Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Meh, I actually make my own lip balm. If anybody wants a container I'll mail it to you. It's the best there is. I'll only send out three, though. Not interested in supplying the entire forum with supple lips.

Is this a precursor to you posting a video of you making it with random stuff you found in the trash?

Yeah, being the impressionable, naive younger sibling of a jerk can make you paranoid about what is in things.

[malcolmk14]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Meh, I actually make my own lip balm. If anybody wants a container I'll mail it to you. It's the best there is. I'll only send out three, though. Not interested in supplying the entire forum with supple lips.

Hahaha I am weirdly interested in this.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Jim Prentice was admirably honest when he told Albertans to look in the mirror.

I love that this revisionist history is now a continuous conservative talking point. Time really does heal all wounds!

[#-3]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Jim Prentice was admirably honest when he told Albertans to look in the mirror. The fact it was political suicide was not lost on other Canadian politicians.

Edit: I see Regorium made the same comment.

Originally Posted by Mazrim

I love that this revisionist history is now a continuous conservative talking point. Time really does heal all wounds!

One thing about Prentice, is he did legitimately try to govern as a conservative. It's just that it made him incredibly unpopular incredibly quickly. Probably the only premier this century more conservative than Notely.

[Nufy]

Originally Posted by cral12

fwiw, her medical degree is from the Caribbean...

I'm a big fan of the University of American Samoa...

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by #-3

One thing about Prentice, is he did legitimately try to govern as a conservative. It's just that it made him incredibly unpopular incredibly quickly. Probably the only premier this century more conservative than Notely.

Sure, I agree with that completely. That being said, it can be easy to forget the kind of headlines that were floating around in the years leading up to the "look in the mirror" comment that created the negative reaction. We weren't far removed from Redford's sky palace and other government excess (people still had fresh memories of Ralph bucks in their heads), the Heritage Fund had been misused, and the government was still spending without a care. It felt pretty weird to be told it was "our" fault that the government in power for decades couldn't responsibly budget for the present and the future.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

I love that this revisionist history is now a continuous conservative talking point. Time really does heal all wounds!

What’s revisionist about it?

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Mazrim

Sure, I agree with that completely. That being said, it can be easy to forget the kind of headlines that were floating around in the years leading up to the "look in the mirror" comment that created the negative reaction. We weren't far removed from Redford's sky palace and other government excess (people still had fresh memories of Ralph bucks in their heads), the Heritage Fund had been misused, and the government was still spending without a care. It felt pretty weird to be told it was "our" fault that the government in power for decades couldn't responsibly budget for the present and the future.

Prentice was running against previous PC regimes - that’s what Alberta PC leaders did back when no other party had a realistic chance to unseat the PCs in this province. And Redford was extremely unpopular with Alberta conservatives - she was basically a centrist red Tory.

The ‘look in the mirror’ comment was regarding the province’s finances going from surpluses to huge deficits because we relied on energy royalties to fund operational expenses. Albertans expected education and health care funded at the highest levels in Canada, while paying the lowest taxes in the country. Redford won the PC leadership on a pledge to embark on a massive school-building program. Tax increases were anathema to voters.

Responsible budgeting would have meant cutting or holding the line on rising education and health care spending, while increasing taxes to make up for declining energy royalties. Do you honestly think any political party would have won an election on that platform?

[Cappy]

Originally Posted by opendoor

Well that's the problem. Conservative parties will implement tax cuts that often provide little benefit and not really consider how to pay for them long term, while the Liberals/NDP will happily increase benefits (often for people who don't really need them), again without really considering the long-term cost. And both of those things are far, far harder to reverse than they are to enact.

So what will likely happen is we'll needlessly let it get to crisis territory, at which point the public will be more accepting of dramatic changes. Unfortunately, one side of the political spectrum's idea of dramatic changes seems to involve making the system even less efficient through introducing more privatization and profit motives.

That's why I think more hidden changes like payroll taxes and changes to OAS clawbacks for people who don't need the money would be more palatable in the short term than an increase in income taxes.

Or you can subscribe to Reaganomics and the idea of playing two Santa clauses.

https://www.salon.com/2018/02/12/tho...years_partner/

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Is this a precursor to you posting a video of you making it with random stuff you found in the trash?

Yeah, being the impressionable, naive younger sibling of a jerk can make you paranoid about what is in things.

Fair question, but no, I'm weirdly persnickety about how I make it. I wear rubber gloves, a mask and sanitize all my utensils. I dispense the product using a brand new and sanitized syringe into brand new balm containers. If you have chapped lips, it's the cat's meow.

Originally Posted by malcolmk14

Hahaha I am weirdly interested in this.

Malcolm, I would 100% understand if you didn't want to give your address to an internet rando, but if you want some it's all yours. But then there you are with a strange product you're putting on your face that fricken Sliver made. Weird for sure.

[Mazrim]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Albertans expected education and health care funded at the highest levels in Canada, while paying the lowest taxes in the country.

That'll happen when you have people like Klein spoon-feeding the public the idea that the gravy train just keeps on coming so we can keep doing amazing things no matter the cost. If only there was a government apparatus in place to predict what would happen if resource revenues fell short...the funny thing is you make it sound like no one could have seen it coming.

“In terms of who is responsible, we all need only look in the mirror, right. Basically all of us have had the best of everything and have not had to pay for what it costs,” he added.

[belsarius]

Originally Posted by Cappy

Or you can subscribe to Reaganomics and the idea of playing two Santa clauses.

https://www.salon.com/2018/02/12/tho...years_partner/

This is a great read. More than any political party, its neoliberalism that I truly can't stand.

[flamesfever]

Originally Posted by para transit fellow

So you are suggesting that although costs are rising faster than increases to the Alberta health fee schedule for physicians...

... it is the fault of physicians who have failed to invest their dwindling net profits...

with the ultimate purpose of maintaining their practice operation in the face of rising expenses during an Era of a freeze on any possible increases to the payment schedules?

Because that is how interpret your post

To help clarify my post, I was expanding on that part of the thread dealing with doctors not being good at investing. My words were more about investing in general. I believe there is a significant difference in net earning power between the GPs and the specialists in things like surgery, oncology, psychiatry, etc. and what I said applied more to the latter group.

[malcolmk14]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Fair question, but no, I'm weirdly persnickety about how I make it. I wear rubber gloves, a mask and sanitize all my utensils. I dispense the product using a brand new and sanitized syringe into brand new balm containers. If you have chapped lips, it's the cat's meow.

Malcolm, I would 100% understand if you didn't want to give your address to an internet rando, but if you want some it's all yours. But then there you are with a strange product you're putting on your face that fricken Sliver made. Weird for sure.

Screw it, pm’d!

[photon]

Make sure the label isn't "Lip Botulism Balm"

[fotze2]

Originally Posted by malcolmk14

Screw it, pm’d!

This is like a gay erotic novel.

Sliver - "I make my own lip balm. Oh its legit, rubber gloves and all. I dispense the product liberally."

Malcolm (seductively licking a lollipop) - "I'm strangely curious. PM Sent."

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Originally Posted by malcolmk14

Screw it, pm’d!

Originally Posted by Sliver

Meh, I actually make my own lip balm. If anybody wants a container I'll mail it to you. It's the best there is. I'll only send out three, though. Not interested in supplying the entire forum with supple lips.

Totally unrelated question, but Sliver, are you still selling that self-harvested ear wax?

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Fighting Banana Slug

Totally unrelated question, but Sliver, are you still selling that self-harvested ear wax?

Fuzz and I teamed up. It's an earwax and clay compound.

[stazzy33]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Fuzz and I teamed up. It's an earwax and clay compound.

"pickle juice"

[Street Pharmacist]

Just the utter stupidity and gaslighting is insane. I mean, how did it get to $0.32 Danielle? What kind of markup increased it I wonder?

https://medicinehatnews.com/news/loc...roblems-smith/

“I want it to start right away, because every aspect of our electricity system is having problems,” Smith told the News following the Medicine Hat Stampede president’s luncheon on Thursday.

She said net-zero grid targets from Ottawa are causing uncertainty for generators who might otherwise add supply. As well, transmission costs – paid by Albertans to grid operators to maintain the power grid, though Hatters are shielded – are growing too fast in her opinion, she said.

“The RRO is a complete failure,” said Smith. “You can’t look at 32-cents per kilowatt hour and think it’s working well. People think they’re protected and they’re not. It’s highly variable, and now it’s as high as its ever been. Figuring out some stability in those prices is the No. 1 job for (Utilities Minister) Nathan Neudorf.”