Never mind the Omicron variant, Alberta, it looks like we’re going to have the Best Christmas Ever. So brace yourselves. With unvaccinated Albertans now welcome at family gatherings, this could turn out to be a repeat of the Best Summer Ever. Health Minister Jason Copping (Photo: Alberta Newsroom Flickr). Premier
Continue readingTag: public sector pensions
Alberta Politics: Recall bill’s bar is so high, no MLA needs to lose sleep, but municipal provisions of Bill 52 have potential for mischief
Laws that let voters recall representatives with whom they’ve grown dissatisfied have an undeniable appeal, even as they threaten to unleash constitutional mayhem and make some jurisdictions all but ungovernable. So it was one thing for Jason Kenney to promise to implement this hardy perennial of Alberta’s aspirational politics when
Continue readingAlberta Politics: The world takes aim at fossil fuels while Alberta, Canada, takes aim at Bigfoot cartoon*
History repeats itself, Karl Marx famously observed, first as tragedy, second as farce. Well, not always. Alberta’s notorious Energy War Room, fortunately, seems to have skipped the tragedy phase and moved directly to farce. A screengrab of the Alberta Energy War Room’s Netflix attack site (Image: Canadian Energy Centre Ltd.).
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Teachers are bound to be furious about UCP’s Christmas coup to consolidate control over their pensions
If the Kenney Government’s Christmas Eve coup to consolidate control over $18 billion in Alberta Teachers Retirement Fund assets shows anything, it’s that the United Conservative Party’s investment strategy is as good as its political strategy! Or maybe we should put that the other way: that the government’s political strategy
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Can Kenney’s plans for Albertans’ pensions survive the next round of bad AIMCo news?
Alberta’s Local Authorities Pension Plan was in “the healthiest position in its 58-year history” at the end of 2019, and things are still fine, the president and CEO of LAPP Corp. said in a message Friday to plan members and retirees. It would be going too far to call Chris
Continue readingAlberta Politics: UCP to give Alberta government ‘a giant enema,’ minister of ‘red tape reduction’ proclaims
Grant Hunter, associate minister in charge of Alberta’s ministry of “red tape reduction,” got up on his hind legs in the Legislature Wednesday evening and proclaimed that the intention of the United Conservative Party majority is “to give this government a giant enema.” I wish I could tell you I
Continue readingAlberta Politics: You’re in for it now, Canada! Wildrose has a plan to make you love pipelines … or else!
PHOTOS: Some of the 2,000 or so Albertans who turned up in defence of their pensions in minus-30 weather on March 2, 2014. Turns out a lot of them voted, too. Below: Pipelines! Love ’em or lose your allowance! Have you got that, Canada? Get ready, Canada! If there’s ever
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Wildrose demands transparency from NDP and PCs but holds its annual meeting in secret
Alberta’s conservative Wildrose Party is holding its annual general meeting this weekend in Calgary and, according to one media source, the event will be closed to the media with the exception of leader Brian Jean‘s speech ahead of the leadership review vote on the evening of… Continue Reading →
Continue readingAlberta Diary: There’s no better time than right now for non-union employees of the City of St. Albert to look for union protection
St. Albert’s 2013 civic election campaign was pretty dirty, as the illustration above, grabbed from an anonymous blog during the campaign, illustrates. Since those kind of tactics seemed to work, the next one, in October 2017, is likely to be dirtier still. Below: St. Albert Mayor Nolan Crouse, Spruce Grove-St.
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Pension deal = good news #nlpoli
Three things: 1. The agreement to deal with the unfunded pension liability is a good thing for workers and for taxpayers. It deals with a substantial financial problem, which is the bonus for taxpayers, while preserving defined benefit pension plans for workers, which is the big win for them. The
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Missing: Any discussion of what drove the Hancock Government’s Bill 10 attack on legally enforceable contracts
A system of contracts that can be enforced and adjudicated by an independent and disinterested court like this one is one of the key features of civilized society. This is a picture of the court used by a significant number Canadian law firms to illustrate their web pages. Actually, it’s
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Finance minister’s joint news conference with civil service union leader sure looked like a total climb-down
AUPE President Guy Smith, left, and Finance Minister Doug Horner on the podium together at yesterday’s news conference in Edmonton. Below: NDP leader Brian Mason as he spoke to reporters moments afterward. There’s no question, after a year of something approaching total warfare between the Government of Alberta and its
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Calgary mayor hands Alberta PCs a ‘Get Out of Jail Card’ on public service pensions
Alberta Premier pro tem Dave Hancock, who does not appear exactly as illustrated, of course, pictured on a Get Out of Jail Free card given him today by Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi. Below: Mr. Nenshi and the real Mr. Hancock. Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi handed Alberta Premier pro tempore Dave
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Redford-Hancock Government moves ahead with plan to gut public sector pensions
Alberta Environment Minister Robin Campbell, right, in one of the rather undistinguished jackets that are causing such a brouhaha in the provincial Legislature this week. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Doug Horner, below, is moving to attack the pensions of 300,000 Alberta public employees and no one is paying much attention. Below
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Alberta Tories on public service pensions: ‘We lied. So what are you gonna do about it?’
As Tory leadership candidates Thomas Lukaszuk, standing, and Doug Horner look on, Alberta Premier pro tempore Dave Hancock tries out the barrel in which the next leader of the Progressive Conservative Party will lead their caucus over the falls. Actual Tory premiers and would-be premiers may not appear exactly as
Continue readingAlberta Diary: If Albertans can’t trust actuary’s conclusions, why did AHS hire the same firm? Hint: it’s not the firm you can’t trust
The Alberta Health Services computing division, figuring out how much they spend on consultants this quarter, hard at work. Actual Alberta health bureaucrats may not appear exactly as illustrated. LETHBRIDGE It was interesting, surely, to read the Wildrose Party’s revelation yesterday that Alberta Health Services had spent close to a
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Women hit by Redford Government’s pension cuts entitled to ask: ‘What are we? Chopped liver?’
Finance Minister Doug Horner and Alberta Premier Alison Redford attempt to skate around opposition to their planned cuts to public service pensions. Points have not yet been awarded for the maneuver. Actual Alberta politicians may not appear exactly as illustrated. Below: The real Mr. Horner as he slipped past media
Continue readingAlberta Diary: CFIB members please post: ‘Money from public sector wages & pensions NOT wanted here!’
CFIB AstroTurf technicians roll out part of their campaign against improved pensions for Canadians, a plan certain to harm the group’s naïve supporters. Below: A suggested sign for the windows of CFIB-member businesses. Whew! That was a close one! We almost improved the Canada Pension Plan! So says the so-called
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Two Messages For Tim Hudak
I have a bit of a busy morning ahead, so just a brief post for now. I have written many times about young Tim Hudak, the lad who aspires to become Premier of Ontario through rhetoric that demonizes the public sector, public sector pensions, and unions. Apparently, constructive policy and
Continue readingwRanter.com: Attacking public sector workers is a bad idea
During economic downturns, people have a tendency to turn on one another. We blame victims and eat our own. I’ve been alive long enough to have seen it more than once before. It’s wrong, but I get it. The urge to help one’s fellow human during times of trouble gets
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