Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[direwolf]

I used to be proud of being from Alberta. Not anymore. What an embarrassing f***ing province. The UCP has to be the worst provincial government in the history of this country. What they're doing to the province and their citizens is absolutely f'n shameful.

[Duruss]

Originally Posted by direwolf

I used to be proud of being from Alberta. Not anymore. What an embarrassing f***ing province. The UCP has to be the worst provincial government in the history of this country. What they're doing to the province and their citizens is absolutely f'n shameful.

What you don't enjoy creeping fascism? Soyboy/s

They say ignorance is bliss, but then what is intentional ignorance? It certainly isn't bliss look how miserable these people often are. Everyone must suffer.

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by direwolf

I used to be proud of being from Alberta. Not anymore. What an embarrassing f***ing province. The UCP has to be the worst provincial government in the history of this country. What they're doing to the province and their citizens is absolutely f'n shameful.

Anyone who voted for the UCP in the past 2 elections needs to be deported. Deplorable morons.

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by direwolf

I used to be proud of being from Alberta. Not anymore. What an embarrassing f***ing province. The UCP has to be the worst provincial government in the history of this country. What they're doing to the province and their citizens is absolutely f'n shameful.

It is very difficult. On one hand, I hate the idea of bailing on the fight to fix the province and get things back on track. On the other hand, raising kids changes my priorities and makes me think that leaving Alberta might be better for them as our quality of life (and the public school system specifically) continues to be attacked by the UCP.

Over the last few weeks I have been thinking more and more about referendums and petitions. I am glad to see what is happening with the Forever Canadian petition but it is frustrating because "winning" is just maintaining the status quo (and not blowing up our country for the selfish short-sighted greed of a few dolts).

I would like winning to actually push the needle back away from the madness. So then I was looking at these guys again with the Lethbridge gerrymandering conversation:
https://www.fairvote.ca/
https://fairvoteedmonton.com/

Overall their message is great but I do not feel like they are doing enough. They want to have events and meetings and talk and learn more about the problem and the potential solutions... but I want action to counteract the UCP flooding the zone against us.

To me, the answer is layered but in the short term I would stress 2 things:

1) The biggest thing is that everyone needs to start joining the political parties. Currently these parties are small and pretty easy to usurp. Just look at how the Wildrose managed to take over the PCs in the UCP merger or how TBA has tilted the party even further right. More people need to be in the parties and the parties need to be better regulated to ensure small extremist groups are not able to take over a party.

2) More immediately, I think speeding up the end-game from the Fair Vote team might be the answer. I think it would be worthwhile to put forth a constitutional referendum proposal to change Alberta from a First Past The Post (FPTP) electoral system to Proportional Representation.

With the new petition rules in place (less signatures needed over a longer period of time) and all of the attention that Forever-Canadian is bringing to petition signing to get a citizen led referendum in place, now might be the time to get Alberta out of FPTP.

Would it really help? I think so. I think a lot of voters do not turn out because they feel like their vote is wasted / won't count for anything because their riding is locked into one party or the other.... but if they felt like their vote would always have value then maybe we could get bigger turnouts? With bigger turnouts experts suggest that the more progressive party will typically win.

So, my question to the brain trust here would be: Would you support a referendum/petition for electoral reform right now? Has the UCP pissed you off enough to want to do more and force a change onto them instead of them perpetually doing it to us? Or do you think it is something that should wait until the current petition is wrapped up?

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by direwolf

I used to be proud of being from Alberta. Not anymore. What an embarrassing f***ing province. The UCP has to be the worst provincial government in the history of this country. What they're doing to the province and their citizens is absolutely f'n shameful.

If only someone had warned us...


No, I wouldn't support an electoral reform petition. I have no faith that the UCP wouldn't find ways to use it as an opportunity to favor themselves, no matter how the petition is worded.

[indes]

Originally Posted by Wolven

It is very difficult. On one hand, I hate the idea of bailing on the fight to fix the province and get things back on track. On the other hand, raising kids changes my priorities and makes me think that leaving Alberta might be better for them as our quality of life (and the public school system specifically) continues to be attacked by the UCP.

Over the last few weeks I have been thinking more and more about referendums and petitions. I am glad to see what is happening with the Forever Canadian petition but it is frustrating because "winning" is just maintaining the status quo (and not blowing up our country for the selfish short-sighted greed of a few dolts).

I would like winning to actually push the needle back away from the madness. So then I was looking at these guys again with the Lethbridge gerrymandering conversation:
https://www.fairvote.ca/
https://fairvoteedmonton.com/

Overall their message is great but I do not feel like they are doing enough. They want to have events and meetings and talk and learn more about the problem and the potential solutions... but I want action to counteract the UCP flooding the zone against us.

To me, the answer is layered but in the short term I would stress 2 things:

1) The biggest thing is that everyone needs to start joining the political parties. Currently these parties are small and pretty easy to usurp. Just look at how the Wildrose managed to take over the PCs in the UCP merger or how TBA has tilted the party even further right. More people need to be in the parties and the parties need to be better regulated to ensure small extremist groups are not able to take over a party.

2) More immediately, I think speeding up the end-game from the Fair Vote team might be the answer. I think it would be worthwhile to put forth a constitutional referendum proposal to change Alberta from a First Past The Post (FPTP) electoral system to Proportional Representation.

With the new petition rules in place (less signatures needed over a longer period of time) and all of the attention that Forever-Canadian is bringing to petition signing to get a citizen led referendum in place, now might be the time to get Alberta out of FPTP.

Would it really help? I think so. I think a lot of voters do not turn out because they feel like their vote is wasted / won't count for anything because their riding is locked into one party or the other.... but if they felt like their vote would always have value then maybe we could get bigger turnouts? With bigger turnouts experts suggest that the more progressive party will typically win.

So, my question to the brain trust here would be: Would you support a referendum/petition for electoral reform right now? Has the UCP pissed you off enough to want to do more and force a change onto them instead of them perpetually doing it to us? Or do you think it is something that should wait until the current petition is wrapped up?

I think it should wait until this one is wrapped up. Then hopefully the current petition becomes a stepping stone for everyone to see how we can effect change and we can revisit this next year.

[Ashartus]

Originally Posted by puffnstuff

Theres over 200 titles on the list. Seems like a LOT of female authors too.

The Breakdown has posted what they were sent. Two posts in the thread.

https://bsky.app/profile/thebreakdow.../3lxifxwz4222e

There are a fair number of books on the list that I've read. None of those are books I would stop a high school student from reading (my 15 year old daughter has read some of them). We actually studied the Handmaid's Tale in high school English. If that list is correct then it is really depressing.

[WideReceiver]

They’re banning the Handmaid’s Tale yet are forcing us to live it.

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Brave New World, FFS.

[CFO]

Majority of politicians, unions, gov are not great. Massively inefficient. Regardless of the spectrum they come from.

[Captain Otto]

Originally Posted by puffnstuff

Theres over 200 titles on the list. Seems like a LOT of female authors too.

The Breakdown has posted what they were sent. Two posts in the thread.

https://bsky.app/profile/thebreakdow.../3lxifxwz4222e

These are clearly the books I will get my kids to read. Thanks UCP!

[Duruss]

The NDP finally speaks out against the changes to AISH.
https://lethbridgeherald.com/news/le...from-disabled/


And a press release from them to. Now we need to see which news agencies pick it up.
https://www.albertandpcaucus.ca/news...on-of-aish-cut

The NDP is calling it theft and asking the UCP to admit they were wrong for once in their careers.

[TheIronMaiden]

No Game of throwns, Berserk or IT allowed.

[Ashartus]

Any thoughts about the new Alberta Wallet? Conceptually I like the idea of having a secure digital health care card and eventually other documents like driver's license, getting closer to maybe one day not carrying around a physical wallet. However given their track record my initial instinct is low trust for anything coming out of our current government.

[simmer2]

I didn't even know COVID vaccines were still a thing.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Ashartus

Any thoughts about the new Alberta Wallet? Conceptually I like the idea of having a secure digital health care card and eventually other documents like driver's license, getting closer to maybe one day not carrying around a physical wallet. However given their track record my initial instinct is low trust for anything coming out of our current government.

Some states have something similar. My experience has been that the biggest issue is uptake levels for establishments that require things like this. Like bars for example, where it would be a total guess as to whether they’d even accept the digital ID, so you ended up having to carry the physical one anyway even if you had the digital one.

Originally Posted by simmer2

I didn't even know COVID vaccines were still a thing.

And most of us didn’t know measles was still a thing but the AB government took care of that, too.

Ignorance is bliss I guess.

[fotze2]

Originally Posted by simmer2

I didn't even know COVID vaccines were still a thing.

I can’t even remember if I’ve had two or three. Are there more?

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by fotze2

I can’t even remember if I’ve had two or three. Are there more?

It’s a yearly booster offered at the same time as the influenza vaccine.

If you’re high risk with your health conditions you should probably ask your doctor about it, considering COVID still kills more people than the flu each year.

[Reggie Dunlop]

That's 200 books... plus all the books that have yet to be scrutinized for content.

So basically, all the books in the classroom.

[Barnet Flame]

Originally Posted by direwolf

I used to be proud of being from Alberta. Not anymore. What an embarrassing f***ing province. The UCP has to be the worst provincial government in the history of this country. What they're doing to the province and their citizens is absolutely f'n shameful.

I remember carrying an Alberta flag at the Canada day celebrations in Trafalgar Square.

Yeah, I doubt I’ll do that again.