justice Minister Denis is touting “Traffic Court Reform” as a “citizen-friendly” dispute resolution process to “resolve” traffic tickets. It’s also the first step into a quagmire that erases our civil liberties in order to save money (and help the minister meet his 2014 budget targets). The Justice minister requested “feedback”
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Breakfast with Hillary Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton was in Calgary last week to give the keynote address at a breakfast meeting of 2500 Calgarians who paid about $500 to hear her speak. Luckily my friend, the Zen Banker, invited me to attend as her guest. Hillary is like the Chloe Diamond—brilliant, mesmerizing, multifaceted and
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The Edelman Trust Barometer: Who do you trust?
The 2014 Edelman Trust Barometer is here and it’s good news—unless you work in government or business in which case you’re facing what Edelman delicately calls “a significant trust deficit”. Edelman is a global public relations company that surveys trust levels across 27 countries by asking the public who they
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Where are the Ethical Lawyers?
In the last three months Albertans have witnessed a shocking display of raw power. The Redford government calls it “delivering the responsible change Albertans voted for.” The rest of us call it the abuse of majority power to crush the rights of environmentalists, land owners and labour unions. Black November
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: “What Makes Canada So Great?”
Michaela Pereira, CNN television personality and news anchor (I use the term loosely) asked a member of the Canadian Olympic skiing team this question: “What makes Canada so great?” My immediate reaction was: What a goofy question. Luckily the Canadian athlete had more tact. He replied: “Teamwork”. He may be
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: CSEC Exonerated
Mr Jean-Pierre Plouffe, CSEC watchdog, has determined that CSEC is off the hook,it did not direct any activity at Canadians or persons in Canada. He’s hanging his hat on the distinction between “collecting metadata” and “tracking Canadians”. I guess if CSEC activity isn’t “directed” at Canadians, then CSEC bears no responsibility
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Forget “Angry Birds” Where are the Angry Canadians?
Saturday’s headline in Canada’s “newspaper of record”, The Globe and Mail, was not “Harper government caught spying on Canadians” but “Rob Ford admits jaywalking ticket in Vancouver”. Are you kidding me??? Let’s review the week, shall we? Angry Birds It started with Edward Snowden revealing that American and British spy
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The Trouble with Ezra Levant…
Mr Ezra Levant Ezra Levant is a Canadian media personality, an ultra-conservative political activist, author and lawyer who has made a brilliant career out of being half right. In a recent episode of The Source, Mr Levant outlined the flaws in Neil Young’s rationale for the Honour the Treaties Tour.
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The Buck Stops Here — Privacy 101 for Minister Horne — A guest blog by lawyer Brian Thiessen
Susan on the Soapbox welcomes her first guest blogger. Employment and privacy lawyer Brian Thiessen has a few words to say about a privacy breach that impacts 620,000 Albertans. The title says it all. The Buck Stops Here–Privacy 101 for Minister Horne–Incompetence is not a defence Like most Albertans, I
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Does Fort Mac Look Like Hiroshima?
Neil Young said many provocative things about the oilsands, but the one that became a lightning rod for criticism was this: “The fact is, Fort McMurray looks like Hiroshima”.* He later explained that the reference to Fort McMurray was meant to symbolize all of the oilsands operations in northern Alberta.
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Neil Young is Right
“Take a second to really look at what you hear.” – Neil Young, singer/songwriter Neil Young knows how to rile up a crowd. In a 15 minute press conference* to kick off his Honour the Treaties Tour with Diana Krall he said some things that sent Big Oil and a
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Minister Bhullar’s Revelation: 741 Children Die in Government Care
Last week Human Services Minister Manmeet Bhullar made a shocking announcement—741 children died in government foster homes or other forms of government care since 1999. This is 13 times higher than the 56 reported by the government in its annual reports and five times higher than the 145 uncovered by
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The Progressive Conservatives Prepare for War–Really!
“Our organization cannot lose the grassroots donation battle to our opposition if we hope to win the war in 2016.”—Ron Renaud, PC Chief Financial Officer Win the war in 2016??? The “war” metaphor Before we get sucked into the “war” metaphor let’s pause and consider what George Orwell taught us—thought
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: CNRL’s Primrose Problem: A Slow Motion Blow Out
When King Edward VIII abdicated the throne to marry Wallis Simpson it was scandalous. When the Alberta government abdicated the regulation of Alberta’s natural resources to an industry-led agency nobody raised an eyebrow. The new Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) is 100% funded by industry. It’s chaired by an industry lobbyist,
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Redford’s Performance Appraisal: The Building Alberta Plan
Alison Redford’s performance appraisal document landed on my doorstep a week ago. It’s called “The Building Alberta Plan 2013 Edition”. In the real world a CEO undergoes an annual performance appraisal with the Compensation Committee of the board of directors. If a CEO presented Redford’s Plan to the Comp Committee
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Redford and Mandela: Hypocrisy and Hope (Part 2)
“He would continually bring people back to the table. That was his greatest strength”—Ms Redford on Nelson Mandela* Sadly, Ms Redford never learned how to bring “people back to the table” here in Alberta. So she resorted to the meat hammer—ramming through Bill 46 for force a “settlement” on the
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Redford and Mandela: Hypocrisy Meets Hope and Learns Nothing
The Redford government’s capacity for hypocrisy knows no bounds. In the same week that Redford’s PC government passed two corrosive pieces of anti-labour legislation, Ms Redford reflected on what she’d learned as a young lawyer working with Nelson Mandela to reform South Africa’s legal system. Nelson Mandela “He taught me
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: 145 Children Die in Government Care; but 89 Don’t Count
“WHEREAS the Government of Alberta recognizes that children and youth are our greatest resource…blah blah blah”—Child and Youth Advocate Act One hundred and forty five children died in government care since 1999. The government reported 56 deaths. The rest sank below the radar because they were the result of
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: One Dead Fish or More Big Ideas? The Quality of Debate in Redford’s Government
Premier Redford complains bitterly about the quality of debate in the Legislature; apparently we need more “big ideas” and less “parochial debate”.* However her Environmental Minister continues to provide fatuous explanations for why it took nineteen days to issue an Environmental Protection Order in connection with the largest coal mining
Continue reading