Alberta Politics & Government Thread 3.0

[Fuzz]

More good use of our tax dollars while they lie to our faces and stuff #### down our throats no one asked for. Who could have seen this coming? It's a total shock.

[puffnstuff]

Oh and about those renewables rules they came up with? The AUC report says not so much needed

https://calgary.citynews.ca/2024/03/...e-environment/

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by puffnstuff

Oh and about those renewables rules they came up with? The AUC report says not so much needed

https://calgary.citynews.ca/2024/03/...e-environment/

Ya, well, Danielle Smith has heard enough from the experts, and she's going a different direction. Look at the mess those experts have got our electrical system in! Time to talk to the industries naturopaths for a real solution.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Point Blank

Normally I’d agree with you, but this government has been so utterly incompetent that it’s refreshing to finally hear someone call them out on it. Fumbling money away to due to shortsightedness while telling us how this next season is going to be so fiscally challenging, and then picking fights against trans kids while no one has access to a family doctor and education funding per child is the lowest in all of Canada. People need to know all the stupid #### this government has done.

Nenshi is also campaigning against other NDP leadership hopefuls right now. Not Danielle Smith.

The next election is 3 years and Nenshi has been in a party leadership race for two full days. Some of the criticisms and questions are absurd at this point. It’s just dumb one note critics with only one card to play.

[Muta]

Alberta commission finds renewables pose little threat to agriculture, environment

https://calgaryherald.com/business/e...re-environment

EDMONTON — Alberta’s utilities regulator has released a report saying the province’s booming renewables industry poses little threat to its agriculture or the environment.

“Assuming all renewable development locates on (some of Alberta’s best) land, the percentage of (such) agricultural land loss is estimated to be less than one per cent by 2041,” says the Alberta Utilities Commission report, released Wednesday.

The commission takes a similar view of concerns that solar and wind facilities could leave landowners and the public with big bills for reclamation at the end of their lives.

“Compared to some other forms of industrial development, renewable power plant projects have well-understood and relatively contained reclamation risks,” it says. “The risks associated with groundwater and off-site contamination are generally low.”

Marlaina and the United Clown Party won't like this report, that's for sure. "THAT'S NOT THE REPORT WE WERE LOOKING FOR"

Worst government in Canadian history.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Point Blank

Normally I’d agree with you, but this government has been so utterly incompetent that it’s refreshing to finally hear someone call them out on it. Fumbling money away to due to shortsightedness while telling us how this next season is going to be so fiscally challenging, and then picking fights against trans kids while no one has access to a family doctor and education funding per child is the lowest in all of Canada. People need to know all the stupid #### this government has done.

Since you brought up the education spending and I don't think anyone has mentioned that yet in this discussion I'll add some thoughts about the recently released infographic that lots of folks are upset about.

This is the chart that came out a few weeks ago and shows that Alberta is the lowest:

Spoiler!

While it does shows that Alberta is represented by the lowest number I don't think the story is entirely about Alberta being the worst because there are a variety of numbers, both operating and capital expenditures, that roll into that amount and arguably it is positive to be low on some of those metrics.

A fuller view of the data behind that graph can be found here (you also need to find the StatCan student enrollment numbers which I don't have a link for readily available):
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1...pid=3710006501

I'm not an accountant or financial professional but I do work in finance and work with data and generate reports of all types for our finance teams so that they can monitor performance.

A quick look at the data shows that teachers salaries are part of that spending number and Alberta is third from the bottom with Sask and BC having lower spending in that category. This is a highly contentious line item because it can be argued both ways as to whether or not a low number here is good. As a comparison, Yukon is almost two times the Canada national amount and NWT is more than 4 times the Canada amount. Is that a good thing for their spending per student bottom line number?

Another very similar line item is administrative spending where Alberta is second lowest with only Nova Scotia being lower. This is a number that again can be argued that lower is better.

Transportation is another line item that is up for discussion and Alberta is third from the bottom with only NWT and BC spending less (BC spends more than half as much as Alberta.) There aren't more details in Transportation but a lot of this expense is likely fuel and maintenance so a lower number is probably good here. Although school boards in Alberta have been passing along more transportation costs to the families in recent years.

Instructional supplies is another line item and surprisingly is near the top here with only NWT and Manitoba spending more. Alberta is almost two times the Canada amount. This is probably a good thing although again without more details we don't know what it is hidden in that line item.

Then there is school facility services and other operating expenditures where Alberta is at the bottom of the list again. But is that necessarily bad? Maybe not because this is where costs such as utilities come in. Lower operating costs are obviously a good thing so a smaller number makes sense. But this is also represents things like maintenance and obviously we want our students going to schools that are properly maintained.

Capital Expenditure is where Alberta does fall short and does need to invest more money because this relates to school availability and classroom sizes and what not.

There is also debt charges on capital expenditures as a line item and Alberta is again near the bottom of the list. Can't argue about low being good here although to some degree this number might correlate to capital expenditure depending on funding models for capital projects.

So really, is it all that bad or worrying that Alberta ranks last in "education spending" as laid out with these numbers? No, not really because some of this relates to a lower cost environment that we operate in.

That graph conveniently left Yukon and NWT off because Yukon is almost twice the national number and NWT is 3.5x. Should the spending amount per student in the territories be celebrated? Are they doing something exceptional for their students by having such high "education spending"?

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by Flames0910

Chabot, Mclean and Nixon.

What a giant bag of #######s. Sad (but not surprised) to see two of the most spineless sitting councillors carrying water for the UCP.

https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/co...mith-anger-ego

McLean: Nenshi is "far left", "tax and spend"!

Fact: Municipal taxes went down per capita adjusted for inflation basically every year Nenshi was Mayor.

Chabot: "The people in my riding didn't like Nenshi!"

Fact: Nenshi won ward 10 in all three of Nenshi's elections.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

McLean: Nenshi is "far left", "tax and spend"!

Fact: Municipal taxes went down per capita adjusted for inflation basically every year Nenshi was Mayor.

Chabot: "The people in my riding didn't like Nenshi!"

Fact: Nenshi won ward 10 in all three of Nenshi's elections.

Facts don't actually matter anymore. You can spew whatever bull#### you want to colour the discussion, then you win. Worked for Smith.

[Harry Lime]

I'll wait for someone else to break down geologists post, because I don't have the time this morning, but I will say that 'can be argued', but not well. The territories are clear outliers due to building and staffing in the nearly inaccessible. That is an entirely different subject where education is just a symptom. No point in using them as examples of anything. (Other than the fact that they used to use the Alberta curriculum, and abandoned it after the Kennying).

[Regorium]

Originally Posted by DoubleK

You might be dumber, but if the quotes truly are quotes, it seems unnecessary that Nenshi is repeatedly attacking Smith every time he's in front of a microphone.

People want to hear why he's different aside from Nenshi good, Smith bad.

No, I would completely disagree with your premise that people want to hear about something different. Trump and conservatives in general have shown that people don't care at all about policy at any level deeper than wide-sweeping high level three word sayings like "Axe the Tax".

The way to win modern elections is to make the opponent look as bad as possible, while doubling and tripling down on everything about yourself. An example is how Nenshi owned his baggage and made a joke about elephant steamer trunks from the opposition.

The fact that Nenshi is extremely capable of developing and implementing policy is just money in the bank - but is definitely not something that needs to be shown on the campaign trail. That just makes him "smug".

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by Muta

Alberta commission finds renewables pose little threat to agriculture, environment

https://calgaryherald.com/business/e...re-environment



Marlaina and the United Clown Party won't like this report, that's for sure. "THAT'S NOT THE REPORT WE WERE LOOKING FOR"

Worst government in Canadian history.

It explains perfectly why the report wasn't released on the day of the announcement.

I still can't believe they did this. Those dollars are going to be spent elsewhere.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by DoubleK

It explains perfectly why the report wasn't released on the day of the announcement.

I still can't believe they did this. Those dollars are going to be spent elsewhere.

You can't believe Smith is barreling down an ideological road that has no expert support, costs us money, and is actually bad for our economy?



How many times does she need to do these things before EVERYONE can actually just sit back and say "yup, that's exactly how we expected this to go". I'm kinda blown away people expect anything different. This was no secret of hers, well BEFORE the election. But Albertans really seem to like to punch themselves in the dick. So here we are. Enjoy the dick punches, we have at least 3 more years of them thanks to our super great voters who somehow couldn't see this coming, or worse, actually want this kind of ####.

[Hemi-Cuda]

The entire history of the UCP so far can be summed up like Russian history, "And then things got worse". I'd like to say I'm disappointed in the average Albertan voter, but the election and everything since then has gone pretty much how I expected. Conservatives seem quite happy to eat #### off a plate that Danielle serves them as long as "liberals" have to eat just a little bit more

[DoubleK]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

You can't believe Smith is barreling down an ideological road that has no expert support, costs us money, and is actually bad for our economy?

The fact that they directed the AUC to conduct an inquiry and basically ignored the advice from the inquiry.

This was my point all along. The existing AUC rules adequately addressed everything they were concerned about.

[Mathgod]

Ever since she sang Trump's praises in response to his Muslim ban announcement in 2016, I knew she was big trouble for this province. She's Alberta's version of Trump. Sadly we might be stuck with her for a long time.

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by Mathgod

Ever since she sang Trump's praises in response to his Muslim ban announcement in 2016, I knew she was big trouble for this province. She's Alberta's version of Trump. Sadly we might be stuck with her for a long time.

The fracture will likely have to come within.

[Jimmy Stang]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

The fracture will likely have to come within.

She saw what happened to Kenney when he wasn't taking Alberta back far enough for Take Back Alberta.

She is completed owned by TBA, and owes them a fair bit for ousting Kenney and getting her into the Premier's office in the first place. And if she doesn't comply, there will be someone worse waiting in the wings. Even Kenney himself warned about this, as if his bar wasn't low enough.

At some point, they might become too disgusting for a lot of these blue sign voters. Smith should've been that threshold with all of those red flags, but... here we are.

[Ozy_Flame]

Blue voters won't do jack#### in today's politics unless it hits them in the wallet. They don't care about social regressiveness. Things that politicians couldn't even attempt 10-15 years ago they're getting away with no reprecussions today.

In saying that, the NDP would do well to start tallying up the costs the UCP are piling up on average Albertans, and keep hammering home that message.

- $1B wasted on a pipeline to nowhere
- $120 million on a War Room
- $11B in lost renewable energy investment
- out-of-control utility costs
- rapidly inflating insurance costs
- Jason Kenney's "Job Creation tax cut" to the tune of $4.7B for energy companies that did not re-create jobs for Albertans (failed 'trickle down' economics, yet again)
- giving money to O/G companies to clean up their wells they're required to clean up anyways by law
- $3.5 million wasted on a report by Steve Allen for foreign-funded anti-energy campaigns that found no wrongdoing
- Buyout of Dynalife after botched privitization
- $75 million for Turkish medicine that was improperly procured and vetted and thrown to the scrap pile
- $250,000 to Preston Manning to write a biased, unscientific and gaslighting report he effectively wrote a year before
- Refusing to build much needed hospitals and in effect perpetuating capacity issues at others and leaving taxpayers with the fallout (e.g. the refusal to build the South Edmonton hospital)
- Contemplating wasting $2.2 billion to set up an Alberta pension plan
- Contemplating wasting untold hundreds of millions on an Alberta Revenue Agency to duplicate the work of the Federal government
- Frivolous lawsuits against the federal government
- Contemplating wasting $336 million to set up an Alberta police force no one wants, and $200 million per year in annual costs to maintain
- inflationary rent prices due to lack of housing / no housing plan
- $330 million of taxpayer dollars to a pro hockey team's arena
- environmental damage by allowing coal drilling and new coal projects that will have downstream effects
- Spending taxpayer money on staff and resources to spend multiple nights galivanting with an extreme right-wing Fox news host who immediately goes and sucks Putin's weiner the following week
- $100 million+ towards charter schools most Albertan's kids will never be able to attend

These are just the ones off the top of my head. I am confident there are more specific cases of corporate welfare, tax revenue shifting and tax downloading to other jurisdictions by their own hand, which in effect will create collateral costs for Albertans.

This government doesn't look out for Albertans at all. They look out for the loud political wonks on ideological lines while grifting average Albertans where it hurts.

[Looch City]

Omg I had totally forgotten about the war room!

What's that giant pile of #### room been up to lately? Still grifting away with conspiracy posts on Twitter/LinkedIn?

[woob]

Ozy, you should send your list into Nenshi.