Women of ABpoli Hot Flashes - What Soap Opera?
This Week in AB
Enquiring minds didn't want to know that
Jonathan Denis, QC, former Hon. Minister of Justice and Solicitor General, is still making headlines after more than a week - and not for the same things.
While it may appear the man is being targeted, stories can sit in draft folders for months while they aren't deemed especially relevant. Once that first story finds an audience, though, all hell breaks loose.
This cautionary tale started in a way that most people want to kick themselves for - by their own hand.
On April 8, a lawyer in another case read out the contents of an email sent to him on Denis' behalf that threatened a defamation suit against the lawyer's client, who was providing testimony in a civil matter.
Justice Doreen Sulyma requested an audience with Denis on April 11 with regards to the email.
Then, a political fixer story dropped on April 11 as well, alleging Denis hired a David Wallace to try and obtain the identity of sources used for another story in 2021.
Initially, Denis denied having ever talked to Wallace (the "fixer") but has since admitted that he did enter into a contract with Wallace, and denies asking for phone records.
On April 13, Justice Doreen Sulyma found Denis in contempt of court for the April 7 email.
Yet another story emerged on April 19, alleging a conflict of interest between Denis and an "ex-partner" while representing both a complainant and defendant during the UCP's Kamikaze scandal (from 2017 but gracing headlines during 2018 and 2019 - basically right up until the UCP fired Election Commissioner Lorne Gibson).
The allegation is that information from one client (whistleblower Cameron Davies) was used to assist in the defence of another client (alleged Kamikaze candidate Jeff Callaway), at Davies' expense.
One of these allegations may have been bad enough but all three together are garnering some massive attention for Denis - and unless he decides to become a political fixer himself, his career may be in serious trouble.
UCP votes in favour of Harper-era data-gathering policies
I was in university when Stephen Harper's government cancelled the long-form census.
At the exact time, I was taking both a criminology course and statistics for social science research. You may imagine that this decision to stop collecting data came up a few times - and that would be less than I think it did.
My stats professor (who was also my crim prof) was a numbers guru. He loved both what they could do for good and cautioning us to always analyze how they were used for not so much good.
He taught us that while numbers can provide concrete data, the statistics can be manipulated with ease - and if you want to ensure the evidence doesn't exist, the simplest way to achieve that is by not asking for any.
In 2018, I spoke to Dr. Irfan Chaudhry from Grant MacEwan University. He founded Stop Hate AB, a self-reporting website to document hate incidents, which are not covered under the Canadian Criminal Code as hate crimes.
Dr. Chaudhry explained that because these incidences are not considered criminal, they often go unreported officially and, as above, can not provide any indication of a potential problem (which usually supersedes identification that a problem that exists; ie., circa 2021).
The Anti-Racism Advisory Council's (ARAC) recommendations were made public in June of 2021 and included recommendations in areas of education, employment, and the justice system.
The UCP was quick to act on the latter, introducing Bill 63 to ban "carding" and regulate "street checks" in April, creating a liaison on hate crimes in June, and offering the Emergency Security Infrastructure Program to provide funding for security systems for places of worship in July.
In February of 2022 they announced the creation of two programs aimed at increasing immigrant populations in rural communities - the Rural Renewal Stream and the Entrepreneur Stream for skilled immigrants.
With that in mind, it makes the UCP's "no" vote on Bill 204 even more of a head-scratcher.
Bill 204 was introduced in the Legislature on March 24, 2022, sponsored by Edmonton-City Centre MLA David Shepherd.
Shepherd said the Bill stemmed from recommendations from ARAC that "called for the collection of race-based data in all departments as well as the analysis of this data to track and evaluate the progress being made and identify existing gaps between racialized and non-racialized communities in order to promote equitable access to public services and partnerships with government."
Jon Cornish, University of Calgary Chancellor wrote in the Calgary Herald on March 30 that "(w)ith access to data identifying the inequities present in our society that stem from racism, bias and discrimination we can address these issues. Going forward, we can specifically target solutions and make our society, our country, more inclusive for all Canadians."
Data such as this would surely assist in ensuring welcoming communities and experiences for an influx of newcomers to the province.
Meanwhile, education (especially with regard to the new curriculum) remains an area that the UCP is resolutely determined to ignore racist policies of our past (page 10) and present.
More trouble in United Conservatopia
I suppose it would have been crass to say none of the people involved in the "unification" (aside from Kenney, of course) could run again but it's not like hypocrisy is a problem for the future former leader and his staffers.
Bryan Rogers, Chief of Staff to Minister of Infrastructure Prasad Panda had a laugh at the expense of ten current and former UCP caucus members Friday after Calgary SUN columnist Rick Bell published his latest magnification of Kenney's caucus breakdown.
In a since-deleted tweet amplified by Airdrie East MLA and Deputy Speaker Angela Pitt, Rogers linked to Bell's article saying "LOL! Was expecting something new here, but turns out it's just the same old crew."
The "same old crew" could refer to Todd Loewen and Drew Barnes, who were kicked out of caucus in May of 2021 for saying Kenney should resign, and just being generally disagreeable, respectively.
Or it could be referring to that time Aheer, Dave Hanson, and Richard Gotfried voted against the UCPs omnibus election finance reform bill in December 2021, saying the new legislation could allow nomination races (or leadership reviews) to be (quite literally) bought.
Alternatively, it could refer to Peter Guthrie and Jason Stephan, along with Barnes and Loewen, who stood outside of the Legislature calling for Kenney's resignation in March of 2022.
There's even a chance it's referring to the "same old crew" of people elected under Wildrose banners in 2015, which includes six of the MLAs Bell quoted: Aheer, Pitt, Barnes, Loewen, Brian Jean, and Mark Smith.
It's even possible "same old crew" is another euphemism for "over-caffeinated lefties" - we might never know for sure.
Kenney says now that he's been "too soft" on those who publicly disagree with him, acknowledging that Albertans don't want a "soap opera" or "family feud".
Back in April of 2021, he said that dissent in caucus was "okay" and part of the "democratic process". He also said breaking public measures would result in suspension but that was before he got busted for doing so himself two months later.
In Jason Kenney's conservatopia, the only thing you can be sure of is that "family" isn't the only F-word being thrown around.
Speaking of which...
“This is…fucked. https://t.co/exijMGstjx”
Kenney tweeted out a thank you from Chief Greg Desjarlais of Frog Lake Nation that reads:
"Frog Lake and many other nations have benefited from this (orphan well cleanup) program. We are cleaning our lands while providing employment opportunities for our people. So I commend both Canada and Alberta for this initiative."
It's pretty cringe.
I mean, imagine some strangers throwing a party on your land and they make a hell of a lot of money off of it. Then when the party's over (and you've been raging about the mess for years), their dad finally shows up and says "here's some cash, why don't you clean it up yourself?"
Sure, it's getting cleaned up - yes, I imagine the influx of cash and job creation is appreciated but come on - they weren't even invited to the party.
Canada
CPC Leadership candidate only wants support; or else
“So, Pierre books Steam Whistle.
Steam Whistle releases a statement saying they are neutral.
Pierre takes a shot at the Canadian company, trying to hurt their business.
Is that what we can expect of his leadership? Tow my line or face consequences? Freedom? What?”
Well, they didn't quite say they were neutral.
"Steam Whistle is in no way affiliated with Pierre Poilievre, does not condone his politics, nor did the brewery sponsor the event," the statement reads.
It did continue to inform that other parties have rented their community space in the past and others were already booked for the future.
In response, Poilievre got all verklempt and mocked Steam Whistle's beer, calling it "watered down". He even went so far as to promote another local brew, Oast, in comparison.
Shortly thereafter, Oast sent out a brief statement to ensure they were not seen as having some part in, or any knowledge of, the wounded feels of a freedom-loving man-child.
Thank you, Quebec.
I laughed so damned hard at this and it still makes me smile.
It was a regular COVID update tweet but the link, which I can only imagine was supposed to be to the Ministry website, was instead linked to Porn Hub.
More enjoyable still, it was foot fetish porn.
As someone pointed out in the thread, "at least now we know who actually uses those share buttons." Classic.
The simplest problems to fix are ones that don't exist
Something that IS true: this kind of blatant disregard for the truth is corrosive to democracy.”
It's a huge story in conservative circles.
The federal government started a Net-Zero Advisory Committee which is an independent group of experts tasked with finding ways to meet climate targets.
The group submitted a list of recommendations and one of those recommendations was a truck tax.
The CPC, UCP, and all their big C friends lit their hair on fire.
The Liberals said they aren't planning on a truck tax, which is probably a good thing because you can still hear the echoes of screams from the last group that ended up with a tax on inefficient vehicles.
Just kidding - when Harper's government implemented that it 2007 it was totes forgotten by the next election.
Final Thought
“Ponders what a PM Leslyn Lewis government would look like… 🧵