Women of ABpoli Hot Flashes: History, Smithstory
This Week in AB
Smith vs Smith
Since Smith became Alberta's 19th Premier, things she's been saying over the last year have come back to bite her in the ass.
A long-time proponent of "everyone is entitled to their own opinion" -- coupled with a questionable resistance to "cancel culture"; otherwise known as people distancing themselves from opinions they find personally, politically, and/or professionally distasteful -- Smith has balked at being held to account as premier.
During a livestream for her paying subscribers in June of 2021, Smith claimed publicly-funded healthcare was unsustainable.
"(Healthcare) has to shift the burden of payment away from taxpayers and toward private individuals, their employers, and their insurance companies," she said.
If you can only lay claim to the first, you're probably in trouble.
Needless to say, the Official Opposition jumped on the opportunity to showcase Smith detailing how Albertans could save more money for healthcare they might need, or ask Grandma and Grandpa for some cash, or even fundraise.
For access to healthcare -- in Canada -- as if we're some shithole country that believes more in the value of a dollar than a life.
Smith claims that it's not what she's planning to do in the case of the Health Spending Accounts, even though she has detailed how the HSAs would get people used to spending their own money for services that aren't covered under the provincial plans.
However, when you set out plans for using an HSA to bring in access fees to healthcare, and then claim now that you're in a position of power you're not actually going to do that thing you argued for barely a year ago, I think it's fair that people are questioning whether they can believe you.
Blasphemous as it may be to say out loud, there are issues with our healthcare system that could be addressed and, in a good faith environment, might actually provide beneficial solutions for us all.
Unfortunately, we've sort of passed that point already.
Smith fires AHS board
Promise made, promise kept.
Except, what does it mean, exactly? Not much, aside from pleasing a lot of people who voted for Danielle Smith.
The AHS board, however, as noted by Nate Pike in the latest episode of The Breakdown, was a governance board; not an operational board, which simply means they had no say in day-to-day operations and nothing will actually change.
While watching political theatre, never forget that the actors are reading a script and the only goal is to please an audience who is willing to be convinced that it's real.
Speaking of political theatre...
Premier Danielle Smith announced on November 22 that her UCP government will help fight "years of record spending and debt by the federal government in Ottawa" by continuing years of record spending and debt by the Government of Alberta.
Smith offered $2.4 billion in Dani Dollars in the lead up to the next election, including more money for food banks because usage has surged under the UCP's leadership.
For those who can expect their electricity and heating bills to triple over the colder months, an additional $50 rebate (on top of the $150 in Kenney Coins) will be offered to the distributor on your behalf.
Not yet finished with AHS, Smith hinted the next jobs on the chopping block belong to "managers and consultants", adding that Alberta doesn't have enough frontline staff.
Smith suggested emergency rooms would be better served if "those who need a simple prescription or alternate care get that care without having to be in hospital". So, like, if your provincial government didn't choose to go after doctors during a pandemic leaving thousands of people without a primary care physician? She doesn't say.
However, we do have the ability to access "specialized surgical centres" even though our hospitals have operating rooms "just sitting there empty" -- if only we could figure out where the surgeons went...
The solution "will take time and patience" but will be accomplished by avoiding "the opposition's plan to throw billions more" into a system that is overwhelmed with the current patient load.
In keeping with her promise to demand respect rather than earn it, Smith also heralded the coming of the Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act which will reiterate a division of powers between provincial and federal jurisdiction that is already outlined in legislation elsewhere but will be used as "a constitutional shield to protect Albertans" from "a policy or law" that is binding on the individual whether Smith wants to martyr the dumbfounded or not.
In closing, Smith appealed to Albertans to ignore what she's said before she was premier because, in her own words: "that is not my job today" -- for whatever pittance she's admitted her own words are worth.
And speaking of sovereignty...
Smith's signature legislation proposal came under fire (again) on November 18 by Chiefs representing 61 First Nations and all of the treaty groups in the province.
Chiefs noted that there has been no consultation outside of Danielle Smith's 42,000 supporters regarding the proposed Act; an issue that has been raised by others.
“We take offence to Danielle Smith’s forthcoming sovereignty act and outright reject it,” said Arthur Noskey, Grand Chief of Treaty 8.
Smith's spokesperson said consultations are forthcoming and Smith said her sovereignty legislation will be introduced in the next session, which begins this week.
Smith vs Smith; round five.
Canada
The circus is still in town
It's not the typical response to "peaceful protests" but the inquiry into the use of the Emergencies Act heard November 21 that the head of CSIS "advised Trudeau" to use of the Act, even though his opinion was that the Convoy did not pose a threat to Canada's security as defined by the CSIS Act.
Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair said that the Act was invoked in response to border blockades in Alberta and Ontario.
Border blockades are estimated to have cost Canada just under $4 billion (an estimated $220 million in Alberta), or one and a half attempts by Jason Kenney to "own the libs".
Speaking of 'owning the libs'...
Trudeau and the leader of China had words. Some Canadians felt the need to defend the leader of a communist country and no, it wasn't the NDP...
Reports penned by the anti-Trudeau-no-matter-what wing reached across the pond where legendary comedian John Cleese tweeted, “I'm puzzled by the reporting of Xi's exchange with Trudeau. 'Xi scolds Trudeau'...What about 'Dictator complains to democratically elected leader’?”
Puzzling indeed.