This week in AB: December 6, 2024

Is it a "culture war" if only one side is fighting? I ended this week with lots of questions and few answers.

Tariffs, Trudeau, and trespassers

• Trudeau flew down to meet Trump for dinner at Mar-a-Lago last weekend to discuss tariffs

• Premier Smith is doing her “part” to overshadow the Prime Minister when it comes to trade with the U.S.. She didn’t let the fact that she can’t request a personal meeting with Trump hold her back, however, landing herself a spot on FOX, which will likely help her personal fortunes after she is done with the whole Alberta thing.

Takeaways

• Alberta’s fortunes are tied to Canada’s, Trump wants to use tariffs to bring manufacturing back to the U.S., and no amount of “border security” will provide that, so both Trudeau and Smith are going nowhere

• Smith will always be a pundit first and premier second

What’s next

• Blame Trudeau for not being able to meet Trump’s demands

UCP passes suite of bills to discourage transgender youth

BlueSky

• Fairness in Sport, a bill to require youth to provide documentation of their sex assignment at birth if girls don’t look “girly” enough, and ensure that transgender women are barred from playing on women-only teams, even if their sport does not permit such discrimination

• Education Amendment Act will require parental consent for youth to be referred by a name or pronoun of their choosing if under 16, and mandatory parental notification (but not permission) for youth over 16, and that parents must now opt-in to allow their young wards to learn about things their parents may not like (other people).

• Health Statutes Amendment Act forbids gender-affirming care for youth, specifically with regard to puberty blockers as the premier put on her doctor hat and decided their use makes people infertile (it doesn’t)

Takeaways

• Do they make those flower head band things in bigger sizes so that people who have no business wondering about their genitalia can feel better?

• Learning about foot fetishes did not give me a foot fetish; but I learned about that on the internet, so…

What’s next

• the good old days before internet and the Bible when people weren’t gay or trans, obviously

Bill to shield politicians and political staff passed

The Canadian Press

• Alberta’s Privacy Commissioner stated unequivocally that the bill would decrease transparency, but that was the intent

Alberta government launches 10th legal challenge against federal authority

• “We’ve got 4 reviews related to the federal firearms ban, 2 reviews related to the emergencies act, 1 challenge related to the plastics ban, 1 on the federal fertilizer act, 1 challenge to the federal carbon tax exemption on home heating oil, and of course the reference case on the federal assessment act,” said Mickey Amery, Alberta Justice Minister, according to CTV News

Seen and heard

• Daveberta’s Dave Cournoyer announced the winners of this year’s Best of Alberta Politics

• Paul Wells Show: his guest this week, Musa al-Gharbi, analyzed the trends of “wokeness”, including the 60’s-70’s, 90’s, and aughts. His book, We have never been woke, was published before the recent U.S. election

• West of Centre had a fantastic roundtable last week with Strategists’ Corey Hogan, The Star’s Alex Boyd, and Janet Brown from Janet Brown Opinion Research. Hosted by Kathleen Petty.