Women of ABpoli: Hot Flashes - Issue #18
This Week in AB
The scent of mutiny is in the air
On Monday it was confirmed that 22 United Conservative constituency associations had signed a resolution calling for a leadership review prior to April 2022 - the date Jason Kenney agreed to in September.
But there's more.
A memo was leaked to CBC's West of Centre podcast that asked political staffers to "vote down" certain policies up for debate this year.
At UCP's conventions, the policies with the most votes are debated first and there is a limited amount of time allotted to policy debates - therefore, the lower on the list the policy is, the less likely time will allow the policy to be debated at all, and it will be as if the policy proposal never even existed.
Still more.
There's a new rule coming to the 2021 AGM that prohibits anyone from proposing a new resolution, "with the exception of those proposed by the leader."
More.
The proposal to raise the number of CAs required to call that leadership review came from the Edmonton-North West CA, the president of which - incredibly - is a paid employee of the United Conservative Party itself. Keep your enemies close but pay people to be your "friends".
More still.
Airdrie-Cochrane MLA Peter Guthrie accused both the partisan association of the political party and the publicly funded premier's office "of meddling in local affairs, taking over ridings, and even improperly funding the convention fees of Kenney loyalists from PAC funds."
So, the thing about these allegations is that there's nothing illegal about them. Political parties can be shady and sketchy in their meddling, or designs on getting "friends" elected to CA boards, so long as they don't actually break the law.
Third party advertisers or political action committees can reimburse attendees for tickets to AGMs.
A complaint has been sent to the Elections Commissioner, however, from both former UCP MLA Todd Loewen and the NDP.
In any case, Kenney says he is "not involved in third-party organizations but third-party organizations are free within the law to be involved in politics." Nothing to see here.
One more...
Another leak, this time an email from an executive of an unnamed Alberta company seeking support after being asked by a "senior staff" member from Kenney's office to encourage membership sales and attendance at the AGM.
“One of Kenney’s senior staff reached out to me yesterday and asked if I could ’round up’ a substantial number of existing and new members to attend the AGM and participate in the board voting,” the email reads.
“As we know, there is a lot of division within the current UCP ranks, and it looks like our premier is looking to shore up a few board positions to wash out a few of the dissenters.
While I am not necessarily the biggest Kenney fan at this point, I am a believer that our conservative government needs to show a consolidated and determined front or we risk a sharp turn on the next election that wouldn’t be great for Albertans.
What I would like to do, is take this specific request from Kenney’s office to bring support, and leverage that into further, meaningful dialogues with his cabinet.
We can be relatively apolitical and not make a big deal of the support, and put us in a position to be recognized as strong supporters in the event Kenney carries on and brings his house in order.”
Lethbridge-West MLA Shannon Phillips took umbrage with Braid shrugging off the email's insinuation that leverage would be afforded to the attendees as simply being "how political power works in Alberta".
Unfortunately, under the Progressive Conservatives, this is exactly "how political power work(ed) in Alberta" - it's also one of the reasons they were finally shown the door.
But don't forget that Kenney is a political operative at his core. Having lowered expectations his current level will allow almost anyone else to look better in comparison. It also worked for the PCs.
Alberta has a deal for childcare!!!
“All together now: Childcare is not a boutique women’s issue https://t.co/573b5ad904”
On Monday, the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland were in Alberta to oversee the announcement that we finally had a childcare agreement.
Some called it an "early Christmas present", others called it a late Easter present since it took seven months for the province to do anything. But it's here, finally, and only needs a little tweaking.
Yes, it would be great if government worked like some sort of group project where everyone got to have some input, but let's not forget about the others left behind.
Maclean's Shannon Proudfoot brought her A-game in defence of affordable childcare. Why on earth was that needed, you ask?
Puppy kickers.
The ones who say "I don't need the government's help/don't have kids" or "why do my taxes go to support childcare, education, post-secondary, children's hospitals, or child tax benefits," right before they kick a puppy.
Those people.
Jason Kenney's Hot Boy Summer (Girls)
We all need a laugh damnit and this week we invited Abby Vandenberghe (who plays 'Baby' Deena Hinshaw) and Stephanie Wolfe (playing Rachel Notley) to talk about the amazing hit musical from Edmonton, Jason Kenney's Hot Boy Summer.
The show is sold out, then they added another week from December 9th to 16th, (which sold out after the podcast BUT another 'wave' will be announced soon!), and there will eventually be an opportunity to access it online. Check out the Grindstone Theatre for available dates!
Why can't we be friends?
Wells’ 4th Rule of Politics: if you campaign to be the opposition, you get the job. #ableg”
Oh, right.
Canada
VACCINES ARE COMING!
The CDC approved Pfizer's Covid vaccine for children aged between 5 and 11 on November 2. Health Canada announced approval Friday.
Pfizer's vaccine research have been going for more than a year and the company reported their phase two trial results for children under the age of 16 in March 2021.
B.C. needs us
The news of floods, losses, and damage in B.C. have been absolutely astounding. We are in the early stages yet, but trucks and people have been stranded, highways are blocked or washed out, and the feds announced that Canadians visiting the U.S. for less than 72 hours (it's a 14 hour trip from Calgary to Vancouver through Washington) will not need a negative Covid test to re-enter the country (which may or may not be related).
Batters OUT!
Monday was a big news day. Senator Denise Batters launched a petition to hold a leadership review of Erin O'Toole. In response, OToole removed her from the National Council. She's still part of the Senate Caucus though, because no one is taking O'Toole's leadership seriously.
Much to the manufactured disappointment of some in the CPC, Batters has grounds for her complaint.
Did he "flip flop"? Yes. Did he ignore Conservative Party of Canada policy? Yes.
But as I told Andrew Nichols on CBC's News Network, O'Toole was trying to get elected - he was trying to make the party palatable to Canadians when neither the membership creating policy, nor his caucus, are making that an easy task (as Batters pointed out in her complaint).
To be fair, where Kenney told Albertans (and the members of his party) that he "hold(s) the pen" on the party platform, O'Toole followed suit but without the oh-so-eloquent heads up... which may be gnawing at his hind-side now.
Let's face it - when you decide that you can focus on "what unites us rather than what divides us", but you don't really get all-party support for that, you're never going to be a safe, or effective, leader.
Arrests made at Wet'suwet'en blockade
This is a story that makes me question everything I think I know about whether the law is the law.
Oh, yeah, and there's a haven for German conspiracy theorists being built in Nova Scotia
I honestly hope this is just money laundering through real estate scams.
Final thought