The Google search engine connecting a reader to the Soapbox spat out this query: “Is Fred Horne as stupid as he looks?” Yikes! That’s bit harsh. But I must admit the question had crossed my mind (without the reference to Mr Horne’s looks—Ms Soapbox tries to maintain a modicum of decorum
Continue readingTag: Politics and Government
Susan on the Soapbox: We’re all in this together–sort of. The Alberta Flood 2013
Nobody said it better than the Dairy Lane Cafe and the Blue Star Diner in a sunny (literally) little poster announcing that on Canada Day every penny received from sales and tips would be donated to flood relief. The blue banner “We’re All in This Together” epitomized the can-do attitude
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The Alberta Energy Board: What the PC Government learned and failed to learn from Machiavelli
On the same day that the Health Minister unceremoniously fired the Alberta Health Services board for refusing to revoke $3.2 million in bonuses, the Energy Minister announced the appointment of the Alberta Energy Board. Hmmm. I wonder whether in a year or two this newly minted board will find themselves
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: “You’re fired!” Health Minister Horne Sacks the AHS Board
Last week Health Minister Horne out-trumped Donald Trump by firing not one but all 10 members of the Alberta Health Services Board—the board his government created in 2008 to deliver healthcare under a centralized delivery model. One expects such theatrics from Donald Trump, after all he’s a showboat; but not
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Will Platts Pop Alberta’s “Bitumen Bubble”?
Platts, a global company with a remarkably flaccid name, finds itself smack in the middle of an international price fixing scandal and I really hope the Alberta government is paying attention! Last week the European Commission storm troopers, sorry, inspectors, raided the offices of BP, Shell and Statoil, three of
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: “Campus Alberta”: Soviet Style Research and Development Comes to Alberta
Sigh…where to start? The barrage of bad news spewing out of the Premier’s office has been so intense that the government’s Machiavellian takeover of post secondary institutions and research and development slipped by with relatively little public outcry. Sure, some students and academics staged protests on the steps of the
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Conrad Black and Danielle Smith
Conrad Black, the Canadian media mogul and convicted felon* was in Calgary last week to have a “conversation” with the Calgary business elite (and me) over lunch at the Calgary Petroleum Club. The big question is why does Baron Black of Crossharbour—oh let’s just call him Conrad—continue to draw sell-out
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Strike While the Iron is Hot: The Edmonton Remand Centre Labour Dispute
For years I’ve wondered whether unions had outlived their usefulness and were simply using their collective bargaining power to crank up wages and benefits at the expense of…well…who knows what. But the wildcat strike arising out of the Edmonton Remand Centre labour dispute proved me wrong. Edmonton Remand Centre The
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The Face of Terrorism
I’ve been to Washington DC many times, but this trip was different. In addition to the usual buzz created by lobbyists, bureaucrats, politicians and businessmen who had places to go and people to see, there was a sense of unease. This feeling of foreboding was evident in the police cars
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: A Trip to the Mayo Clinic: Your dime or mine?
Mayo Clinic seen from Cafeteria This past January Mr Soapbox and my youngest daughter (let’s call her Mini) went on a pilgrimage to the Mayo clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Unbeknownst to them they were following in the footsteps of Ms Michele Lahey, former Chief Operating Officer of the former Capital
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Ms Soapbox’s Great Adventure—Off to the Leg (it rhymes with “edge”)
Last week Ms Soapbox was introduced to the Legislative Assembly by Liberal MLA, Laurie Blakeman, the oldest (as in longest-serving, not age!) opposition MLA. Ms Blakeman noted that Ms Soapbox was a lawyer but said the House wouldn’t hold that against her. Ms Soapbox stood to receive the “traditional warm
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: What Would It Take to Make you Plead Guilty? Alberta Revamps Traffic Court
What would it take to make you plead guilty to a crime you didn’t commit? One hundred dollars? One thousand dollars? Need more information? Okay, what if the crime isn’t serious? And if you plead guilty you can avoid the hassle of driving downtown, parking in an expensive lot, going
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Alberta Health Services Executive Bonuses: The joy of friends in high places
Ogden Nash To paraphrase Ogden Nash (actually Mr Nash did not utter this famous phrase, but for some reason we all think he did), “Spring has sprung, the grass is riz, I wonder where my bonus is?” It is indeed bonus time. Executives in the private sector watched their bonuses
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: The Price of Justice in Alberta: One Free Crime
On March 17, 2013, Alison Redford’s PC government broke the back of justice…and none of us saw it coming. Lady Justice, or Justitia, is the personification of the justice system. Her blindfold symbolizes objectivity, her scales symbolize the balance between truth and fairness and her double-edged sword demonstrates that reason
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Redford’s Keystone Ad in the New York Times: The St Patrick’s Day Blunder
So it’s come to this has it? Premier Redford has officially abdicated responsibility for the Canadian natural resource strategy to her communications director, Stefan Baranski, who persuaded Ms Redford to place an ad in today’s New York Times. The ad, entitled Keystone XL: The Choice of Reason, was meant
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Budget 2013 (If you want to play with the Big Boys, you play by Big Boy Rules)
“Opening new markets across Canada and around the world has become job one for this government.”—Finance Minister Horner on the 2013 Budget priorities, Alberta Hansard p1440. That simple sentence tells you all you need to know about Budget 2013 and how your tax dollars are going to be spent in
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: And Now…A Message from your Premier-In-Waiting: Mr Lukaszuk
We interrupt our regular programming—the PC spin on the cause of the $4 billion budget shortfall—to bring you an important public service announcement from the Premier-In-Waiting, Mr Lukaszuk. Mr Lukaszuk steps up to the microphone and says: Listen up you pesky union types, and this includes all you doctors who
Continue readingSusan on the Soapbox: Who do you trust? Premier Redford or Alberta’s Doctors?
“How can you trust a man who wears both a belt and suspenders? The man can’t even trust his own pants.”—a line from the spaghetti western Once Upon a Time in the West. If the government’s attacks on Alberta’s doctors are any indication, anyone up for contract renewal this year
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