Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[AltaGuy]

If I were the Alberta NDP, I would be pumping out non-stop ads featuring Tamara Lich being fêted in the Alberta Legislature. Wanna be the honker province of Canada?

Hmm... Forgot Barnes was ousted.

[Ozy_Flame]

Well to be fair, it wasn't the UCP that invited her in (at least not publicly). Drew Barnes sits as an independent. However, some UCP MLA's applauded her gracing the Legislature.

That said, Danielle Smith represents an adjacent riding to Barnes, which is where Smith's multi-generational and ancestral roots are that go back to pioneer times. She has a long connection to the area and everyone knows Smith is the natural rep in the Leg for Brooks-Medicine Hat! So representation by Tamara Lich from other MLA's in her neck of the woods is a natural extension of her regional background.

To note: I think people like her will get more outspoken support directly from voices inside the UCP once the election is over. They're probably trying to distance themselves to woo moderate votes.

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

What a ####ing embarrassment. They do know she was arrested and is awaiting a court hearing for her illegal actions, right? Are we a country of laws, or do we just honour any podunk ####face who shares the views of our incompetent brainless dope of a premier who ignores actual experts? Nothing like celebrating stupidity. Well done, UCP. Well done, again. May as well make Theo the LtG while you are at it, you morons.

You do know Drew Barnes was kicked out of caucus by the UCP right? And sits as an independent.

[Street Pharmacist]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1630953925510860800

https://twitter.com/user/status/1630955272452853766

https://twitter.com/user/status/1630684355139084288

It seems both Alberta and BC think some money is coming...

[Monahammer]

Trevor Tombe always giving great, unbiased takes. That reversal of spending is actually pretty crazy to behold. Don't believe anyone who tells you they're voting UCP because they're "fiscally conservative" and socially agnostic.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Well to be fair, it wasn't the UCP that invited her in (at least not publicly). Drew Barnes sits as an independent. However, some UCP MLA's applauded her gracing the Legislature.

That said, Danielle Smith represents an adjacent riding to Barnes, which is where Smith's multi-generational and ancestral roots are that go back to pioneer times. She has a long connection to the area and everyone knows Smith is the natural rep in the Leg for Brooks-Medicine Hat! So representation by Tamara Lich from other MLA's in her neck of the woods is a natural extension of her regional background.

To note: I think people like her will get more outspoken support directly from voices inside the UCP once the election is over. They're probably trying to distance themselves to woo moderate votes.

Serious question, because I really don't know. Isn't that just what they do though? I think we went there in school years ago and the MLA for that riding introduces guests and everyone just applauds.

Originally Posted by Street Pharmacist

https://twitter.com/user/status/1630953925510860800

https://twitter.com/user/status/1630955272452853766

https://twitter.com/user/status/1630684355139084288

It seems both Alberta and BC think some money is coming...

It's interesting because I'm not hearing cries from the NDP to spend less...so while this is obviously an attempt to buy votes and the election, and probably reckless, it's not like the NDP would show some fiscal restraint?

[GGG]

If you take the last NDP budget in 2018 56 billion, apply inflation 1.19, and pop growth 1.07 you get 71.3 Billion. However since half the expenses are wages and wages haven’t gone up at the rate of inflation the actual affect should be less.

So it’s reasonable to suggest that the NDP would have spent about as much as the UCP. But this clearly shows the UCP aren’t the party of fiscal restraint. And the NDP would have had greater revenue sources in corporate taxation and carbon taxes.

The UCP have not made any progress on reducing our dependence on fossil fuel revenues.

[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by GGG

If you take the last NDP budget in 2018 56 billion, apply inflation 1.19, and pop growth 1.07 you get 71.3 Billion. However since half the expenses are wages and wages haven’t gone up at the rate of inflation the actual affect should be less.

So it’s reasonable to suggest that the NDP would have spent about as much as the UCP. But this clearly shows the UCP aren’t the party of fiscal restraint. And the NDP would have had greater revenue sources in corporate taxation and carbon taxes.

The UCP have not made any progress on reducing our dependence on fossil fuel revenues.

I think Trevor has effectively shown that, at least for this year and next year, they have actually made us more dependent on fossil fuel revenues.

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by GGG

If you take the last NDP budget in 2018 56 billion, apply inflation 1.19, and pop growth 1.07 you get 71.3 Billion. However since half the expenses are wages and wages haven’t gone up at the rate of inflation the actual affect should be less.

So it’s reasonable to suggest that the NDP would have spent about as much as the UCP. But this clearly shows the UCP aren’t the party of fiscal restraint. And the NDP would have had greater revenue sources in corporate taxation and carbon taxes.

The UCP have not made any progress on reducing our dependence on fossil fuel revenues.

Well put. The NDP won't be a party of austerity. It is difficult for any party to be that in the face of inflation.

That said, if AB is going to have a massive budget I would prefer it is focused on strengthening public health care, and public education rather than syphoning off funds to enter litigious battles with the Federal Government.

That said, The

[Superflyer]

Found this article which points out a weird coincidence.
Oil patch funds balloon for pro-Danielle Smith political group after her support for royalty break

Oil patch support for Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s agenda ballooned after she won her party’s leadership and put the so-called RStar program – a plan to give tax breaks to energy companies for fulfilling cleanup work they are already obliged to do – high on the government agenda.

Elections Alberta records and an analysis by The Canadian Press suggest donations to the Alberta First Initiative, a pro-Smith advocacy group, increased eightfold from companies associated with the energy industry after Smith became premier. While the Initiative says it does not support RStar, its founder previously worked with a group that promoted it.

The Initiative also appears to have participated in Smith’s successful campaign to win the United Conservative Party leadership, which she sought after leaving Alberta Enterprise Group, a business group that lobbied in favour of RStar. The Initiative is now funding attack ads against the New Democrat Opposition and supporting Smith as the province gears up for a spring election.

Elections Alberta public reports show the Initiative received donations of $37,500 in the third quarter of 2022, which would have arrived during Smith’s UCP leadership campaign. An analysis by The Canadian Press using public websites as well as corporate records searched by the NDP suggest about two-thirds of that came from energy sector firms or firms providing services to them.
.....
Compared to the $37,500 the Initiative received in July through September of last year, Elections Alberta records show the group picked up $330,000 in the last three months of 2022. Of that, $200,000 was from energy companiesor those providing services to them.

Maximum allowable donations to third-party groups such as the Initiative are almost seven times higher than limits for political parties or leadership contests. As well, corporations are allowed to donate.

Nearly one-third of the Initiative’s donations were for the $30,000 maximum. No donation was smaller than $5,000.

Smith’s office did not answer a request for comment.

[Torture]

Scrolling through the budget and I had to laugh at how these are on the same line item..

https://twitter.com/user/status/1631009652120129536

[Looch City]

Holy #### the war room is still something we're funding?

[darockwilder]

I guess it's like the war on drugs.

[Fuzz]

Low Carbon Economy Leadership Fund Projects / Rstar donations
Regulatory and Operations / Covid AstroTurf panel
Coal Workforce Transition / Funding for legal cat fights with Ottawa
Climate Resilience Projects / OHV Funding

This is fun!

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by Looch City

Holy #### the war room is still something we're funding?

The ####ty part about that line item is they don't even want to admit how much they're going to spend on it. Is it all debt reduction? Is it all War Room? Column A and Column B?

Just trying to bury/obscure the cost of that disastrous abomination that is embarrassing every single Albertan whenever it's brought up. Even they're embarrassed by it.

Media should attack this line item relentlessly.

[Torture]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

The ####ty part about that line item is they don't even want to admit how much they're going to spend on it. Is it all debt reduction? Is it all War Room? Column A and Column B?

Just trying to bury/obscure the cost of that disastrous abomination that is embarrassing every single Albertan whenever it's brought up. Even they're embarrassed by it.

Media should attack this line item relentlessly.

Exactly. Is the funding for the war room up? Down? We'll never know. Could be anywhere between $0 and $210M.

[Sliver]

Haha, the ####ing war room? Yeah, I thought we quietly let that one fade away and it seemed like such a fitting end.

[Torture]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Haha, the ####ing war room? Yeah, I thought we quietly let that one fade away and it seemed like such a fitting end.

Nah, they're still around and funded. They just stopped talking about it while hoping we would think that.

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by Torture

Nah, they're still around and funded. They just stopped talking about it while hoping we would think that.

It's also set up as a corporation so they don't have disclose anything about it (Kenney, Shandro, and Savage were the original directors too). Not funding, not where the money is going, nor what the ROI is. It's a black hole of cash. And the fact that it's still a thing in 2023, is apparently in the hundreds of millions in spending, and all you ever see is a ridiculously bias and cherry-picked stats from their clown show Twitter account is an absolute travesty.

[Ozy_Flame]

The hits just keep on coming

https://twitter.com/user/status/1631015030065106946