Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

Truer words have never been posted.

lol pipe down

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

lol pipe down

Yup, hopefully they fix it soon.

[AFireInside]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

Rage that does not translate into votes, organization, recalls, or discipline just creates fatigue. There is nothing structural that can be fixed under this government. That does not mean 'do nothing', it means mitigation inside the system and political work outside of it. Those are very different activities than browbeating people who already oppose the UCP.

I agree with your last paragraph almost entirely. The system is not irredeemable, and the people in it are carrying an enormous amount of dysfunction on their backs and making the best of it. They're the 'mitigation' I'm talking about, that's really all we've got to rely on inside the system.

I think it's fair to call it out when people shrug their shoulders. Stop supporting terrible leadership. Stop saying well there's nothing we can do, stopping saying that death by a thousand cuts isn't the problem. Point out that there is money to fix these things and maybe some of that will catch on with others. Pointing out places where tremendous amounts of money have been wasted on nothing when someone complains about healthcare is valid. Just saying this government won't do anything so I better fall in line and find solutions that they like is the only option is just lazy.

Certainly there can be some middle ground but if everyone gives these morons a pass there's zero chance anything will ever be done about it.

Then again the UCP have corruption left and right and have done an absolutely horrible job as a government but the hypocrites in this province, in this thread, will do anything to lick boots because oil or something.

[BigThief]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

Truer words have never been posted.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by AFireInside

I think it's fair to call it out when people shrug their shoulders. Stop supporting terrible leadership. Stop saying well there's nothing we can do, stopping saying that death by a thousand cuts isn't the problem. Point out that there is money to fix these things and maybe some of that will catch on with others. Pointing out places where tremendous amounts of money have been wasted on nothing when someone complains about healthcare is valid. Just saying this government won't do anything so I better fall in line and find solutions that they like is the only option is just lazy.

Certainly there can be some middle ground but if everyone gives these morons a pass there's zero chance anything will ever be done about it.

Then again the UCP have corruption left and right and have done an absolutely horrible job as a government but the hypocrites in this province, in this thread, will do anything to lick boots because oil or something.

Who shrugged their shoulders? Who is supporting this terrible leadership? Is it Slava? Let me know so I can do my part by yelling at him.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

Yup, hopefully they fix it soon.

The tough part here is that you’re just under the threshold where this probably isn’t a joke.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

Who shrugged their shoulders? Who is supporting this terrible leadership? Is it Slava? Let me know so I can do my part by yelling at him.

Well my wife can attest that yelling at me doesn’t help!

But the problem with these issues is that while the government of the day is brutal and I’ve said several times that I can’t wait to have them out, healthcare isn’t all their doing. Not only have we had these issues for years, but other provinces with different governments have the same issues. Other countries with better systems have healthcare issues.

I have no faith in this government being able to guide us to any solution, and their two-tier plan is abhorrent and should be stopped. At the same time, I don’t think you can pin all of the systems ills on this government, and I think my saying that is too much of a defence for some people.

[Fuzz]

Well not me. I've been saying it's the same problems for the past 20 years. Which is why electing the same types of governments(NDP with not enough time) will result in the same ####ty outcomes. It's not all on Smith, it's on a generation of team blue.

[TorqueDog]

I remember when I first moved here back in the mid-2000s hearing how much better Alberta's healthcare system was than most other places in the country. I also remember my first bill for my provincial healthcare fees which was something broke-ass 21 year-old me was not expecting.

Originally Posted by Slava

Well my wife can attest that yelling at me doesn’t help!

But the problem with these issues is that while the government of the day is brutal and I’ve said several times that I can’t wait to have them out, healthcare isn’t all their doing. Not only have we had these issues for years, but other provinces with different governments have the same issues. Other countries with better systems have healthcare issues.

I have no faith in this government being able to guide us to any solution, and their two-tier plan is abhorrent and should be stopped. At the same time, I don’t think you can pin all of the systems ills on this government, and I think my saying that is too much of a defence for some people.

You're absolutely right, this problem took the better part of two decades of mismanagement to become what it is. What you can agree on is that what the government of the day is doing is clearly hostile to and actively working against the goal of a well-functioning healthcare system, right?

[Slava]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

I remember when I first moved here back in the mid-2000s hearing how much better Alberta's healthcare system was than most other places in the country. I also remember my first bill for my provincial healthcare fees which was something broke-ass 21 year-old me was not expecting.

You're absolutely right, this problem took the better part of two decades of mismanagement to become what it is. What you can agree on is that what the government of the day is doing is clearly hostile to and actively working against the goal of a well-functioning healthcare system, right?

I think they actively want to undermine the public system to justify a private one. Which is abhorrent, to be clear. Literally, almost every single policy this government enacts is something I’m entirely against. I suppose I am fine with the healthcare number being on the drivers license, but maybe nothing else.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Slava

I think they actively want to undermine the public system to justify a private one. Which is abhorrent, to be clear. Literally, almost every single policy this government enacts is something I’m entirely against. I suppose I am fine with the healthcare number being on the drivers license, but maybe nothing else.

I agree with your first part and I'm fairly ambivalent about the Health Care number on Driver's Licenses thing...I remember reading that having Driver's Licenses, SIN Cards and Health Cards as separate things was a beneficial system that made Identity theft more difficult.

I dont know how true that is. It just seems like much ado about nothing. What about people without Driver's Licenses? So now we have this thing AND another card, etc.

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by Slava

Well my wife can attest that yelling at me doesn’t help!

But the problem with these issues is that while the government of the day is brutal and I’ve said several times that I can’t wait to have them out, healthcare isn’t all their doing. Not only have we had these issues for years, but other provinces with different governments have the same issues. Other countries with better systems have healthcare issues.

I have no faith in this government being able to guide us to any solution, and their two-tier plan is abhorrent and should be stopped. At the same time, I don’t think you can pin all of the systems ills on this government, and I think my saying that is too much of a defence for some people.

The other provinces that have these problems have also been undermined by conservative governments, just not to the extent or speed in which the UCP has been working to destroy AHS. Even still, Saskatchewan holds the title as being the worst of the larger provinces while BC is considered the best.

What is interesting will be to watch Manitoba. Their conservative governments really tanked their healthcare and now they have an NDP government that is turning the ship around but will likely need multiple terms to really show results and establish stability that people are hoping for (and not the ~2 years they have had thus far).

This becomes a stark reminder to voters that we need to have a long term strategy to our government. Bringing in a NDP government for 1 term won't get results. So collectively we would need to commit to an idea of bringing in the NDP to govern for multiple terms to unwind the damage that the UCP is actively causing.

Also, the moment we elect a NDP government, the conservatives will try to blame the NDP for everything that they just inherited from the previous conservative governments. It happened here last time when the NDP came into power, not only did the conservatives shred all paperwork and sabotage the incoming government but then they started blaming Notley for all of the debt and problems that Stelmach and Redford racked up over their terms.

People need to learn to be smart enough to see through the lies and it is really hard to do that when they are getting their information from sources like the National Post or Rebel News. I believe this is where most of Fuzz's venom to UCP voters lies, when you talk to them you find out that most of them are just uninformed or misinformed by the wrong sources... if you dig deeper, many of them are "Lougheed PCs" that simply do not understand how far away from that the UCP actually is and base their votes on long held feelings instead of current facts.

When politics was one or two degrees of difference from one party to another it is not a big deal that the bulk of the population has been lulled to sleep and unaware of what is happening. Now that Conservative parties have shifted so far to the right that ignorance is dangerous and a threat.

It begs the question: How does our society bring everyone up to the same level of being informed in this mixed media age of corporate media owning the cable airwaves and printed news and huge piles of conservative / corporate dollars propping up misinformation in non-cable platforms (ex. Tenet Media)?

(Note: I am not saying we should all have the same opinions but we do need to all be recieving truthful and objective information)

[TorqueDog]

There, we've established that Fuzz and Slava are in violent agreement with each other. Now kiss.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

There, we've established that Fuzz and Slava are in violent agreement with each other. Now kiss.

I hate to have to disappoint Slava while he preps his makeup, but wife's rules are I can't kiss anyone else.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I hate to have to disappoint Slava while he preps his makeup, but wife's rules are I can't kiss anyone else.

Well, it’s crushing, but I’ll soldier on.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

There, we've established that Fuzz and Slava are in violent agreement with each other. Now kiss.

Has the Universe been divided by Zero? Is this a Harbinger of the End Times? If we see 4 Horsemen riding down the street should we panic?

[puffnstuff]

https://bsky.app/profile/lukaszukab..../3mbnkhmtkb22d

Why are Elections Alberta accredited canvassers for the separatists’ petition required to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement with the separatists?

[TorqueDog]

Because when the petitions get bugger all for votes compared to the Forever Canadian one, they don't want the numbers to become public.

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by puffnstuff

https://bsky.app/profile/lukaszukab..../3mbnkhmtkb22d

Why are Elections Alberta accredited canvassers for the separatists’ petition required to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement with the separatists?

I was thinking on this some more.... the only reason I can think of for the NDA requirement is because they are intentionally planning to do the wrong things to get signatures and the NDA is there to prevent whistleblowing.

I cannot think of any legitimate reason for the NDA, especially after all of the other petitions have been moving ahead without NDAs attached.

So what are they going to do? Have people sign on behalf of other people? Have people sign who are not of sound mind and body? Sign up some recently deceased people?

If an NDA is in place but they ask you to break the rules, which in this case means breaking the law, would the NDA still stand up?

[Fuzz]

Because they are largely funded by Americans, and they don't want that kinda thing getting out.