Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by puffnstuff

All hat no cattle has a hearing

https://edmontonjournal.com/news/pol...aratist-lawyer

Alberta separatist lawyer threatened 'war crimes,' 'murder' charges over COVID vaccine, law society claims

The charges include allegations he inappropriately contacted the CEO of Alberta Health Services and threatened to have officials charged with crimes against humanity for their approval of COVID shots

Threatening criminal action is a pretty classic breach of ethics that I have to warn my clients against from time to time.

[Fuzz]

https://bsky.app/profile/jonnywakefi.../3mckd4nwyus25

https://edmontonjournal.com/news/cri...l-justice-bill

More great stuff for our province from the UCP.

[aaronck]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

https://bsky.app/profile/jonnywakefi.../3mckd4nwyus25

https://edmontonjournal.com/news/cri...l-justice-bill

More great stuff for our province from the UCP.

Will be branded as NDP activists and the UCP will create a new minister of Law Foundations to take it's place. Also this minister will have no lawyering experience...

[Locke]

So...no Laws this weekend? Is it Purge time?

[#-3]

A quick reading of the bills summary and at first glance I'm not sure if I have a dog in this fight, as a technocrat at heart I don't always mind more heavy handed government regulation over things, as long as it isn't limiting decision making where intent is murky. But I almost universally don't trust anything that comes from a Danielle Smith government, and find it concerning that 14 lawyers find it bad enough to quit a board position over it. So I'm going to assume it's bad.

Bad UPC.

[MBates]

Originally Posted by #-3

A quick reading of the bills summary and at first glance I'm not sure if I have a dog in this fight, as a technocrat at heart I don't always mind more heavy handed government regulation over things, as long as it isn't limiting decision making where intent is murky. But I almost universally don't trust anything that comes from a Danielle Smith government, and find it concerning that 14 lawyers find it bad enough to quit a board position over it. So I'm going to assume it's bad.

Bad UPC.

It is every single one of 14 staff - ordinary employees - that run the organization. I do not believe any of these are appointments or are lawyers with separate careers who are volunteering their time. This is an entire organization's workforce resigning simultaneously.

The 'why' seems not yet fully known in this story, but it is clear that the Bill 14 issue - according to the government itself - is that the Minister now has the authority to force bylaws on and direct the conduct of the organization (presumably to make funding grant allocations the Minister dictates rather than the ones the organization itself would have decided to make).

https://www.alberta.ca/improving-dem...ess-to-justice

Amendments to the Legal Profession Act in relation to the Alberta Law Foundation Amendment

The amendments authorize the Minister to impose or approve with respect to Alberta Law Foundation bylaws and issue directives to the Alberta Law Foundation.

The amendments also require the Alberta Law Foundation to make bylaws that are subject to the Minister’s directives, and are in accordance with the Act and the Act’s regulations.

The Alberta Law Foundation did not have any bylaws and therefore operated largely according to internal practices that were not subject to external oversight. The requirement to have bylaws approved by the Minister provides government with opportunities to improve Alberta Law Foundation’s governance and alignment with the goal of supporting access to justice.

This is particularly concerning as it relates to Legal Aid Alberta which for reasons of the legitimacy of the criminal justice system needs to have no reasonable apprehension of bias in the Attorney General prosecuting accused people being able to unjustly financially limit their ability to defend themselves.

The fact the resignations coincide with new Board appointments is not something I can comment on but it at least warrants some official explanation in my opinion. This seems like an important story to watch and for journalists to find out more about what is really happening.

[Fuzz]

https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/anti-racism-watchdog-field-complaint-arising-from-immigration-comments-made-at-separatist-town-hain somewhat shocking news, Smith's separatists turn out to also be incredibly racist pieces of ####.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/anti-racism-watchdog-field-complaint-arising-from-immigration-comments-made-at-separatist-town-hain somewhat shocking news, Smith's separatists turn out to also be incredibly racist pieces of ####.

[Slava]

They had a piece on the news last night that showed people lining up to sign that petition outside Wetaskiwin. Some of the comments and rationale were both hilariously dumb and scary at the same time. They’re just so off base, and while I’m not saying some of their concerns are invalid, the “solution” just isn’t.

But that’s also the scary part. I have to think they’ll get enough signatures for the vote, and as we’ve seen with Brexit, that can get out of control pretty easily.

[puffnstuff]

There is a real risk of foreign interference in the Alberta independence initiative launched by the Alberta Prosperity Project. Counsel for Sturgeon Lake First Nation has commissioned an expert opinion from Wes Wark to document this risk.

Thread here:
https://bsky.app/profile/nigelb.bsky.../3mcniygw4bk2y

[Knut]

Originally Posted by Slava

They had a piece on the news last night that showed people lining up to sign that petition outside Wetaskiwin. Some of the comments and rationale were both hilariously dumb and scary at the same time. They’re just so off base, and while I’m not saying some of their concerns are invalid, the “solution” just isn’t.

But that’s also the scary part. I have to think they’ll get enough signatures for the vote, and as we’ve seen with Brexit, that can get out of control pretty easily.

I talked to someone that signed it because "it is time for a change" but he did not know what he actually wanted for the change.

[Monahammer]

I have been talking about this for almost a year now. The path to sunder Canada has always been through mocked up separatist votes that only have to appear "close" for Trump to weigh in and say people's freedoms need to be protected.

We can rumble all we want about how the military would never do it, but I think this type of justification softens just enough of that opposition to make some general accept. It only takes one. We have watched that morality and what is right does not slow down this administration or the tools that it employs.

[Swift]

Originally Posted by Knut

I talked to someone that signed it because "it is time for a change" but he did not know what he actually wanted for the change.

This is the kind of person I'm afraid of if this comes to a referendum. It was the same kind of non-thinking that led to Brexit - "I don't like who's in charge", "we need change", "I don't want more immigrants coming here" etc. Just no regard for thinking about potential consequences beyond "change".

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by Swift

This is the kind of person I'm afraid of if this comes to a referendum. It was the same kind of non-thinking that led to Brexit - "I don't like who's in charge", "we need change", "I don't want more immigrants coming here" etc. Just no regard for thinking about potential consequences beyond "change".

We want change, but will continue to throw support behind a party that has governed in one form or another for the last 50 years.

[The Fisher Account]

Rumors are circulating on social media that Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides has appointed his best friend’s wife as the sole teacher representing the interests of 50,000 ATA members on the Classroom Complexity Committee.

Quelle surprise.

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by para transit fellow

the biggest argument against another oil pipe is uncertainty of the oil market in 25 years

Alberta says "the world will always need oil." The question is "will oil be profitable in 2050?"

Should someone in their 40s stop working out and eating properly because they might be dead in 25 years?

[The Fisher Account]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

Should someone in their 40s stop working out and eating properly because they might be dead in 25 years?

I'm not sure these apt comparisons.

[puffnstuff]

Originally Posted by The Fisher Account

Rumors are circulating on social media that Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides has appointed his best friend’s wife as the sole teacher representing the interests of 50,000 ATA members on the Classroom Complexity Committee.

Quelle surprise.

He has friends?

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by The Fisher Account

I'm not sure these apt comparisons.

It is if you consider late stage quality of life a reasonable parallel to getting long-term value out of a commodity that will eventually have little / no value.

You're not going to have the same quality of life now and in your 70s in the same way oil isn't going to be nearly as profitable in 25-30 years as it is right now, but you what you do now stands to improve your situation later over not doing it at all.

[para transit fellow]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

Should someone in their 40s stop working out and eating properly because they might be dead in 25 years?

I have indeed met people who live their life according to that sort of sentiment.

but if we are going to build the various mega projects ( some 20 Billion) of oil industry infrastructure. Are we certain oil will remain a highly profitable over the life of the project.

I look to my own memories of Canada building a heavy water plant in Nova Scotia. seemed like we would always be building CANDU reactors ( that needed the heavy water). Only a few years later, the demand for heavy water disappeared