Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[Fuzz]

Go ahead and ignore the reality that electing people who will not build hospitals will result in a lack of hospitals. Electing people who can only fearmonger over taxes will result in not enough funds for services. Do I need to draw a picture here? The rest of Canada has the same problems, but they don't have as much fiscal capacity to fix it. In Alberta, we do, but we choose not to.

[puffnstuff]

But if we spend public money on public services what money will we give to private enterprise?

[curves2000]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Go ahead and ignore the reality that electing people who will not build hospitals will result in a lack of hospitals. Electing people who can only fearmonger over taxes will result in not enough funds for services. Do I need to draw a picture here? The rest of Canada has the same problems, but they don't have as much fiscal capacity to fix it. In Alberta, we do, but we choose not to.

Alberta is broke due mismanagement for decades. This isnt 2004 where we were pretty much debt free and untold billions were flowing in for investment in the oil sands. The sector isnt what it used to be, head offices are cutting back and relocating, wages arent as strong. The breakfast buffett aint what it is used to be and its apparent.

AB has the ability the raise a lot more revenue through a plethora of taxes but few AB business or AB individual looks their paycheck or balance and sheet and says they have big capacity to send even more money to any level of government. Or maybe we should, I dont know.

Albertans are cutting back on AB beef to cut costs, I dont know what the general appetite for big time tax increases is for a lot.

[Amethyst]

I don't want to pay more taxes as long as the UCP is in charge, because they will just use it for some stupid project to funnel it to their friends. I'd be happy to pay taxes if it was used to properly fund something like health or education. This idea that we just keep adding more people to Alberta but not increasing any infrastructure is stupid, but Danielle Smith doesn't care about running Alberta. If she had ideas that I didn't agree with, to make Alberta better, I could live with it. But her whole premiership is built on doing whatever she can to stay in power.

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by curves2000

Alberta is broke due mismanagement for decades. This isnt 2004 where we were pretty much debt free and untold billions were flowing in for investment in the oil sands. The sector isnt what it used to be, head offices are cutting back and relocating, wages arent as strong. The breakfast buffett aint what it is used to be and its apparent.

AB has the ability the raise a lot more revenue through a plethora of taxes but few AB business or AB individual looks their paycheck or balance and sheet and says they have big capacity to send even more money to any level of government. Or maybe we should, I dont know.

Albertans are cutting back on AB beef to cut costs, I dont know what the general appetite for big time tax increases is for a lot.

Thing is, you could get everything you need out of increasing taxes on big corporations and the richest tax brackets. Alberta really does not need to increase taxes on small businesses or the average joe.

When Kenney slashed the corporate tax rate it was said he cut about $4-5B out of the government revenue and then Smith slashed it again. It not only underfunds the government to do that but it makes the government revenue more and more reliant on royalties to stay afloat.

Smith driving away the $33B in renewable investments also really hurts Albertans. That is a lot of jobs that could have been created here to pay the people moving to Alberta or the people being laid off by the repeated large oil patch layoffs. Not to mention the fact that it would have gone a long way to insulate Alberta from being reliant on their own product.

[habernac]

It’ll be pretty sweet if the UCP gets their way with user pay healthcare. $20,000 per year for health insurance. Awesome.

[The Fonz]

Originally Posted by habernac

It’ll be pretty sweet if the UCP gets their way with user pay healthcare. $20,000 per year for health insurance. Awesome.

Can you expand? I’m not familiar with this

[#-3]

Originally Posted by The Fonz

Can you expand? I’m not familiar with this

I'm not sure if it was meant as hyperbole, but rather than saying every person will pay $20000/year, he might be thinking about our steady match towards an American style system, where to expect a basic standard of care in Alberta you need a $5000/year insurance plan, and teens of thousands will also be out of pocket hundreds of thousands per year in medical expenses, because freedumb.

[Fuzz]

If you don't have employer insurance and need more than Blue Cross can provide(~$1500/year), you already pay $4000-$6000/year for healthcare for a couple. And with that, you still have to fork out a bunch extra for prescriptions, and if you need any professional services they don't cover nearly as much as employer plans. And even if you have a work plan, it's often getting deducted from your pay cheque. People are paying for healthcare already.

[BigThief]

Originally Posted by The Fonz

Can you expand? I’m not familiar with this

You're not familiar with insurance?

[Harry Lime]

Danielle smiths recent interview with the CBC just sits badly in all the wrong ways. Concerning her treatment of teachers, and the general state of education, she either dodged questions, or answered in a very condescending way. Almost everything she said screamed that she lives in a bubble, and the minority voices are the only she listens to.

Very narcissistic in the way everything has to be her idea, or it's not a good idea.

[puffnstuff]

Narrators voice...she has never had a good idea

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Harry Lime

Danielle smiths recent interview with the CBC just sits badly in all the wrong ways. Concerning her treatment of teachers, and the general state of education, she either dodged questions, or answered in a very condescending way. Almost everything she said screamed that she lives in a bubble, and the minority voices are the only she listens to.

Very narcissistic in the way everything has to be her idea, or it's not a good idea.

If you think the CBC interview is a bad look, watch the Ezra Levant one. She's always far more direct and honest about her intentions when she's got a cheerleader interviewing her.

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by #-3

I'm not sure if it was meant as hyperbole, but rather than saying every person will pay $20000/year, he might be thinking about our steady match towards an American style system, where to expect a basic standard of care in Alberta you need a $5000/year insurance plan, and teens of thousands will also be out of pocket hundreds of thousands per year in medical expenses, because freedumb.

As crazy as the out of pocket expenses in the states are, their government spending on health care is even dumber.

The United States Government has the highest government spending on health care in the entire world by no small margin.

It just gets turned into corporate profit instead of citizen results

The path Alberta is on is simply the absolute "Worst Timeline"

[Bigtime]

Rebecca Schulz announces she is leaving her cabinet post and will step down as an MLA in May 2026;

https://bsky.app/profile/thebreakdow.../3mbcd57fcss2n

Spring Election brewing?

[GranteedEV]

Originally Posted by puffnstuff

Narrators voice...she has never had a good idea

she had some good propaganda ideas... unfortunately

[Izzle]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Rebecca Schulz announces she is leaving her cabinet post and will step down as an MLA in May 2026;

https://bsky.app/profile/thebreakdow.../3mbcd57fcss2n

Spring Election brewing?

Didn't she have a recall campaign against her. What happens in this case?

[#-3]

Originally Posted by Izzle

Didn't she have a recall campaign against her. What happens in this case?

Well she isn't stepping down until May, I'm assuming the recall collection period ends in Feb, and the Legislature could choose to act on the recall quickly if they wanted and if successful (which they wouldn't). So technically its possible she could be removed still a couple of months before her resignation.

But in reality this announcement takes the wind of the sails of recall signature collection, and the government would drag there heels on the recall process until May anyways. So effectively it's over with. (cynically maybe the speaker just holds onto her resignation letter without comment, and she withdraws it in February after the recall is dead, those types of games certainly aren't above Smith and Co.).

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Rebecca Schulz announces she is leaving her cabinet post and will step down as an MLA in May 2026;

https://bsky.app/profile/thebreakdow.../3mbcd57fcss2n

Spring Election brewing?

Very interesting. Back in the leadership race she tried to paint herself as more moderate and Smith as more radical... Is Schulz ejecting from the situation because she wants out of politics and has a golden parachute set up with a coal company???

Or is she thinking Albertans will forget how hard she embraced being a ####bag and doing Smith's bidding after losing the leadership race? Maybe try to join the more moderate Progressive Tory party? If so, I hope they reject her because she was a POS that signed the use of the notwithstanding clause - everyone who signed the NWC should be blacklisted from the PTP, IMO.

Originally Posted by Izzle

Didn't she have a recall campaign against her. What happens in this case?

Nothing really changes, the process would continue as normal. The only thing that would truly stop the recall is if she stepped down immediately or an election is called. However, this might slow down the volunteers who are gathering signatures and maybe that is what Schulz wants.

Having her recall fail would help her if she wants to try to switch teams and stay in politics. It would also help her public profile and professional career to not be on the list of politicians to actually be recalled and kicked out of government. This way she can pretend that she is leaving on her terms and not being run out of office or defeated in the next election.

It would be pretty delightful if they kept gathering signatures and successfully recalled her just before May.

[Reggie Dunlop]

She wouldn't resign her seat if she was crossing the floor. My guess she's got a lucrative lobbyist gig lined up (communications degree and background).

That, or maybe someone has dirt on her.