Thoughts on Danielle Smith’s Latest Comment
When is a person old enough to know better? I ask because Danielle Smith was 50 when she said 75% of the public who took the covid vaccine would support…
Crime and Justice
Gondek, Notley and Smith: An important conversation
Last week Calgary Economic Development presented its Report to the Community. The highlight of the event was Mayor Jyoti Gondek’s conversations with Rachel Notley and Danielle Smith. Gondek asked each…
Hiding From the Fourth Estate
Last week Danielle Smith announced her new “one question, no follow up” rule for journalists asking questions at her press conferences. She said the “one question” rule would apply to…
Smith’s 11 Minute Phone Call with the Pastor
“That’s an astounding thing to say from the Premier of the province.” – Law prof Eric Adams On May 29 Danielle Smith issued a press statement to pre-empt a CBC…
The UCP Government Responds to Justice Paul Rouleau’s Report on the Emergencies Act
On Friday Justice Paul Rouleau released his report of the inquiry into the Trudeau government’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act in response to the convoy protests in Ottawa and…
The RStar Debacle (Who’s going to clean up this mess?)
“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” — opening scene, Star Wars The first thing I thought of when I heard the word RStar was the opening…
Woke? What?
Woke (/ˈwoʊk/ WOHK): adjective: aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)—Merriam-Webster I don’t read publications like the Western Standard or…
“Too Many Gotchas”
“Nothing to see here, move along.” – Movie trope Last week the CBC published a story saying that a staffer in Danielle Smith’s office sent a series of emails to…
Political Interference in the Administration of Justice (Again!)
“What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”—Proverb, originated 1562 Did you catch all that? Premier Smith has been all over the airwaves saying that regardless of what…
When the UCP Government Ran Amok
“There is no room for the unilateral assumption of authority in a constitutional democracy.” – Nigel Bankes, U of C emeritus professor of law, on the government’s decision to rescind…
Jason Kenney’s “Breaking Bad” Press Release
Last week, the feds granted BC a 3-year exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act decriminalizing the possession of up to 2.5 grams of certain illegal drugs for personal…
A Traffic Ticket and a Phone Call
On Feb 25, 2022, Premier Kenney issued a misleading press release setting out his rationale for a Cabinet shuffle. Two cabinet ministers, who should have been (back) benched a long…
Jason Kenney Reacts to the Emergencies Act
“We needed to see it to believe it.”—Ottawa resident talking about police clearing out Ottawa’s downtown core after 22 days of occupation. Our trust in government was at such an…
Quick comment on the Illegal Occupation & Blockades
Ms Soapbox is under the weather, as such there will be no blog post today. I expect to be fully functional next week, at least physically. It will take longer…
Kenney Condemns (sort of) the Actions of the Freedom Convoy
I didn’t want to write about the Freedom Convoy, aka the yahoos who converged on Ottawa to protest the federal government’s truckers vaccine mandate (and everything else covid related) and…
The Allan Report: Foreign Funding of Anti-Alberta Energy Campaigns
First, we had Steve Allan’s Report on the (not so public) public inquiry’s findings with respect to the role of foreign funding into Anti-Alberta Energy Campaigns. Then we had the…
On Liberty and Alberta’s Covid Crisis
This is for the woman who yelled “Do you feel safer now?” when my daughter stepped off the sidewalk to give the woman and her rambunctious dog room to pass.…
The Marieval Residential School
This weekend Ms Soapbox was going to write a breezy little blog saying she was taking the summer off. She was going to wish everyone a safe and pleasant summer…
Kenney and the Autocrat’s Handbook
The Alberta Legislature ended the 2021 Spring Session on a particularly disturbing note. Members of the Opposition asked Jason Kenney to apologize for his role in pushing the niqab ban,…
Fighting Racism in Kenney’s Alberta
Sometimes it pays to sit through a 53 minute 42 second Kenney press conference because something unexpected will happen at the very end. In this case it happened at the…