Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[Locke]

Finally! Its about time we really started oppressing the poor and downtrodden!

When can these slaves start work on the Arena?

Qatar had a veritable plethora of arenas built for the World Cup and look how well that worked out!

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by MelBridgeman

What rights do legal workers not have?

Alberta has the weakest labour protections of all provinces.

Overtime averaging agreements can be changed at the employer’s will.

Union certification rules here make it more difficult to organize than in any other province.

The biggest issue being that there is no teeth to the legislation. Meaning when an employer violates the labour code they essentially get a slap on the wrist.

You’d have to ask the UCP why they feel Albertans don’t deserve the same protections Canadians living in other provinces have.

[Dion]

Smith is now saying that the tariffs are coming and will include our oil. So why did she visit Mara lago other than to kiss the ring?

“We do need to be prepared that they are likely to come in on Jan. 20,” Smith said at a news conference on Monday. “I haven’t seen anything that suggests that he’s changing course.”

Smith also cautioned against Canada retaliating by imposing across-the-board 25% tariffs on US goods. “That would harm Canadian citizens at a time when we have an affordability crisis,” she said.

https://ca.yahoo.com/finance/news/tr...162118782.html

[bizaro86]

I think minimum wage should be indexed to inflation so it isn't a political decision, probably with a catch up for the last few years of higher inflation.

But that's a lot of slant for one article. The other way you could write it would be:

"Alberta still has Canada's highest average wages even with lower cost of living. Other provinces starting to catch up with stronger growth"

There's no particular reason to think that the place with the highest wages should have the highest growth in wages. In fact the opposite arguably makes sense because employers will try and hire elsewhere and workers will move here, and both of those shift the balance of supply-demand. Without significant oil and gas capex Alberta won't have the best wage growth, and the regulatory climate isn't conducive to spending billions on a 30 year project.

[MelBridgeman]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

Alberta has the weakest labour protections of all provinces.

Overtime averaging agreements can be changed at the employer’s will.

Union certification rules here make it more difficult to organize than in any other province.

The biggest issue being that there is no teeth to the legislation. Meaning when an employer violates the labour code they essentially get a slap on the wrist.

You’d have to ask the UCP why they feel Albertans don’t deserve the same protections Canadians living in other provinces have.

Think we are getting in the opinon zone here.
Think we are just fine!

[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by MelBridgeman

Think we are getting in the opinon zone here.
Think we are just fine!

You've never shown capacity for this before, so why start now?

[Mazrim]

10 ways to deal with annoying people online. Trolls HATE number 3!

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by MelBridgeman

Think we are getting in the opinon zone here.

No, the facts speak for themselves. If you want to do a deep dive analysis and comparison of all the provincial labour codes fill your boots.

You’re welcome to present your mental gymnastics for how the lowest minimum wage in the country somehow provides a greater guarantee than a higher one though.

Think we are just fine!

Look who suddenly pulled a 180 on opinions.

[MelBridgeman]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

No, the facts speak for themselves. If you want to do a deep dive analysis and comparison of all the provincial labour codes fill your boots.

You’re welcome to present your mental gymnastics for how the lowest minimum wage in the country somehow provides a greater guarantee than a higher one though.



Look who suddenly pulled a 180 on opinions.

You frame your desires in a veneer of moral superiority to justify shaming those who take a more moderate approach—an approach you, in your zeal, interpret as disagreement. However, once you achieve your goals, you’ll likely feel compelled to maintain your relevance by raising the bar and repeating the cycle.

But how about you rank all the provinces from best to worst in labour laws and I am sure i will be able to spot the trend.

[Muta]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

Look who suddenly pulled a 180 on opinions.

Love how he called you out for your opinion... then gives his own opinion. Classic.

[BoLevi]

Originally Posted by belsarius

Alberta does not extract/export resources - companies do. Alberta has the power to regulate and create the rules surrounding development and extraction of the resources. The Federal government is in charge of all interprovincial trade and exporting goods to another country.



There is no "constitutional crisis" regarding exporting goods. It belongs to the Feds because at the point of export, it is no longer "Alberta" resources, those rights were sold to a company who now has to follow federal laws to export that product.

It's probably more accurate for me to call it a "unity crisis".

If the Canadian govt decided to actually do it, the result would be exactly that...a unity crisis.

It would have an effect on the public sentiment even larger than the NEP did. Despite some comments here, large numbers of Albertans don't want to be a vassal state.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by BoLevi

It's probably more accurate for me to call it a "unity crisis".

If the Canadian govt decided to actually do it, the result would be exactly that...a unity crisis.

It would have an effect on the public sentiment even larger than the NEP did. Despite some comments here, large numbers of Albertans don't want to be a vassal state.

It's only a crisis if DS decides to make it one. I don't know why you keep saying it's the feds that would cause it. The feds have authority, the province does not. Just because DS doesn't like it, doesn't mean she has the right to blow up the country for it.



Frankly, this is why you shouldn't elect leaders who don't understand how governments work, and the rights premiers have(pardon powers!). It was pretty obvious to anyone who thought things through that electing her would lead to situations like this because she doesn't understand how to govern, and here we are. Shocking!

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by MelBridgeman

You frame your desires in a veneer of moral superiority to justify shaming those who take a more moderate approach—an approach you, in your zeal, interpret as disagreement. However, once you achieve your goals, you’ll likely feel compelled to maintain your relevance by raising the bar and repeating the cycle.

Nah I was just pointing out the fact that our labour code provides the worst protections in the country. You whined and claimed that was not the case. I provided you with a few examples of things we don’t have that other provinces do. Your rebuttal so far has been essentially to say “nuh uh” with nothing to back it up and now you’re trying to distract from your lack of facts to disprove what I’m saying with perhaps the most comically bizarre personal attack that has ever been directed towards me on this forum. Which says a lot.

But how about you rank all the provinces from best to worst in labour laws and I am sure i will be able to spot the trend.

How about you explain who has the lowest minimum wage in the country if not us? Not really interested in your ability or inability to spot trends or how you think that even relates to whether or not we do or don’t have the weakest worker protections in the country.

[BoLevi]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

It's only a crisis if DS decides to make it one. I don't know why you keep saying it's the feds that would cause it. The feds have authority, the province does not. Just because DS doesn't like it, doesn't mean she has the right to blow up the country for it.



Frankly, this is why you shouldn't elect leaders who don't understand how governments work, and the rights premiers have(pardon powers!). It was pretty obvious to anyone who thought things through that electing her would lead to situations like this because she doesn't understand how to govern, and here we are. Shocking!

Her approval ratings are off the charts high because she is governing the way she is.

When it comes to the "right" to blow the country up - why not? Provinces are allowed to utilize any number of things to defend their interests from the federal gov't - including questioning the province's place in confederation. I think there will be public will to do so if the feds decide to tax oil exports.

[MelBridgeman]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

Nah I was just pointing out the fact that our labour code provides the worst protections in the country. You whined and claimed that was not the case. I provided you with a few examples of things we don’t have that other provinces do. Your rebuttal so far has been essentially to say “nuh uh” with nothing to back it up and now you’re trying to distract from your lack of facts to disprove what I’m saying with perhaps the most comically bizarre personal attack that has ever been directed towards me on this forum. Which says a lot.



How about you explain who has the lowest minimum wage in the country if not us? Not really interested in your ability or inability to spot trends or how you think that even relates to whether or not we do or don’t have the weakest worker protections in the country.

Never disputed what you listed, just don't care too much about it. I live in 2025 not 1908!

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by MelBridgeman

Never disputed what you listed, just don't care too much about it. I live in 2025 not 1908!

Funny, in 1908 they probably used to say things like workers rights don’t matter it’s not 1808 too. And yet we still managed to make improvements from that time. What a mad world eh?

[Julio]

Originally Posted by BoLevi

Her approval ratings are off the charts high because she is governing the way she is.

If by 'off the charts high' you mean ranking 7th out of 9 provinces surveyed (PEI not in poll), then you are correct:

https://angusreid.org/premiers-perfo...lt-holt-furey/

[MelBridgeman]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

Funny, in 1908 they probably used to say things like workers rights don’t matter it’s not 1808 too. And yet we still managed to make improvements from that time. What a mad world eh?

i will give you credit you can pick out from a list of 10 numbers that some are higher than others, but it's little more nuanced than that, like factoring in the cost of living...i.e. the highest minimum wage provinces have the highest cost of living.

But anyways i guess some people have something to strive for because when you work for a good company you get good perks, because that is the beauty of competition.

[Fuzz]

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by MelBridgeman

i will give you credit you can pick out from a list of 10 numbers that some are higher than others, but it's little more nuanced than that, like factoring in the cost of living...i.e. the highest minimum wage provinces have the highest cost of living.

No there is no nuance to laws existing or not existing. You’re trying to twist my original comment regarding having the weakest labour code in the country and only apply it to the minimum wage. Despite the fact that I’ve already given other specific examples of things workers in other provinces have that Albertans don’t.

But anyways i guess some people have something to strive for because when you work for a good company you get good perks, because that is the beauty of competition.

Maybe in your fantasy world where the number of available jobs always outnumbers the amount of people who need to work for a living that could be the case. Unfortunately we live in reality, not some utopian fantasy that you’re describing. History has proven time and time again that banking on the benevolence of employers doesn’t typically produce the best results for the majority of people.