Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[Burninator]

So our Provincial government wants to pursue a bunch of Federal Constitution changes...Daniel Smith needs to run for the Federal Government. This is nonsense, we need a government that is focused on running the provincial government.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Burninator

So our Provincial government wants to pursue a bunch of Federal Constitution changes...Daniel Smith needs to run for the Federal Government. This is nonsense, we need a government that is focused on running the provincial government.

5 provinces have successfully amended the constitution over the last 40 years.

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

5 provinces have successfully amended the constitution over the last 40 years.

None of the amendments she's proposing fall under the framework that those 5 provinces used. For things that only impact a single province (such as replacing a religious school system with a secular one) the process just requires majority votes in the Provincial Legislature, Parliament, and the Senate.

What Smith is proposing would fall under the "general amendment procedure" which would require 7 of the 10 provinces (with a combined 50+% of the population) along with the Federal Parliament and Senate voting to change the constitution, which hasn't happened a single time in the last 40 years because the high bar it requires.

[Superflyer]

Originally Posted by stazzy33

https://twitter.com/user/status/2024526089515573628

The irony is ironing...

Is it just me or does that photo look fake?

[DJones]

Not really anything to outrageous in the questions. ASide from the fact that the referendum is meaningless. Feds won't give a ####.

Provinces should 100% be able to opt out of federal spending programs if its their jurisdiction and get per capita funding. How is that not a thing that was thought of when we wrote the damn thing. Allows for massive federal encroachment. Top 4 provinces should all gladly agree with that.

I honestly don't want the federal or provincial governments to be selecting judges. Both are bad options. Just let the advisory committee choose. but again, top 4 provinces should all be on board with provinces having more say in their own top court.

We should all be paying healthcare fees and premiums. Create a PST, up fees and property taxes. Drop income taxes to normalize the costs to families. Fly by Canadians/non-residents/tourists/ect all get taxed more appropriately.

Senate should of course be scrapped and replaced. Everyone seems to have been on board with that for decades but no ruling party is ever going to knee cap themselves.

Ontario and Quebec get hammered way more by refugees and assailants by us. Feds should 100% be paying those costs. For more immigration control, she just wants what Quebec has had for decades.

Every province should want these things. Half of them just seem terrified to be responsible for themselves

[Locke]

Originally Posted by stazzy33

https://twitter.com/user/status/2024526089515573628

The irony is ironing...

Can we export her to El Salvador?

[puffnstuff]

Originally Posted by Superflyer

Is it just me or does that photo look fake?

She wouldnt wearthe jersey so they photoshopped one on her?

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Superflyer

Is it just me or does that photo look fake?

Is it because you didn't think they could that big of a #### into a jersey?

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by DJones

Not really anything to outrageous in the questions. ASide from the fact that the referendum is meaningless. Feds won't give a ####.

Provinces should 100% be able to opt out of federal spending programs if its their jurisdiction and get per capita funding. How is that not a thing that was thought of when we wrote the damn thing. Allows for massive federal encroachment. Top 4 provinces should all gladly agree with that.

I honestly don't want the federal or provincial governments to be selecting judges. Both are bad options. Just let the advisory committee choose. but again, top 4 provinces should all be on board with provinces having more say in their own top court.

We should all be paying healthcare fees and premiums. Create a PST, up fees and property taxes. Drop income taxes to normalize the costs to families. Fly by Canadians/non-residents/tourists/ect all get taxed more appropriately.

Senate should of course be scrapped and replaced. Everyone seems to have been on board with that for decades but no ruling party is ever going to knee cap themselves.

Ontario and Quebec get hammered way more by refugees and assailants by us. Feds should 100% be paying those costs. For more immigration control, she just wants what Quebec has had for decades.

Every province should want these things. Half of them just seem terrified to be responsible for themselves

This is why these things are going to pass, because people like you don't believe we live in a country anymore. It's easy to yell grievances into the clouds. The reason money isn't just sprinkled around without strings is because the money is for something, not everything. Often, it's to ensure Canadians can expect the same or similar levels of care and services across Canada. You know, because we are a country.


Look, if you want to live in a little ####ing fiefdom, then #### off to a little ####ing fiefdom. This is Canada, stop trying to break it. I'm so sick of you losers who can't even comprehend the idea that Alberta is fortunate to be in the position it is. Lording luck over the rest of the country like you earned something on your own accord, and then bitching about everything under the sun like a todler who wants the entire cake isn't a winning position, it's the one of an ass hole. Knock it off.

[Faust]

Danielle Smith announces a raft of referenda, seemingly designed to advance the UCP’s separatist agenda:

https://albertapolitics.ca/2026/02/d...ratist-agenda/

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by Faust

Danielle Smith announces a raft of referenda, seemingly designed to advance the UCP’s separatist agenda:

https://albertapolitics.ca/2026/02/d...ratist-agenda/

I think you're about 20 hours late here.

[DJones]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

This is why these things are going to pass, because people like you don't believe we live in a country anymore. It's easy to yell grievances into the clouds. The reason money isn't just sprinkled around without strings is because the money is for something, not everything. Often, it's to ensure Canadians can expect the same or similar levels of care and services across Canada. You know, because we are a country.


Look, if you want to live in a little ####ing fiefdom, then #### off to a little ####ing fiefdom. This is Canada, stop trying to break it. I'm so sick of you losers who can't even comprehend the idea that Alberta is fortunate to be in the position it is. Lording luck over the rest of the country like you earned something on your own accord, and then bitching about everything under the sun like a todler who wants the entire cake isn't a winning position, it's the one of an ass hole. Knock it off.

Yes, this thing will likely pass with massive support. Seems like half the opposition agrees with the ideas but feel the need to do an elbows up move or something in spite of their own thoughts.

If another province wants to spend the feds money on exactly what the feds want. That's great, good for them. I do not think every province needs to agree on everything. Frankly I don't give a #### what they do 1000's of kms away from me. If they think the money should go somewhere else my opinion on the matter is meaningless. I trust they can govern themselves better than I or the feds every could.

Like whats with the fiefdom talk, its called a province haha. Written in the constitution to be in charge of healthcare, education, ect. Oh no, people 1000s of kms away from eachother might have a different experience from one another. Better rewrite the constitution so one guy in Ottawa decides whats fair for everyone.

[MonaTone]

Originally Posted by DJones

Yes, this thing will likely pass with massive support. Seems like half the opposition agrees with the ideas but feel the need to do an elbows up move or something in spite of their own thoughts.

If another province wants to spend the feds money on exactly what the feds want. That's great, good for them. I do not think every province needs to agree on everything. Frankly I don't give a #### what they do 1000's of kms away from me. If they think the money should go somewhere else my opinion on the matter is meaningless. I trust they can govern themselves better than I or the feds every could.

Like whats with the fiefdom talk, its called a province haha. Written in the constitution to be in charge of healthcare, education, ect. Oh no, people 1000s of kms away from eachother might have a different experience from one another. Better rewrite the constitution so one guy in Ottawa decides whats fair for everyone.

Except when the province does things like dismantle healthcare and funnel public health funds towards their wealthy buddies or circumvent enshrined rights to take healthcare away from specific groups of people for ideological reasons.

Then yeah, someone in Ottawa that we also elect should step in and make sure things foundational to the Canadian social contract are followed.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by DJones

Yes, this thing will likely pass with massive support. Seems like half the opposition agrees with the ideas but feel the need to do an elbows up move or something in spite of their own thoughts.

If another province wants to spend the feds money on exactly what the feds want. That's great, good for them. I do not think every province needs to agree on everything. Frankly I don't give a #### what they do 1000's of kms away from me. If they think the money should go somewhere else my opinion on the matter is meaningless. I trust they can govern themselves better than I or the feds every could.

Like whats with the fiefdom talk, its called a province haha. Written in the constitution to be in charge of healthcare, education, ect. Oh no, people 1000s of kms away from eachother might have a different experience from one another. Better rewrite the constitution so one guy in Ottawa decides whats fair for everyone.

What's your obsession with distance? are you a Canadian? OK, you should know the country is big. It doesn't make a point valid. Maybe just do some reading and understanding. This does a good job explaining it.

https://www.canada.ca/en/health-cana...re-system.html

And you should care. Because if, say, BC decides to private all healthcare, and put all federal dollars into laser vision surgery for those with incomes about 500k a year, you are going to have a lot of people from BC coming here. And then Smith and the like will have to put up inter-provincial migration barriers, to prevent immigrants using up all our healthcare, and then we no longer live in a country.

Like, this isn't complicated stuff. It's covered in grade 10 social studies(please don't look that up).

Side note here, if you find yourself siding with positions that our enemies like Putin would like us to hold because it creates conflict, destroys economic certainty, and ultimately divides unions(Brexit?) and weakens adversaries, and you also see this trash peddled on Facebook and Xitter by deeply untrustworthy sources(like Post Media), maybe sit back and ask yourself if you are being manipulated, and if this is actually better for you and your country. Buying into divisive bull#### because you feel aggrieved by your own people is not a winning stance.

I just read Lorne Gunters piece, and besides ridiculous typos, it's a sad excuse for journalism reinforcing unreasearched data and positions because the "journalist" agrees with it, and is probably being compensated well to peddle it. An actual professional would be embarrassed to have their name next to it. Not once does he mention Smith begging for more immigrants in the past three years. Or fact check. And also take someone else's work, and expands conclusions beyond even what the data said.

This is the absolute garbage being put out by an American owned corporation convincing Albertans of a reality that does not exist, to support a dishonest hypocritical government. A real reporter would be asking why she changed her tune so suddenly, and if she was wrong before or now. Stop reading this propaganda.


https://edmontonjournal.com/opinion/...ndum-questions

[DJones]

Originally Posted by MonaTone

Except when the province does things like dismantle healthcare and funnel public health funds towards their wealthy buddies or circumvent enshrined rights to take healthcare away from specific groups of people for ideological reasons.

Then yeah, someone in Ottawa that we also elect should step in and make sure things foundational to the Canadian social contract are followed.

Crazy how every province in the country just breaks that social contract more and more each year requiring feds to encroach further and further.

But ya, that's usually where these conversations end up. People seem to hate the people around them and so hope that someone in Ottawa that aren't representative of their area can make decisions they like more. The fact that the politicians are so far away is almost a positive. Wild logic imo and one I'll never be able to understand.

Decisions and taxes should always be as local as possible. The whole system should be flipped upside down. My municipal government should get most of my money. Infrastructure, healthcare, and education where I live is most important. Then provincial. Then Federal.

I want to live and work and be in the community of the people making decisions. Crazy me I guess

[Fuzz]

Right, you want your own little fiefdom. I don't know why you can't grasp what you are asking for. It's small-minded and dumb, and the ridiculousness of the idea has been demonstrated by others here in the past.

[DJones]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

What's your obsession with distance? are you a Canadian? OK, you should know the country is big. It doesn't make a point valid. Maybe just do some reading and understanding. This does a good job explaining it.

https://www.canada.ca/en/health-cana...re-system.html

And you should care. Because if, say, BC decides to private all healthcare, and put all federal dollars into laser vision surgery for those with incomes about 500k a year, you are going to have a lot of people from BC coming here. And then Smith and the like will have to put up inter-provincial migration barriers, to prevent immigrants using up all our healthcare, and then we no longer live in a country.

Like, this isn't complicated stuff. It's covered in grade 10 social studies(please don't look that up).

Side note here, if you find yourself siding with positions that our enemies like Putin would like us to hold because it creates conflict, destroys economic certainty, and ultimately divides unions(Brexit?) and weakens adversaries, and you also see this trash peddled on Facebook and Xitter by deeply untrustworthy sources(like Post Media), maybe sit back and ask yourself if you are being manipulated, and if this is actually better for you and your country. Buying into divisive bull#### because you feel aggrieved by your own people is not a winning stance.

I just read Lorne Gunters piece, and besides ridiculous typos, it's a sad excuse for journalism reinforcing unreasearched data and positions because the "journalist" agrees with it, and is probably being compensated well to peddle it. An actual professional would be embarrassed to have their name next to it. Not once does he mention Smith begging for more immigrants in the past three years. Or fact check. And also take someone else's work, and expands conclusions beyond even what the data said.

This is the absolute garbage being put out by an American owned corporation convincing Albertans of a reality that does not exist, to support a dishonest hypocritical government. A real reporter would be asking why she changed her tune so suddenly, and if she was wrong before or now. Stop reading this propaganda.


https://edmontonjournal.com/opinion/...ndum-questions

Posting a generic link to irrelevant healthcare information than immediately going into a rant about BC breaking the single biggest rule in the Health Act is kinda funny. But yes, I am aware the Health transfer exists and private insurance is illegal

####, I've had these thoughts since before Putin was in power. Top down organizations end terribly. Taxation and decision making not lining up end terribly. Lack of personalized decision making ends terribly. None of these are originally or new ideas. It's simply wanting to be a more active participant in the decision making and big part of that is that decision making is localized as well as the tax revenue. Not every community is going to make the same decisions, it would be weird if they did.

Every country people seem to idolize globally are small tight knight countries with 5-10 million people. That seems to be the sweet spot.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by DJones

Posting a generic link to irrelevant healthcare information than immediately going into a rant about BC breaking the single biggest rule in the Health Act is kinda funny. But yes, I am aware the Health transfer exists.

####, I've had these thoughts since before Putin was in power. Top down organizations end terribly. Taxation and decision making not lining up end terribly. Lack of personalized decision making ends terribly. None of these are originally or new ideas. It's simply wanting to be a more active participant in the decision making and big part of that is that decision making is localized as well as the tax revenue. Not every community is going to make the same decisions, it would be weird if they did.

That's why it's such a frustrating conversation. They've been shown to not be successful, which is why no one lives like this.


And it wasn't a generic freekin' link, man. It's a clear explanation of the separations of responsibilities and powers, and if you understand reality, would be able to comprehend why it is the way it is with this document in hand. My example may have been extreme(I'm not sure how you read it as a rant, unless you don't know what the word means), but it's good of you to acknowledge that a breach is bad, and then maybe you'd understand how what you want would also lead to breaching, but the very nature of the ask. "We would like to be able to write our own rules" is kinda pointless if those rules are constrained in the same way as they are now, meaning they already have the power to do what you want. That you want MORE just proves my BC example is perfectly relevant as a possible direction without constraints.

[DJones]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

That's why it's such a frustrating conversation. They've been shown to not be successful, which is why no one lives like this.


And it wasn't a generic freekin' link, man. It's a clear explanation of the separations of responsibilities and powers, and if you understand reality, would be able to comprehend why it is the way it is with this document in hand. My example may have been extreme(I'm not sure how you read it as a rant, unless you don't know what the word means), but it's good of you to acknowledge that a breach is bad, and then maybe you'd understand how what you want would also lead to breaching, but the very nature of the ask. "We would like to be able to write our own rules" is kinda pointless if those rules are constrained in the same way as they are now, meaning they already have the power to do what you want. That you want MORE just proves my BC example is perfectly relevant as a possible direction without constraints.

I never doubted the feds authority of the health act or that they provide health funding. I do not understand what you think I was supposed to learn from that.

Don't get me wrong, I'd scrap the health act if I could as well. But that's not what I was talking about at all. Feds do healthcare transfers and the other major transfers to ensure the poorer provinces get more funding. That is the purpose of them, its a wealth transfer. The top 1/3 of provinces would actively be better off if the transfers were cut to zero. It is not the purpose of these federal transfers to strong arm provinces to follow new federal policies. That has been what its turned into. Federal politicians are encroaching on what is clearly provincial jurisdiction in order to push their policies. That is what I disagree with, that is what the referendum question refers too.

It's to get ahead and negate that top down decision making. If the feds want to blow billions on some new initiative that is provincial jurisdiction. Remove the ability for them to restrict funding if a province does not agree with it. That is a very simple request imo. Should have been in the constitution originally. We signed a bad day care deal that doesn't fit Alberta. The housing and infrastructure funds are huge wastes of money that could have been better spent in a hundred different ways and there was huge variances in regional spending. Trudeau strong arming provinces into spending the healthcare money based on federal demands is outrageous.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by DJones

I never doubted the feds authority of the health act or that they provide health funding. I do not understand what you think I was supposed to learn from that.

Don't get me wrong, I'd scrap the health act if I could as well. But that's not what I was talking about at all. Feds do healthcare transfers and the other major transfers to ensure the poorer provinces get more funding. That is the purpose of them, its a wealth transfer. The top 1/3 of provinces would actively be better off if the transfers were cut to zero. It is not the purpose of these federal transfers to strong arm provinces to follow new federal policies. That has been what its turned into. Federal politicians are encroaching on what is clearly provincial jurisdiction in order to push their policies. That is what I disagree with, that is what the referendum question refers too.

It's to get ahead and negate that top down decision making. If the feds want to blow billions on some new initiative that is provincial jurisdiction. Remove the ability for them to restrict funding if a province does not agree with it. That is a very simple request imo. Should have been in the constitution originally. We signed a bad day care deal that doesn't fit Alberta. The housing and infrastructure funds are huge wastes of money that could have been better spent in a hundred different ways and there was huge variances in regional spending. Trudeau strong arming provinces into spending the money based on federal demands is outrageous.

Can you explain what was so unique about Alberta that the daycare plans that work in Quebec, Ontario and BC would not work here