Alberta Politics Thread v2

[Ozy_Flame]

Yeah I've work for municipal and provincial governments in the past, the amount of slacking off / people working hard is no different there than any other big corporation.

Only thing I noticed differently was that there were people more comfortable in their jobs and less stressed, likely from not constantly worrying about raises/promotions/transgressions at work. It was quite nice at times really, because most people were pleasant and helpful.

[Poster]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

Or then you have near-criminal groups like DHL that charge nearly 100$ in import fees even if the original shipper includes all customs and import costs initially.

I don’t think you know how the industry works. Take it to a new thread.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Poster

I don’t think you know how the industry works. Take it to a new thread.

Or maybe you don’t?

I think we all understand that if the rest of the common couriers are charging around a certain amount, while UPS and DHL charge considerably more, that’s it’s probably bad business. The existence of the fees are not the issue, it’s the amount charges by two couriers specifically.

Go look it up, you’ll see plenty of suggestions to ask for literally any other courier or to clear the package yourself if you see it’s coming through UPS or DHL. Wonder why that is.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Dion

Lorne Gunter given a sneek peak of the NDP campaign brochures for the spring election. Says the party is going to promote leader Rachel Notley as opposed to the party itself. They are gambling on Notley's approval ratings
https://edmontonsun.com/opinion/columnists/gunter-2

Honestly, I get that, I really do.

Over the past year Notley has proven to be an intelligent and effective leader as well as a very intelligent person.

That said, she allowed herself to be led around by the nose by her party's preposterously naive and economically disastrous ethos until even a blind idiot could tell that you couldnt get away with it anymore.

And then all of a sudden she became a pitbull fighting for Albertans and Pipelines.

Unfortunately I'm not among the people who will be willing to forgive her for years of pathetic incompetence because she managed to realize that it was time to close the barn doors after the horses had not only already escaped but lived a long and full but fruitless life and then been turned into glue.

Too little. Too late. And even though she started fighting for Albertans which has been a refreshing change of pace, she hasnt actually won any of those fights. Primarily because she handicapped herself at the start with a vehement anti-fossil fuels stance that is consistently thrown back in her face to the detriment of all of us.

I'm not going to pat Notley on the back for turning Alberta into an Economic wasteland, cranking our taxes up while spending us into oblivion and then eventually figuring out that maybe that wasnt such a good idea and perhaps not in Albertans' best interests....but still not changing anything.

Notley, as the NDP, is just pure 'late-to-the-party' lipservice. She's spent more time undoing her own screwups than anything actually progressive.

Sure, theres a few diamonds in the rough amongst NDP policy but most of it....ironically, is worthless Coal.

Will Notley throw her party under the bus to have any hope of re-election? Absolutely not. Because she wont have to, her party will willingly lay down in front of that bus because its their only chance and they know it.

That said, I think that Bus is out of gas anyways and the NDP dont believe in Fossil Fuels so they should be safe lying in the road.

[White Out 403]

It's incredible watching conservatives drive our province drunkenly off a cliff after decades of infrastructure mismanagement and pissing away royalties, then crap on the NDP for not fixing 40 years of bad conservative polices in a mere 4 years. Astonishing.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by White Out 403

It's incredible watching conservatives drive our province drunkenly off a cliff after decades of infrastructure mismanagement and pissing away royalties, then crap on the NDP for not fixing 40 years of bad conservative polices in a mere 4 years. Astonishing.

Whataboutism at its finest.

Dont worry, I'm sure if you keep trying you'll come up with something worth saying eventually.

[White Out 403]

Originally Posted by Locke

Whataboutism at its finest.

Dont worry, I'm sure if you keep trying you'll come up with something worth saying eventually.

Actually it's commentary on the reality the NDP had to face same as Obama after ####ty conservative policies in the states.

And guess what? When another ####ty Conservative government can't make oil 100 a barrel again and our economy continues to struggle who will be blamed then? Trudeau?

[Poster]

@pepsi free (not sure why I cant quote you)

i have been in senior excecutive / ownership in the industry for going on 25 years, i assure you i know how it works.

start a new thread if you want to debate it further.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Locke

Whataboutism at its finest.

Dont worry, I'm sure if you keep trying you'll come up with something worth saying eventually.

To be fair, a lot of what you said could absolutely be said about the previous 10-15 years of PC governing.

It’s not whataboutism, it’s the unfortunate fact that this province has been run people who were either inept or misguided for years beyond anything the NDP has done.

PC overspending us into oblivion? Check.
PC years of pathetic incompetence? Check.
PCs guilty of “too little, too late”? Check.
PCs helping to turn us into a economic wasteland? Check.

It isn’t “the PCs did this so you can’t criticise the NDPs,” it’s about being honest that this problem isn’t isolated to this government, and we’re pretty much F’d either way. I don’t see anyone stepping up to fix the problems on both sides of the ledger. Until they do, we’re just going to go ditch to ditch.

[Ozy_Flame]

Just saw a commercial for the UCP and how Jason Kenney is going to fix the economy and put everyone back to work. I'm going to ask the next PC door-knocker about every nook and cranny of that plan and what evidence they have they are going to solve everything.

[White Out 403]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Just saw a commercial for the UCP and how Jason Kenney is going to fix the economy and put everyone back to work. I'm going to ask the next PC door-knocker about every nook and cranny of that plan and what evidence they have they are going to solve everything.

Magic

[GGG]

Originally Posted by White Out 403

Actually it's commentary on the reality the NDP had to face same as Obama after ####ty conservative policies in the states.

And guess what? When another ####ty Conservative government can't make oil 100 a barrel again and our economy continues to struggle who will be blamed then? Trudeau?

Are you upset about the lack of conservatism that the Alberta conservatives displayed. Because Alberta has always been a tax and spend province outside of 4 years of Klein austerity. That spending was supported by oil revenues and supported some of the highest per capita spending in Canada.

So unless you are complaining that the conservatives weren’t conservatives enough I’m not sure you can blame small c conservative policies as Alberta didn’t really have them. They like other provinces taxed at the minimum rate to support program spending and never cut programs.

The federa government should be blamed whether it is Trudeau or someone else. The failure to get market value for our oil is what is affecting this province. 50 WTI on $15 diff makes a reasonably profitable Alberta

[GullFoss]

Originally Posted by White Out 403

Well, this is all the evidence I need.

In my own experience I've found quite the opposite.

Not sure what department you worked for, but I found this to be the case in multiple departments in Ottawa, both from personal experience and speaking with friends that work in various departments including enviornment, nrcan, defense, health and fisheries. It was worse anywhere there was a large research/policy component to your team where judgement and discretion was required to direct the research and policy work. Because very few people had any sort of quality judgement.

The most four most blatent examples were the "make work" projects that never went anywhere (composing 50%+ of peoples time), empire building by managers (which led to ever bloated salaries and make work projects to justify the additional workers), the gaming of the pension calculations to maximize payout and the sheer amount of work that was done to satisfy the whim of a superior so your manager could play for a promotion. I also noticed people spent 10-20% of their day (1-2hr) just playing politics and making it sound like they did really important work - again, mostly to get promotions. Between the make work projects, time spent on internal politics and the low intensity of work ethic...you can probably say theres 2-4x overstaffing within the federal beaurocracy.

I honestly think it would make a lot of peoples head explode if they knew what kind of work people did for a $100k+benefits+pension salary in Ottawa.

[Wiggum_PI]

This is interesting, Alberta is challenging Ontario over market access for Alberta made beer. Also in the meantime, Alberta has to roll back its own beer subsidy program as it was ruled unconstitutional.

Beer battle brewing: Alberta launches trade challenge against Ontario over access to liquor stores

The Alberta government is opening a new front in its beer war with other provinces by targeting Ontario for what it says are its unfair trade barriers to Alberta-made suds and other alcoholic products.

The initiative emerged on Monday as Alberta announced a full retreat on its own craft beer subsidies that were found by a judge last spring to be unconstitutional.

“Alberta has the most open liquor policy in the country, offering Albertans a choice of over 3,700 Canadian products … Alberta merchants stock and sell 745 alcoholic beverages from Ontario,” said Economic Development and Trade Minister Deron Bilous at an Edmonton brewery on Monday.

The complaint under the Canadian Free Trade Agreement is being made against Ontario because it has the biggest liquor market in Canada but it could be expanded to include other provinces with similar barriers, Bilous said, adding he’s hoping for an amicable solution.

[redforever]

Calgarians out in the streets prior to Morneau arriving and speaking to the Chamber of Commerce. I have been critical about the oil patch being too nice in the past so this is a breath of fresh air.

Also, on a side note. My daughter is a geologist and the company she works for bought 5 tickets to hear what Trudeau had to say a week ago. He would not take questions from the general audience after. All questions had to be screened and pre-approved.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by redforever

Calgarians out in the streets prior to Morneau arriving and speaking to the Chamber of Commerce. I have been critical about the oil patch being too nice in the past so this is a breath of fresh air.

Also, on a side note. My daughter is a geologist and the company she works for bought 5 tickets to hear what Trudeau had to say a week ago. He would not take questions from the general audience after. All questions had to be screened and pre-approved.

No surprises there. Have you seen that guy try and think on his feet? Hes a complete clown and he has no idea what hes talking about.

His handlers have to have their hands so far up his ass to make his lips move.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by redforever

Calgarians out in the streets prior to Morneau arriving and speaking to the Chamber of Commerce. I have been critical about the oil patch being too nice in the past so this is a breath of fresh air.

Also, on a side note. My daughter is a geologist and the company she works for bought 5 tickets to hear what Trudeau had to say a week ago. He would not take questions from the general audience after. All questions had to be screened and pre-approved.

Its no surprise, I had colleagues that went to see Trudeau at the Chamber and they all said the same thing. He was trying to say what people wanted to hear "We're workin hard here". "We know its a crisis". But when it came time for some substance or talking about what the government was going to do to support the sector there were crickets.


I would have liked to be a fly on the wall for the meeting with Oil Company executives that happened later in the day.


But I tend to think that Ottawa is a bit glad about the Oshawa situation because it got Trans Mountain and the Economic Update off of the media's radar.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Its no surprise, I had colleagues that went to see Trudeau at the Chamber and they all said the same thing. He was trying to say what people wanted to hear "We're workin hard here". "We know its a crisis". But when it came time for some substance or talking about what the government was going to do to support the sector there were crickets.


I would have liked to be a fly on the wall for the meeting with Oil Company executives that happened later in the day.


But I tend to think that Ottawa is a bit glad about the Oshawa situation because it got Trans Mountain and the Economic Update off of the media's radar.

I can pretty much tell you how that conversation went.

Dollars going south.

[DiracSpike]

Originally Posted by Locke

No surprises there. Have you seen that guy try and think on his feet? Hes a complete clown and he has no idea what hes talking about.

His handlers have to have their hands so far up his ass to make his lips move.

Harper recently appeared on the Ben Shapiro show and they had an hour long discussion about different schools of economics and the consequences on long term trade deficits, among other things. After it was over I wondered how Trudeau would have fared in the same discussion. The guy is a complete empty suit, SJW politics come to life with no substance whatsoever. His last name is the only thing he has going for him, there's no way he'd be PM without it. It really takes a special brand of weak ineffective leadership to make both sides of the pipeline dispute hate you.

[troutman]

The Economics of
Low Carbon Development:
Calgary, Canada

http://climate.leeds.ac.uk/wp-conten...x-OsA4jUy0tjjo