Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

I bet the UCP will blame the docs. And then replace them with homeopaths.

Seriously though, if you're a doctor and didn't have to live in Alberta, what is your incentive to stick around? There are plenty of other jurisdictions where you can get paid the same or more, and not have a government that is openly hostile to healthcare, expertise, and science.

Pfft...good riddance to those Doctors! We've got WebMD!

Also a good chunk of High River apparently appears to have Cancer...thats odd...

[Canadianman]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

This might be a turning point for the moron rural lemmings to turn on the Wildrose. When they have to drive 100kms to see a doctor... lol

Danielle is already prepping for this. She's starting talking about removing hospitals from AHS if they can't provide services.



Unfortunately, she omits the part where the services provided are funded by the government, which has been gutting AHS' budget for years now, not to mention that the reason why it's hard to get doctors to join up is that THE UCP RIPPED THEIR CONTRACT UP AND REFUSES TO NEGOTIATE A NEW ONE.

[PaperBagger'14]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

It's right there in the name. HIGH river.




/try the veal

And it’s proximity to Coke-otoks

[fotze2]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

I bet the UCP will blame the docs. And then replace them with homeopaths.

Seriously though, if you're a doctor and didn't have to live in Alberta, what is your incentive to stick around? There are plenty of other jurisdictions where you can get paid the same or more, and not have a government that is openly hostile to healthcare, expertise, and science.

Homeopath sounds a little too gay for the UCP? We have too many homopaths reading to our kids already!!

the -eo just adds whimsy.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Originally Posted by Locke

Pfft...good riddance to those Doctors! We've got WebMD!

Also a good chunk of High River apparently appears to have Cancer...thats odd...

Easy-peasy... ban the windmills that cause all that cancer!

[fotze2]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

Easy-peasy... ban the windmills that cause all that cancer!

Its the jab, get your conspiracies right FFS!

What do muslims wear? A hiJAB. Seems a pretty odd coincidence!

[D as in David]

Originally Posted by Locke

Pfft...good riddance to those Doctors! We've got WebMD!

Also a good chunk of High River apparently appears to have Cancer...thats odd...

And naturopaths! And homeopaths and those other (unnamed) professions that treat cancer!

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Stang

I bet the UCP will blame the docs. And then replace them with homeopaths.

Seriously though, if you're a doctor and didn't have to live in Alberta, what is your incentive to stick around? There are plenty of other jurisdictions where you can get paid the same or more, and not have a government that is openly hostile to healthcare, expertise, and science.

The same as everyone else, low taxes for higher income earners, mountain and recreational opportunities, low housing cost relative to your other options, and probably most importantly inertia.

[looooob]

Originally Posted by GGG

The same as everyone else, low taxes for higher income earners, mountain and recreational opportunities, low housing cost relative to your other options, and probably most importantly inertia.

I think inertia and proximity to family are 2 of the biggest (at least for some), but inertia can be tested eventually

[BlackArcher101]

Do you need inertia when you are maxed out immediately?

[Locke]

Originally Posted by D as in David

And naturopaths! And homeopaths and those other (unnamed) professions that treat cancer!

If the Internet cant sort this out, what hope do Doctors have?

"Whats that now?

Suck in jet-engine exhaust while perusing the internet on 5G? You're sure this will cure my almost absolutely for-sure cancer?

Okay...if you say so WebMD...man...a regular physician would never prescribe this!"

[D as in David]

Originally Posted by Locke

If the Internet cant sort this out, what hope do Doctors have?

"Whats that now?

Suck in jet-engine exhaust while perusing the internet on 5G? You're sure this will cure my almost absolutely for-sure cancer?

Okay...if you say so WebMD...man...a regular physician would never prescribe this!"

I'll tell my son who is applying for med school this year to shelve those plans and sharpen his internetting skills instead.

[FlameOn]

Surprise surprise, looks like UCP is going to propose their own version of the Green Line and submit it for city approval "when it is designed".

Looking at UCP statements and how they want to kill the downtown tunnel and northern route, they basically just want an express line from SE to the new arena. This makes total sense if you look at the last election map and the SE NIMBY types that voted UCP, while punishing the north central/rest of Calgarians. It's also another handout to CSE.

UCP will be expecting both city and federal funding and approval for their project. Feds look to be equally blindsided as the city was and I hope they and city can somehow cut out the UCP altogether and bridge the funding gap for the original project. Bill 18 should also hopefully not apply since there was already a prior agreement already in place.
https://calgaryherald.com/news/gover...-line-who-pays

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

Surprise surprise, looks like UCP is going to propose their own version of the Green Line and submit it for city approval "when it is designed".

I’ve worked in local government and that’s none of the province’s business. That doesn’t mean they won’t try to make their business but I hope Calgary council tells them to pound sand.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

I’ve worked in local government and that’s none of the province’s business. That doesn’t mean they won’t try to make their business but I hope Calgary council tells them to pound sand.

After the way they all bent over in lockstep unison for the arena, I highly doubt that

[accord1999]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

Looking at UCP statements and how they want to kill the downtown tunnel and northern route, they basically just want an express line from SE to the new arena. This makes total sense if you look at the last election map and the SE NIMBY types that voted UCP, while punishing the north central/rest of Calgarians. It's also another handout to CSE.

Have you actually taken a look of the maps of the various revisions of Green Line Stage 1? The North Central LRT was effectively killed back in 2017 when the Green Line was cut from 40 km to 20 km. Since then, the Green Line team has done 0 work on planning or land acquisition in the NC, and refused to recommend what Stage 2 would be as they have always been consistently biased towards to SE. The only reason the NC LRT was put into the Green Line was so they can use existing high transit ridership there to justify trains for the SE.

If you live in the NC and want LRT, the UCP offers a better option. If the Green Line had its way, it will spend every last dollar of the next 30-50 years of transit funding in the DT core and going to Seton, $8B or more. The UCP wants to spend less than $6B for the same thing.

Feds look to be equally blindsided as the city was and I hope they and city can somehow cut out the UCP altogether and bridge the funding gap for the original project.

They won't, they didn't do it for Ottawa's Confederation Line or the recent Surrey-Langley Skytrain when they had over-run

[accord1999]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

I’ve worked in local government and that’s none of the province’s business. That doesn’t mean they won’t try to make their business but I hope Calgary council tells them to pound sand.

The Province can take over rail transit planning, construction and even operations from Calgary and Edmonton. Like in Ontario and BC.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

I’ve worked in local government and that’s none of the province’s business. That doesn’t mean they won’t try to make their business but I hope Calgary council tells them to pound sand.

Provincial delivery of megaprojects would actually make a lot more sense (if we didn't keep electing deplorable idiots of course). In most other big cities this is a natural and obvious structure, as big transit projects often involve multiple municipalities.

Calgary is particularly unique as a uni-city. Edmonton is essentially contiguous with St Albert and Sherwood Park, and Leduc/Fort Sask are both closer than any of Calgary's bedroom communities (probably on par with Chestermere).

But any big project in Tor/Mtl/Van/Ott is quite likely to involve additional jurisdictions.


Calgary also fell flat on its face on this one long before the UCP started ####ing around. They loved to boast about how this was the biggest infrastructure project in the city's history, but they thought they could achieve it in the same manner as previous LRT extensions (even the Blue Line West is just a really big extension). The city failed to appreciate this in their resourcing, prioritization, and general decision-making.

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by accord1999

The only reason the NC LRT was put into the Green Line was so they can use existing high transit ridership there to justify trains for the SE.

I think there were still the pragmatists with enough influence trying to ensure the 16th through downtown portion getting done first because anything less would represent a huge obstacle for any expansion. For the NC supporters, being able to sell 16th to McKnight as a section, and McKnight to North Pointe as another had a much more palatable timeline than what we would have been facing now: focus on the SE then needing to pay for the Eau Claire to 16th Ave portion before getting anywhere meaningful on the NC line.



As soon as going north of the river wasn't part of the plan anymore, the focus should have been on everything south of the CPR tracks. I'd wager that getting from Shepherd to 4th Street would provide better ridership than Eau Claire to Lynwood, and not require a huge investment beyond to get to Seton and connect with that employment centre. Is that a $6.5B leg? I'm not sure, but I'd be confident it would be a better bang for the buck for ridership even if it didn't get all the way downtown.

[Harry Lime]

I'm sorry about not doing enough of my own research. I assume that the city plan was to use some of the existing underground tunnels in the core, that were never put into service? At least as part of one of the stations?

The UCP putting in a sky train kind of feels like they don't know the area very well.