Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by MelBridgeman

What a vile evil thing to say

hahahaahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha hahhahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahhahahahahah ahahhahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahha hahahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahahhahahaha

[Muta]

Me, I want Alberta to work and partner with the federal government, not take a stance of constant hostility and rage (which is getting us nowhere). I want our provinces to stand in unity against antagonistic foreign discourse, and have out elected leaders lead that unity. Marlaina is not that, and she's embarrassing our province every single week.

Sorry... just tired of this UCP government's divisive and standoff-ish position to the rest of Canada, tired of their anti-democratic leadership style, tired of their attacks on municipalities, tired of their ass-backwards social positions and attacks on vulnerable Albertans, tired of their anti-business position on renewable energies and their take on our environmentally-sensitive areas, tired of their constant simping to Republicans, and tired of their reprehensibly corrupt behaviour.

Worst government in Canadian history, and that includes Trudeau's Liberals.

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by Doctorfever

Is this a homophobic slang? If so, please remove it.

That’s pretty low, even for you.

Hey the no-brain lemming is back! umm that's his goto slogan....

[Slava]

Originally Posted by BoLevi

The reason the feds had to do TMX is because they killed it first.

No. They bought the project from Kinder Morgan, and it was still alive. However, there were going to be a lot of challenges and risks to the project. The private industry wasn't willing to take that kind of risk. If Kinder Morgan just abandoned it, the expansion wouldn't have been built. So, the government bought it and completed it. You can criticize that for many things, but supporting the industry isn't one of them.

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by Muta

Me, I want Alberta to work and partner with the federal government, not take a stance of constant hostility and rage (which is getting us nowhere). I want our provinces to stand in unity against antagonistic foreign discourse, and have out elected leaders lead that unity. Marlaina is not that, and she's embarrassing our province every single week.

Sorry... just tired of this UCP government's divisive and standoff-ish position to the rest of Canada, tired of their anti-democratic leadership style, tired of their attacks on municipalities, tired of their ass-backwards social positions and attacks on vulnerable Albertans, tired of their anti-business position on renewable energies and their take on our environmentally-sensitive areas, tired of their constant simping to Republicans, and tired of their reprehensibly corrupt behaviour.

Worst government in Canadian history, and that includes Trudeau's Liberals.

Ummm the trudeau libs were still light years better than the Kenny Wildrose.

unless he was playing 4d chess with that 1.4 billion donation.

[BoLevi]

Originally Posted by Torture

Man these arguments just go in circles don't they?

Smith does something that seems outrageous. 'BUT TRUDEAU WANTS TO KILL ALBERTA AND OIL AND GAS'

Somehow this is a get out of jail card for anything and everything Smith does is okay because 10 years ago Northern Gateway and Energy East were cancelled - both of which probably wouldn't have been built because they were flawed projects. Repeat the same flawed arguments for equalization. Or the Carbon Tax. Or CPP. Or Quebec.

We get it. You're angry. It's not fair. Trudeau sucks. Alberta is the best province and we get treated unfairly because everybody is jealous. Quebec gets pandered to. O&G is life.
None of this has anything to do with Smith 'negotiating' with the man that is musing about annexing the entire country or makes it okay in any way.

She has done nothing outragous.

I think the posters here who are so upset at Smith forget one very important fact: Canada's best interests and Alberta's best interest are not in very close alignment. They have not been in close alignment for a very long time. It is unlikely that they ever will be in close alignment.

Canada's approach should be to immediately concede to Alberta on significant issues in exchange for the ability to use the single most important bargaining chip Canada has. The alternative is to try to use that bargaining chip in an antagonistic way, but that will accomplish nothing as it will simply create a constitutional crisis on top of our current political chaos.

[Muta]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

Ummm the trudeau libs were still light years better than the Kenny Wildrose.

unless he was playing 4d chess with that 1.4 billion donation.

Agreed - I meant Marlaina's government is still worse than Trudeau's liberals. Kenney giving away $1.4B is reprehensible, I agree. The fact that this isn't talked about more... probably the single-most waste of money in Canadian history. But, if I had a choice, I would take him 10/10 times over Marlaina's embarrassing political racket.

[Doctorfever]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

Hey the no-brain lemming is back! umm that's his goto slogan....

Who uses that term? You posting it is the first time I recall seeing it here.

C’mon man. Just remove it.

[Makarov]

Originally Posted by BoLevi

My response was to the claim that the federal gov't can levy taxes on Alberta oil exports. If they tried, then that would immediately initiate a constitutional crisis, as that is within Smith's power to do.

Sorry, but how does Premier Smith have the power to unilaterally initiate a "constitutional crisis"? I mean, she could challenge the constitutionality of legislation passed by the federal government to prohibit or limit the export of energy products to the United States, but that's just an application to court, not a "crisis". Also, I'm far from an expert in constitutional law, but the Constitution Act, 1867 seems to clearly give the federal government the authority to regulate the international and interprovincial trade of energy and energy products. Doesn't seem like much of a crisis to me?

[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.

A new section of the Constitution Act, 1982 purports to clarify the extent to which provinces may manage their resources, giving them exclusive power to make laws dealing with the development, conservation and management of nonrenewable resources and forestry resources, and to regulate the rate of primary production from these resources. Parliament has paramount jurisdiction to regulate interprovincial and export trade in natural resources, and both levels of government are given full powers of taxation.

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.

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by Doctorfever

Who uses that term? You posting it is the first time I recall seeing it here.

C’mon man. Just remove it.

Oh i thought he typed that before. Ugh i had go into his previous posts and read all that kyit he posts again.

Take the L Mrfever lol

[Makarov]

Originally Posted by BoLevi

She has done nothing outragous.

I think the posters here who are so upset at Smith forget one very important fact: Canada's best interests and Alberta's best interest are not in very close alignment. They have not been in close alignment for a very long time. It is unlikely that they ever will be in close alignment.

I'm going to need to see some sources that prove that "one very important fact". That's a pretty extraordinary claim.

[Torture]

Originally Posted by BoLevi

She has done nothing outragous.

Canada's approach should be to immediately concede to Alberta on significant issues in exchange for the ability to use the single most important bargaining chip Canada has. The alternative is to try to use that bargaining chip in an antagonistic way, but that will accomplish nothing as it will simply create a constitutional crisis on top of our current political chaos.

lolwut?

Canada doesn't need to concede #### to Alberta because Canada literally has the authority to regulate international trade. Cause 'Canada' is a country and Alberta is not. Alberta is part of Canada, which you, Smith, and O'Leary seem to forget. You might take issue with our 'deal' in confederation, fine. But Alberta doesn't exist without Canada. Most of us would like to keep it that way.

[Doctorfever]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

Oh i thought he typed that before. Ugh i had go into his previous posts and read all that kyit he posts again.

Take the L Mrfever lol

I will take the W.

Thanks for changing the post.

[MelBridgeman]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

Sorry snowflake. Take the D.

I learn from the best

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Slava

No. They bought the project from Kinder Morgan, and it was still alive. However, there were going to be a lot of challenges and risks to the project. The private industry wasn't willing to take that kind of risk. If Kinder Morgan just abandoned it, the expansion wouldn't have been built. So, the government bought it and completed it. You can criticize that for many things, but supporting the industry isn't one of them.

And it turned out KM were right, there were some very expensive challenges that came up, like the Barnaby section. But Trudeau deemed it important enough to continue funding, with taxpayer dollars from ALL Canadians, to get Alberta's product to an international market. He also stood by while the courts decided on territorial and environmental issues. He didn't fold up the project at the first signs of adversity. And yet, the snowflakes claim persecution, and that all the rest of Canada does is take. It's pathetic.

[MelBridgeman]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

Oh i thought he typed that before. Ugh i had go into his previous posts and read all that kyit he posts again.

Take the L Mrfever lol

Take the L flocon de neige!

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Muta

Me, I want Alberta to work and partner with the federal government, not take a stance of constant hostility and rage (which is getting us nowhere). I want our provinces to stand in unity against antagonistic foreign discourse, and have out elected leaders lead that unity. Marlaina is not that, and she's embarrassing our province every single week.

Sorry... just tired of this UCP government's divisive and standoff-ish position to the rest of Canada, tired of their anti-democratic leadership style, tired of their attacks on municipalities, tired of their ass-backwards social positions and attacks on vulnerable Albertans, tired of their anti-business position on renewable energies and their take on our environmentally-sensitive areas, tired of their constant simping to Republicans, and tired of their reprehensibly corrupt behaviour.

Worst government in Canadian history, and that includes Trudeau's Liberals.

They don’t seem to be big fans of workers rights either.

[MelBridgeman]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

They don’t seem to be big fans of workers rights either.

What rights do legal workers not have?

[Dion]

A Vote for the UCP Is a Vote for Wage Suppression

In a study prepared by economist Jim Stanford and released jointly this week by the Alberta Federation of Labour and the Centre for Future Work, we show that Alberta’s record on wage growth under the UCP has been the worst among all Canadian provinces.

That’s right: despite the fact that Alberta is the wealthiest province in the country, when it comes to wage growth, we’re dead last.

Over the past four years, weekly wages in Alberta grew by an average of 2.3 per cent annually, far below the Canadian average of 3.9 per cent.

The wages earned by many other Canadians are falling behind inflation, too. But, here in Alberta, workers are falling behind faster than anywhere else. In fact, if the current trends persist, Alberta may soon lose its position as Canada’s highest-wage province to places like B.C., Ontario or Quebec.

It’s important for Alberta voters to understand that this is no accident. Instead, it’s the result of what can only be described as a deliberate wage suppression strategy implemented by the UCP over the past four years.

First, the UCP has frozen the minimum wage — and cut it by $2 for workers under the age of 18.

While other provinces increased their minimum wage rates by an average of 26 per cent over the past four years, under the UCP Alberta’s minimum wage remained the same, even as inflation spiked.

If the Alberta minimum wage had kept up with inflation, it would be $17 today, instead of $15.

Alberta workers understand that failing to increase wages to match inflation is the same thing as a wage cut. So, essentially, the UCP has cut the wages of our province’s lowest paid workers by $2 per hour (and by $4 for teenagers).

The second thing the UCP did to reduce wages for Albertans was to make it harder for workers to join unions and easier for Alberta employers to bust existing unions.

Under the UCP, workers now have to go through a much longer and more complicated process to join a union.

The UCP has also refused to abolish the practice of “double-breasting,” which allows employers in the construction sector to spin off new non-union arms whenever a group of workers is successful in organizing a union.

They have also refused to stop employers from “contract flipping” — a process currently being used by Imperial Oil to replace a unionized work-camp contractor with a non-union contractor, which will pay its workers 17 per cent less.

You don’t have to be a fan of unions to understand that these kinds of attacks on workplace rights undermine worker bargaining power — and weakened worker bargaining power means lower wages for all workers, not just union members.

https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2023/05/2...e-Suppression/