A “Marathon Session”
The Alberta Legislature is adjourned for a month. For this we are truly grateful because no matter how Jason Kenney tries to dress up his performance—he says he’s well on…
susanonthesoapbox
Alberta is Not for Sale
“Greed is good. Greed is right. Greed works.” — Gordon Gekko in the movie ‘Wall Street’ Our Covid numbers are rising, GDP is falling and the UCP government is burying…
Police Surveillance of NDP Cabinet Minister Shannon Phillips
As Ms Soapbox read the decision of retired superintendent Paul Manuel, formerly of the Calgary Police Service, in the disciplinary proceedings against two members of the Lethbridge Police Service who…
Canada Day Greetings???
Question: When is a birthday greeting not a birthday greeting? Answer: When it comes from a hypocrite. Canadians will be receiving Happy Canada Day greetings from politicians at all levels…
Kenney’s Answer to Systemic Racism: The Tinkerbell Effect
“This time it’s different.” – Masai Ujiri, president of the NBA champion Toronto Raptors The death of George Floyd ignited extraordinary protests around the world. Black, brown, and indigenous people…
Systemic Racism in Alberta
“This is hard to watch but it’s important. We cannot ignore that systemic racism persists in Alberta and across the world.” – Rachel Notley commenting on the video of the…
The Ignominy of Kenney’s Bill 1
As Albertans flooded into the streets to join the hundreds of thousands of people around the world protesting systemic racism and police brutality, some of us worried about the UCP…
Jason Kenney’s Miniscule Pandemic Bump
He’s tried everything from rolling up his shirtsleeves and pointing at graphs to quoting Franklin Roosevelt (“we have nothing to fear but fear itself”), but still Albertans refuse to give…
The Day Kenney Bet $7.5 Billion on the US Election
In September 2019 Jason Kenney began negotiating with TC Energy to invest $7.5 billion in cash and loan guarantees in the Keystone XL pipeline. In March 2020 Kenney announced negotiations…
When Jason Kenney Told Off China and It Backfired
Covid-19 upended everything. No one knows whether the world will snap back to “normal” like an elastic band or be gone forever. Economists, futurists, and historians are all over the…
Kenney Rejects Notley’s Request for a Public Inquiry. Why?
At last count there have been 1,550 Covid-19 infections and three deaths connected with the Cargill, JBS and Harmony Beef meatpacking plants in Alberta. This is frightening in a province…
Leadership in the Post-Pandemic World
It’s been two and a half months since the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic; infections and deaths will continue until a vaccine is found. Economists and global thinkers…
Jason Kenney’s Fight with Alberta’s Doctors
“The crisis we have in health care, rural included, is a void of leadership by the UCP government. They were voted in with a majority government, but do not seem…
Gaslighting 101: Mr Kenney Responds to Mr Trudeau’s Aid Package
Gaslighting: abusive behavior where an abuser manipulates information to make his victim question their sanity by using denial, misdirection, contradiction and misinformation to destabilize the victim and delegitimize their beliefs.…
Checking In
How are you? Are you okay? The Soapbox family is fine. We’re the lucky ones, we’re doing reasonably well under the circumstances. We check in with each other every day.…
Jason Kenney and the KXL Deal
Last week Mr Kenney threw away (yet again) his belief in the sanctity of the free market by announcing his government (ie. us) would invest $1.5 billion in TC Energy…
The Leader and His Team
It’s been a tough week for everyone; especially that “young, energetic and diverse team with deep experience” that Jason Kenney (his words by the way) appointed to Cabinet. Health Minister…
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…
COVID-19: A Study in Leadership
“The first role of government is to help people in crisis or need. That’s why we have government.”– John McCain Crisis separates the leaders from wannabes. We will be watching…