Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[edslunch]

Originally Posted by troutman

I really don’t think Smith wants separation. She is only trying to prevent a splinter party.

Indeed, she probably thinks she should be PM one day.

The thing is, splinters make good kindling. She’s playing with fire here and fans it just about every time she (Ottawa) opens (Feds) her (killing our industry) mouth (hostile government).

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Originally Posted by Wolven

Yes it does.



I equated injecting mine water underground to dumping it. Basically any time people try to hide toxic stuff instead of remediating it is dumping.

Well then, you didn’t read the article. It was actually well balanced as it noted there were 5 different proposals, none of which on their own would be a solution to tailings ponds. It also indicated that injecting this waste water underground would also be in competition with with carbon sequestration. Bottom line there are no easy solutions, but at least they are looking at it.

Now, if you want to speculate that Smith will #### up the politics in this decision, I am right there with you, but if you simply equate what they are studying as “dumping”, that just speaks to your ignorance on the issue.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by troutman

I really don’t think Smith wants separation. She is only trying to prevent a splinter party.

Indeed, she probably thinks she should be PM one day.

I dunno, have you ever heard a word out of her mouth that indicates she cares about Canada, or any other part of the country? Even before being premiere she'd constantly #### on every other part of the country.

And the evidence shows, she has actual separatists in her government actively working to separate. She has not reprimanded them or attempted in any way to guide them elsewhere. Letting the separatist train get to full speed, and then jumping into the engineer seat is essentially where I see this going.

[btimbit]

Exactly. She'll fan the flames while pretending to stay out of it, while also giving a voice to the loud minority. The she'll jump on board pretending 'well it's clearly what the people want so I listened'

[puffnstuff]

Theres a reason she has that libertarian tattoo on her arm...

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by puffnstuff

Theres a reason she has that libertarian tattoo on her arm...

She also had one too many drinks at an Ayn Rand Invitational Train Symposium and made poor choices? Damn, what a coincidence.

[Fuzz]

Spoiler!

https://bsky.app/profile/thebreakdow.../3lul3f5zhfs2x

"Disregard the incorrect letter" without specifying which one is incorrect is top notch HR'ing. Wouldn't want to be needing an ambulance today, they are probably pretty mentally distracted form their jobs.

[puffnstuff]

Environmental lawyers are asking Alberta's ethics commissioner to investigate an energy regulator board member and adviser to Premier Danielle Smith for conflicts of interest.

Susanne Calabrese, a lawyer for Ecojustice, says David Yager's appointments combined with his history of consulting for oil and gas companies put him at odds when he was hired to craft a government strategy for managing inactive oil wells.

https://www.thealbertan.com/alberta-...viser-10975814


If only we had a real ethics officer. Wasnt one of the first things Smith did was takeover the ethics office?

[Fuzz]

https://bsky.app/profile/nigelb.bsky.../3lulbrvh6ik2h


I guess this is where we exchange nearly $150 million for...nothing. Not even Turkish Tylenol! Do we put this under the "fine fiscal management policy making us satisfied of our vote for the UCP and the job they are doing?" I'm baffled where to file this one.

I also assume this isn't the last we see of these.

[Johnny Makarov]

When is she going to do another rightwing deplorable concert tour? with our money.

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by Fighting Banana Slug

Well then, you didn’t read the article. It was actually well balanced as it noted there were 5 different proposals, none of which on their own would be a solution to tailings ponds. It also indicated that injecting this waste water underground would also be in competition with with carbon sequestration. Bottom line there are no easy solutions, but at least they are looking at it.

Now, if you want to speculate that Smith will #### up the politics in this decision, I am right there with you, but if you simply equate what they are studying as “dumping”, that just speaks to your ignorance on the issue.

Yes, I noted the 5 different proposals.

Did you note the feedback from the Environment Defence advocacy group?

Alienor Rougeot, the senior program manager of climate and energy with advocacy group Environmental Defence, said she's happy to see the Alberta government recognize the urgency of the tailings ponds, but she's skeptical underground disposal is as safe as the committee is making it out to be.

"I don't know that we are at a stage where we could even say if we can safely inject anything down there," she said, adding that any tailings disposed underground would have to be treated completely.

In a letter accompanying the recommendations, Yao wrote that the committee "is satisfied" that technology exists to treat and safely release tailings water.

Rougeot said such a claim is news to her.

"If they have a solution to fully treat the water to a quality that's good enough to be put into the environment, that water should be good enough to be back into the production process," she said, noting the committee's report states oilsands mining operations use about 220-billion litres of fresh water every year.

Rougeot said if the government is serious about tackling the problem of tailings in the oilsands it should make a requirement that companies can no longer use fresh water in their mining operations, especially if the technology exists to treat it to a degree that's safe for environmental release as Yao wrote.

"There's more than enough existing tailings volumes to meet all the needs of all the production on a given day," she said.

"I want to see first a 100 per cent reuse rate of the existing tailings, and then we can talk about disposal."

UCP created panels say a lot of stuff and then magically get to the worst possible solution for the people that often benefits corporate / rich people and lie about the rest.

When you combine the stories between the O&G companies trying to get unrestricted access to water and also looking for the "best" solution for dumping tailings water, it should alarm anyone who lives in that northern watershed.

If you want to trust that they are acting in good faith... that's on you and your knowledge/ignorance of the issue.

[Torture]

Well this is dumb. Stay in your lane Smith.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith thinks authorities should be looking for a “better way” than a mass cull to deal with a British Columbia ostrich farm that suffered an outbreak of avian flu.
She says she’s open minded" and “supportive” of the United States partnering with B.C. to study the flock.


U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote to the CFIA offering to jointly study the birds, while former TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz, now the administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, has offered to house them at his ranch in Florida.

“I gather that the U.S. government is interested in partnering with B.C.,” Smith said Tuesday.

“If they wanted to do that, I’d be supportive of that because you can see that this case has really taken on a lot of public sentiment behind it, and if we can find a better way than doing mass culls in any situation like this, I think it’s probably worth it to try to find a better way to do it.”

https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/art...-by-avian-flu/

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by Torture

Well this is dumb. Stay in your lane Smith.



https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/art...-by-avian-flu/

We could try using our Turkish Tylenol on them.

...........I mean on the deplorables. not the Ostriches.

[puffnstuff]

Imagine hearing rfk jr talk about health or science and then thinking to yourself 'you know what...heroin addict-brain worm-whale decapitator makes a good point about those ostriches'

[direwolf]

Smith can shut the f*** up and keep her stupid bulls*** out of BC, thank you very much. Stay in your goddamn lane and piss off.

Kennedy Jr. can also just stay on his side of the border and kindly go f*** himself.

[Duruss]

Originally Posted by direwolf

Smith can shut the f*** up and keep her stupid bulls*** out of BC, thank you very much. Stay in your goddamn lane and piss off.

Kennedy Jr. can also just stay on his side of the border and kindly go f*** himself.

She's such a hypocrite and I know she knows this. Jow often has she told other to stay in their lane" while she personally sticks her stupid F'ing face in everything!

[Codes]

Originally Posted by Torture

Well this is dumb. Stay in your lane Smith.



https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/art...-by-avian-flu/

This whole situation is really pissing me off. We're more than capable of doing this kind of research, and of course we do, but we don't need their random ostriches to do it. She is wholly unqualified to have a position on this matter.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Danielle Smith is an expert on bird brains.

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by Codes

This whole situation is really pissing me off. We're more than capable of doing this kind of research, and of course we do, but we don't need their random ostriches to do it. She is wholly unqualified to have a position on this matter.

She doesn't have a position. Her mouth is moving because the American hand up her backside is driving it.

If CSIS seized her phone and laptop, I wonder how much evidence of 'foreign influence' they would find.

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Originally Posted by Wolven

Didn't they also just change the rules so the Oilsands companies could just dump their tailings water without all of the fuss?

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmon...tion-1.7560144

At a time when these companies are prioritizing profits above all else and are actually being pretty horrible to Albertans (laying off thousands over the last few years) deregulating and making it easier for them to do bad things to the environment is not the responsible move for the government that represents the people.

Originally Posted by Wolven

Yes, I noted the 5 different proposals.

Did you note the feedback from the Environment Defence advocacy group?



UCP created panels say a lot of stuff and then magically get to the worst possible solution for the people that often benefits corporate / rich people and lie about the rest.

When you combine the stories between the O&G companies trying to get unrestricted access to water and also looking for the "best" solution for dumping tailings water, it should alarm anyone who lives in that northern watershed.

If you want to trust that they are acting in good faith... that's on you and your knowledge/ignorance of the issue.

I was responding to your earlier claims that they “just change the rules to let Oilsands companies dump their tailings without all the fuss”. That is plain wrong. Skepticism on alternatives to ponds is fine and even more skepticism on how the GoA will act is prudent.