Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[Fuzz]

Ya, but now they are in charge they realize the 25% tax they are collecting is pretty sweet. They probably also have some friend/lobbyist/store owners who made it happen.


Man, you guys aren't nearly cynical enough. It's not like they are doing it for us. If they were we wouldn't have the highest MJ taxes in Canada.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Red Slinger

This seems like one of the few decent things they've done so far:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmon...ents-1.7064117



Kinda odd seeing this from the political sphere that warned us about the dangers of reefer and that Trudeau's legalization policy would send Canada into chaos.

For sure it is because they want to sell at a UCP convention as another grifting angle.

[MoneyGuy]

Somewhat provincial government related.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1737631539373158657

[KelVarnsen]

Wtf is “The Democracy Fund”?

[Fuzz]

It's like "The Human Fund" but for slimy politicians.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Ya, but now they are in charge they realize the 25% tax they are collecting is pretty sweet. They probably also have some friend/lobbyist/store owners who made it happen.


Man, you guys aren't nearly cynical enough. It's not like they are doing it for us. If they were we wouldn't have the highest MJ taxes in Canada.

High taxes on drugs and alcohol more or less make sense.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Red Slinger

Kinda odd seeing this from the political sphere that warned us about the dangers of reefer and that Trudeau's legalization policy would send Canada into chaos.

Was that really a thing in Alberta? This province has always been pretty libertarian around these issues. We have less regulation around alcohol than the rest of Canada. And right since the first day pot was legalized, Alberta has opened far more retail locations per capita than Ontario.

Alberta is the Colorado of Canada. If pot legalization in Canada was on a province-by-province basis, I expect Alberta would have been the second province (after B.C.) to legalize.

[Red Slinger]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Was that really a thing in Alberta? This province has always been pretty libertarian around these issues. We have less regulation around alcohol than the rest of Canada. And right since the first day pot was legalized, Alberta has opened far more retail locations per capita than Ontario.

Alberta is the Colorado of Canada. If pot legalization in Canada was on a province-by-province basis, I expect Alberta would have been the second province (after B.C.) to legalize.

Alberta has historically been the most conservative province in Canada. Occasionally, we get a flare up of Libertarianism but after treatment with a soothing balm it goes away (for a while). Conservatives (and oddly some Libertarians) in Alberta were pretty quick to jump on the "sky is falling" narrative. My personal view is that many Christian folk were strongly opposed to cannabis legalization, although I don't understand why. Most practicing Christians tend to be conservative. Weren't you one of the people warning us of cats and dogs living together in the Legalize thread? Apologies if I mistook you for someone else.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Red Slinger

Weren't you one of the people warning us of cats and dogs living together in the Legalize thread? Apologies if I mistook you for someone else.

Nope. But I was skeptical that it would eliminate the black market in pot. And I’ve been proven right about that.

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Nope. But I was skeptical that it would eliminate the black market in pot. And I’ve been proven right about that.

Weed is the only thing that has become cheaper in the last 5 years.
From a consumer perspective things are better than ever.
I have a couple friends who make a living wage in the industry.

The only people who are losing out are investors who thought they would make black market prices.

The Black market ( gray market) will never go away, but I would argue that it is smaller than ever, and these minor adjustments surrounding red tape will help to that end.

[Charcot]

This is infuriating and perverse. From the Globe and Mail:

Alberta directed removal of COVID, flu references in fall vaccine campaign, documents show

"The Alberta government directed the provincial health authority to remove the words “influenza” and “COVID” from advertisements for the province’s fall immunization campaign, and to wait before communicating with the public, as officials worked to launch the annual program amid warnings that cases of respiratory illnesses were rising, internal government documents show."

They also removed information about vaccine benefits. We wonder why the fall vaccine rate was only 22%.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Originally Posted by Charcot

This is infuriating and perverse. From the Globe and Mail:

Alberta directed removal of COVID, flu references in fall vaccine campaign, documents show

"The Alberta government directed the provincial health authority to remove the words “influenza” and “COVID” from advertisements for the province’s fall immunization campaign, and to wait before communicating with the public, as officials worked to launch the annual program amid warnings that cases of respiratory illnesses were rising, internal government documents show."

They also removed information about vaccine benefits. We wonder why the fall vaccine rate was only 22%.

That's seriously messed up.

[TheIronMaiden]

UCP be like.

Micro Plastics in our blood, no problem.
Vaccines, no thanks.

[Fuzz]

This is not at all surprising, and shouldn't be to anyone who paid an ounce of attention to Smith before voting for her. So really, all Smith voters voted for this, and should be very happy. These people, it should be said, are also remarkably stupid. has anyone mentioned Idiocracy yet...? That would actually be a great term for this new form of Democracy we find ourselves in. An Idiocracy. Morons ruled by idiots.

New plan. Bring back health care premiums, but you only have to pay if you don't get your recommended vaccines. And you have to buy a HCW a Christmas present.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Now, with the surge of hospitalizations thereby it's maximizing the stress on the healthcare system it's all going according to plan.

[Izzle]

All this, without a global pandemic of the scale of COVID.

[Muta]

That is ####ing despicable of the UCP. ####ing despicable.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by KelVarnsen

Wtf is “The Democracy Fund”?

I keep feeling like I should read it as "The Democrazy Fund"

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Nope. But I was skeptical that it would eliminate the black market in pot. And I’ve been proven right about that.

No one said it would completely eliminate the black market for pot. People said it would reduce black market sales and the revenue pot provided for organized crime.

Lo and behold:

One year after legalization, 52% of Canadians obtain (at least some of) their cannabis from a legal source (compared to 22% prior to legalization). However, it seems that Canadians are still obtaining their cannabis from the black market. In the third quarter of 2019, results from the National Cannabis Survey show that 42% of Canadians had purchased cannabis from an illegal source

Most of the issues preventing a further decrease in black market sales were also predicted by the pro-legalization folks:

Consumers are turning to the black market for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to: higher prices, limited selection, and a scarcity of licensed stores in their area. According to Statistics Canada a gram of legal cannabis costs 55 per cent more than illicit cannabis ($10.30/gram vs. $5.73/gram).

It should be noted that purchasing weed from the black market doesn't necessarily equate to purchasing from organized crime. It's likely that people are buying directly from growers who simply don't have a license.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by rubecube

No one said it would completely eliminate the black market for pot. People said it would reduce black market sales and the revenue pot provided for organized crime.

Lo and behold:



Most of the issues preventing a further decrease in black market sales were also predicted by the pro-legalization folks:



It should be noted that purchasing weed from the black market doesn't necessarily equate to purchasing from organized crime. It's likely that people are buying directly from growers who simply don't have a license.

I'd be curious where someone lives who feels they don't have reasonable access to a legal store for cannabis. I can't imagine anyone in Calgary feels that way - those places are everywhere.