The poor little rich kid of Confederation is pleading poverty again. But take note, it’s not Alberta’s fault! (It’s never Alberta’s fault.)
In an announcement yesterday that the next Alberta Budget will drop on Feb. 26, Finance Minister Nate Horner trotted out several traditional Alberta excuses about why we’re going to have to make some tough choices, tighten our belts, maybe even take a haircut, seeing as we’re completely incapable of managing the revenue side of a modern government.
“Albertans know these times aren’t easy and the path ahead will require tough choices, but Alberta’s government has a clear path forward,” Mr. Horner said, at best trying for a little expectation management, at worst admitting to the United Conservative Party Government’s remarkable level of fiscal incompetence.
“We are making responsible decisions now, to protect the province’s financial future, stay focused on what matters, and ensure Alberta remains strong for our children and grandchildren,” he claimed, presumably rhetorically.
The latter statement, straight from Mr. Horner’s news release, is obviously preposterous.
If Premier Danielle Smith’s government was making responsible decisions, it certainly wouldn’t be driving us toward a referendum on separation from Canada that has the potential to hobble the economy and bitterly divide Albertans literally for years, possibly for decades.
Likewise, if the government was making responsible decisions it would not be needlessly reorganizing Alberta’s health care system for purely ideological reasons to the tune of at least a billion dollars and implementing a two-tier medical system that will cost taxpayers more, bankrupt many citizens needing essential medical treatment, and quite possibly end public health care throughout Canada.
And if the UCP was making responsible decisions, surely it would not have caused investment in renewable energy to crater, apparently because U.S. President Donald Trump hates “windmills,” and then done nothing about it when the results of their mismanagement came in.
Usually, when an Alberta Conservative government warns that its budget “will focus on careful, disciplined decision-making to manage pressures, protect essential services, and keep Alberta’s finances stable during challenging times,” it means it’s looking for excuses for more privatization and fewer public services. There’s no reason to believe Mr. Horner’s message yesterday means anything different.
When the UCP government cites “lower-than-anticipated oil prices,” that suggests they still haven’t figured out that commodity prices are cyclical – and, in the case of fossil fuels, bound to trend downward as the rest of the world electrifies. At this point in the history of Alberta, that is nothing but evidence of inexcusable fiscal malpractice.
But don’t worry, as long as Liberals remain in power in Ottawa, Alberta government’s will always have a ready excuse for chronic economic mismanagement, and a significant portion of the population ready to believe it.
In fairness, it’s unlikely any Alberta government will ever have the courage to implement sane taxation measures that will end the fossil fuel roller coaster Alberta perpetually rides. Pity.
Danielle Smith demands more pliable judges
Also yesterday, Premier Smith issued a statement whinging about a claimed “need for meaningful reform to the federal judicial appointment process for vacancies on the Alberta Court of King’s Bench, the Alberta Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada.”
She wants, of course, far-right judges who will do her bidding for the same reason her hero, President Trump, has appointed toadying judges who do whatever he demands or, when legal circumstances prevent that, just stall and stall and stall to allow his illegal acts to continue.
“We are simply asking for a formal and meaningful role in the judicial appointment process that would boost public confidence in the administration of justice, support national unity within Alberta, and ensure judicial decision-making reflects the values and expectations of Albertans,” Ms. Smith said tendentiously in her statement.
In her attached letter to the prime minister, Ms. Smith demanded “meaningful collaboration” with her government on finding replacements for three vacancies on the Alberta Court of King’s Bench, which, if the jurisdictional shoe were on the other foot, her government would certainly describe as overreach. Then she threatened that “Alberta’s government will not agree to provide the necessary funding to support any new judicial positions in the province until such engagement and collaboration are provided.”
As for her demand for unilingual judges on the Supreme Court of Canada, the better to get ideologically acceptable judges from Alberta on that august bench, that dog, obviously, won’t hunt! “The highest levels of Alberta’s justice system should reflect Albertans,” huffed Justice Minister Mickey Amery in the news release.
The truth is that Premier Smith wants to control the process of selecting judges so she can interfere in the administration of justice to advance her ideological agenda, up to and including separation from Canada.
It is profoundly to be hoped that Prime Minister Mark Carney, the target of this appeal for a more easily controlled judiciary, respects the principles of democratic rule and ignores Ms. Smith’s pressure campaign.
The UCP’s desire to meddle in the judicial branch of government is why the chief judges of all three levels of the Alberta courts issued their remarkable Jan. 27 statement reminding Albertans that “a properly functioning democracy requires three separate branches of government that exercise their power and authority independently according to the Constitution.”
“The independence of each branch ensures there are checks and balances across the system,” said the statement signed by Dawn Pentelechuk, acting chief justice of the Court of Appeal of Alberta, Kent H. Davidson, chief justice of the Court of King’s Bench, and James A. Hunter, of the Alberta Court of Justice, as the provincial court is now known.
They continued: “It is the foundation of a healthy democracy. Public trust and confidence in our institutions – and all three branches of government – depend on it. It is equally important that each branch respect and support the independence of the others.”
A jurisdiction that has a government with a healthy respect for democratic norms would not require this kind of high-profile civics lesson from its judiciary. The fact the judges felt it necessary strongly suggests they see grave dangers ahead from the government’s obvious desire to interfere in the independence of the courts.
NOTE: This post has been updated to make a couple of additional important points, one of the advantages of not publishing on ink and paper. DJC
Yup, the same destructive playbook going on with Dixie Dani’s Undeniably Crap Party straight from Project 2025. How To Dismantle a Government and Turn It Into A Tyranny 101.
Hopefully at some point, Carney and the feds put their foot down and do what Trudeau did to DoFo–cut off federal health funding until he ponied up the books to prove what he was spending the money, on. Right after that, Carney needs to stomp on her interference in the judiciary.
These oligarchs are not going to quit. It’s going to be a long road ahead for Alberta because they already let the camel’s nose in the tent and it won’t be long before the camel is in the sleeping bag and Albertans are sleeping in the cold.
Well said.
I find it strange Horner is talking about “tough choices” for several reasons, but the main one is the UCP has been in austerity mode for quite a while already, although they have tried to be fairly stealthy about it.
However, despite their austerity oil prices have fallen as fast or faster than they could cut, so they are now likely headed to political purgatory. This is where voters will be very unhappy with the cuts and what will probably be a surprisingly high deficit as well. What the oil gods giveth, they can also take away.
Smith may now even be wishing she hadn’t wasted so much money on expensive private health contracts to her well connected supporters. However, as others before her have found out, you can’t turn the clock and undo the foolish mistakes from when oil prices were higher and seemed they would be for a long time. They can only ask the fickle oil gods to return better fortune again. There is even a pithy bumper sticker saying for this, somewhat unique to Alberta.
So I really don’t feel that the UCP’s lectures about (more) tough choices will go over very well right now with most Albertans, who have already been struggling for a while. We may not be a poor province just yet, but the UCP seems well on the way to make spending on and government services below the Canadian average. The years when Alberta governments boasted about above average or even high levels of spending on education and health care now seem like a very distant memory. I’m not sure if we are at the bottom of the barrel just yet, but we must be getting close.
It sounds like there will be another austerity budget, but this time the UCP will no longer be able to disguise or sugar coat it any more. This is also usually the point in the oil price roller coaster ride where voters start to get very queasy and the popularity of the party in power also takes a hit.
Permit me to print one paragraph again: “When the UCP government cites “lower-than-anticipated oil prices,” that suggests they still haven’t figured out that commodity prices are cyclical – and, in the case of fossil fuels, bound to trend downward as the rest of the world electrifies. At this point in the history of Alberta, that is nothing but evidence of inexcusable fiscal malpractice.”
But if Carney cannot steal the puck away from the Alberta Mental Midgets and score, CANADA will be no more! Smith is that dangerous, along with her red neck nazis in Bonnyville.
There are so many things to take away from what’s in this blog. Long term, gross mismanagement of Alberta’s finances got us into this jam. That only came from the Conservatives, who ceased to collect the proper oil and tax rates that Peter Lougheed had provided for us, while doing so many pricey boondoogles on top of that. That is likely at around $1.5 trillion. Will the UCP stomp their feet in a childish tantrum, and make oil prices rise again? That’s not going to happen, because oil prices are not going up. Blaming the Liberals in Ottawa for this is a tired old excuse that began with Ralph Klein. Nate Horner, with his predictable bafflegab, spin and mistruths, is doing the same.
The reasons why the UCP wants control over judges, and wants to ditch the R.C.M.P, for a provincial police force, which has a very large cost to it, is because they want a police state, and they want their corruption to not face any justifiable scrutiny from Albertans, and not see prosecution from the legal authorities. The Corrupt Care scandal is still present, and Danielle Smith wants to continue to try and hide it. It’s likely that there are multiple other crooked goings on with the UCP, so Danielle Smith wants to make it so she and the UCP are above the law, and are cleared of any missteps. That’s not likely to get very far, when the walls keep closing in on the UCP for their Corrupt Care scandal.
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-46/section-121.html
The judiciary have been sowing the seeds of this current situation for decades by consistently making decisions that don’t reflect the public’s sentiments and that don’t resonate with the broad community they serve. They’ve rarely met an offender they aren’t willing to let off lighter than the average person on the street feels is acceptable. The signs are all over – news stories and public discourse have consistently criticized light sentences for years. When was the last time anyone saw a news story that suggested the courts had gone too far? The checks and balances aren’t working when they always balance in favour of the offenders and leave the public feeling unsafe. The justices are correct that a functioning democracy needs an independent judiciary, but for that judiciary to hold the public’s trust they need to reflect the public’s values in their decisions at least most of the time. When that fails for long enough you end up with political schemes like the Premier’s.
Why do conservatives always love to cosplay that only liberal governments appoint judges in Canada ? Stephen Harper was prime minister from 2006-2015, surely the ideological warrior he is managed to appoint some judges in that time yea ? I believe he had time to do a similar project with both the CBC and Canada Post Boards. Our esteemed bloggers point being that, when the show is on the other foot conservatives would scream bloody murder about having to compromise on anything, especially judicial appointments. I think our esteemed bloggers other point is correct as well, Yankee Doodle Dani doesn’t care about criminal Justice, she cares that any judge worth their salt is going to throw her unconstitutional garbage right back in her smug face.
Now, as far as your main point about “social disorder” this is STILL one of the safest provinces in one of the safest countries in the entire world and it is a FACT that most victims of “social disorder” are those at extreme economic disadvantage; homeless people , battered women, foster kids who age out of care, etc etc etc.
The white, rural albertans, doing a chicken little and screaming about the sky falling, are cowards who don’t have a single clue as to what they’re talking about.
As far as your straw man statement that no one ever hears about the courts being too severe, there’s actually an entire organization based on that very concept, feel free to read all about it https://www.wrongfulconvictions.ca/ don’t forget that this is a colonial government, it’s a deep dark well of crimes and secrets going back over a century now. Just because you’ve never bothered to look doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
I don’t see how the facts correspond with your opinion.
See https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/ccrso-2023/index-en.aspx#sec-c18
Full and day parole, conditional release, and Healing Lodge numbers unchanged since 2013
The same 46% of sentence was served before parole in 2013 and was served 2023.
@Critic
Did you ever consider this isn’t a Canada problem, it’s an Alberta or you, problem?
I worked street outreach for years with the most disadvantaged people in Canada who were chronic substance users and many were mentally ill. I lived for a year in a squatter’s village fighting for housing with the equivalent of the Trailer Park Boys, some from hard time in Kingston Penn and some who did hard drugs.
I live in a major city where elderly women walk their little floofy dogs in the dark, at night, down quiet and busy streets yet somehow, we’re not all cowering in fear of crime.
What we need is *housing* and yet, the least informed seem to be the ones screaming the loudest for “moar prisons! moar prison time!” It cost 3x as much to taxpayers for prison space (double that or more for privatized prisons in the USA) than it does for housing space so if you’re all that worried about crime, maybe it’s time to consider that what crimes are committed might be cut in half if tens of thousands of our most financially vulnerable citizens weren’t scrounging in the freezing cold to survive and being shuffled around amongst heating grates, encampments, shelters and hospitals like a deck of human misery cards.
Maybe we start by imprisoning the wealthy financiers when they ponzi-scheme the rest of the population by encouraging them to gamble in the rigged stock market and who destroyed the retirement savings of working people by investing their money in mutual funds that had sub-prime mortgages involved. How about we stop using our money to build oil pipelines so the filthy rich get richer while average citizens like ourselves pay for them to destroy the land then we’re left to clean up the mess. Were any executives imprisoned for that, BTW? No? That cost the average citizen considerably money than the odd petty theft or stolen car replacement. Maybe we start investigating the American money laundering dark money connections infecting the housing industry and blowing up the prices of rental properties and condos.
Are bankers and financiers ever arrested for moving the money of the wealthy offshore so they can tax dodge on the backs of everyone else? Was Galen Weston ever investigated as he paid no taxes for decades? No? Was Stephen Harper ever brought to trial over the Air Bus scandal? No? Why was Conrad Black charged in the USA but not in Canada where he was pulling the exact same financial frauds? Were the CEOs of Amazon or Walmart charged for fraud when they broke their contracts taxpayers paid untold millions to finance then they tucked tail and ran out of town with our money in their pockets at the mere whiff of unionization? No?
How about when we scream about crime we as a country, for once, go for the top echelon criminals affecting all of us, first.
Let’s see how that trickle-down effect of real justice works. After that happens then conservatives can start whacking on about street-level crime.
Commodity prices are not cyclical, anymore than the dinosaurs were cyclical. Oil is a strategic asset and its price is manipulated by the United States military-finance-intelligence complex. They could set the price for forty years with a three-person panel in Texas. When that racket collapsed in the seventies they went global with their direct interventions in the middle-east, with both their attack dog in Palestine and their Saudi gangster clan. At the time of the 1973 “energy crisis” the US was awash in oil which the private corporations had refused to refine because bad gubment was meddling with their freedom bizniss. The current debasement of oil prices is a function of the US war on the world, and not some predictable result of a rational system. Rand Corp. was calling for this scenario to get the Russkies in check back in 2019. They used the same strategy to cripple the Soviet Union’s capacity to raise foreign exchange. The US assaults on rivals may be cyclical, but oil prices are not.
Murphy: Regardless of the reason, then – conspiratorial or otherwise – commodity prices are cyclical. Any investor knows this. DJC
The general public only sees a few cases. The mistakes. You can reduce mistakes, but that would require more prisons, and your taxes would go up. It’s easy to second guess the experts after the fact.
So Alberta had a record year, thanks to the Trans-Mountain pipeline and shipped 1.5 billion barrels of oil. But we’re broke. And Herr Schmitt and the UPC are threatening to withhold judicial funds, until we get the proper judges, that will bend and break laws, to accommodate what this puppet government wants. They say “we want a future for our children” but hey, lets stop all alternative energy and cut down and dig up everything we can. This is a joke of a government. We are in desperate need of a real leader and a strong government to stop this nonsense.
If the UCP members have not seen Nuremberg they ought to. It is a subtle reminder that someday we will be held accountable. That day may be nearer than Sylvestre and his actors know. They are causing Bonnyville irreparable harm amidst mainstream Albertans.
Hands off CPP. Albertans are tired of UCP threats and stealing of people’s pensions. AIMCo lost $2B of public servants hard earned pensions. Where the accountability for that? $1.5 Trillion to oil and gas while education and healthcare is in crisis. Irresponsible leadership pandering needs to stop and Albertans needs should be the priority!
A few things about Alberta’s track record of appointing people at the highest levels of “justice”:
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/alberta-ex-justice-minister-jonathan-004520332.html
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/alberta/article-alberta-justice-minister-has-personal-relationship-with-man-whose/
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-madu-sanction-1.7448781
Now when a provincial premier takes over the judiciary, including all levels of the judiciary including federal, appeals court and the supreme court, that is a whole other thing. This is what we call a “dictator”. There is no such thing as a “benevolent dictator”.
How about that bitumen royalty-in-kind scheme?
https://www.ctvnews.ca/calgary/article/alberta-govt-can-now-borrow-up-to-900m-as-part-of-new-bitumen-royalty-in-kind-program/
I have never met a lawyer, accountant, economist, oilman , banker or former MLA who hasn’t said that this all could have been avoided if these stupid Reformers hadn’t deliberately destroyed what Lougheed had created for us with the help of these mindless seniors who believed every lie they feed them . By destroying his oil royalties and corporate taxes to benefit the rich Albertans lost $1.2 trillion, as this article proves “Royalties Down 32% Billions in Federal Revenue Lost”.
It didn’t happen in any other oil rich area in the world as oilmen point out and it certainly didn’t happen in Alaska and Norway where what they have accomplished with their oil wealth proves it.
Alan K. Spiller: That is correct. I’ve known people weren’t seniors too, and they foolishly supported these Reformers. I’ve also known seniors who also foolishly supported these Reformers. It hasn’t helped us at all.
Mark Carney strikes me as someone who much prefers to try and maintain good relations with everybody especially provincial premiers—witness that MOU on an imaginary pipeline—but I wonder when his patience and that of his cabinet will snap with with Smith.
I have no idea of just what they could do but Carney does not seem the beat fists on desk and scream type. Dannie might well find herself standing on thin air before she knows it.
I do note that Alberta can expect $9,235 million in federal transfers in the 2026-2027 fiscal year. Pity if there was another mail strike.
It is my hope that during Carney’s almost two decades tenure in Europe, he can come into contact with certain individuals who are capable in those skill sets that require a thuggish mindset. You know the type … French, Dutch, and Irish toughs who act with extreme prejudice. I suspect that once a few of these troublesome Alberta separatists have taken their final dive through an open window, things will quiet down considerably. I will consider the cost of these services public monies well spent.
JM: Now, now … DJC
@jrkrideau
One thing I’ve noticed about Carney is that he doesn’t announce his plans or what he’s considering–he just informs everyone after he’s done it. Which, given Trump’s constant nattering on Twitter, is a welcome relief IMO.
He’s not likely to say anything to Smith but he’s far smarter than she is so I suspect one morning she’ll wake up to find he’s quietly outplayed her. You don’t get the accolades and responsible positions he’s gotten without knowing how to spot problems in advance and have the solution well in motion before anyone’s can stop it.
We can hope.
Meanwhile, Nenshi tells the federal NDP leadership candidates not to mess things up him: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/naheed-nenshi-ndp-leadership-race-9.7072751 He’s doing a fine job of messing up all on his own!
Fearless prediction: if Avi Lewis wins, Heather McPherson will join the federal Liberal caucus within 6 months.
As long as Nenshi feels the need to throw Heather McPherson under the bus as an evil eye charm against Avi Lewis, and as long as he claims to be a true pipeline *believer* and as long he bowdlerizes the social democracy Bible to eliminate such blasphemy as corporate taxes, royalty review and PST, well- we are still in thrall to UCP blackmail. And for the live of Zeus, fire your comms team Nenshi! Maybe David Moretta has an opening. He also did me in forgetting the land acknowledgement in the kerfuffle.
In the meantime, Poilievre has big plans for your pension, no, no, not the APP, your Canada Pension. Drill, bébé, drill. Whoops, pardon my French. Not in Alberta! Wonder what Bonnyville has to say. Or were they planning on bilingual separation? So many questions.
In her letter to Carney, Smith writes ‘Active provincial engagement would help ensure that these appointments appropriately reflect Alberta’s distinct legal traditions.’ Let’s see – like an Alberta judge repeatedly asking a young woman why she didn’t do more to prevent a sexual assault? ‘Why couldn’t you just keep your knees together?’ The judge then aquitted the man accused in the case. The judge was later forced to resign after the Canadian Judicial Council found that he had relied on discredited myths, stereotypes about women and victim blaming during the trial. The judge also repeatedly referred to the young woman as ‘the accused.’ Is that the sort of distinct legal traditions Smith and the UCP want to protect?
It begs the question of how much more of this Dictator Danni junk is Carney going to put up with? Certainly us Albertans have already had enough of this garbage.
I have been wondering if others are feeling the resentment towards rural Albertans that I am feeling. I have always believed that rural Albertans are not stupid despite their persistent trust and belief in Conservatives and the UCP. I respected their choices, crediting them with being good judges of their own situations. But with all of Smith’s mind-boggling and clearly destructive actions that have not diminished her support in rural Alberta, along with rural Albertans’ support for separation, I can no longer exercise that tolerance and respect. My mistrust and bitterness at their choices is solidifying daily, leading to the generational divisions you predict, David. Unlike Smith, I WILL demonize Albertans who support separatism and hold it against them. As anti-vaxers and the Clownvoyers have demonstrated, such grievances are long lasting and will influence Alberta society for decades to come. Don’t bother reminding me that I am being small and petty and unreasonable. I know and I do not give a damn!
@LAS
You’re not alone in your resentment. Canadians, in general, like Americans, have no idea how privileged we are–and separatist Albertans have zero notion how bad their case of affluenza really is.
By virtue of their birthplace, nobody is dropping bombs on their heads, there’s no famine, no stasi-like entity is busting down their doors in the dark to drag them off, never to be seen again.
What problems Albertans and Canadians do have–at present are fixable if the will is there to stop whinging and start fighting. That’s a privilege few in the world possess. All countries have problems and no system is completely fair so there’s room for complaint. But few countries have systems where, with enough grassroots commitment and organisation some of those complaints can be fixed.
If they continue down this road to separatism the problems won’t be fixable, especially if they join that oligarchical sh*tshow, south of us.
We can all see it and it’s frustrating when they can’t. It’s like watching your teenage cousin get in the car with the local pimp while you’re screaming at her to escape but he’s convinced her that she’s off to Hollywood to become a movie star.
@ LAS
You’re not alone. Born & raised small town from a family of truckers on one side & a great grandfather & grandfather, both military veterans on the other. 5 generations of Albertans in my family and some nameless, faceless individual in a jacked up truck with their wilting ‘F Trudeau’ stickers is yelling ‘you don’t belong here!’. If after more than 100 years in this province, losing it all in the 2008 oil bust (along with hundreds of other Alberta O&G & trucking companies), doing rodeo across the province, being born smack dab in the middle of the Hoo-Doo’s, the pump jacks & the wheat fields doesn’t make me ‘Albertan enough’ to live here, my children being born in the same small town hospital I was, delivered by the same small town doctor I was, doesn’t make us ‘Albertan enough’ to live here, I don’t know what is. And yet these individuals are becoming more & more hateful, more difficult to live amongst. I can’t live in a city but I will also not allow some All Hat, No Cattle individuals to chase myself or my family away from our home.
Like you, I am done being nice. The name calling hurled at me doesn’t hurt my feeling, I’ve been called much worse by better people, however that doesn’t stop me from asking them the hard questions: how will you buy out the hospitals, military bases, govt buildings, etc from the Feds? The Feds will just hand them over, naturally. What currency will you use? Passports? Canadian, of course, until everyone gets dual citizenship. When pointed out that ‘it doesn’t really work that way’, you’re met with ‘then move, when we win we’re getting rid of you anyway!’.
It’s this ideological world where their ‘real Albertan’ voice is the only one that matters, my ‘not a real Albertan’ voice doesn’t matter, and (in their mind) they’re lining up to vote my behind off this (landlocked) ‘island’. I may be small but I am strong, I will fight for my home whatever that may mean, my children & my grand grandchildren will continue to be Canadian first, Albertan second. They will continue to respect the land they grew up on while my children & I stand to help ensure that their birthright as Albertans, as Canadians, isn’t taken from them.
Judging by Carney’s reactions towards Danielle Smith so far, your hope that he will react with the constitution in mind, is really a big HOPE.
So far she has done everything she wants and according to the latest polls, 50% is behind her. So much for common sense in this province of rednecks.
We are in for some very tumultuous times and economic failure.
Preaching to the faithful means that,
“Conservative values are facts and truth and common sense” See:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME6abrZfzP0
At about the 5:14 time stamp, see also starting at about the 15:00 minute time stamp for the assessment of where the ideological bus is headed.
And then we have:
The separatist floor crossing [Remember when: “Danielle Smith is defending her decision to cross the floor to Alberta’s Progressive Conservatives, calling it a “victory” for the Wildrose Party, …”. “To me, it’s declaring victory and uniting conservatives under the leadership of one person so that we can deal with some very significant challenges ahead.” We all know who the one person is.]
Premier hanging out with her separatist friends, supporters, and core cult followers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjrrLLobSUE
At about the 26:00 minute time stamp talking about how the Liberal destructive policies have affected Alberta, “It’s been brutal” . . .
When in fact just the opposite has been the case, which; also somehow conflicts with the Conservative values of facts and truth. See for example:
https://markhamhislop.substack.com/p/alberta-does-not-have-grievances
https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2025/05/15/Busting-Myth-Ottawa-Hurt-Alberta-Oil-Industry/
https://theconversation.com/alberta-has-long-accused-ottawa-of-trying-to-destroy-its-oil-industry-heres-why-thats-a-dangerous-myth-255908
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/bakx-s-p-oilsands-alberta-record-2025-1.7569272
In any case,
“Lying is generally considered a fundamental breach of trust. It violates the implicit agreement of honesty that underpins healthy relationships . . . When a person lies, they often reshape the listener’s reality for their own motives, which causes the injured party to feel betrayed, insecure, and to question the validity of the entire relationship.”
But then again, as multiple psychological studies have already confirmed:
“When deeply held beliefs are disconfirmed, the resulting mental anguish forces followers to justify their investment by doubling down rather than abandoning their faith.”
I can see this disastrous budget followed immediately with legislation to declare Alberta independent. When every mess is your fault, blame Ottawa. The crazy part is that there are people signing these FreeDUMB petitions who actually believe that an independent Alberta will never demand taxes and all services will be provided free of charge. There are people I’ve encountered in life who actually believe such things. They are invariably called insane, drunks, or idiots. There was a time when Presto Manning actually had people believing that the “West Wants In”, while not being sure what that meant. My usual response to such idiocy was Albertans are the laziest people in the world; they live in a fantasy world spun by populist politicians, evangelical pastors, and slanted right-wing American media. Of course, these are the same armchair geniuses who are convinced they have the secret that the Oilers need to win the Stanley Cup. Most likely that solution involves moving the team to somewhere in Florida. Tallahassee Oilers or Gators, anyone?
If Smith can’t manage the province on the amount of money they take in perhaps it is time to do what other provinces do: IMPLEMENT A SALES TAX. O.K. now get over the faint. I’d suggest Alberta has enough money to keep the lights on and provide services other provinces do, i.e. health care, education, etc. What Smith is doing is simply trying to cry poverty to reduce services to Albertans so she can bring the province more into line with American states and their lack of services.
Smith could stop paying all that money for storage of those meds she bought from Turkey which they can’t use. Perhaps an audit by an independent group could check to see where all the money is going. who is getting government contracts and are they in line with getting value for money spent. With the amount of money Alberta takes in, if they can’t manage its time for Smith and co.to resign.
Smith wants to have input on judges. Over my dead body. She just wants a bunch of her crazies on the bench and then they can work their way up to the Supreme Court come the day the Conservatives should ever form the federal government. Harper tried that with a Judge who wasn’t qualified to represent Quebec. No, no province should have input on who the federal government appoints as Judges. Judges in Canada can have impacts on other legal matters in Canada and I living in B.C. do not want any right wing axxhxxe from Alberta having anything to say about how we live in B.C. or any other province in Canada. As I recall Alberta has some weird thing about vaccinations and the highest rate of measles in the country. Albertans also seem a little more gun happy than other parts of Canada. I’d suggest Smith’s talk about separation is just an attempt to force her ideas on
ot he rest of the country. No thanks. Alberta is not Quebec. Alberta politicians simply aren’t as good at their jobs as those in Quebec.
I’m not normally a grammar pedant, but if ever a phrase called for the subjunctive mood, which indicates an air of unreality, this would be it: “If Premier Danielle Smith’s government were making responsible decisions…” It’s not like the prospect of this government actually making “responsible decisions” is ever going to happen.
As to the judges issue, her hypocritical is so blatant that she can’t even adherence to the philosophy she herself claims to espouse. She is on record as saying she wants Ottawa to respect the province’s jurisdiction, and Alberta will respect Ottawa’s.
Well, appointing justices of superior courts, such as King’s Bench and the Court of Appeal, is exclusively federal jurisdiction, and so, by her own logic, none of her business. Period.
Jerry: Arguably the subjunctive mood is obsolete, as it were. DJC
So, the Premier has openly suggested that her government should have a say on the selection on independent and non-partisan judges from the Premier. And two days ago, the Alberta Justice Minister denied funding to the non-partisan Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre that has provided human rights and civil rights education and awareness for Albertans for many years. With a now defunct Alberta Law Foundation board, I fear for the funding of other legal agencies that help Albertans navigate the law and judicial systems.
I would like to thank the UCP government to allow me as a senior TO PAY for my own eye exams. This used to be free. This new rule came into effect on a Friday when
nobody was around to check. Thank you again about Oil prices being cyclical. I first
heard about this back in the 1970’s under Ralph Klein. Did he not blow up some hospitals in Calgary?
An afterthought: no (small 0r large) nuclear reactor for Sylvestre or Bonnyville! We already have Putin to deal with.
As per e.a.f.
SALES TAX.
Every other province can handle it why not Alberta?
Royalty revenues can then roll into the Heritage Fund as Peter Lougheed intended.
Keep the government of the days’ paws out of the cookie jar.
Works for me.