Women of ABpoli Hot Flashes: The Grift Issue
This Week in AB
Trouble making ends meet?
“Just stop being poor, duh! /s https://t.co/CIn3o285UO”
When Finance Minister Travis Toews was asked how Albertans can cope with a higher cost of living, some could reasonably be shocked to learn he suggested they "increase revenue", not "find efficiencies".
On Thursday, Toews said "there is no better cure for inflation than a better job with a higher wage".
The only minor issue is that better jobs with higher wages aren't actually available to everyone - the better the job and the higher the wage, the fewer opportunities exist.
We're also still facing uncertainty over a pandemic (even if our government is over it), the UCP decided training and upgrading should be more expensive to get those better jobs, and those oil and gas jobs they promised still haven't returned.
Toews did remind us that, also thanks to his government, Alberta is currently enjoying a $0.13/L fuel tax holiday (ends July 1, 2022), they will, at some unknown point and time in the future be sending $150 whole dollars to your power provider in response to those three months worth of bills that were almost triple the regular rates, and they've instituted a consumer protection program against high natural gas prices that haven't been seen in the province since the 1990's.
I suspect those "better jobs with higher wages" won't show up on their own - Albertans will have to create the conditions for them in solidarity.
Problem made, problem exacerbated
When I was on the doors in 2019, I heard a few good things about the new curriculum; teachers were excited about having the opportunity to implement something that had been years in the making.
Kenney and the UCP sowed distrust in the draft that had started under the PC's and was continued under the NDP - in "secret" they claimed, since it was still being reviewed by a handful of stakeholders. It was a long game, beginning in 2017, and Kenney promised to "shred the NDP curriculum" if they formed government.
It reminds me of a familiar phrase by eager politicians who say "you'll never agree with a political party 100 per cent". While that may be true, one can't vote for less than 100 per cent of their plans.
A curriculum that took years to create was replaced in mere months under the UCP.
Oddly enough, their hastily revamped draft was soundly rejected by 99 per cent of teachers from both public and separate schools and 92 per cent (56 out of 61) Alberta school boards refused to pilot it.
After 40 years, school boards in Northwest Territories dropped the Alberta curriculum and will instead use British Columbia's.
Complaints about the new curriculum have been varied but consistent; it uses American-centric content when Canadian content is available, plagiarized, too focused on Euro-centric history, and age-inappropriate, just to name a few.
The list goes on, by subject, on the Alberta Curriculum Analysis website, and Dr. Angela Grace also responds often to Kenney's spin on his weekly radio show on her YouTube channel.
The updated math and English language arts curriculum is expected to be implemented for grades K-3 in September, 2022.
I didn't know! Nobody taught me these things!
Make sure your kids get a better education than you got. https://t.co/3enMig0qDz”
Kenney achieves true "Ralph Klein Revival" status
In the fall of 2017, after the merger vote, and the leadership vote, the UCP held a fundraiser with the theme "Ralph Klein Revival". The symbolism wasn't lost on anyone.
To those already on board, it meant a return to oil booms and flat taxes and debt that magically disappears (because no one wanted to talk about higher corporate tax rates, or the personal tax surcharges, or how natural gas prices were at their height).
To those who couldn't trust Jason Kenney less, the Ralph Klein Revival meant cuts to Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped, infrastructure deficits, and an exodus of doctors.
Turns out, they were both right.
Oil prices went back up (though companies are still keeping capital investment dollars in their wallets), capital projects were finally paid off (because they stopped investing) and royalty rates went up for some projects that reached completion. Kenney made promises and dropped corporate tax rates to 8 per cent but left the personal tax rates where the NDP had raised them in 2015.
The Alberta Advantage is for corporations - not people.
Albertans are getting are less services, higher cost of living, and, in what really feels like Ralph Klein's Alberta: fewer doctors.
The UCP has been denying that doctors were leaving the province ever since then Health Minister Tyler Shandro tore up their contracts at the beginning of the pandemic. Unfortunately, the letters of notice keep coming and the UCP is having a terrible time trying to recruit new doctors - either because of a global pandemic, or because no one wants to work here.
Considering many of our doctors have found employment elsewhere, I don't think the pandemic is the problem.
Speaking of Shandro
The Alberta Law Society will be reviewing three complaints received regarding Tyler Shandro's professional conduct - mostly as an MLA but he is still a member of a professional society to which questionable conduct is a disciplinary matter. I mean, it's not like every lawyer who has to come before the Law Society to answer to complaints is a sitting Cabinet Minister.
It's not just that he's a sitting Cabinet Minister, of course; Tyler Shandro is also the province's Justice Minister (but that wasn't his portfolio at the time of the complaints - phew!) because the former Justice Minister, Kaycee Madu attempted to interfere with the administration of justice - but failed - and was moved to another Cabinet role.
Our government, folks.
However, because the Law Society has to bring Shandro in to answer to the complaints, and he's the Justice Minister, and one of the Law Society Board members is a former NDP advisor and candidate [whose recent nomination for a QC appointment was denied at the Ministerial (Justice) and government level], they've decided to bring in legal representation from a BC law firm to act on their behalf in order to relieve the Society of claims of bias.
Our province, folks.
Canada and beyond
War on Freedom Redux
“The only Canadian that is welcome to honk in Ottawa this weekend.”
Canadians descended on Ottawa again this weekend to protest something. Taking to the streets, some chanted "U.S.A., U.S.A., U.S.A.!" Which is special.
Ottawa police were much more on top of things this time, not giving an inch for bylaw infractions. A post on their Twitter at 7:00am Sunday catalogued 761 parking tickets, 39 vehicles towed, and 10 other infractions including "noise, smoking, public urination, encumbering a highway, (and) misuse of accessible permit".
The Alberta angle
Some dude driving a car with Alberta plates ignored direction from police, drove on the sidewalk and was intercepted by police vehicles. Once stopped, the driver refused to exit the vehicle, and was forcibly removed.
Ottawa police updated the incident saying the driver was in breach of bail conditions "not to enter Ottawa" that he'd received during his last visit earlier this year.
Yeah.
Health updates!
Rolling update: CPC leadership
Six candidates (representing ON and QC entirely) have been confirmed as of May 1: Leslyn Lewis, Pierre Poilievre, Roman Baber, Jean Charest, Scott Aitcheson, and Patrick Brown. Joel Etienne (ON) and Joseph Bourgault (SK) are awaiting confirmation.
Yeah, yeah, but let's talk about that tweet.
As some of you may know, at one point I had a membership in every provincial party that has been elected to the Legislature.
Initially, my goal was simply to be on the mailing lists (turns out you don't have to be a member for that) but then I started attending AGMs and policy conventions (and it's much cheaper to be a member than an observer, let me tell you).
Originally, I wasn't going to participate in the voting because I was there to observe and report. Then it occurred to me that as a member, I could vote for policies I wanted and against policies I didn't - so, why not?
Let me just digress here briefly to say that most party policy is pretty boring and neutral; things like "as government we will support business development". In any policy conference, most of the proposals are basically things that most people, in general, would or could support.
Partisans prefer stronger, more specific language like; "as government we will support business development with tax holidays twice each year and on Sundays". Those are the more contentious proposals that can fill a room.
Moving on.
Because the outcome can affect me personally, I feel like I should also take the initiative to vote in leadership races.
I voted in the 2017 CPC, Alberta Liberal, and UCP leadership races, the 2018 Alberta Party leadership, signed nomination papers in the 2020 CPC race (but I don't think I voted), and I will maybe vote in this upcoming leadership race (if my membership is still active).
Full disclosure, I won't be voting for Pierre Poilievre but I'm not voting "against" him - I'm just not voting for him - that's how elections are supposed to work.
Elon Musk promises to bring freedom to Twitter; praise be
“Twitter: Still not as shitty as the Facebook. 😉”
Word came this week that Twitter was going to accept Musk's offer of $44 billion, pending results of a shareholder vote.
People keep talking about Twitter's relatively marginal value in comparison to other social media sites; Twitter brings in around $3.9 billion each year, mostly from advertising. Now, I don't know what those people are comparing it to, but even if debt servicing is $0.9 billion per year, $3 billion still manages to seem like a decent amount of money to me.
Their point is that Twitter isn't worth the cost but I don't think that's why Musk wants it, anyway.
If you didn't happen to follow the surge in right-wing safe spaces after Donald Trump was banned from Twitter, well, lucky you.
First there was Parler.
When people sign up for Twitter, it offers a bunch of verified accounts and themes to follow to start your feed; news, politics, celebrity, comedy, etc. Well, Parler did the same except it was astoundingly bereft of options; Breitbart, former Rebel Media personalities, Alex Jones, the junior Trumps, Fox News opinionators... just right wing political nuts.
Even former 770 CHQR host Danielle Smith, who has revived the Danielle Smith Show on the Western Standard, started an account back in the day and said it was too "one-sided".
Smith.
A person whose guest list at CHQR was pretty much whittled down to people who couldn't get a spot on any other legitimate platform, thought Parler was too one-sided.
Anyway, Gettr came next and instead of making it just about the right wing, they decided to be the Trump social media platform.
I'm just saying is that it's also a site with barely any diversity; it's political and it's Trump.
Twitter, on the other hand, has the potential to appeal to people who aren't already free-basing right-wing political swill.
There are politicos, of course, but there are also others: athletes, television and movie stars, singers, etc, who appeal to more than just the political.
Diversity is still a strength.
Even if there's a relatively small number of users on the platform, some 200 million, the ones who are using it, and getting inspiration from what they see there, have access to those who aren't on social media; journalists, producers, editors, and commentators - they are the ticket to a truly worldwide audience.
That's what makes Twitter valuable.
Now, if one had malicious intent, and could subtly manipulate what people see and interact with, well, that has the potential to change thoughts and minds everywhere... well, that makes Twitter priceless.
Final thoughts
“I am happy to converse with people, even if we hold fundamentally different worldviews.
Despite this, I will not be bullied into speaking with someone who is acting in bad faith.”
cover photo courtesy @abpressrelease