This week in AB: Where people know Alberta politics
I don’t “toot my own horn” much, but I pride myself in cutting through the political BS to give insightful commentary about what’s actually happening in Alberta politics.
I doubt that most people who keep up with me, or any of the other fantastic Alberta political observers and doers in this province were surprised to see former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi earn 86 per cent of the vote in the recent Alberta NDP leadership race.
Over the past few days, however, we have been gifted with the entertaining perspectives of people who had absolutely no idea about what was going on in Alberta.
“No one saw this coming,” said one political podcast host based on Ontario, talking to other political people based in Ontario… who agreed.
I pointedly rolled my eyes.
Granted, even in my most political spaces, there wasn’t a clear consensus on how big the blowout would be. I expect those people have “lives” and hobbies unrelated to politics; not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Even as we started to hear about the sheer number of membership sales after Naheed Nenshi joined the race, I tried to remain optimistic for the sake of the other campaigns; at that point, the only thing they could do was try to convince new members to throw them a vote.
It was over.
Janet Brown had a good point the other night on CTV Edmonton — where Ontarians will be none the wiser, unfortunately — saying that Nenshi’s win was likely due to him being the person members pegged as most likely to tip the scales in the next election.
The Alberta NDP came close last election, there’s no denying that, but they just couldn’t pull off the win. I did a number of Ontario broadcast spots in the lead up to the 2023 election, and I managed to portray some optimism about their chances because I didn’t want to have a hand in tipping any scales myself.
I wasn’t pressed for a prediction until a CTV spot two days before the election where I was forced to be honest; I didn’t see the NDP managing a win.
I could have been wrong — the race was so very close — but I wasn’t.
Ontario-based journalist Matt Gurney once wrote something that really resonated with me (yet, oddly, has never applied to Thomas Mulcair): “In my line of work, there’s no margin in making guesses. I don’t win a prize if I’m right, and it hurts my credibility when I’m wrong.”
This is my credo; no prizes pending.
Unless…
See what I did there? Reading between the lines, my friends, will tell you everything.
Is Nenshi partisan?
I burst out laughing at this tweet by federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh. I laughed about it for hours afterwards.
It still makes me giggle.
I imagine the brain trust sat back and said “what is the most NDP comment we can make to troll the new Alberta NDP leader, who is not nearly as NDP as we?” They found it, and it was amazing — if you can find the humour in that.
I’ve remarked privately that this is the most interesting social experiments I’ve been fortunate enough to watch unfold: a previously non-partisan person leading a partisan entity.
I, for one, am definitely going to watch and learn.
During our experimental podcast this week, Lindsay Amantea delivered a cutting remark: “If Nenshi wanted to lead centrists into the next election, he’d be leading the Alberta party — not me.”
Shots fired.
I love the potential of the Alberta Party, and I love Lindsay, too; but right now, there is only one party other than the UCP that is within a stone’s throw of forming government — and it’s the Alberta NDP.
Many of us had a bit of an issue with this fact, but I think Naheed Nenshi understands it better than most.
I cannot give enough props to that tweet though — slayed; utterly slayed.
Smith says she’ll protect Albertans from universal dental care program
OF COURSE Danielle Smith is against universal dental care — she’s the Premier of Alberta and has all the dental care she needs through the mandated generosity of Alberta taxpayers.
I grew up with dental care. My mom had a good plan and constantly reminded me of how lucky we were to have access to these regular cleanings and check-ups that I hated going to but generally appreciated afterward.
Since I’ve been an adult, however, I’ve had access to employer-subsidized dental care exactly three times, despite working for 24 different employers, which works out to be 13 per cent of the last few decades.
Adding insult to injury, “adult life” is like, all I have to look forward to and the statistics on my obtaining dental coverage through an employer continue to look bleak AF.
While the Premier of Alberta is telling me I don’t deserve access.
I’ll repeat: so strong. So free*.
*To pay private corporations for things my taxes could be covering.
Canada
Trudeau must go
Yes, I threw that annoying hashtag in there for giggles, but also because: he must.
The cabinet shuffle had no effect. My own recommendation that Trudeau lean into the fact that he’s not well-liked had no effect. His budget had no effect.
The tea leaves are stunningly obvious right now.
It’s time to think about the party’s electoral chances in 2025.
I was asked last week whether or not the by-election in Toronto would be a referendum on the government. By-elections are weird and, in my opinion, don’t necessarily represent anything much at all aside from who can get the vote out.
However, I admitted we prefer to inject meaning into these things and that we would like to think coincides with our predisposed beliefs about what we perceive to be going on in the world.
So diplomatic.
Last fall, I said Trudeau would be gone by the time the spring snow melted after walking back the carbon tax for people who still used heating oil.
I stand by that.
He should have been gone by now.
I try to balance my Alberta-centric view with the fact that Canadians in other provinces aren’t subject to the anti-Trudeau sentiment we have come to expect here, but I think it’s time to admit that since most Canadians are not facing generational propaganda, their anti-Trudeau sentiment can be basically summed up as simply as: Canadians are saying they don’t want to see any more from this Prime Minister.
Period.
I don’t dislike the guy. I think that between him and Pierre Poilievre, Trudeau is definitely the one I trust more to keep working to make life better for Canadian families.
However, Poilievre has tapped into the determination to burn everything to the ground and it’s catching on — decidedly so.
For Canada, for Canadians, Trudeau needs to step away now and allow the party to begin rebuilding before the next election — it’s the only hope they have.
Final thoughts
Nothing tops that Jagmeet Singh tweet, except maybe one of the comments I saw afterwards: “Always nice to get a note from the boss on your first day.”
Thank you, dark humour, for reminding me that laughter is everything.
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