Ciao bella! Welcome home! The land "ackowledgements of unceded territories to Alberta government " mean exactly that. Guess Smith hasn't been listening. She only has ears for Big Oil and Sam Mraiche.
Their referendum and afterthought proposal is racist to the core. Proof of their egregious relationship to the First Nations people she lied about being part of.
The only referendum I'm interested is: Should Smith resign over Corrupt Care yes or yes? I'll get the signatures don't worry.
My bad. Ceded to the Crown but not to Alberta prov gov. Alberta wasn't even a prov. I have heard it said unceded here so they mean to Alberta gov. I will amend that slightly. Thx.
Sincere condolences Lisa, to you and to all of us who did NOT vote for these destructive ignoramuses, and just want government to GOVERN like it used to instead of constant chaos.
I keep asking this question, but truly, WHAT can be done in such unprecedented circumstances as this? When a government actually goes off the rails, goes "rogue" and/or becomes generally and what feels ever more dangerously incompetent?
I'm also reminded in this context that these idiots refuse to even do "land acknowledgements."
They are simply horrible people, the worst among us.
And WHY doesn't SOMEONE call her bluff and scream in Denial Smith's face, "COVID was real, the pandemic was REAL, and so is CLIMATE CHANGE! So the federal environment minister will ALWAYS be, fundamentally, and of necessity, "anti-oil and gas."
But as proud climate science denialists, what you fools want is NO environment minister, like there IS no environment that supports all our eggshell lives and those of our descendants.
In Alberta there is a clear answer to the question "what can be done?". Actively support Alberta's NDP, and specifically in your riding. Volunteer, donate, get trained, organize, campaign for your local Alberta NDP candidate.
Issue there is I see nothing of Nenshi screaming about not even a seat as our coward premier is obviously ignoring all of us, every single day. I keep messaging his posts to GET ON IT!
I know, and I do that, but I mean something sooner than the TWO AND A HALF years we still have to endure, and something more in keeping with what they're doing, AND what they're TRYING to do.
Thank you for your active participation and support!Unless the government falls due to defections like Guthrie's (which I think is unlikely though not impossible), we have to wait until 2027. The good news is that this gives us ample time to organize and fundraise for what will be a difficult and expensive campaign.
There is also an important role to be played by unions, I think. And it's good when some deed by the UCP ends up in court, like Athana Mentzelopulos' lawsuit for wrongful dismissal as AHS CEO, which is opening a huge can of worms of UCP corruption. (That's why Guthrie defected).
I think we can see the resistance as something where different people have different roles to play, and it all comes together. For the ordinary citizen like you and me, we have an opportunity to participate at the constituency level. It's encouraging to know that we are not alone, and many others are working in the same direction in other areas.
Indeed, but I guess I'm hankering after more parity, something akin to "throwing the bums out" or "running them out on a rail" kind of thing instead of smugly hairshirting ourselves like pious Christian martyrs or something, i.e. virtue signalling, one thing conservatives are actually right about. The bringing a knife to a gun fight scenario when we're seriously running out of time here.
So I'm really impatient with how the NDP don't seem to recognize the genuine threat on the right, choosing instead the classic "narcissism of small differences" by refusing to even CONSIDER uniting the left. This despite political union on the right propelling them to the top where they have ZERO qualifications to be, especially in Canada.
But despite being decimated to only SEVEN seats, the NDP still doesn't get it, still thinks they're inherently superior, and the "common sense" choice, not unlike the conservatives actually in their narrow-minded arrogance.
The Liberals are ALSO PROGRESSIVE, and are considered the "natural governing party" for a reason, but are routinely slagged for their very existence now, thanks to the cons exclusive use of the evil algorithms, a damning fact all by itself, but just another thing that people don't even seem to recognize, glomming obliviously onto the con narrative instead, very much including the main media.
The only hopeful thing is that the "big tech bros" are increasingly recognized as being largely responsible for the bizarro world we're all in now, in part because we can now see for ourselves how "post-truth" precedes fascism, the word for the times.
You seem to be thinking of the federal NDP. This thread is about Alberta politics, which involves Alberta's NDP. But I will say this. "Progressive" is a word that appears a lot in political conversations these days, largely, I suspect because it doesn't really mean much. I mean, even conservatives have called themselves progressive. So to call the Liberals progressive doesn't really mean anything. To call them "the left" is absurd.
There's that narcissism I'm referring to. And the small differences? Which side would use "deep faking" in a heartbeat, with no qualms whatsoever? For which side do the ends demonstrably justify the means? And which side refutes SCIENCE of all things, very much including the science of climate change?
The Liberals are often called the "natural governing party" for a reason, people have voted for them the most, and it's also become more apparent than ever before why we never talk about a CONSERVATIVE democracy, only a LIBERAL one. The NDP are under that umbrella, the one big enough to win and govern.
I agree at a superficial level. However, the Feds won't engage on the right issues. Smith is playing a risky game of raising the stakes so that a Feds must may attention.
You're correct about the "not thought through" Lisa.
Smith's rush to create a smoke screen for her "CorruptCare Scandal" is waaaay too obvious to most Albertans but the news media seems to be following her down the path.
Possibly this Govt should start governing and stop the side shows. Recently a relative had to wait hours before being admitted to hospital. Brooks Hospital is in Smith’s riding. Instead of being a national TV star, Smith and the UCP, need to stop destroying our public health care system, start building public, not private schools, and if serious about democracy hold a bi-election for the leader of the NDP.
Of course they won't stop. Everything they do makes perfect sense when you understand that the sole reason why they want to be in government is to maximize profits for their corporate masters and cronies. It is neoliberalism that we're really fighting, and we need to be aware of that.
Do you honestly believe that healthcare is better in other provinces or would be so under an NDP government? The root cause is lack of accountability due to federal interference. The Canada Health Act needs to go.
I’m not sure that the rest of Canadians outside of Alberta truly understand existential type of crap we have to deal with in this province, on top of the trade war, on top of raging international wars we thought we would never repeat. MAGA is getting so real and normalized, it’s like we’re being bent into the shape of a red state and already taking Trump marching orders.
Oh we understand totally. What we don’t understand is why the majority of Albertans who don’t support this BS “appear” to be doing nothing more than complaining about it. Or why they continue to vote the Conservatives in, in EVERY election but one over the last 115 years.
Perhaps I didn’t define what is existential within Alberta. We have a mirror image of DOGE currently dismantling health care and trying to sell off our public hospitals and privatize all health services while undercutting public operating rooms. Smith appoints anti-ministers every chance she gets. Haters of universities in charge of Advanced Education, etc. Sound like Trump-adjacent much? Build more private schools with public money, and on and on. Practically everyone in her caucus is now in Cabinet, a giant bloated bureaucracy that is a funhouse-mirror lie to “Conservative small government values” They all have to be paid off to keep supporting her. The whole spring sitting of the Legislature was devoted to destroying any avenue of affordability for Albertans whatsoever. Those of us who oppose all of this are not fucking complaining and doing nothing. We are supporting independent journalism, we are building networks of the sane. We have people like a regular paramedic FOIPing the hell out of everything to expose corruption here, and having their job threatened and getting sued for millions for their trouble. Then we crowd-funded for that. We are calling for public inquiry, we are supporting recall elections. So much more. Now the separatist forever-victim lunatics are being recruited for ultimate distraction capital. And also while all that is crushing our collective chest, we took a breather and campaigned against some very egregious Poilievre minions federally. Surprising non-conservative gains actually happened in many federal ridings. This is so far beyond “Liberal” or “Conservative”. (Especially as actually conservatives in Alberta seem to now have had their tongues cut out or have become extinct). So maybe come out here for a virtual visit and check out our fun times before you just dump all your anger just east of the Rockies.
Cheryl, do you think that the majority of people who post on stories about Alberta don’t know exactly what’s going on in Alberta? Alberta has had a right wing or conservative government in office for almost its entire existence since 1905. And except for Lougheed, every one of them have been ideologues and not particularly bright ones. These are the people who were “Trumpy” long before Trump hit the scene, and who have on a slower basis brought Alberta to the place it currently is. Why do you think Smith, THE UCP and Seperatists all LOVE Trump? And through its entire existence as a province, its right wing governments have blamed Ottawa for everything that has ever gone wrong in the province, especially when it was a provincial responsibility that they screwed up badly on. The Alberta creed seems to be “ALWAYS BLAME THE FEDS”.
The rest of the country understands completely what Alberta is becoming, and we have been trying to TELL Albertans that for years. But apparently the majority of your population are not interested in politics or continue to vote Conservative, because their family “have always voted Conservative” or those young men making big bucks but without a high school diploma are damed easy to manipulate and propagandize.
This IS an Alberta problem and it’s up to Albertans to fix this and bring Smith and the UCP to heel!
I don’t need the “Alberta creed”explained to me. I live here. It’s not easy to counteract, but I won’t be accused of doing nothing, and that still seems to be your contention.
The rest of the country should remove some of those existential threats, such as ending the tanker ban, balancing the budget, reforming the IAA and the equalization formula. Medium term, Canada is going to have to explore true representation by population on the HoC and a Triple E Senate. Taxation without representation is toxic.
“Canada is going to have to explore true representation by population”
Are you one of those nuts that thinks we’re somehow drastically underrepresented? Ontario has one MP per 116k, Alberta works out to one MP per 115k. Quebec is one per 109k, compared to Saskatchewan at one per 89k
There’s more variation within Alberta MLAs. How about we address that the Lesser Slave Lake riding, population 28k, gets the same number of MLAs that Calgary-Bow, population 52k, does? It’s a bigger democratic deficit than anything going on at the Federal level
All Provinces should have approximately the same number of MPs per 100K pop. How is that nuts? No province should have guaranteed minimum representation in the HoC.
And what I’m saying is that right now they’re already well within a minor level of variance. Certainly within a much smaller margin or error than we tolerate within our own province
How many MPs do you think we’re owed that we’re not already getting?
Each province should have MPs rationed against the smallest province. AB should have 28 MPs relative to PEI's 1. So that would mean 75% fewer for PEI and 24% fewer for AB
Agree that it is distraction. That being said, Canada cannot allow taxation without representation to fester over the medium term. The Feds need to focus on productivity growth through regulatory reform and operational austerity.
How would updating federal institutions to reflect the population and economic realities of 2025 destroy what past generations built?
Alberta overfunds public services although the Smith and Kenney governments have made considerable progress. Market access is exogenous.
Because it is dangerous to indulge the laughable assertion that Albertans are underrepresented to begin with. Other posters here have already exposed your faulty math, I don't need to repeat it.
If you want to start arguing that Albertans are underrepresented, let's talk about the overrepresentation of rural ridings across the country.
And if you were serious about democracy, you'd be arguing for adopting proportional representation, so that every vote would *really* count and the millions of Albertans who don't agree with these reactionary politics would also have a say in federal governance.
Alberta has the least representation by pop in the HoC, albeit only slightly worse than BC and ON. It has the second worst Senate representarion behind BC. That math is indisputable. The difference with BC is that in sends more Liberal members to Paiament and ends up with more effective representation. Is your argument that resistance is futile so Albertans should vote for the Natural Governing Party?
If you read Danielle Smith's playbook, the Free Alberta Strategy, co-authored by her right-hand man Rob Anderson, you will see that the last thing they want is a referendum which they know perfectly well they could not win. Their strategy instead, which they describe in detail in the document, is to prevent federal laws from being applied in Alberta. Hence the Alberta Sovereignty Act, the Alberta police force, the Alberta pension plan (whose funds they can use to bail out failing oil companies), etc. It's *effective* sovereignty while staying within Canada. And this is not some vague project for the future. It's already underway, has been for a long time, under our very noses. Of course they understand the insurmountable problems with actual independence, like the matter of the Treaties.
This is political. The UCP leadership understands the danger of a new political party to the right of them taking over in rural ridings while the NDP controls the cities. So they're scrambling to seem to be onside with them with the sovereignty. issue. I am sure that if we have a sovereignty referendum and they lose, Smith will be the first one to celebrate.
Alfredo Loro: Danielle Smith has a track record of using doublespeak. She really is a separatist at heart. If she wasn't, she wouldn't be entertaining ideas that tie into separation. The Sovereignty Act is still illegal, no matter how Danielle Smith tries to reword it.
What she really is is a shill for oil and gas companies and a corrupt opportunist who hopes to get paid back in return for lucrative government contracts, e.g. with private surgical clinics or high speed rail peddlers, and she and her backers don't want the feds meddling in their affairs. They will pursue whatever mechanisms will allow them to succeed in their endeavors. For example, lately she is using the sovereignty argument to try to prevent the federal government from obtaining data on carbon emissions by the oil industry in Alberta. She understands that an actual referendum on sovereignty is a really bad idea.
It’s always good to have people stand up and be counted. Various reports indicate the hardcore secessionists are a loud minority. Let’s prepare the cost benefit analysis, including the takeover purchase of every Federal expenditure in Alberta; infrastructure, crown lands, federal lands and buildings, hospitals, universities, the pipeline. The cost of border controls, the RCMP, replacement of the passport system, a national revenue service, fire fighting…it’s not feasible, it’s an expression of the emotions of anger and helplessness. These are strong emotions, not pragmatic policy choices.
I'm uninterested in any contemplation of how the execrable UCP can perfect itself back into a political party fit for conscientious conservatives. Barf me out and gag me with the spoon!
I am actively rooting for the so-called UCP to fragment into handfulls of mutually unintelligible squabbling parti-lets- the Con big tent cannot hold the all these RW freemarket moonbats, O&G uber alles nutbars, raKKKcists, Wexit-separtistes, anarcho-capitalists, wild-haired libertarian utopians and fundamentalist WP christo-fascists for long.
The centrifugal aspects of its fragile coalition is doomed. Fortunately for Alberta, they've got the bestest inept politician hard on the file - Danielle Smith, political arsonist and political party wreaker extraordinaire.
Go Dani go! Can't wait for the Alberta Electorate firing her ass - just like Lyle Oberg fired her ass from the Calgary School Board.
Smith is irresponsible and dangerous, her separatists base, should just move to the USA, simple solution. They would be happier and so would real Albertans
So to cut to the chase and it’s a very good article, you infer because of treaty rights no province can succeed from the Dominion of Canada. Interesting, so are you advocating no matter how disrespectful or legislative decisions are at the federal level, all ten provinces are basically trapped.
She's pointing out that the separatists are totally unrealistic about how difficult, complicated and risky an attempt at separation would be. Not that it's totally impossible. Instead they separatists are selling total fantasies about retaining CPP, passports, military, diplomatic missions abroad etc. because standing up all of that as a 5 million person rump state would blow through any imagined benefits realized by walking away from Confederation.
Anybody who believes you can have your cake and icing are totally out to lunch CPP . A province run by Smith means she can change bills to her liking. She's really working with the separates . Meaning she totally agrees with them. As matter of fact she's the instigator.
I think the thrust of the argument is no Province can succeed from the Dominion of Canada *without* express support from the signatories of any Treaties on the proposed territories. Which it seems very clear is not willingly given by the leaders of Treaty Nations in Alberta.
So does it have to be just one band that says no, or how about just a militant sub section of a band as we have seen in some environmental protests. No matter how you analyze the submission from the author, they are saying the Dominion is a till death do we part scenario, divorce is not an option. I have no desire to see this country fragment but where were these arguments 30 years ago.
None of them are a monolith within their own Nation, nor is there some pan-Indigenous identity that holds true across all of Canada. Each would have to be negotiated carefully and thoughtfully by both sides (First Nation and Alberta) IF boh sides are willing to negotiate. Which, again, it is very clear that many First Nations are *not*.
The FN do not have to negotiate with the prov gov. The treaties are with the Crown. There is no legal basis or necessity for it. Charter challenges coming from FN.
I am illuminating the point in the article where it basically states that Alberta or any other provincial/territorial govt is trapped in a “loveless marriage”.
Ciao bella! Welcome home! The land "ackowledgements of unceded territories to Alberta government " mean exactly that. Guess Smith hasn't been listening. She only has ears for Big Oil and Sam Mraiche.
Their referendum and afterthought proposal is racist to the core. Proof of their egregious relationship to the First Nations people she lied about being part of.
The only referendum I'm interested is: Should Smith resign over Corrupt Care yes or yes? I'll get the signatures don't worry.
Where do I sign? I really want to see this referendum nonsense blow up in her face.
Blow up real good!
https://youtu.be/uHkvD7-u7y8?si=MwJt1AdI3O-iuU9_
AB isnt BC. The territories were ceded
My bad. Ceded to the Crown but not to Alberta prov gov. Alberta wasn't even a prov. I have heard it said unceded here so they mean to Alberta gov. I will amend that slightly. Thx.
If you are really collecting signatures, I'll sign up.
The only referendum that should be held is whether Danielle Smith should step down as Premier.
Sincere condolences Lisa, to you and to all of us who did NOT vote for these destructive ignoramuses, and just want government to GOVERN like it used to instead of constant chaos.
I keep asking this question, but truly, WHAT can be done in such unprecedented circumstances as this? When a government actually goes off the rails, goes "rogue" and/or becomes generally and what feels ever more dangerously incompetent?
I'm also reminded in this context that these idiots refuse to even do "land acknowledgements."
They are simply horrible people, the worst among us.
And WHY doesn't SOMEONE call her bluff and scream in Denial Smith's face, "COVID was real, the pandemic was REAL, and so is CLIMATE CHANGE! So the federal environment minister will ALWAYS be, fundamentally, and of necessity, "anti-oil and gas."
But as proud climate science denialists, what you fools want is NO environment minister, like there IS no environment that supports all our eggshell lives and those of our descendants.
Unbelievable.
In Alberta there is a clear answer to the question "what can be done?". Actively support Alberta's NDP, and specifically in your riding. Volunteer, donate, get trained, organize, campaign for your local Alberta NDP candidate.
Issue there is I see nothing of Nenshi screaming about not even a seat as our coward premier is obviously ignoring all of us, every single day. I keep messaging his posts to GET ON IT!
I know, and I do that, but I mean something sooner than the TWO AND A HALF years we still have to endure, and something more in keeping with what they're doing, AND what they're TRYING to do.
Thank you for your active participation and support!Unless the government falls due to defections like Guthrie's (which I think is unlikely though not impossible), we have to wait until 2027. The good news is that this gives us ample time to organize and fundraise for what will be a difficult and expensive campaign.
There is also an important role to be played by unions, I think. And it's good when some deed by the UCP ends up in court, like Athana Mentzelopulos' lawsuit for wrongful dismissal as AHS CEO, which is opening a huge can of worms of UCP corruption. (That's why Guthrie defected).
I think we can see the resistance as something where different people have different roles to play, and it all comes together. For the ordinary citizen like you and me, we have an opportunity to participate at the constituency level. It's encouraging to know that we are not alone, and many others are working in the same direction in other areas.
Indeed, but I guess I'm hankering after more parity, something akin to "throwing the bums out" or "running them out on a rail" kind of thing instead of smugly hairshirting ourselves like pious Christian martyrs or something, i.e. virtue signalling, one thing conservatives are actually right about. The bringing a knife to a gun fight scenario when we're seriously running out of time here.
So I'm really impatient with how the NDP don't seem to recognize the genuine threat on the right, choosing instead the classic "narcissism of small differences" by refusing to even CONSIDER uniting the left. This despite political union on the right propelling them to the top where they have ZERO qualifications to be, especially in Canada.
But despite being decimated to only SEVEN seats, the NDP still doesn't get it, still thinks they're inherently superior, and the "common sense" choice, not unlike the conservatives actually in their narrow-minded arrogance.
The Liberals are ALSO PROGRESSIVE, and are considered the "natural governing party" for a reason, but are routinely slagged for their very existence now, thanks to the cons exclusive use of the evil algorithms, a damning fact all by itself, but just another thing that people don't even seem to recognize, glomming obliviously onto the con narrative instead, very much including the main media.
The only hopeful thing is that the "big tech bros" are increasingly recognized as being largely responsible for the bizarro world we're all in now, in part because we can now see for ourselves how "post-truth" precedes fascism, the word for the times.
You seem to be thinking of the federal NDP. This thread is about Alberta politics, which involves Alberta's NDP. But I will say this. "Progressive" is a word that appears a lot in political conversations these days, largely, I suspect because it doesn't really mean much. I mean, even conservatives have called themselves progressive. So to call the Liberals progressive doesn't really mean anything. To call them "the left" is absurd.
There's that narcissism I'm referring to. And the small differences? Which side would use "deep faking" in a heartbeat, with no qualms whatsoever? For which side do the ends demonstrably justify the means? And which side refutes SCIENCE of all things, very much including the science of climate change?
The Liberals are often called the "natural governing party" for a reason, people have voted for them the most, and it's also become more apparent than ever before why we never talk about a CONSERVATIVE democracy, only a LIBERAL one. The NDP are under that umbrella, the one big enough to win and govern.
As always, clear and even self-evident. We are wasting so much time on the wrong issues.
I agree at a superficial level. However, the Feds won't engage on the right issues. Smith is playing a risky game of raising the stakes so that a Feds must may attention.
You're correct about the "not thought through" Lisa.
Smith's rush to create a smoke screen for her "CorruptCare Scandal" is waaaay too obvious to most Albertans but the news media seems to be following her down the path.
That would be because Canada’s news media is 90% owned by Americans who are fully behind Right wing extremist in all its forms.
Stand up for Treaty rights today. https://allevents.in/edmonton/stand-up-for-treaty-rights-peaceful-protest-against-bill-54-and-the-sovereignty-act/200028151353355
And increased ability for corporations to buy elections by raising the cap.
Possibly this Govt should start governing and stop the side shows. Recently a relative had to wait hours before being admitted to hospital. Brooks Hospital is in Smith’s riding. Instead of being a national TV star, Smith and the UCP, need to stop destroying our public health care system, start building public, not private schools, and if serious about democracy hold a bi-election for the leader of the NDP.
Of course they won't stop. Everything they do makes perfect sense when you understand that the sole reason why they want to be in government is to maximize profits for their corporate masters and cronies. It is neoliberalism that we're really fighting, and we need to be aware of that.
As manifested through the transnational and broligarchic agenda. The monkeys in office are just the organ grinders. Ew. Too graphic.
Do you honestly believe that healthcare is better in other provinces or would be so under an NDP government? The root cause is lack of accountability due to federal interference. The Canada Health Act needs to go.
I’m not sure that the rest of Canadians outside of Alberta truly understand existential type of crap we have to deal with in this province, on top of the trade war, on top of raging international wars we thought we would never repeat. MAGA is getting so real and normalized, it’s like we’re being bent into the shape of a red state and already taking Trump marching orders.
Oh we understand totally. What we don’t understand is why the majority of Albertans who don’t support this BS “appear” to be doing nothing more than complaining about it. Or why they continue to vote the Conservatives in, in EVERY election but one over the last 115 years.
Perhaps I didn’t define what is existential within Alberta. We have a mirror image of DOGE currently dismantling health care and trying to sell off our public hospitals and privatize all health services while undercutting public operating rooms. Smith appoints anti-ministers every chance she gets. Haters of universities in charge of Advanced Education, etc. Sound like Trump-adjacent much? Build more private schools with public money, and on and on. Practically everyone in her caucus is now in Cabinet, a giant bloated bureaucracy that is a funhouse-mirror lie to “Conservative small government values” They all have to be paid off to keep supporting her. The whole spring sitting of the Legislature was devoted to destroying any avenue of affordability for Albertans whatsoever. Those of us who oppose all of this are not fucking complaining and doing nothing. We are supporting independent journalism, we are building networks of the sane. We have people like a regular paramedic FOIPing the hell out of everything to expose corruption here, and having their job threatened and getting sued for millions for their trouble. Then we crowd-funded for that. We are calling for public inquiry, we are supporting recall elections. So much more. Now the separatist forever-victim lunatics are being recruited for ultimate distraction capital. And also while all that is crushing our collective chest, we took a breather and campaigned against some very egregious Poilievre minions federally. Surprising non-conservative gains actually happened in many federal ridings. This is so far beyond “Liberal” or “Conservative”. (Especially as actually conservatives in Alberta seem to now have had their tongues cut out or have become extinct). So maybe come out here for a virtual visit and check out our fun times before you just dump all your anger just east of the Rockies.
Cheryl, do you think that the majority of people who post on stories about Alberta don’t know exactly what’s going on in Alberta? Alberta has had a right wing or conservative government in office for almost its entire existence since 1905. And except for Lougheed, every one of them have been ideologues and not particularly bright ones. These are the people who were “Trumpy” long before Trump hit the scene, and who have on a slower basis brought Alberta to the place it currently is. Why do you think Smith, THE UCP and Seperatists all LOVE Trump? And through its entire existence as a province, its right wing governments have blamed Ottawa for everything that has ever gone wrong in the province, especially when it was a provincial responsibility that they screwed up badly on. The Alberta creed seems to be “ALWAYS BLAME THE FEDS”.
The rest of the country understands completely what Alberta is becoming, and we have been trying to TELL Albertans that for years. But apparently the majority of your population are not interested in politics or continue to vote Conservative, because their family “have always voted Conservative” or those young men making big bucks but without a high school diploma are damed easy to manipulate and propagandize.
This IS an Alberta problem and it’s up to Albertans to fix this and bring Smith and the UCP to heel!
I don’t need the “Alberta creed”explained to me. I live here. It’s not easy to counteract, but I won’t be accused of doing nothing, and that still seems to be your contention.
The rest of the country should remove some of those existential threats, such as ending the tanker ban, balancing the budget, reforming the IAA and the equalization formula. Medium term, Canada is going to have to explore true representation by population on the HoC and a Triple E Senate. Taxation without representation is toxic.
“Canada is going to have to explore true representation by population”
Are you one of those nuts that thinks we’re somehow drastically underrepresented? Ontario has one MP per 116k, Alberta works out to one MP per 115k. Quebec is one per 109k, compared to Saskatchewan at one per 89k
There’s more variation within Alberta MLAs. How about we address that the Lesser Slave Lake riding, population 28k, gets the same number of MLAs that Calgary-Bow, population 52k, does? It’s a bigger democratic deficit than anything going on at the Federal level
All Provinces should have approximately the same number of MPs per 100K pop. How is that nuts? No province should have guaranteed minimum representation in the HoC.
And what I’m saying is that right now they’re already well within a minor level of variance. Certainly within a much smaller margin or error than we tolerate within our own province
How many MPs do you think we’re owed that we’re not already getting?
Each province should have MPs rationed against the smallest province. AB should have 28 MPs relative to PEI's 1. So that would mean 75% fewer for PEI and 24% fewer for AB
Overall, the HoC would drop from 345 to 228 MPs, a decline of 34%. Quebec would drop from 78 to 51, a decline of 35%.
This is a ridiculous distraction and a complete waste of everyone's time.
You are going to destroy everything my parents and grandparents built with this nonsense.
Alberta's problems are made in Alberta, by Albertans, and this separatist garbage and the justifications for it are the proof.
Agree that it is distraction. That being said, Canada cannot allow taxation without representation to fester over the medium term. The Feds need to focus on productivity growth through regulatory reform and operational austerity.
How would updating federal institutions to reflect the population and economic realities of 2025 destroy what past generations built?
Alberta overfunds public services although the Smith and Kenney governments have made considerable progress. Market access is exogenous.
Because it is dangerous to indulge the laughable assertion that Albertans are underrepresented to begin with. Other posters here have already exposed your faulty math, I don't need to repeat it.
If you want to start arguing that Albertans are underrepresented, let's talk about the overrepresentation of rural ridings across the country.
And if you were serious about democracy, you'd be arguing for adopting proportional representation, so that every vote would *really* count and the millions of Albertans who don't agree with these reactionary politics would also have a say in federal governance.
Alberta has the least representation by pop in the HoC, albeit only slightly worse than BC and ON. It has the second worst Senate representarion behind BC. That math is indisputable. The difference with BC is that in sends more Liberal members to Paiament and ends up with more effective representation. Is your argument that resistance is futile so Albertans should vote for the Natural Governing Party?
Rural over represnataion is a different issue.
I believe all this noise is to keep the focus away from the corrupt care scandals, the details in Bill-54, 55 and 51.
Keep writing letters even if you just get auto reply back.
The Republic of Alberta is a racist endeavour, like its predecessor, Rupertsland, which was created by the "divine right" of an english king.
If you read Danielle Smith's playbook, the Free Alberta Strategy, co-authored by her right-hand man Rob Anderson, you will see that the last thing they want is a referendum which they know perfectly well they could not win. Their strategy instead, which they describe in detail in the document, is to prevent federal laws from being applied in Alberta. Hence the Alberta Sovereignty Act, the Alberta police force, the Alberta pension plan (whose funds they can use to bail out failing oil companies), etc. It's *effective* sovereignty while staying within Canada. And this is not some vague project for the future. It's already underway, has been for a long time, under our very noses. Of course they understand the insurmountable problems with actual independence, like the matter of the Treaties.
This is political. The UCP leadership understands the danger of a new political party to the right of them taking over in rural ridings while the NDP controls the cities. So they're scrambling to seem to be onside with them with the sovereignty. issue. I am sure that if we have a sovereignty referendum and they lose, Smith will be the first one to celebrate.
She'll be the first one to be ousted by the base.
Alfredo Loro: Danielle Smith has a track record of using doublespeak. She really is a separatist at heart. If she wasn't, she wouldn't be entertaining ideas that tie into separation. The Sovereignty Act is still illegal, no matter how Danielle Smith tries to reword it.
What she really is is a shill for oil and gas companies and a corrupt opportunist who hopes to get paid back in return for lucrative government contracts, e.g. with private surgical clinics or high speed rail peddlers, and she and her backers don't want the feds meddling in their affairs. They will pursue whatever mechanisms will allow them to succeed in their endeavors. For example, lately she is using the sovereignty argument to try to prevent the federal government from obtaining data on carbon emissions by the oil industry in Alberta. She understands that an actual referendum on sovereignty is a really bad idea.
It’s always good to have people stand up and be counted. Various reports indicate the hardcore secessionists are a loud minority. Let’s prepare the cost benefit analysis, including the takeover purchase of every Federal expenditure in Alberta; infrastructure, crown lands, federal lands and buildings, hospitals, universities, the pipeline. The cost of border controls, the RCMP, replacement of the passport system, a national revenue service, fire fighting…it’s not feasible, it’s an expression of the emotions of anger and helplessness. These are strong emotions, not pragmatic policy choices.
I'm uninterested in any contemplation of how the execrable UCP can perfect itself back into a political party fit for conscientious conservatives. Barf me out and gag me with the spoon!
I am actively rooting for the so-called UCP to fragment into handfulls of mutually unintelligible squabbling parti-lets- the Con big tent cannot hold the all these RW freemarket moonbats, O&G uber alles nutbars, raKKKcists, Wexit-separtistes, anarcho-capitalists, wild-haired libertarian utopians and fundamentalist WP christo-fascists for long.
The centrifugal aspects of its fragile coalition is doomed. Fortunately for Alberta, they've got the bestest inept politician hard on the file - Danielle Smith, political arsonist and political party wreaker extraordinaire.
Go Dani go! Can't wait for the Alberta Electorate firing her ass - just like Lyle Oberg fired her ass from the Calgary School Board.
Smith is irresponsible and dangerous, her separatists base, should just move to the USA, simple solution. They would be happier and so would real Albertans
And yet once more, the UCP is depending on the ignorance of their supporters. Sigh........
So to cut to the chase and it’s a very good article, you infer because of treaty rights no province can succeed from the Dominion of Canada. Interesting, so are you advocating no matter how disrespectful or legislative decisions are at the federal level, all ten provinces are basically trapped.
She's pointing out that the separatists are totally unrealistic about how difficult, complicated and risky an attempt at separation would be. Not that it's totally impossible. Instead they separatists are selling total fantasies about retaining CPP, passports, military, diplomatic missions abroad etc. because standing up all of that as a 5 million person rump state would blow through any imagined benefits realized by walking away from Confederation.
Secede not succeed
Anybody who believes you can have your cake and icing are totally out to lunch CPP . A province run by Smith means she can change bills to her liking. She's really working with the separates . Meaning she totally agrees with them. As matter of fact she's the instigator.
I think the thrust of the argument is no Province can succeed from the Dominion of Canada *without* express support from the signatories of any Treaties on the proposed territories. Which it seems very clear is not willingly given by the leaders of Treaty Nations in Alberta.
So does it have to be just one band that says no, or how about just a militant sub section of a band as we have seen in some environmental protests. No matter how you analyze the submission from the author, they are saying the Dominion is a till death do we part scenario, divorce is not an option. I have no desire to see this country fragment but where were these arguments 30 years ago.
What any rational person should be doing at this point is "seceding" from any and all political parties who identify as "conservative."
The brand's been "Trumped."
None of them are a monolith within their own Nation, nor is there some pan-Indigenous identity that holds true across all of Canada. Each would have to be negotiated carefully and thoughtfully by both sides (First Nation and Alberta) IF boh sides are willing to negotiate. Which, again, it is very clear that many First Nations are *not*.
The FN do not have to negotiate with the prov gov. The treaties are with the Crown. There is no legal basis or necessity for it. Charter challenges coming from FN.
That's ture - I was skipping down the line to an incredibly hypothetical future where FN are agreeing to seperation in some capacity.
Ture?
Secede not succeed.
If you think being part of Canada is trapped, pretty sure Russia, China or Hungary will take you.
I'd love to see an OpEd by you Aritha regarding this.
I am illuminating the point in the article where it basically states that Alberta or any other provincial/territorial govt is trapped in a “loveless marriage”.
Okay...
The word is secede.......
Opps lol.
Thank you.
I wouldn't use the word "disrespectful" if I were you.
And no, you're not trapped, there's a "state" or two close by who "think" just like you.
So as they say, "don't let the door hit you on the way out...."