Women of ABpoli Hot Flashes: This timeline sucks
This Week in AB
"Her Vision Inspires" essay contest tainted by political ideology
The contest was launched by the Legislative Assembly Office (LAO) in February of 2022. The target was 17-24 year-old women who wanted to write 500 words on their vision for the future of Alberta.
On August 8, the winning essays were posted on the LAO website. They've since been removed.
The LAO had to remove the essays because the recently appointed Associate Minister of Status of Women (June 30) and her Parliamentary Secretary chose a whopper for third place.
It begins the way all good visions do, with reminding us that (many) women possess a "unique strength" that allows them to give birth. It then decries the author's depiction of modern thinking that women are not utilizing this strength to their full capacity because it isn't "necessary".
"While it is sadly popular nowadays to think that the world would be better off without humans, or that Alberta children are unnecessary because we can import foreigners to replace ourselves, this is a sickly mentality that amounts to a drive for cultural suicide," the young woman, S.S., whose views definitely came from studying the world according to white men, wrote.
White replacement theory -- a sadly popular belief within small, heterogenous communities, and online chat spaces for budding and full-blown white nationalists -- is a more academic form of racism; same antiquated goals but their sheets have higher thread counts.
S.S. also suggested that women have their place and promoting accessibility for women in traditionally male-dominated roles was "not only misguided, but harmful".
In keeping with the white nationalism portion of the essay, S.S. also suggested the government give medals to "celebrate the achievement" of hardy breeders who have more than two children.
It was then I learned that the Nazi's also provided medals for good stock in the late 1930's.
Needless to say, people were demanding answers. Jackie Armstrong-Homeniuk, now Associate Minister of Status of Women (still under the purview of Ron Orr, Minister of Culture and Status of Women) apologized for her role. Parliamentary Secretary Jackie Lovely, also apologized for her role.
Their "role"... as judges of the essays? As obviously awful choices for the Ministry of the Status of Women? As women in leadership?
A little later in the week it was found the essay contest received five entries. The three that the two UCP Cabinet members and Status of Women leadership chose, and two others that didn't mention biological value but had a more progressive, feminist lean -- so obviously couldn't be chosen by partisan hacks.
Soon-to-be former Premier Jason Kenney said it must have been a "slow news week" to focus on two members of his Cabinet rewarding a racist, xenophobic, and misogynistic vision for Alberta and half of its voting population.
58 days until that ignorant arse will be replaced but dear gawd what's next?
“here is my submission (one of two losers) in case people want to read what wasn't chosen”
Speaking of the UCP leadership race...
Yes, abortion is a hot topic in Alberta, despite Kenney's previous assertion that the opposition was trying to make it so.
At the Western Standard's "Frontrunners" debate on August 9, Travis Toews, Brian Jean, and Danielle Smith squared off with Toews saying as Premier he would commit to affording more healthcare professionals the ability to deny women medication, referrals, and access to reproductive healthcare.
Thanks to a fashionable new lipstick Albertans elected people who are more committed to religious opinion than medical ones -- which, unsurprisingly, extend well beyond pandemic management.
While they're fighting against Ottawa for your right to increase your carbon footprint, be infected with communicable diseases, and be really angry about paying the same federal tax rate as every other Canadian, two of the "frontrunners" want to dictate what heath options are available based on their personal beliefs.
Toews, as discussed above, and Danielle Smith, who wants to "expand access" to alternative healthcare while restricting access to qualified medical professionals. Brian Jean has a better plan but that's not going anywhere with the other two who, frankly, have a much better shot at winning this than Jean does.
Another hot topic, still, is Smith's unyielding commitment to push through the highly unconstitutional Alberta Sovereignty Act. National corporations aren't likely to find any comfort in the Alberta government saying "we don't like that federal law, so, you can just ignore it".
Duane Bratt, political science professor from Mount Royal University and well-established Alberta politics pundit, brought up an interesting proposition: if Smith's Sovereignty Act fails to pass in the Legislature, is it a confidence vote?
To be fair, we're not even positive the UCP will still have as many MLAs if Smith wins the leadership as they have today -- but that's another story.
Membership sales have closed
Kathleen and I had a chat with Janet Brown, Principal of Janet Brown Opinion Research last week.
One thing Janet said really hit me.
"Alberta used to have the most predictable political environment and now it has one of the most unpredictable."
Ouch.
And though the membership rush is finally over, many people asked if any leadership outcome had ever been changed with an influx of new members.
Alison Redford was the most common example, but one incredibly obvious and overlooked example came to me this weekend: the PC leadership in 2017.
Without an influx of new members, Jason Kenney would have likely had his ass handed to him. You know, if more people thought leadership races mattered.
Speaking of PC governments...
Athabasca University was brought to Athabasca as a baby idea for post-secondary education via an alternative delivery program -- correspondence. Under the Lougheed government in 1980, Athabasca was chosen to house these well-paying post-secondary jobs as a means to sustain rural economic development.
For years, jobs at Athabasca have been both in-person and remote. The pandemic, of course, caused AU (and most everyone else) to realize that hybrid work, or fully remote work, was not only sustainable, but a lot less expensive than accommodating staff for a few hours each day.
Well, the original contract was built on jobs in the community and the Minister of Advanced Education wants 500 staff to move to Athabasca, where there is currently accommodation for 50 families.
Either there's going to be a lot of government housing built out there or AU will lose the staff they currently have and be forced to either reduce course offerings, or potentially risk their reputation by restricting themselves to staff who is willing to move to Athabasca.
Either way, it seems like the most expensive government-funded rural economic development plan in history. Yay, fiscal responsibility...
Canada and beyond
Pierre Poilievre is probably going to be the next CPC leader -- then what?
Last week, I attended an event called "Centre Ice Conservatives" (they did say they will be changing the name, thank Gord). I was really looking forward to it.
Then I sat down and listened to the same conversation I've been hearing at the provincial level for the past seven years.
"How can we galvanize moderate voters and leave the six per cent fringe to stay in their own damned party?" Paraphrased, but basically.
(The conversation with Janet Brown also got into this.)
Surprisingly, I got the most thought-provoking commentary out of a very unexpected source.
When asked about his thoughts on moderate conservatism, he announced that he wasn't a conservative; he's a staunch libertarian.
Then he quoted Jonathan Haidt's The Righteous Mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion.
He said that in order to create a moderate conservative movement, conservatives should be what they are: balanced, reasonable and pragmatic.
Yet, as he was quoting from Haidt, I realized that the moderate, or "small c" conservatives are missing something integral: "deeply held moral concerns".
At the provincial level, when I was involved in these conversations with Alberta Party members/supporters, there always seemed to be a removal of "moral concern" to instead focus on evidence.
Take Safe Consumption Sites for example. The evidence clearly states that these save money and lives. It's not a moral consideration of whether the government should fund these sites, it's an evidence-based policy that is proven to save lives and money and therefore, good policy.
That moral consideration though, is what drives many people to the polls, to become a member, or to donate.
I keep seeing people say they want "boring" government that isn't making international headlines for all the wrong reasons but they are motivated by the same things most people are: what is "right"? Not "what has worked elsewhere, because we could do that here as well with some research and hard work drafting legislation to create a similar outcome".
What - no stampede to donate? Shocker.
When Scott Gilmore did his tour in 2017, former PCs were not yet ready to give up on the CPC. Now, five years later, the Centre Ice Conservatives say they have no interest in starting to build a new party but just want to find out what people feel would be useful to make a "small c" conservative party successful.
DUDE. I committed to a six hour drive for this. And also to hang out with Kathleen and sleep in the comfiest spare bed ever. But seriously? You're just "asking questions"??
FFS.
(PS; that unexpected source was David Staples.)
Oh yeah, and Trump (allegedly?) stole classified documents and is still creepy AF
Final thoughts
cover photo credit: @BelaKym