Alberta Politics Thread

[GaiJin]

This Government believes in strong repetitive propaganda to create their own truth. They are running with that if you say it enough times, it becomes the truth. Pending court date and they are running ads cementing their position, seem odds, unless you are #### sure you are going to win, I wonder who the judge is?
Usually when litigation is imminent, the standard MO is to clam up.
I can't remember hearing any other government ad in the past with the spread and frequency of their Climate Change ad . It's on every channel, its on radio, its on youtube, its on Facebook. My thoughts were if Government programs were so good, they would sell themselves.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Makarov

Not that it nesassarily excuses it but governments spending public money on partisan advertising is hardly new.

It's only a thing because it is yet another instance of Notley criticizing the PCs for doing something, saying she would not do it herself, and then turning around and making a complete hypocrite of herself.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

I also think there's a difference between using public money to promote government policies, and using it to try to engage in damage control over a government screw up. It's not just a policy I disagree with, they're trying to spin an error. I'm against both classes of expenditure, whether it's by the Federal CPC or anyone else, but the latter is just an order of magnitude more scummy.

[Makarov]

Ten times more scummy. That seems like a lot.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Oh FFS!

http://calgaryherald.com/news/politi...ntract-lawsuit

I know, a hundred grand isn't a ton. But it's just so grating that they'd do that. Time to get a Guy Fawkes mask and some daggers.

You think thats bad? I cant wait to see what they wind up paying their BC Lawyer, especially after they lose.

We're going to be on the hook for the $2B, the legal fees and the advertising. What a fiasco.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Makarov

Not that it nesassarily excuses it but governments spending public money on partisan advertising is hardly new. The federal conservatives were probably the worst offenders (to the tune of $750 million during their decade of power). I don't recall a lot of outrage about it on this forum at the time (well, maybe just from the liberal partisans like me!).

http://www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/ful...taxpayers-dime
http://m.huffpost.com/ca/entry/7223356

And Chretien literally handed out money for votes in Quebec.

[monkeyman]

Originally Posted by Makarov

Not that it nesassarily excuses it but governments spending public money on partisan advertising is hardly new. The federal conservatives were probably the worst offenders (to the tune of $750 million during their decade of power). I don't recall a lot of outrage about it on this forum at the time (well, maybe just from the liberal partisans like me!).

http://www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/ful...taxpayers-dime
http://m.huffpost.com/ca/entry/7223356

I'd argue the federal Liberals under Jean Chretien and Paul Martin were worse.

"Between 1998-99 and 2002-03, the federal government ran more than 2,200 advertising activities with contracts valued at about $793 million, making it one of the larger advertisers in the country."
source: Office of the Auditor General of Canada

[Makarov]

^ Fair enough. Just reinforces my point though really.

[Makarov]

Originally Posted by Locke

You think thats bad? I cant wait to see what they wind up paying their BC Lawyer, especially after they lose.

We're going to be on the hook for the $2B, the legal fees and the advertising. What a fiasco.

How are you so certain that the application will fail?

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Makarov

How are you so certain that the application will fail?

Its not so much a certainty as it is a matter of principle.

The NDP want Alberta businesses to shoulder the burden of their shortsighted policies rather than the Alberta Taxpayer.

Um...those businesses are largely comprised of Alberta taxpayers, many of whom, should this application be successful, will lose their jobs.

This whole thing is lose/lose/lose no matter which way you choose to split it.

Albertan taxpayers are going to be taking this one up the tailpipe no matter what, be it in the form of increased taxes, increased deficits or increased utility costs, or more likely all 3.

In short summation: This Carbon tax is sheer, unadulterated idiocy.

[GGG]

Or the Carbon Tax is working

- coal power is being made more expensive so that the cost of alternatives is competitive. Th only option was utility prices increasing by at least 30%

[Resolute 14]

Oh god. It is adorable that you think the purpose of the carbon sales tax was to make the price of alternatives competitive.

[V]

Originally Posted by Makarov

Not that it nesassarily excuses it but governments spending public money on partisan advertising is hardly new. The federal conservatives were probably the worst offenders (to the tune of $750 million during their decade of power). I don't recall a lot of outrage about it on this forum at the time (well, maybe just from the liberal partisans like me!).

Huh, I remember quite a bit of commentary on this, and not just the hyper left side either. They spent a boat load of "He's just not ready" money long before the election ever started and I remember that getting a lot of traction.

[CaptainCrunch]

Weren't those ads paid for by the Conservative party though and not the government?

The biggest advertising campaign that I remember from the Government was about the Canada Action Plan.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Oh god. It is adorable that you think the purpose of the carbon sales tax was to make the price of alternatives competitive.

The funny thing well not so funny is that this gaff is going to most effect the people that are already struggling to pay their bills, If it comes straight out of the utility bills, the most vulnerable are going to get gouged.

The Sun actually had a guest column by one of the Minsters in the NDP government, I think industries, where he repeated Hoffman's arguments and then tried to argue that the NDP was here to protect Alberta businesses, basically from the evil big corporations.

In other provincial news, the AEUPE tells Notley not to go to war with them. I think that they realized that for Notley to get any kind of voter faith back that she's going to have to go after her own union voter base and play hardball with the Unions.

http://www.calgarysun.com/2016/07/29...cial-employees

Guy Smith is the president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees. He has a warning for this NDP provincial government.
Don’t go to war with the union. In contract talks, don’t try to whip up the public against the workers.
“I think that would be a fatal error. It’s a dangerous game. We’ve been to war with governments in the past. We’re not beholden to anybody. If it’s necessary we’ll do the same again,” says Smith.
“It’s not just a matter of pissing off the front-line workers. It’s about pissing off AUPE which I don’t think is very wise for any government to d

I think that Guy Smith was one of the key note speakers at the recent NDP convention who wants to push for mandatory arbitration after I think two weeks, so that the union could in his words kick the crap out of companies and then not be locked out.

It looks like things are really falling apart for this government and its accelerating.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Oh god. It is adorable that you think the purpose of the carbon sales tax was to make the price of alternatives competitive.

Wow that is some fantastic passive aggressiveness there. It's real cute and adorable that you think the only purpose of the carbon tax was pure cash grab.

But in the power generation space the goal is to increase the cost of polluting sources while the government makes a killing on taxes. Power generation is the only area that this might make sense as the gap between coal and gas is small.

But it's so adorable how you choose to engage people here.

[Shazam]

Net result is that your utility bill will go up quite a bit. It takes years to open up a power plant of any sort even going balls to the walls construction. The accelerated decommissioning of the coal plants that provide a lot of Alberta's power does not have a corresponding build phase of any sort.

You decrease supply, what do you think will happen, regardless of the carbon tax?

[Locke]

Man, this feels like a PETA argument. We're not saving the planet, we're just killing ourselves.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Net result is that your utility bill will go up quite a bit. It takes years to open up a power plant of any sort even going balls to the walls construction. The accelerated decommissioning of the coal plants that provide a lot of Alberta's power does not have a corresponding build phase of any sort.

You decrease supply, what do you think will happen, regardless of the carbon tax?

Its kind of ridiculous that the NDP implements a plan that for one power company see's their costs increase from $15 million dollars a year to $150 million dollars a year, and they don't expect that they're not going to use a clause put into the PPA to protect companies from the government doing just that.

Just think if it hadn't been there, the utility costs to Albertan's would have still gone up significantly. In other words any which way the NDP because they had no plan except to gouge people this was going to blow up in their face.

And its great that they want to get rid of coal, but its clear that there's a massive gap in the timeline between getting rid of coal and building an alternative supply system. They basically expected the utilities to take it up the butt without complaint for several years, because its not like you can build alternative energy systems in a couple of months.

I know it sounds over the top when I call this government moronic and stupid and un qualified to govern, but I think that this whole situation is showing that this government is moronic and stupid and unqualified for government.

[OMG!WTF!]

It's weird they're trying so hard to make this their Gotterdamerung. And profit really is the heart of it. A pearl from Sarah Hoffman...

They made $10 billion in profits and they don't want to take two in losses

Yeah like how dare they try to make a profit every single year. Maybe Sarah would have everybody who collected big fat transalta dividends give back 20% of their earnings from the last sixteen years. That would really protect Albertans from Albertans. Or something like that.