Alberta Premier Jason Kenney during yesterday’s COVID-19 news conference (Photo: Screenshot of Alberta Government video).

Yesterday, the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Commons warned Members of Parliament that individuals associated with the anti-vaccine-mandate truck convoy nearing the nation’s capital have been trying to suss out the location of their Ottawa residences.

House of Commons Sergeant-at-Arms Patrick McDonell (Photo: Creator not identified).

Also yesterday, Jason Kenney used a news conference supposedly about COVID-19 to defend the demonstrators.

Sergeant-at-Arms Patrick McDonell, whose other title is Director General of Protective Services, advised MPs that, starting today, they should avoid mixing with demonstrators, lock the doors of their homes and offices, and “if the situation becomes volatile … call 911 and consider evacuating your location.”

You have to know the former RCMP assistant commissioner was directing his warning to Liberal, NDP and Bloc MPs, because their Conservative counterparts will be out in force schmoozing with the rebel truckers, maybe even the one who says they want to start a civil war and have the guns to do it.

Alberta’s premier, meanwhile, engaged in a rambling discourse at times reminiscent of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s very-fine-people-on-both sides commentary about the deadly 2017 “unite the right” riot in Charlottesville, N.C., while responding to a reporter’s question about the trucker protest yesterday. 

“I do hope that those organizing the convoy do everything they can to make sure that it’s safe,” Mr. Kenney told Calgary Sun political columnist Rick Bell during the news conference’s abbreviated Q&A section, cut short so that he could skedaddle off to Washington D.C.

“I hope that they dissociate themselves with anybody in the convoy who might have extreme or hateful views, but I acknowledge that in any big social movement there are going to be some people with fringe views.” (Emphasis added.)

“You know, whenever the NDP shows up at some of those, uh, so-called environmental protests in front of the Legislature, uh, there are people who hold what I would call eco-terrorist views,” he rambled on. “I don’t see the media running all over their social media accounts trying to throw a spotlight on them. And I don’t see the NDP dissociating themselves with everybody who might show up with … extreme views at a protest.”

So there you have it, even if it isn’t really true – equivalence – bad people on both sides. 

You can find a clip of federal Conservative finance critic Pierre Poilievre saying almost exactly the same thing yesterday, so apparently it’s a Conservative talking point as they try to woo far-right extremists back home from the People’s Party of Canada. 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Photo: Justin Trudeau/Flickr).

Regardless, Mr. Kenney then descended into a diatribe about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, basically accusing him of siding with terrorists, not real Canadians like the gathering convoy crowd. 

“One thing that really concerns me, is the divisive comments of Justin Trudeau, where he said, he characterized all of the thousands of people involved in this as, uh, he said that we should not tolerate them, and he said that they’re, uh, ‘they are holding unacceptable views that don’t represent the views of Canadians.’”

This, needless to say, is a misrepresentation of the PM’s remarks, and if reports today that there are a total of 113 large trucks in the convoy are accurate, a misrepresentation of the protest’s size as well. 

“This is the same prime minister who famously said about Canadian citizens convicted of terrorism, that, quotes, a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian,” Mr. Kenney continued, most likely a reference to former child soldier Omar Khadr. As federal immigration minister, he introduced a bill that would have allowed Canadians to be stripped of their citizenship for engaging in terrorism. 

“Well if he’s willing to defend convicted terrorists as Canadians,” the premier huffed, “why is he condemning thousands of people who feel strongly about COVID policy in this country?

“I, I think, uh, the prime minister’s job is to unite Canadians, not divide them,” he went on, seemingly agitated. “I think his divisive approach to this makes the situation a whole lot worse, as does his quarantine policy on cross-border truckers, which is forcing up food prices and making life even more difficult.”

U.S. President Donald Trump (Photo: Gage Skidmore, Creative Commons).

Well, given Mr. Kenney’s own history as a divider and the reasons food prices are rising, there’s enough gas-lighting in that last sentence to satisfy any student of demagoguery.

The premier also used his response to Mr. Bell to tout his $18,425 trip to Washington D.C. with two aides to attend the winter meeting of the National Governors Association, a gathering of U.S. state governors from both sides of the American political divide. You have to suspect, though, that he’ll be spending most of his time with Republicans, perhaps even a few who turned a blind eye to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“I agree with those who are protesting the, I think, pointless quarantine rule being applied to cross-border truckers,” said the guy who sent provincial officials to Alberta airports in 2020 to take temperature scans of arriving passengers when he saw a chance to embarrass Mr. Trudeau. “That’s why I’m going to Washington D.C. today, to raise this with top American leaders.”

A statement from Mr. Kenney’s office yesterday said he is going to Washington “to discuss energy security, key bilateral trade issues and urgent cross-border supply chain issues.”

Neither Mr. Kenney nor the statement from his office gave any hint who will be in charge in his absence. 

Alert readers will recall how that became an issue last August during the fourth Delta wave of COVID-19, when Mr. Kenney disappeared to a still-unknown holiday destination, apparently leaving no one with the authority to make decisions for three weeks. 

Mr. Kenney used the opening moments of yesterday’s COVID news conference to tout a series of economic benefits he claimed his United Conservative Party government has brought to Alberta. “There’s something remarkably crass about a Premier who spends the first 10 minutes of a COVID-19 update bragging about the economy when 76 people have died of the virus since Friday and we are seeing record numbers of hospitalizations,” observed political blogger Dave Cournoyer.

But Mr. Kenney did talk a little bit about COVID-19. He said he wants to eliminate the provincial COVID passport system as soon as possible, and that he’s confident we’ll see relaxed restrictions in Alberta by the end of March.

Are you ready, Alberta, for the Best Summer Ever 2.0? 

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56 Comments

  1. I watched Foxnews as an icon of the NHL and philanthropy, Theo Fleury appeared on Laura Ingram’s whine-fest and went off on a completely unhinged rant about Canada descending into China-like totalitarianism, turning communist before everyone’s eyes, by a dangerous clown of a PM. Fleury declared a revolution is coming and the first round will be in Ottawa, where 50,000 trucks and 1.4 million people will merge on Ottawa and set things right again.

    Okay, I’m not sure what Fleury is all about, but the claims of specular numbers of angry and freeDUMB loving Canadians converging on Ottawa and taking the whole place over is just plain demented. Crazier still, Erin O’Toole, perhaps in a last ditch effort to save his leadership, is going to meet with the Convoy and discuss the issues and offer his support. That’s all well and good for O’Toole, but I think Maxime Bernier will beat him to it. Bernier is more their type of man and he will get a warm welcome when he appears.

    It’s well known by now that Skippy Poilievre wants to be leader, but it’s not a long shot to consider Bernier as a potential rival. Since many in the CPC believe Bernier sunk the CPC’s chances of wins in fourteen Ontario ridings, they are many who would give him a second try at the CPC leadership.

    In light of Cumming’s report, which declared the CPC has to grow among diverse ethnic communities in Canada, it looks like the CPC is determined to become, like the GOP, the white people’s party.

    PMJT must be laughing himself stupid at his insanely good luck.

    1. I hope you caught the interview yesterday when O’Toole said, “Let me be honest for a minute…” A minute is longer than usual.

  2. I came across a quote from H.L Mencken that is prophetic for our times, “The larger the mob, the harder the test. In small areas, before small electorates, a first-rate man occasionally fights his way through, carrying even the mob with him by force of his personality. But when the field is nationwide, and the fight must be waged chiefly at second and third hand, and the force of personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre—the man who can most easily adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a virtual vacuum. The Presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” Cheers 🙂

  3. The head honcho of the UCP is contradicting himself. He keeps doing this. When he is backed into a corner, all he can do is deflect. It will be interesting to see how things all play out, if the UCP does another hasty reopening plan. Apparently, there is another variant of the Covid-19 virus spreading. It will spread again. If the head honcho of the UCP, and the UCP are planning a Best Summer Ever 2.0., Albertans better brace themselves for the nightmare that will follow.

  4. What a JOKE – are we not so grateful we were THE chosen ones to have the privilege of having such an IDIOT as premier?
    The Best Spring ever will happen if the UCP gets rid of this genius in March. We may get a second coming but hey at least there will be a change. Having a second genius would be in the Guinness book as an Alberta only accomplishment.

  5. Typo?

    “Neither Mr. Kenney nor the statement from his office gave any hint who will be in *change* in his absence. “

    1. This is the best typo! A launching pad for odd balls like me!? Change is gonna come? Nickles and dimes? Incremental vs catastrophic? Clowns vs Acrobats! Dogs chasing cats! I believe it’s a useful word in and of itself! Change. So there must be change if you believe the science! But that fact eludes the morans! https://youtu.be/5Vw1LbFfwqk?t=1

  6. This could be called Kenney’s Greatest Hits Tour. We’ve seen it all before. He’s returning to Washington, where he will pretend to be Canada’s next PM again. He’s ditching the Covid crisis when Covid is surging again. He’s leaving no one in charge again.

    So what about the 97 Covid deaths in the past week? Alberta is a red state! Look at how red it is!

    https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/covid-deaths

    There are some new features of this trip. He’s gotten out of Dodge before those tough-talking truckers can go all Jan. 6th this weekend in Ottawa. GoFu**Me has released $1M into the hands of their leader, adding fuel to the fire. Getting out of Dodge does sound like a plan. Alibi, much?

    At least we didn’t have to listen to Kenney beat his drum about empty grocery store shelves, which are not empty, and show us some photos from somewhere in the world once upon a time.

    While our premier does his best to ingratiate himself to the likes of Ron DeSantis, and get some tips on how to Make Covid Great Again, we have a few glorious days without him, which is something. Maybe no one’s in charge here, but that is pretty much an average day in Alberta. As for strategy, is it really smart of him to leave his caucus unattended this close to the Idea of April? Que sera, sera.

        1. Another reason he may be off to Washington is to check in w his handlers and see if he’s allowed to quit yet. 😉

  7. CTV lists today’s trucker demands:

    “The list of demands includes the federal and provincial governments terminating the vaccine passports and all other ‘obligatory vaccine contact tracing programs’, and terminate COVID-19 vaccine mandates.”

    https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/mobile/here-s-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-truck-convoy-moving-into-ottawa-today-1.5757761

    So it’s not about truckers any more, or about truckers crossing the U.S. border. The 50,000 trucks estimated by convoy organizers? So far, 121 were counted by police leaving Kingston, most without trailers.

    As for contact tracing, it’s hard to understand why this group that started in Alberta is choosing that as their hill to die on. What contact tracing?

    Oh, well. At least Jason Kenney can declare, upon return from swooning at Ron DeSantis, that he listened to a small group of truckers and all Albertans will have the “Best Spring Ever”. Truckers are the nation’s greatest epidemiologists and medical experts, after all. Doctors? Not so much. Ides of March, baby, Ides of March.

    1. So the greatest epidemiologists and medical experts are with AHS and Health Canada? 2 years later how is that working for you? 34 billion dollars later for Big Pharma, no liability and they still have no clue how to handle the virus, not to mention most people are still living in fear. Why is that so many people are still scared of going out even after 3 jabs?

      1. We’ve got a good idea on how to handle the virus, what’s missing is any sort of leadership at all. Technocrats only know how to manage the system they are hopeless when it breaks.

        A significant minority of folks running around like chickens with their heads cut off; spouting nonsense rather than blood, sure isn’t helping.

        Gee maybe you should run for preem

    2. Nothing has changed. The truckers have always wanted an end to vaccine passports, masks, lockdowns, forced vaccines. Do you mean to tell me that you
      are in favor of these measures for a virus that is 98% survivable by people under 80 years old?

  8. “NDP welcomes* ‘eco-terrorists’ to protests”
    That’s gotta sting Rachel Notley just a little. For four years she did her level best to p*ss off the eco-terrorists and even moderate progressives who accept the science, support strong climate action, and even call for a fair deal on royalties. Saddle up on that unicorn, my friend.
    Of course, one man’s eco-terrorist is another man’s land defender.
    What exactly are Kenney’s convoy of COVIDiots defending? The freedom to infect their neighbours?

    Kenney: “The prime minister’s job is to unite Canadians, not divide them.”
    Kenney seems quite happy to brand “eco-terrorists” as public enemies. How does that extreme rhetoric not fuel conflict and divide Canadians?

    *In the remarks quoted above, Kenney says only that the NDP fail to “dissociate” themselves from “people who hold what I would call eco-terrorist views”. Not quite the same as welcoming them with open arms. Are Mlles Notley, Hoffman, and Phillips supposed to chase them away with unicorn whips?

    1. Someone in our circle of senior conservative friends mentioned at coffee last week that a lawyer was saying that the businesses coming to Alberta that Kenney is bragging about creating are coming based on the fact that Albertans are promising to kick him out. I bet he is right.

      Apparently Geoffrey Pounder hasn’t talked to any of the lawyers, accountants, oilmen, bankers or former MLAs that we have talked to who said Notley was doing a great job, and was on the right track. Can he provide us with a list of horrible things she did, when everything she did helped some section of the population. It’s no secret Kenney deliberately destroyed everything she accomplished including taking the caps off our power and gas bills, school fees, and day care, so Albertans can once again be gouged.

      How does he explain what former Lougheed MLA Allan A. Warrack said about her “Rachael Notley Led Like Lougheed”. The conservative MLAs I knew agreed with him. Lougheed’s energy minister Bill Dickie was a brother in-law of one of my uncles.

      1. Alan Spiller wrote: “Apparently Geoffrey Pounder hasn’t talked to any of the lawyers, accountants, oilmen, bankers or former MLAs that we have talked to who said Notley was doing a great job, and was on the right track.”

        No doubt many oilmen believe Notley was on the right track.
        That’s the problem.

        The comparison with Lougheed is an interesting one.
        Notley compared herself to Richard Nixon, which may be more apt. Former Edmonton Journal columnist, now Senator, Paula Simons compared Notley to Margaret Thatcher.
        Notley wielded her steely resolve on behalf of powerful oil companies. Less stalwart in defence of future generations, those most vulnerable to climate change, and life on Earth.

        Notley promised to give Albertans “their fair share” of royalties — and then reneged on that promise.
        Lougheed demanded a fair share for Albertans on royalties. Think like an owner, he said.
        “Revenue from royalties has plummeted from an 80 per cent share of government revenue in 1979 to an estimated 3.3 per cent in 2016.”
        “Estimated 2016 [royalty] revenue of $1.4 billion is down 90 per cent from 2005 levels, despite considerable production growth since then.”
        • thetyee.ca/News/2018/05/02/Government-Revenue-Fossil-Fuels-Sharp-Declin/
        Notley spurned her opportunity — and mandate — to raise royalties.

        “Royalties paid by industry fell 44% between 2000 and 2017 — from $11.9 billion to $6.6 billion — a period in which hydrocarbon liquids production increased by 77%. (CAPP data)
        “The effective Canadian royalty rate decreased from 18.3% on $65.1 billion of sales revenue in 2000 to 6.2% on $107.1 billion in 2017.
        “AB’s effective royalty rate decreased from 19.5% to 5.1% over this period.”
        https://edmontonjournal.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-selling-off-oil-fast-as-we-can-isnt-an-energy-plan

        Notley and Trudeau dubbed themselves “climate leaders”. Followed by immediate capitulation to Big Oil.
        When it comes to pipelines and oilsands expansion, Notley and Kenney are on the same page.
        Notley’s oilsands expansion agenda locks AB into fossil fuel development and rising emissions for decades. Putting Canada’s inadequate targets out of reach.

        How would Lougheed respond to climate change and IPCC reports? Build more pipelines?
        Would Lougheed act on the best available science? Or ignore it?

        Former AB Liberal leader Kevin Taft: “Through her whole career and her whole party, up until they became government, [Notley and the NDP] were very effective critics, counterbalances to the oil industry. As soon as she stepped into office, as soon as she and her party became government, they’ve simply became instruments of the oil industry.”

        Taft: “The world is working hard to end its dependence on oil, so hitching the country’s economy to an industry that must be phased out is recklessly short-sighted.”

        Reakash Walters, federal NDP candidate in Edmonton Centre 2015: “As one of two people who nominated Rachel in 2015, I am truly disappointed in the direction the provincial party has taken and that they have chosen to prioritize oil extraction in the middle of a climate crisis.”
        “What was Rachel Notley suggesting when she said she’s not committed to voting for Jagmeet Singh’s New Democrats?” (Alberta Politics, 2019)
        https://albertapolitics.ca/2019/10/what-was-rachel-notley-suggesting-when-she-said-shes-not-committed-to-voting-for-jagmeet-singhs-new-democrats/

        1. As much as I admire Kevin Taft, he never became premier and was not in a position to make hard choices. Ms. Notley is the first premier we have had for a very, very long time who tried to govern the whole province and tried to strike a balance. She did not try to appeal to just her party’s base. It is not her fault that the failed governments that preceded her were thralls to the oil lobby and did nothing or very little to diversify the province’s economy. When you inherit a petro-state with all its attendant corruption and baggage, you can’t dismantle it in a day or an election-term cycle. Ms. Notley and her caucus were and are a much better alternative to both the previous and the current government.

          1. 1) Making excuses for the NDP’s multiple failures on energy and climate only guarantees that failure will continue. No reason for the NDP to change its policies if progressive voters fail to hold the party to account.
            If AB progressives are content to choose between disaster and catastrophe, one or the other is inevitable.

            True, Kevin Taft never became premier and never had to make hard choices.
            Which does not make his analysis wrong. Ad hominem.

            “Ms. Notley … tried to strike a balance.”
            Building a bridge halfway means falling into the abyss.
            Sometimes you have to choose a side. Notley chose the wrong side.
            Either we meet our climate targets or we don’t. Either we keep warming below 2 C or we don’t. Either we prevent disastrous climate change or we don’t. The Earth does not compromise.
            Winning slowly on climate is the same as losing. Whether we go over the cliff at 100 kmh or 50 kmh, the result is the same.

            If your house is on fire, you do not “accept compromises for the sake of achieving consensus or buy-in” from your neighbours. No, you do everything in your power to save your kids and put the fire out.
            As long as there is profit to be made from fossil fuels, we will never get “buy-in” from the fossil fuel industry and its backers on climate change. If you wait for buy-in, you will wait forever. Delay is fatal in any case.

            Scientific reality is non-negotiable. Either you accept the science and respond accordingly, or you don’t.
            Political parties who ignore scientific reality do not deserve the votes of responsible citizens.
            Rapid man-made global warming is a disaster.
            So are govts that fail to address it.

          2. 2) “It is not her fault that the failed governments that preceded her were thralls to the oil lobby”
            The record of other parties and previous governments do not excuse or justify Notley’s failures on the same issues. No one forced Notley to cheerlead for pipelines. That’s on her.
            Notley is accountable for her own record just as previous govts are responsible for theirs. As Premier, Notley threw billions of dollars at the fossil fuel industry, left royalties untouched, refused to investigate health concerns in the oilsands region, was silent on the industry’s under-reporting of emissions, and failed to fix Alberta’s Energy Regulator. Signing on to Vivian Krause’s conspiracy theories was the cherry on the sundae.
            Kowtowing to Big Oil, adopting neoliberal energy policies, flouting science, defying the IPCC, misleading Canadians about our energy future…
            Is this the leadership Alberta needs in the 21st century?

            Who’s worse on climate? The deniers who deny their house is on fire, or the deniers who accept their house is on fire, but throw fuel on the flames — then stand back and watch it burn?

            Conservatives generally deny the problem and reject the science. Petro-progressives like Trudeau, Notley, and Horgan claim to accept the climate change science, but still push pipelines, approve LNG projects, promote oilsands expansion, subsidize fossil fuels, and let fossil fuel interests dictate the agenda.
            In fact, the federal Liberals and provincial NDP parties (AB and B.C.) have proven far more effective than the Conservatives in delivering on Big Oil’s and Corporate Canada’s agenda. Trudeau & Co. have persuaded many Canadians that we can both act on climate and double down on fossil fuels. Have our cake and eat it too.
            Trudeau and Notley did something else Harper and Kenney could never do: lead progressives over the climate cliff. Many of their acolytes now embrace a form of climate change denialism.
            Trudeau and Notley moved the ball on the Trans Mountain pipeline down to the ten-yard line. Their signal achievement was to “push country-wide support for pipelines from 40% to 70%.” Something Harper, Scheer, and Kenney could never dream of doing.

            Under the AB NDP’s climate plan, the oilsands industry’s grossly under-reported emissions would rise for decades, sabotaging Canada’s climate action.
            Notley, Horgan, Trudeau, & Big Oil are betting that the world will fail to take real climate action in time. They are betting on climate disaster. The only scenario in which oilsands expansion makes sense.
            A plan to fail.

          3. 3) When Harper and Kenney says no to a shift away from fossil fuels, the progressive option is still ON the table.
            When Trudeau and Notley say no, they took the progressive option OFF the table.
            When Harper and Kenney deny the science, progressives reject their arguments and head in the opposite direction.
            When Trudeau and Notley deny the science, progressives accept their arguments and enable their climate sabotage.

            Now we have zero oil industry critics in the AB Legislature. Banished to opposition benches, the shrivelled NDP caucus can say nothing about oilsands expansion, oil & gas pollution, and climate inaction — because they shilled for Big Oil in office. Notley threw environmentalists under the bus.
            We no longer have a mainstream party that champions science.
            We no longer have a progressive party in the NDP.
            The AB NDP took away our last hope for real action on climate in AB.

            On pipelines and oilsands expansion, Notley and Kenney are on the same page.
            With her pipeline hysteria, Notley led progressives astray to support oilsands and pipelines, downplay the science, and ignore IPCC warnings. Something Jason Kenney cannot do.
            Disastrously, Notley led a sizable contingent of progressives to support Big Oil’s priorities: low royalties, new pipelines, and a “climate plan” that sabotages Canada’s climate efforts. None of these notions carried any sway among progressives before 2015.

            Acknowledge the science, but ignore its implications. Boast about climate leadership, but push fossil fuel expansion and pipelines. Sign int’l agreements, but fail to live up to them. Putting emissions targets out of reach.
            Trudeau’s and Notley’s brand of denialism lulls the public into a dangerous complacency and paralysis. The new denialism. Just as delusional as the old kind but more insidious. And far more dangerous.
            Liberal and AB NDP policy eliminate the progressive option and all hope for real climate action.

            “The New Climate Denialism: Time for an Intervention” (The Narwhal, Sep 26, 2016)
            https://thenarwhal.ca/new-climate-denialism-time-intervention

          4. 4) “When you inherit a petro-state with all its attendant corruption and baggage, you can’t dismantle it in a day or an election-term cycle.”
            No one suggested Notley turn the taps off overnight. But rational Albertans who accept the best available science could reasonably expect that a NDP govt would plan — create a roadmap — for the managed decline of the oil industry and a just transition for workers ASAP.
            Notley refused. Instead she became chief cheerleader for pipelines.

            If not now, when? What would permit the NDP to make that change? When was Notley ever going to challenge the petro-state? When was she going to turn the ship around?
            Never.

            If progressive politicians can count on only one term in AB, they should use that opportunity to show Albertans what true progressive, principled, rational, scientifically literate, responsible govt looks like.
            Face the issue of our time — climate change — head on. Not betray progressive principles in vain pursuit of power.
            At least create a plan — a vision— a way out of this morass, not further into it.

            Doubling down on fossil fuel infrastructure locks us into a fossil fuel future and sabotages Canada’s climate targets for decades.
            Alberta’s drive for fossil fuel growth is IRREVOCABLE. There is no redemption. No going back. No path from oilsands expansion to lower emissions and Canada’s climate targets. No tweaks of NDP policy could get us to where we need to go.
            You don’t build pipelines and new oilsands projects only to run them for a decade. Oilsands infrastructure, including pipelines, takes decades to recoup its costs.
            Notley’s NDP will never formulate a climate plan to meet Canada’s targets, much less the more stringent plan dictated by science.

            Politics is the art of the necessary. Anybody can do the politically expedient. Anybody can govern by poll. Anybody can follow the parade. Anybody can kowtow to industry. True leaders do what is necessary, even if unpopular. They persuade people to follow.
            If “progressive” politicians are not willing or able to defend the public interest, why run for public office?

            It was up to our self-professed “climate leaders” to stand up to Big Oil, reject petro-politics, put AB on the right track, and show Albertans what principled progressive govt looks like.
            A lost opportunity.

        2. Apparently Geoffrey Pounder and Bret Larson need a lesson in reality , and need to stop believing the lies Jason Kenney feeds them. After spending 32 years in the world of finance, with ties to the oil industry, in the 28 years I have been retired I have been spending time having lunch and coffee with various former MLAs and oilmen who have enlightened me with what these phoney conservatives have done to us.

          I’m not dumb enough to ignore the international oil industry crash in 2014 due to a massive surplus of oil making it impossible for Rachael Notley to automatically increase the oil royalties and taxes back up to the Lougheed levels that should never have been destroyed in the first place. They weren’t in Alaska and Norway, and look what their oil wealth has done for them.

          I’m not dumb enough to ignore the fact that Ralph Klein and Ed Stelmach made the situation a lot worse in Alberta , while Lougheed tried to stop it, by slashing royalties and taxes, and inviting the world to come and get our next to free oil without being smart enough to make certain there was a system in place to get the huge surplus it created to foreign markets. Now we have had to get Trudeau to buy us $4 billion pipeline to save our ass and we doubt these reformers would have helped us. They are a lot more interested in screwing Albertans out of their wealth to buy votes from their rich friends and in forcing us into a lot more privatization like Klein did.

          The truth is the oil executives agreed to support Rachael Notley’s plan to gradually increasing taxes and royalties back up to the Lougheed levels, yet these ignorant Albertans elected this reform party fool Jason Kenney who has promised to not increase royalties and while Notley had increased corporate taxes by 2% with the oil industry’s blessing , as planned this fool Kenney has cut them by 4% making the situation even worse for Albertans . He feeds his ignorant supporters the lie that it will create jobs when we know it will only create richer CEOs.

          If Geoffrey and Bret had bothered to do any research they would know that the oil executives were furious with Stephen Harper and now Jason Kenney for ignoring their wish to implement a Carbon Tax. They aren’t stupid they know Alberta has to do something about our pollution problem and stop telling the world we don’t give a damn about global warming, when the world and our oil industry does care. Too bad these ignorant Kenney supporters aren’t that smart.

          1. Alan Spiller: 1) “the oil executives were furious with Stephen Harper and now Jason Kenney for ignoring their wish to implement a Carbon Tax.”

            The oil industry is happy with a low carbon tax that does not impair profits and production. Faced with a significant carbon price, the industry would revolt.
            The NDP’s (i.e, Big Oil’s) climate plan permitted oilsands expansion enabled by new export pipelines in return for a nominal carbon tax that would not harm profits plus a fraudulent oilsands cap. Window dressing.
            “Canada’s biggest emitters are paying the lowest price on carbon”
            https://thenarwhal.ca/carbon-price-emissions-industry-rate/

            Unimpeded by carbon pricing, oil & gas production and total emissions do nothing but climb year after year. Same trajectory under Notley’s climate plan, whose fraudulent oilsands 100+ Mt emissions cap allowed for emissions 43% higher than 2015’s under-reported levels. A boatload of exemptions boosted the nominal cap. Total oilsands emissions including projects that are under construction, have received approval, or are seeking approval “blow well past” Alberta’s cap. (Pembina Institute)

            What Canada’s oil industry wants, the oil industry gets.
            Canada’s federal and provincial governments not only shield heavy emitters from effective carbon costs, but also subsidize carbon-cutting measures like carbon capture and storage. Undermining the rationale for carbon pricing. Violating the polluter-pay principle.
            The federal output-based pricing regime for large industrial emitters does not apply to large emitters in Alberta. The province has its own far less rigorous industrial pricing regime (TIER) that supposedly meets the federal standard.
            Under Alberta’s Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction Regulation (TIER), large industrial emitters pay a small fraction of federal rates. TIER dollars are effectively recycled back to industry to fund carbon capture technology and research. Projects industry should be paying for in the first place.
            Worse, for the last three years, the AB govt reduced the payments due from the most-carbon intensive oilsands emitters. That’s right. The AB Govt reduces payments from the worst offenders.
            The AB govt also increased the facilities’ allowable emissions. Circumventing its own emissions reduction program while boosting profits for CNRL shareholders.
            No complaints from CNRL that its carbon costs are too low.
            What a joke.

            “Top-emitting Alberta oilsands site got government relief from pollution payments, Reuters reports” (CBC, Dec 08, 2021)
            “Alberta lowered CNRL’s costs for Peace River site to comply with provincial emissions requirements: Reuters”
            https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/top-emitting-canada-oilsands-site-collects-government-relief-from-pollution-payments-1.6277844

            Obvious scam.

          2. Mr Spiller: 2) “I’m not dumb enough to ignore the international oil industry crash in 2014 due to a massive surplus of oil making it impossible for Rachael Notley to automatically increase the oil royalties and taxes back up to the Lougheed levels”

            Obviously, oil prices were not going to stay low forever. Nothing to stop the NDP from adopting a sliding scale of royalties based on the price of oil.

            Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour lashed out at the NDP govt on its failure to raise royalties:
            “At the heart of Mr. McGowan’s critique of the government’s announcement and the panel report that recommended it is the view it is both bad economics and bad politics. ‘Some people say the NDP have come face to face with reality. I say what happened can best be described as the government being captured by industry.’
            ‘I honestly think the government has made a profound political mistake. We don’t believe progressive governments have to become conservative to deal effectively with economic issues or to succeed politically. That’s a fallacy.
            ‘Virtually none of our concerns or suggestions are reflected in the royalty report. Those ideas were passed over in favour of a plan that could have been introduced by a PC or Wildrose government.'”
            “Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan assails Notley Government’s royalty ‘mistake'”
            https://albertapolitics.ca/2016/01/alberta-federation-of-labour-president-gil-mcgowan-assails-notley-governments-royalty-mistake/

          3. 3) “Too bad these ignorant Kenney supporters aren’t that smart.”

            Since when does criticism of the AB NDP on energy/climate signify support for Kenney’s UCP?
            Does criticism of the B.C. NDP on energy/climate/indigenous policies signify support or approval for the B.C. Liberals? On these key issues, the NDP and their rivals share much the same neoliberal territory.
            AB and B.C. NDP parties have both come under fire for their shift to the right. A repudiation of right-wing policies, not an endorsement!

            If greens, environmentalists, and Albertans who love their grandchildren do not endorse the AB NDP’s energy/climate policies — effectively the same as (or worse than) the UCP’s — how is that an endorsement of Jason Kenney? Obviously, they reject both.
            Industry-captured politicians and their neoliberal policies are a menace, no matter what color hat they wear.

            Unrestrained by progressives, the B.C. NDP governs more and more like the B.C. Liberals.
            Unrestrained by progressives, Notley’s energy/climate policy emulated the PC’s.

            How many AB NDP MLAs, party stalwarts, and supporters were pro-pipeline before Notley came along and re-wrote the NDP playbook on energy and the environment? Would they have approved Notley’s pro-pipeline agenda, hyperbolic rhetoric, extortionist tactics, and childish petulance if they were still in opposition?
            *
            What if the UCP faithful stifle dissent on Team Kenney? Suppose the Republican faithful crack down on criticism of Team Trump? How is that any different from NDP firebrands attacking progressives who oppose Team Notley’s neoliberal energy/climate policies?

            Sensible Albertans understand that no politicians, parties, or policies are above criticism. Responsible government does not work unless voters hold their elected representatives accountable. No free pass for politicians of any stripe. Sensible Albertans understand that a criticism of Notley is not an endorsement of Kenney. (Obvious fallacy.) Team Notley will not improve its climate/energy policies unless supporters and the broader electorate force it to. If you want better government, you have to speak up.

            Stifling criticism and dissent on the left pushes progressive parties to the right. If supporters give the NDP a blank cheque, the party can take NDP supporters for granted. The party no longer needs to worry about maintaining its support on the left. The votes at play are now on the right. The party will try to woo voters further to the right. The NDP shifts right, and progressive voters lose their party.

            If progressives cannot criticize the govt of the day, or hold its leaders accountable, where does that leave us? Without power. Once our party of choice is installed in office, they can take our votes for granted. Free to ignore our values, concerns, and aspirations.
            Why give up the only power we have to effect change? No party, no premier, or public official is beyond accountability. No politician deserves a free pass. Democracy does not work if voters fail to hold their elected representatives to account. That’s our job. Blind partisanship is toxic to democracy.
            More democracy, not less.

            “In times of intense polarization, support for one’s political team becomes paramount: Partisans pay little heed to the strengths and weaknesses of policies and arguments and instead simply prop up their ideology at all costs. All of this is damning for democracy.”
            “Peter McKnight: ‘False polarization’ endangering democracy” (Vancouver Sun, Oct 08, 2021)
            https://vancouversun.com/opinion/op-ed/peter-mcknight-false-polarization-endangering-democracy

            Mr. Spiller constantly frets about “fake conservatives”. Perhaps he should worry more about fake progressives.
            What do long-time AB NDP supporters make of Notley’s public repudiation of federal NDP leadership and climate/energy policy? How far down the neoliberal, corporatist, climate denial path will they follow Rachel Notley? When will AB NDP supporters wake up?
            If Notley returns to office, doubtless she will double down on her disastrous petro-policies. I will criticize the NDP every day it promotes fossil fuels and imperils future generations.
            My duty as a democratic citizen to future generations.

      2. Mr Spiller: in case you didn’t already know it, Mr Pounder is an environment absolutist, preaching from his lofty perch in California North, incapable of seeing the other side of the issue or of accepting compromises for the sake of achieving consensus or buy-in. To him, perfection is the implacable enemy of good, and he’d seemingly rather have the evils of a Jason Kenney against which to spew his venom than the sensible good governance of a Rachel Notley, despite the fact that the rest of us were all better off during her government’s tenure.

        Ask yourself one counterfactual question: had the pandemic arrived two years earlier than it did, during the NDP’s mandate, with Sarah Hoffman as Minister of Health, do you think the government’s response would have been as irresponsibly awful and logically inconsistent as the UCP reality?

        1. “Ms. Notley and her caucus were and are a much better alternative”
          “the rest of us were all better off during her government’s tenure”

          No question that Kenney’s government is worse than incompetent. His not-so-loyal UCP base, double-digit IQ mavericks, is not merely a public menace, but also pose a danger to themselves.
          Kenney’s politicization of province’s COVID response has cost hundreds, if not thousands, of lives. In a just world, he would be held accountable for the blood on his hands.

          However, which party is most fit to govern is not the issue.
          Why should we accept abysmal failure from “progressive” leaders — just because the guys across the aisle would be even worse?
          My father would be a better goaltender than my sister — but that doesn’t mean the Maple Leafs should put him in net.
          Progressives should not support any party or politician who intends to take us over the climate cliff.

          When it comes to oilsands and fossil fuel expansion, Notley, Horgan, Trudeau, Kenney, O’Toole, Harper, and Scheer are all on the same page. On the climate battlefield, they are not our allies.
          In AB’s last election, a vote for Kenney OR Notley was a vote for Big Oil’s agenda (oilsands expansion enabled by new export pipelines) –> climate disaster.
          If progressives vote for a nominally progressive NDP that promises to lead them over the climate cliff, the NDP has no reason to change their policies. Supporters of NDP oilsands policy are enabling disaster, economic as well as environmental.

          Notley’s policies exclude the only rational sane responses to our global emergency — reduce emissions and stop expanding fossil fuel infrastructure.
          Notley’s oil-soaked “pragmatism” foundered on delusion and denial. Our “progressive” leaders — Trudeau, Notley, and Horgan — are betting on failure.

          NDP voters need to get off the fence. Heed reality or not. Act on the science or not. Either Canada meets its targets or it does not.
          There is no middle road. No compromise.

        2. Jerry You certainly have it right. We think there would be a lot more Albertans alive today if the NDP had still been in power. While 140 doctors have left the province because of the way they were treated, it doesn’t include those that have taken early retirement and some of our senior friends have lost their doctors.

          It scares the hell out of us seniors we know what happened under Klein. Let’s hope the family members of these cancer patients who are now being told that it’s too late to operate on their cancer and they only have a short time to live sue Kenney personally and the taxpayers aren’t stuck with it.

          1. ALAN K. SPILLER: I will continue to agree with you, because you do know what you are talking about, and you have firsthand experience in these matters. There are still people who are smart enough to know what these pretend conservatives and Reformers are up to. It certainly isn’t looking after the needs of ordinary folks. That’s not on their agenda. Many seniors, who are even in their 80s and 90s, sure must be living in an alternative world, if they think these pretend conservatives and Reformers are there for the people. They brainwash the younger generations to support these pretend conservatives and Reformers. Regardless of the damage, they let it continue. Where is the sense in this?

  9. Jason Kenney must think that most people failed their Grade 6 social studies.

    Or at the very least hope they did.

    And it would appear that most of the people supporting the trucker’s protest to Ottawa did one or the other. More than likely the first.

  10. So all our so called leaders are leaving town? Trudeau’s story about a close contact and having to isolate even through he has been reported to have had covid and is supposed to be triple vaxxed. Kenney will be hiding out in DC likely looking for employment opportunities starting April 10th. Such bravery…

    I won’t even go into how you keep pushing the narrative about the trucker protest only to say it is getting a little old time to move on it is losing its effect, the complete comments and speeches can be viewed online and we can see how clips have been taken out of context. I would encourage you to turn off your TV, ignore news feeds from CBC, CTV, Global, or any other MSM source and come out tomorrow and talk to people at the protest. You may be surprised, sure there will be the odd nut job trying to take the spotlight, CS, but the majority of people are quite rational and easy to talk to. See you at the Legislature…

  11. The Ottawa Police are saying the “truckers” are planning to camp out for days. It sounds like it will be a Canadian Maidan or Tiananmen (but our patriotic media will never make those comparisons).

  12. An excerpt from Smart Men Acting Stupid
    THE ATLANTIC 28 JAN 22 DAVID A. GRAHAM

    The prime offenders include Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (Yale College, magna cum laude; Harvard Law, cum laude),

    Start with DeSantis. Last April, when vaccines were new and not nearly so politically polarized, the governor got the Johnson & Johnson shot, reportedly because he preferred a single shot to two. He didn’t get jabbed in public (“I’m not sure we’re going to do it on camera; we’ll see,” he told reporters. “If you guys want a gun show, maybe we can do it, but probably better off not”) but he did disclose that he’d gotten it, and then criticized the FDA for pausing distribution of J&J later that month.

    Now, however, DeSantis won’t even say whether he’s received a booster shot. “So that’s something that I think people should make their own decisions on,” he said last week. “I’m not gonna let that be a weapon for people to be able to use. I think it’s a private matter.”

    What’s going on here? One possibility is that since getting his first shot, DeSantis has become fervently, genuinely anti-vaccine, which would be pretty silly, because evidence is only mounting that the vaccines are both effective and safe. A second is that he has no personal objection to the vaccine but has decided to forgo the booster nonetheless, because he understands the anti-vax mood in the noisiest parts of the Republican base, and he wants to claim that mantle. The more likely scenario is the one that the conservative journalist Jonathan V. Last lays out: “You’re not supposed to remember this, but DeSantis is a smarty-pants, Ivy League elite lawyer who is playacting as a populist crusader … DeSantis almost certainly got the booster.” In short, he wants to claim the anti-vax mantle without foolishly endangering himself.

    DeSantis is apparently going through these contortions because he is positioning himself for a 2024 presidential run—which would put him in conflict with former President Donald Trump, who sees the GOP nomination as rightfully his own. Trump, who has taken a pro-vaccine stance (the shots were mostly developed under his administration), quickly fired a shot across DeSantis’s bow. “I watched a couple politicians be interviewed, and one of the questions was ‘Did you get a booster?’” he said. “Because they had the vaccine and they’re answering like—in other words, the answer is ‘yes,’ but they don’t want to say it, because they’re gutless.”

    This is a classic Trump attack: petty, entertaining, and authentic. Vaccines are one of the few issues on which Trump and his base have serious differences, and Trump has stuck to his stance despite backlash. But most of the time, Trump and his supporters are in lockstep. He doesn’t have to cater to voters, because his voters like both what he says and the way he says it—those are, in a sense, one and the same. As Jindal himself wrote in 2018, “Mr. Trump’s style is part of his substance. His most loyal supporters back him because of, not despite, his brash behavior.”

    And though Trump is incorrigibly dishonest, he doesn’t have to pretend to be something other than what he is to win over voters. When Trump said in 2016, “I love the poorly educated,” he was perhaps overly blunt, but he wasn’t fibbing. The imitators, however, do not have his common touch, so instead they try to ape it. Their pantomime comes across as condescending. If they had come sincerely to the positions they’ve taken, they would be wrong, but because they seem disingenuous, they are also pathetic.

  13. “So there you have it, even if it isn’t really true . . . . ” The message(s) do not have to be “really true”, because even if what is said is transparently false the true believers simply do not care, as they are blinded by their own tribal devotion to the village idiot that pretends to ‘lead’, or perhaps more appropriately, leads everyone into the ditch, i.e., “Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” .

    In any case, the following looks interesting and deserves further attention and wider distribution and open discussion/ thoughtful consideration:

    ****COVID legal action
    January 26, 2022

    Have you been harmed by the UCP government’s handling of COVID-19?

    We need your help. The Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) is considering legal action against the UCP government for its handling of the public-health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. But we need to find workers who can help build the legal case.

    Are you a worker who’s been harmed by the UCP government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic? Do you know someone who has? We want to hear from you.****

    Please email us at [email protected]

    https://www.afl.org/covid_legal_action

  14. My latest thought has been for everyone who wants an election in Alberta now to join a protest of revenues. Every Saturday until till they call an election spend no money on anything. Don’t just shift all that spending to another day, actually make a concerted effort to stop all frivolous spending on luxuries and gifts to oneself. All pleasure spending if you want to call it that. If 74%, according to the last poll I saw, of the province was to basically stop spending money on Saturdays until they hold an election would that be enough of a revenue loss for them to take notice. And if it was enough to make them bleed would they even care. It would not be easy to figure out what one could cut back on, more so for some, and most people would still find a way to support their friends businesses. There seems to be nothing that really gets leaders attention in way that they pay attention. As for kenneys convoy, the diverse group that it is, what does the make Canada great again sign mean after the number of unmarked children’s graves were discovered this summer from Canada’s past?

  15. I just ran across your site a few days back. As an expat Albertan now living in BC I am heartened to read your views on what is happening there. I will be looking forward to reading further accounts in the future. Thank you for doing what you do 🙂

  16. Well, when Kenney speaks about Trudeau dividing people, at least this time he at least speaks from a place of great personal knowledge and experience. Kenney has spent years trying to divide people – pitting Albertans against Albertans, attacking other provinces and of course pretty much constantly attacking the Prime Minister for many, many years. Few have worked harder at dividing people than Kenney in his long career in politics and that’s even on the days when he doesn’t go around casually calling people he disagrees with Eco Terrorists. So, if he wants to criticize someone else for dividing people and point fingers, he really should consider how many fingers are pointing back at him.

    Mr. Poillievre is not much better, a younger and maybe a more marketable version of Kenney. He sure knows how to use populist division for politican gain. This is being portrayed as some huge fight by the trucking industry for their livelihoods, yet 90% of truckers are already vaccinated, so it is the very vocal few getting all the attention here. Also, has been mentioned many times, even if Canada changed its rules, the anti vaxers or whatever they are would still be out of luck, as the US also has rules requiring truckers to be vaccinated. Of course, regardless they blame Trudeau for not being able to work now, but really its their own dumb fault.

  17. Yes! My demagoguery studies are done for the day! Yay! Friday, too!! Yipeeeeee!!!

    But I must say: Jason KeKangaroo Kenney and Pierre “The Puke” Poilievre are a couple of c********ing mo*********ers, a pair of *unts g****ing like two shi******* hounds if I ever saw any (and I don’t say that about caterwauling mouth-breathers, grinning runts or shifty-eyed hounds every day).

    K-Boy is simply astounding. Poor marks (again, as always) for not noticing the bum’s rush Scheer got when he tried to set UK Prime Minister Theresa May up as his (2019 Canadian federal) election campaign stage-prop. (Imagine No.10 Downing Street: ‘Who? Negotiate a UK-Canada trade deal? Is this some kind of prank?…Canadian what?…leader of the opposition! Give him some tea and I’ll come down to send him on his way…no…no…no, no: there’s an opened package of Digestives …well, you’ll have to feed the pigeons something else then. Right, very good then [click]. —Goodness! And I thought I had it bad! Poor Justin!’). Honestly! K-Boy’s so far up the hoop he doesn’t know how far out of the loop he is.

    But I can hear him, the most unpopular premier in Canada, telling governor DeSantis what a great asset he can be for a 2024 Republican presidential candidate—or, rather, I can see DeSantis’ aide frowning into her phone trying to google “Alberta” and “premier” while the governor has a my-pillow-guy moment. (Imagine 700 N Adams Street, Tallahassee: ‘Who was that guy…that little goof from…Canda someplace? Ohhhhhhhh…so he wants me to help him be president of Canda if he helps me be POTUS?…you mean he isn’t president already? Then what the hell was he doing in DC? An insurrection where? Oddawa? Where’s that?…’)

    There are terrorists on both sides, but we may assume some of them are very f*** *******s.

    1. This piece is no less bombastic and rhetorical than your usual Scotty but at least I understand it. And laughed my f***ing head off!
      Welcome to the weekend.

  18. Where to begin? There is so much that is wrong with Kenney’s statements that they are simply a miasma of error and lies.

    First of all, to blame rising food prices on vaccine mandates is both risible and stupid. We can blame rising food prices on supply chain issues that have multiple causes, including the pandemic. Has anyone noticed the usual forces of greed exploiting the situation: https://www.bloombergquint.com/business/supply-chain-crisis-helped-shipping-companies-reap-150-billion-in-2021? Even if it could be argued that vaccine mandates were somehow contributing to supply chain issue, they would pale in comparison to other forces that are contributing to shortages and inflation.

    To equate violent white supremacists and nationalists and other hate groups with eco-terrorists is a transcendent example of a false equivalence. Violent white supremacists and nationalists primarily want to commit crimes against people as opposed to eco-terrorists who generally favor crimes against property, such as equipment sabotage. Also, Kenny likely stretches the definition of an eco-terrorist to someone who legitimately protests something they believe will contribute to environment damage, such as a legitimate and legal protest against a dilbit pipeline.

    Finally, as the NDP Health critic, David Shepherd, pointed out today, there is something odd about Kenney’s timing of the relaxation of restrictions, just before his leadership review. Coincidence? Doubtful in the extreme. Once again, Kenny shows he is willing to grasp at a few polling points and his continued political survival by risking the health of his constituents.

  19. Since there can be no doubt that Kenney’s visit to Washington D.C. will climax on Feb. 3rd at the National Prayer Breakfast (Likely the only way Kenney gets a climax is through prayer.) it can be presumed that he will be hobnobbing with all the cool GOP kids. One of the exchanges may go something like this …

    JK: Hi! Please to meet you, senator. I’m Jason Kenney…

    Senator: Ah, are you … ummm … where are you from?

    JK: Alberta, sir. Canada, specifically.

    Senator: Oh, yes. You’re a Canadian, like that awful Trudeau character.

    JK: Yes, you’re right! He’s an awful person. Full-on communist. Illegitimate son of Fidel Castro, you know.

    Senator: Yes, so I’ve heard. His mother, didn’t she run around with the Rolling Stones and that Mick Jagger?

    JK: Yes, she did. Truly a corrupt and loose woman. Very immoral, like Trudeau.

    Senator: I’m sure. What are you, in Canada?

    JK: I am the Leader of Alberta, a proudly conservative province. Much like Mississippi, your state.

    Senator: Yes, it is. And so long as they keep electing me, I get to live in Washington, which is great! I live in a nicer neighborhood, so it’s better for me.

    JK: About the upcoming midterms, Senator. Can I ask you to support a pipeline or two?

    Senator: A pipeline? Depends where it’s going, son?

    JK: Through the US, senator.

    Senator: Oh, well. We could have a problem there…

    JK: It goes through North Dakota …

    Senator: Oh, I’m all for it, then. I still don’t understand why we have two Dakotas.

    1. The Senator is surprised there are two Dakotas? Even though he’s from Mississippi he should know that his Republican pals from those two states, combined population 1.6 million, can outvote the two Democratic Senators representing 39 million Californians. U.S. democracy in action.

      1. I believe the good senator from Mississippi was concerned for only over two things …

        There will be no pipelines through his state; they can go through and sully Louisiana and Texas. (MS notwithstanding)

        And the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Since the “Leader of Alberta” has never been known to have actually had an adult relationship with anyone, never mind a woman, it can be presumed that he is Anti-Abortion, as well as Anti-feminist, Anti-civil rights, Anti-secular-humanism, and pretty much all the Antis that the senator can get behind.

      2. I recall reading someplace(s) that at sometime in the not so distant pasture there were only three jurisdictions in North America actually losing population. This was when the far-right BC Liberals (Liberals were usurped by refugee Socreds fleeing that scandal-plagued party) and the Saskatchewan Party (Conservatives disgraced by corruption convictions had to change their party’s name) raged that socialist governments in their respective provinces were driving residents out, allegedly because the their brands of communist totalitarianism were so repellent; Population did shrink in Saskatchewan but likely for less stupid reasons.

        The BC Liberals, once they won government, spent the next 16 years of their perfidious regime referring to the “NDP Dark Age of the 90s” but quietly retired the depopulation metric, probably because it was so easy to refute by way of the national census —but, with only 5-year precision, the window was there to get away with it for a time. (In retrospect, every single metric the BC Liberals deployed against the NDP has since been proved complete bogus.)

        The two shrinking American jurisdictions were Montana and North Dakota—and, having been to Montana, at least, I can vouch that, unusually, lonely highway signs there always give distances to Lethbridge and Calgary along with the much smaller destinations in this largely empty state (which has no official nickname like “Wild Rose”, “Peace Garden State” or “Canada’s Breadbasket”, but “The Last Best Place” is one which I’m sure many Redoubters in Montana approve). And I believe Montana still stands out as the lowest pop-density jurisdiction in the Lower 48; both Saskatchewan and North Dakota, however, turned their shrinkages around during the height of oil prices by which their respective bitumen industries coincidentally benefitted.

        As US late night talk show hosts often ridicule, most Americans couldn’t find either of the Dakotas on an unlabelled map of their own country (or include either in a list of states they could recite) if their lives depended on it, but the Senatorial importance is very much appreciated by the GOP, both states being inclined to elect Republicans. Most Americans except, perhaps, far-right White Christians who’ve probably heard of the aspirational Redoubt in Montana and Idaho, and maybe can even find them on a map.

        But it occurs that if Wexiteers were to have their way and make Alberta independent—a move that would by necessity require confederation with the USA—then maybe a good renaming would be ‘Northwest Dakota’.

        I mean, two more right-voting Senators, eh!

        Just a thought…

        1. Scotty: Every U.S. State has a semi-official nickname. Montana’s is usually said to be the Treasure State. I’m “from Missouri” about most things most of the time – check the list to see why – but not about this. DJC

  20. Have you been reading the news the last 2 years? Some provincial parties and some federal governments have been scapegoating potions of their population for their views on elements of their conduct that falls squarely in their rights as enshrined in the constitution.

    When I was in school, one of the lessons I learned was that, if you dont learn from history, youre likely going to repeat bad decisions.

    Where has this happened before that a group of the population has been used as a scapegoat and had their portions of their rights nullified by a federal authority.

    And then of course you have the oppressive media presence warning the population of the dangers of this group when they complain about this injustice.

  21. Where, oh where are the “left-wing terrorists” and violent lefty protests apologists from the so-called “truckers convoy” and their white surrealist fellow travellers keep talking about? Let’s see … the 2017 Québec City mosque attack — nope, extreme right-wing Islamophobe did that one; 2019 Toronto van attack — nope, extreme right-wing misogynist who thought he had a right to sexual congress with women, regardless of their interest (or lack thereof) in him; 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting — nope, another extreme right-wing misogynist who was also a domestic abuser and anti-government type with a fetish for cop paraphernalia … hmmmm, not seeing any left-wing violence in this country.

    In fact, since the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, the greatest threat of terrorist attacks and politically-motivated violence in North America has been those right-wing extremists. On the left, we do see non-violent civil disobedience like the Wet’suwet’en land defenders in northern BC, the pre-environmental rallies in Edmonton during a Greta Thunberg’s visit, and the Fairy Creek blockades out on Vancouver Island, but the only violence precipitated by those protests is at the hands of the police or of counter-protesters.

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