Premier Danielle Smith was sworn in yesterday morning and in the afternoon gave her first news conference in Alberta’s top political job, offering so much news it was hard to know where to start.
Say what you will about former United Conservative Party premier Jason Kenney’s frequent gaslighting, he’s an amateur compared to Ms. Smith, who tells nose-stretchers with an easy grace that’s almost totally convincing unless you give your head a shake and think about what she’s actually saying.
Not once in the hourlong news conference did Alberta’s 19th premier resort to telling a journalist that she rejected the premise of their question – but she still prompted more than one frustrated reporter to complain, accurately enough, that while she’d said a lot, she hadn’t actually answered what they’d asked.
Well, to update King Solomon’s famous observation, a soft answer turneth away wrath and a two-question limit for the media quickly changeth the subject.
For simplicity’s sake today, let’s break topics covered at the newser into manageable pieces:
Sovereignty Act
The new UCP leader’s by now notorious Sovereignty Act will respect the rule of law and all Supreme Court decisions, Premier Smith promised. Plus, it’ll still give Alberta new tools to fiercely defend its jurisdiction.
So which is it? a couple of cranky reporters kept asking.
No answer was forthcoming.
“When the Supreme Court makes a decision we have to abide by that,” Ms. Smith conceded in response to a question about her campaign manager and office director Rob Anderson’s similar statement last week.
However, she continued to insist, “we can re-litigate” if circumstances change. (Well, as any constitutional lawyer will explain, you can’t re-litigate Ottawa’s right to impose a carbon tax because the question before the Supreme Court of Canada was jurisdiction, not circumstances.)
If she’s saying Alberta will honour the rule of law with her new legislation to undermine the rule of law, that raises the question of why bother to pass such a law at all.
The optics of doing nothing so soon after promising her supporters she’d do something probably explains her strategy, as well as the not unreasonable hope by Ms. Smith’s brain trust that the rubes can be fooled again, at least one more time.
Reading between the lines, it’s a fair guess that the UCP plan is now to obstruct federal law as much as possible for as long as possible until the Supreme Court finally rules, which can take a long time.
So there is still plenty of scope for mischief by people who continue to hold the idea of the rule of law in contempt.
That said, we really need to wait till we’ve seen the legislation before we take Ms. Smith’s word that her government will respect the courts and rule of law.
Caucus Retreat and a New Cabinet
Ms. Smith met yesterday with Mr. Kenney’s old cabinet. According to her, everything went swimmingly.
Why not wait till she’d named her own cabinet? Well, there were some Orders in Council that needed to be signed.
There will be a caucus retreat on Oct. 18, 18 and 19, Ms. Smith said. She will announce her new cabinet on Oct. 21. Cabinet ministers will be sworn in on Oct. 24.
Brooks-Medicine Hat By-election
As is well known, there will be a by-election for Ms. Smith to seek a safe seat in the Brooks-Medicine Hat riding. MLA Michaela Frey, who had already announced her plan not to run again, has decided to quit early to make way for Ms. Smith.
The by-election will be held on Nov. 8, Ms. Smith said. Alberta by-elections are traditionally held on a Monday. Nov. 8 is a Tuesday. But it is the Tuesday that the midterm Congressional elections will be held in the United States. Coincidence, just an error by the new premier, or what?
Regardless, she added, this means the earliest she can be expected to have a seat in the Legislature to introduce her own Sovereignty Act will be Nov. 29.
Calgary Elbow By-election
Also, there will also be no Calgary-Elbow by-election.
By now, everyone understands that Ms. Smith is afraid of losing that election to the NDP and entrenching a narrative that Rachel Notley can motor her way back to the Premier’s Office.
But there is a new excuse, Ms. Smith’s third.
To wit: The UCP riding association hasn’t had time to do their paperwork and find a candidate.
A true student of parliamentary government would ask, “So what?” Surely that should be a problem for the party, not the voters of Calgary-Elbow? Alas, no one from the media asked the question – probably because of the two-question limit.
The previous excuses were: It costs too much, and we’re going to have a general election in a few months anyway, so one doesn’t have to be called.
Public Health
Say goodbye to Deena Hinshaw. Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health has no place in Alberta’s new public health set-up.
While the details of how the deed will be done were vague, Ms. Smith was clear that Dr. Hinshaw will be gone soon.
“I think that we’re in a new phase where we are now talking about treating Coronavirus as an endemic as we do influenza,” she said. “So I will be developing a new team of public health advisors.”
Since Ms. Smith based her successful campaign to lead the UCP above all on Q-adjacent COVID conspiracy theories and belief in quack COVID cures like Ivermectin horse de-worming paste and Donald Trump’s hydroxychloroquine cure, this is not very reassuring.
Alberta Health Services
“A new governing structure will be in place for Alberta Health Services within 90 days,” Ms. Smith said.
So if you were thinking the new premier might smarten up and not sow even more chaos in Alberta’s already struggling public health care system, guess again.
Premier Smith was openly bitter about vaccine mandates for health care staff implemented during the COVID pandemic. And what do you do when you don’t like what the management is doing? She asked rhetorically. “You change the management! So that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to change the management.”
You probably didn’t read this here first, but you’re going to read it again: This will be a catastrophe.
Jason Kenney
Former premier Jason Kenney is still pouting about losing his job and not getting his choice for a replacement, Ms. Smith said, although not in those words. “I reached out to him and he has not accepted my invitation for a meeting.” She said she’s confident he’ll get over it. I’m not so sure.
Replacing the RCMP, or something
“I’m very much in the mode of wanting to have augmentation to the RCMP by creating an Alberta provincial police very quickly so that we can address issues of rural property crime that is often fueled sadly by drug addiction, and so that’s why we want to make sure that there are extra hands on deck and that our Alberta provincial police are trained in the new policing priorities that we have.”
So will the new force replace the RCMP or just supplement it? That’s not yet clear.
In this context, she also said, “we are going to fully exercise our areas of jurisdiction under the constitution.” So keep an eye on your Canada Pension Plan!
Chief of Staff
Speaking of addiction treatment and policy, her chief of staff will be Marshall Smith, Ms. Smith said.
Mr. Smith is a controversial figure, both for his personal history and his strong views that abstinence is the best way to end drug addiction and that offering safe supplies to drug users leads to more drug abuse.
Just saying no to drugs may not work very well with addicts, but it works well with conservative voters, which may explain Mr. Smith’s appeal to the UCP.
Gun Control
Ms. Smith’s electoral base hates gun control and Alberta’s new premier hates it too. She couldn’t mention how Alberta isn’t going to co-operate with any stinkin’ federal gun grab too many times. If you’re concerned about public safety, just like if you’re concerned about public health, you’re not going to find living under the Smith Government a very reassuring experience.
The Most Persecuted Minority – The Great Unvaccinated
“The community that faced the most restrictions on their freedoms in the last year were those that made a choice not to be vaccinated,” Premier Smith said at the end of her news conference.
Alberta’s Great Unvaxxed, she said, “have been the most discriminated-against group that I’ve ever witnessed in my lifetime. That’s a pretty extreme level of discrimination.”
“We are not going to create a segregated society on the basis of a medical choice,” she insisted, vowing to extend human rights protections to folks who refuse to take public health measures that involve vaccinations.
Jaws dropped and gasps were heard across the province at this pronouncement. There were many responses. I will give the last word on this topic to Alberta Senator Paula Simons, who summed it up about as well as I have seen:
“Tell me you’ve never been discriminated against on the basis of race, religion, sexual orientation or disability, without telling me you’ve never been discriminated against on the basis of race, religion, sexual orientation or disability. …”
Basically, Albertans now have a very big disaster in power, with Danielle Smith as premier, and the UCP. Everything she will be doing will be an absolute train wreck, and will cost Alberta big time, financially, and even likely cost people their lives. The unfortunate part is that only a very small percentage of voters in Alberta voted for Danielle Smith to become premier. Until the next provincial election in Alberta happens, in May of 2023, it’s going to be a very miserable eight months. Danielle Smith is going to be even worse than Ralph Klein was, and he was really bad. If voters in the riding of Brooks Medicine Hat were smart enough, they would not vote for Danielle Smith. Then if Danielle Smith tried to run in the still vacant riding of Calgary Elbow, voters who are smart enough, shouldn’t vote for her there either. Since Albertans have a tendency to be foolish and never learn, if the UCP get back into power after 2023, it’s going to be even worse. Albertans who didn’t listen to people who knew that the UCP and Danielle Smith weren’t going to be good, are going to have to deal with the not so good consequences, as all Albertans will. As a dong returns to its own vomit, a fool returns to his own folly. I believe that’s another one of King Solomon’s proverbs.
Yes, this seems like such a grab bag of political tricks and treats, perhaps fitting for the time of the year. Of course too much of this can make any province sick and it is all empty political calories too.
First we have the mythical unicorn of major changes to the constitutional structure that are somehow constitutional. Yeah, the “resistance” sort of tried that with the carbon tax challenge. The smarter ones stopped talking about it to get reelected. Eventually, I expect the courts will burst her bubble too, but perhaps she hopes it will take a while. If so, it will give her time to sell I don’t know what, maybe more confusion, to the gullible. Of course this is all in keeping with Dr. Dani selling quack cures to COVID in the past.
Speaking of the apparently greatest victims ever, maybe she should rename the UCP as the Pity Party. COVID was no fun for anyone and was only made worse by those who ignored or dismissed it. This victimhood is the sort of first world problem that could only be focused on by those who have never known real discrimination before.
As for her confusing and shifting byelection excuses, it is hard to keep up. So now the latest seems the UCP is too lazy or disorganized to get a candidate in Calgary Elbow. Maybe this is actually closer to the truth, but if so, the excuses aren’t getting better.
As for Kenney wanting to keep his distance from Smith, that is not a surprise. He has been pretty clear what he thinks of her kooky ideas. I wouldn’t be hopeful on this if I were her. The sniping will likely continue perhaps from the back benches and probably at the most inopportune times for her.
Lastly, as for that great Medicine Hat by election, someone recently brought up to me the scenario – what if she doesn’t win it? It might put a quick end to all of this ridiculousness, but that is probably too much to hope for.
Maybe the Take Back Alberta party hasn’t captured the Calgary-Elbow riding association yet?
Are you sure this coverage is from “ALBERTA ” politics and not “BC” or “OTTAWA” politics? I was looking for the speech and came across this slanted article. I will look elsewhere for the facts
Ha-ha! You know you’ll be back again and again to satify your pathetic need to be outraged.
It appears you are immune to facts, Lea-Anne.
Good luck!
Ah you were looking for a conservative bias and not an objective analysis of the realities of what she says she is going to do.
Well go read postmedia then, like we care.
This is effectively an editorial website. If you want the speech without any analysis, google CPAC.
I suppose if I was getting a steady diet of right wing news I would find this site upsetting as well. Much like how if I became used to eating unhealthy foods then had a healthy meal I would get indigestion.
This article was so incredibly slanted and biased for the ‘old boys club’ mentality, you would think the writer was liberal…or notley.
So much for real reporters or journalists.
Denial is not a good strategy. But good luck.
If the ultra left didn’t do everything it could to destroy Kenney, and make lepers out of the unvaxxed, you wouldn’t have to fear what Smith would do to your futures. Enjoy the bed you made with division.
Looks like DC hit an alt-right nerve! So entertaining.
Kenney was brought down from the right (anti vaccine) wing of his party. The ultra left, you remember what province this is!? That gave me quite a chuckle
That’s a knee-slapper. I prefer “responsible Canadian!” But how exactly did this “radical left” bring Kenney down? He never listened to a word that Notley said. In fact, he literally plugged his caucus’ ears up like Odysseus’ crew, lest they be lured by the siren song of the left.
He made his own decisions, trying to be a responsible leader in a crisis, and the Wild Rose element of his own party sacrificed him for it (don’t mistake that comment for sympathy). I don’t see how the “radical left” played any role in that at all. The unvaccinated made a personal choice with clear consequences laid out in front of them, like my toddler when I tell him not to throw his food if he wants dessert. The whole “you sowed the wind” argument cuts both ways, Lumpy.
I’m headed to the states for surgery because everyone in this country biffed up health care so badly. Didn’t the unions have decades to get better working conditions for the doctors and nurses? Instead, after ever strike, they settled for a tiny bit of extra money to buy silence while Canadians die in hallways. But that’s conservatives fault, right? Didn’t Notley have 4 years to fix the problems we’ve had in health care? Problems we’ve had spelled out since the 70’s? Four whole years. No wonder Smith won, and will win again when she faces the NDP. Privatizing health care MUST happen to save us. The public system is as rotten as Hockey Canada. We need resignations for the deaths in the hallways, and the nurses who committed suicide.
NDP do try, but fail. You apparently miss what Ralph Klein did by gutting the public healthcare system in Alberta, through very strong cutbacks, just so he could try and get it privatized. The NDP couldn’t fix the horrific mess that these pretend conservatives and Reformers did, in only four years. What Danielle Smith is going to do, is make matters even worse. The facts don’t seem to be your thing.
I blame white Canadians for the collapse of the health care system because every time someone is on TV urging people to lick doorknobs as a political statement, both they and their audience were white. So are the cops and judges who prioritized the privileges of the few above the well being of our society. So were the people who blockaded hospitals and assaulted health care workers. Studies have shown that telling white people that covid is worse for the nonwhite made us, as a whole, less likely to be willing to do our part. I’ve spent 39 years listening to mostly white Canadians talk about how their health care system makes them better than Americans. I’ve spent the last two years watching mostly white mostly conservatives proudly destroy it because they insisted on the right to not wear a mask, despite knowing that others will die and the health care system will continue to fail as a direct result.
Hospitals aren’t convenience stores and health care workers don’t have magic wands. Maybe white conservatives should take some of that responsibility they used to pretend to value so much.
I see Danielle Smith has joined the conversation, incognito.
Lumpy bed ?? Maybe try getting out of it and flip the mattress, then you might see that Kenny was run out by his own caucus
And the people who had a choice to “not” get vaccinated were not discriminated against unless you also call these discriminations:
1.Driving without a driver’s license/needing a class 3(?) to drive a truck
2. Needing car insurance to drive
3.needing house insurance to get a mortgage
4.flying out of country without a passport / needing a Visa
Etc. etc etc…
It’s called consequences for your own actions….when was the last time you went into a restaurant without shoes/shirt, never? That’s because of public health measures, Dr’s and nurses have been wearing masks for decades, why ,for the safety of the patients, and if everyone had followed the simple actions at the start, this could have been contained long ago, but the whiners are the ones who make the most noise, for their own selfish reasons, the divide is of their own making because they don’t want to do what is for the public good ,terrible 2’s having a temper tantrum, and the politicians who used them for their own selfish purposes….and there you have it …a new Premier who is making a point of dividing from day 1….
IMHO..
ultra left…for wanting the best for everyone…So are you ultra right?? It’s all about me !!!
Disagreeing with Danielle Smith is the inevitable result of knowing real facts and caring what happens tomorrow.
“Ultra left” would be something like “let’s bring the owning class some mob justice,” or “let’s guillotine everyone who owns X or has done Y.” Ultra left does and can happen, we should not cry wolf about it.
Rachel Notley is center right. If she seems extreme left to you, that is an indication of your location, not hers. While I’m at it, the Biden/Harris ticket would been at home with the Bush Sr Era Republicans. The Overton window has been shifting right since five minutes after it became legal for billionaires to own as much media as they want.
We spent 13 years in public education. How much time did you spend learning history, logic and political philosophy? For me the answer was “very little. ” This is withheld from us in the hope that we will grow into easy-to-manipulate adults.
Wildrosers like Smith have had a hate on for Alberta Health Services forever — in fact, ever since Ron Leipert first handed over its org chart on the back of a napkin to his Deputy Minister. Dissolving it back into a regionalized structure was a campaign plank in one of their election platforms — in 2015, if I recall correctly. Nothing has changed with them, other than that they all themselves “united” “conservatives” — two lies for the price of one, since they are neither united nor conservative.
Maybe Danielle will bring back Jack Davis!
A terrible day for all Albertans it seems, even for the rubes who are taken in repeatedly by the constant mendacity of and gaslighting by the UCP and continue to vote for the UCP in stark defiance of their own best interests.
The day of Danielle Smith’s swearing in, October 11, was also the day that the great Angela Lansbury died. Lovers of cinema will recall that she had a starring role in the 1944 film, Gaslight, which is the source for the term we use to describe the psychological manipulation of people to believe things that are false. Fitting somehow that this film should bubble up in the public dialog on the very same day that AB has a new gaslighter-in-chief.
The four stages of gaslighting as I see them:
1. “I didn’t say that.”
2. “You misunderstood.”
3. “That’s not what I meant.”
4. “I can’t remember.”
With today’s walking-back of what she said yesterday, we are already at stage three, on day two of her premiership. Impressive. I can hardly wait for the collective amnesia stage of her premiership, possibly tomorrow?
I was really surprised to see that Ms. Smith brought up the firing of Dr. Hinshaw; I thought it would be in the category of campaign promise to be forgotten, unless she is pressed at least.
Outright firing Dr. Hinshaw could be problematic. An unfair dismissal lawsuit could result in Ms. Smith’s quackery being thoroughly examined in court, which could be embarrassing for our newest worst premier ever, although it would no doubt fire up her base. I expect instead of firing Dr. Hinshaw a lucrative buyout package will be offered to get her to quietly step aside. (How would the cost of the buyout compare to the cost of a byelection in Calgary Elbow?)
With regards to Covid being endemic, these data should be considered:
Alberta’s first Covid death was on Mar 18, 2020. As of Sept 26, the last date the government’s web page has been updated, there have been a total of 4905 deaths in the 922 days from Alberta’s first death until the last Covid update. This works out to an average of 5.3 deaths per day, including over 100 since the first of September. Keep that number in mind when (if) we get another weekly Covid update. Several of the updates in the past few weeks have reported death numbers with a daily average above 5.3.
https://www.alberta.ca/stats/covid-19-alberta-statistics.htm
The problem with using averages is Covid deaths have come in waves, and we have no idea if we are currently on a wave. Since the government quit testing for Covid they are no longer able to provide an update on our current case numbers, but they could make reasonable projections with wastewater analysis if they chose to.
My suspicion is that the restaurant lobby has convinced the government that we are better not knowing accurate Covid data. Now that Danielle Smith is in charge, I am afraid we will lose even the limited data we currently get.
David,
The actual number of deaths from Covid is much higher than reported. You should probably include what is now the leading cause of deaths in Alberta which is classified officially as “unknown causes”.
Now that it’s official that the Antivaxxed are the most persecuted people of all time and Alberta has Second Amendment rights, just like in the US, I think it’s pretty safe to say that the crazy train is rolling fast and furious. Now that Danielle Straitjacket has also made it clear that every rural voter will be coveted as the wisest of the wise, while urban voters are the great unwashed, and very likely all criminal and atheists, the culture wars have come north with vengeance.
This iteration of the UCP government will be like Foxnews/OAN/NewsMax all rolled into one. And throw in some InfoWars for good measure. Maybe Alex Jones will be offered a position? Since he has all those legal fees and court settlements weighing him down, I’m sure Smith will be pleased to offer up the resources of Alberta in the defense of truth, justice, and the insane way.
Kaycee Madu as Deputy-Premier and Atty Gen. Talk about failing upwards.
Tyler Shandro will go back to Health because he’s so good at it.
Jason Stepan as a minister … it’s hard to believe he’s headed for cabinet, but it’s going to happen.
Does Jason Nixon have nine lives? Make him the Minister of #MGTOW and see what happens.
Hello Just Me
Madu may not be a sure bet to keep his Edmonton South West seat at the next Alberta General Election. Given Smith’s stated intent to increase the numbers of rural based cabinet members he could perhaps buy an acreage, some cattle, a cowboy hat and do a few photo ops sitting on a tractor.
I suspect in Kaycee Madu’s case, he’s finding all kinds of ways to save his own hide, among them having the boundaries of his riding redistributed. What is that? His riding was reorganized a few years ago and it’s too early to do it again? With Premier Danielle Smith’s blessing, it will be deemed that Madu’s riding has insufficient rural representation, so sliced off a bit of the neighboring UCP stronghold next door and Madu’s bacon is saved. Ah, the magic of a fresh Sharpie marker. Since Madu was quick to support Smith’s leadership and proclaim her the GOAT, I’m sure he’s grabbed that brass ring easily.
Don’t forget Todd Loewen. Now that Kenney’s gone and he helped Queen Dannie win, all is forgiven.
Expect Drew Barnes to emerge from his hole, too. Anybody who helped kick Jason Kenney to the curb is welcome now–except Brian Jean. Rivals to the Queen will not be tolerated.
When can we start calling her “Measles Marlaina”, “Covid Karen”, “Polio Premier”, etc.?
Abs…100% behind “Covid-Karen “, thanks…..
At what point are they just going to line drug users up against the wall ? These people are psychopaths.
Will fuel and manufacture ,the poisoning,including killing communities and our children
The new UCP leader, the Flim Flam M’am, is smart enough to know that what she says does not have to be true, just believable. Smith also knows the majority of Alberta voters have a childlike obedience to authority figures, anything she says, they will believe.
I may choose to not get insured and then drive while impaired. This does not mean that the law should protect me from the consequences of this choice. During a pandemic, the old saying ‘my freedom ends where your nose begins’ applies in the case of vaccine choice in the same way it does in the case of impaired driving.
Want to bet how long it will take for batshit crazy lady to cancel all COVID vaccinations in Alberta?
I fully expect intelligent Albertans who want boosters will need to travel out of province to get them.
Expect, harassment, if not violence against those who dare to wear masks in Alberta.
Welcome to Smith’s dystopian Alberta. Next time, maybe don’t vote for a self-loathing 50-ish “bachelor” who despises gay teens, unions, socialized health care, public education, and universities. Soon all Albertans will find out what “karma is a bitch” really means.
In the words of Forrest Gump, “stupid is as stupid does.” This premier is like stupid on steroids. Before jumping into everything and shooting her mouth off, perhaps she should get a mandate from the masses and not a bunch of stupid ideas from a very small percentage of the electorate?
Many times, while reading about the antics of various politicians on the Provincial and Federal scene in Canada (not to forget all those global actors as well-) I find myself thinking “You just can’t make this stuff up!”
I am SO wrong. They are making it up as we speak, as we breathe, as we walk through our lives, 24/7/365. Back in the day, we referred to these types as prevaricators, and we didn’t vote them into high office for that very reason. My, how the poles have shifted.
Obviously Ms.Smith didn’t receive the war room feed ,the most foul,discriminatory,violence against marginalized individuals,cultures,race ,fables ,
The war room was the groomer of hate and discrimination,while elevating the “poor antivaxers”,who had their violence going on too ,
Ms.Smith is whacked
Tamara Lich for Human Rights Commissioner
Vivian Krause finance minister
Where will crybabies go in this cabinet
I hope she keeps this up. In spades.
Although very embarrassing for Alberta and Albertans it will hopefully lead to the UCP demise at the polls next year.
One thing for certain….we will soon see which elected UCP’ers have the guts to walk away from this crowd.
Brett, I’m not sure any UCP MLAs will leave the party. The ones with the best reason, e.g. Toews and Aheer, might decide to hunker down till Smith self-destructs (we mere mortals can hope). Then they can pick up the pieces. They may refuse cabinet posts, but that’s about it.
Backbenchers are, I think, even less likely to quit. I hope I’m wrong, but I suspect most rural MLAs agree with Smith’s blather. They won’t quit, they’ll have to be fired by their constituents–who also largely agree with Smith’s blather. Only if she pulls off some monumentally stupid stunt that actually hurts rural people a LOT, will they desert her.
There’s also the backbencher’s fear of losing power (not that they have any, really, but still…). No, I think most will cling to what they have, and follow Smith if she just promises to help them keep what they have.
Buckle up folks. Four point safety harness & roll cage recommended.
Prediction 1: Premier Smith is going to do something blatantly unconstitutional or illegal.
– could be Sovereignty Act, but hey, this premier? Surprise me is a viable option.
Prediction 2: Lt. Gov. Lakhani will be forced to exercise a reserve power.
– most likely refusal to assent. But I won’t rule out dissolving legislature and forcing a general election.
Prediction 3: The above will happen before May 2023.
Gerald: That could happen.
It certainly proves why my B.C.relatives think Albertans are nuts. We just keep proving it, don’t we? We let a handful of mindless seniors elect a fool like Smith after the track record she has. I think the people in the Brooks- Medicine Hat riding aren’t the morons Smith wants them to be and she may get a real surprise.
Alan K. Spiller: Where would Danielle Smith go to, if she is defeated?
Wonder what will she do with the War Room……?
Hana: This is a very good question, on which I hope to publish some observations shortly. DJC
I have to disagree w/ Danielle Smith’s claim the unvaxed are the most discriminated against group. That honour has been held by union members and organized labour for several decades. I have never seen more unbalanced, biased and double (even triple) standards in legislation, regulation and openly hostile smear campaigns, gaslighting and official government communications. The people who actually built this province (workers & citizens) are constantly demonized and ridiculed. Enough is enough!
Rod: With great respect, while I agree union members have been subject to unfair treatment by Canadian provincial governments, particularly in Alberta, I don’t believe that comes it close to the discrimination faced by members of visible minorities, our gay and lesbian fellow citizens, First Nations, an minority religious, to name a few examples. DJC
I could choose not to follow a political ideology to avoid persecution if I wished. I could not choose to change the color of my skin to do the same.
The UCP has every chance of becoming the party of hillbillies, conspiracy theorists, and those who live in an alternate world of permanent anger and resentment.