Alberta Politics - started May 7, 2015
Great day.
Good stuff.
Alberta's climate change strategy revealed Sunday afternoon, seems about right to me. Carbon Tax, limit on oil sands, phasing out coal plants by 2030... So far so good for Ms Notley and company.
oh gawd listening to Albertans she's stealing the houses from their property
oh gawd listening to Albertans she's stealing the houses from their property
Is that for me?
nope just an observation on what's being said by way too many. like they think they can just keep on destroying everything forever.
then the lying shit going on by the pipeline companies and what they're doing to the few remaining is unreal.
I haven't actually heard anyone seriously complaining except the Wildrose party: but then I'm in Alberta. We sometimes miss the black cloud thing when distracted by the silver lining.
I'm very pleased that the country is finally moving in a constructive direction.
Calgary Tory MLA Manmeet Bhullar killed in car crash:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-conservative-mla-manmeet-...
oh no. my heart goes out to all his family friends and all those whose lives he touched. he may have been the only good guy in the PC's.
link to the pic it's hard to believe the road were even open.
https://www.facebook.com/MeanwhileInRedDeerAlberta/photos/a.148390661516...
Don’t cheer Alberta’s premier yet. Demand she break the oil barons’ vice-grip
Alberta’s new climate plan is drawing praise from sources that have rarely got on with the oil-exporter – Al Gore, labour unions and some of North America’s biggest green groups. At first glance, it’s not hard to see why: Alberta is promising an accelerated phase-out of coal, increased funds for renewable energy and impacted workers, and a price on carbon. It’s a major step hard to imagine scarcely a year ago, when the province was still under a multi-decade Conservative reign.
So why then are the oil barons celebrating? Beaming with pride, the heads of Canada’s biggest tar sands companies flanked premier Rachel Notley during Sunday’s announcement.
quote:
The tar sands now has a glossy new sheen. Alberta’s plan sets a cap on their emissions – an acknowledgement that tar sands will no longer grow infinitely. Except it’s so high as to allow a staggering forty percent increase over the next fifteen years. And if a Conservative government returns to power, could it abandon the policy and ensure nothing is accomplished? In other words, this is a cap big enough to drive a three-story tar sands truck through.
[url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-oil-gas-economy-diversific... oil, Alberta is doomed:[/url]
University of Calgary professor Trevor Tombe isn't surprised. The economist says only about seven per cent of Albertans work in the oil and gas sector — a number that he says surprises many."We have a fairly diverse workforce, the most diverse in the country in terms of how evenly employment shares are spread across sectors."
Tombe points out that oil and gas and mining combined accounted for just 175,000 jobs in Alberta last year, the fifth largest sector behind construction, health care and retail.
...
"Even now, the economy as a whole, the unemployment rate is below the national average, the number of new job vacancies relative to the number of workers who are unemployed is better than the national average."
Despite those facts, Tombe says, the perception among many is that the oil and gas sector is far more important to the province's economy than it actually is.
"A lot of the bad news that people focus on is concentrated on that one sector, and they neglect that a lot of other sectors are hiring."
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/bill-6-farm-safety-bill-passed-1....
WRP/CPC activists have been busy on social media intimidating women in politics. They need to be identified and exposed and told to fuck off.
Rumours Jason Kenney is considering a move to provincial politics to seek the vacant Alberta PC leadership and attempt to negotiate a merger with Wild Rose.
[url=http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/12/12/tony-clement-organizers-me... Star[/url]
The race to select a full-time replacement for Stephen Harper as Conservative leader is quietly heating up.
Sources told the Star that the first meeting of the nascent Tony Clement leadership campaign was held Thursday night in Toronto.
Participants in the four-hour session in a downtown office tower included Tory activists from Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta.
Clement, a former Harper cabinet minister who finished third in the Conservative leadership race in 2004, was at Conservative interim leader Rona Ambrose’s Christmas party at Stornoway and did not attend the Toronto meeting.
But the MP for Parry Sound-Muskoka dialed in for a 10-minute conference call with his burgeoning team, which also includes veterans of his unsuccessful 2002 bid for the Ontario Progressive Conservative helm.
[b]His backers are emboldened by a growing belief that long-time presumed front-runner Jason Kenney, a capable organizer with deep ties to many cultural communities, will not run.[/b]
[b]They believe Kenney, a former cabinet minister, may leave federal politics and seek to unite-the-right in his home province of Alberta, which is now governed by NDP Premier Rachel Notley.[/b]
[b]It is unclear if he would seek the vacant Alberta Progressive Conservative leadership and then broker some sort of unification with the Wildrose Party, currently led by his former federal caucus mate Brian Jean.[/b]
latest crazy ass move by some Albertans
Call a new election for Alberta provincial government for 2016Since the New Democratic Party of Alberta was elected as the provincial government in May 2015, they have done nothing but defy the rights of the people who live in our communities. They have destroyed many households and plagued us, the people who live in Alberta, with debt, unnecessary taxes, shocking unemployment rates, an economic uncertainty causing decrease in foreign investment, and more to come in the next three years if we don't stop them now. Not only has Rachel Notley and her party humiliated Alberta, she has also violated our human rights and compromised our values for her own selfish idealistic views.
she has also violated our human rights and compromised our values for her own selfish idealistic views.[/quote]
While selfishness and idealism can both be bad in their own ways, used together to describe the same person, they're pretty oxymoronic.
And I can't ge the link to work. Are there any big names behind this goofy petition? I'm somewhat pessimistic about the NDP's chances at winning re-election, but I can't imagine anything better for their prospects than if the right-wing somehow managed to force the province into another election, a year after the last one.
This is a joke...the NDP has a large majority in the Alberta legislature and there is no machanism to "recall" a duly elected government or to in any way "force" an early election. Its pure fantasy.
Rachel Notley and the Alberta NDP are here to stay at least until the Spring of 2019 - so "suck it up buttercup!"
the link works fine for me yesterday there was 22,000
Sign this petition 39,783 supporters 10,217 needed to reach 50,000
the link works fine for me yesterday there was 22,000
Sign this petition 39,783 supporters 10,217 needed to reach 50,000
Okay. The browsers over here are usually a little outdated, so that's probably the issue.
This is a joke...the NDP has a large majority in the Alberta legislature and there is no machanism to "recall" a duly elected government or to in any way "force" an early election. Its pure fantasy.Rachel Notley and the Alberta NDP are here to stay at least until the Spring of 2019 - so "suck it up buttercup!"
the fundamentalists somehow have been convinced they can do this petition thing, everywhere at any given time, and it keeps them in line for their controllers to control them, i think.
i don't trust them for a minute the levels of hate they're showing is beyond belief almost.
read a article about the whackos in AB and the Wild Rose. (not like they're not the same though) looks likenthey're are fighting over the names of those who sign the petition, i guess the Wild Rose has lost control of those they whipped into the frenzy.
Drever welcomed back to the Alberta NDP government.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-mla-deborah-drever-rejoins...
Notley needs to make sure she takes the credit for the rebound in oil prices
Oil Prices Could Jump 50% by the End of 2016
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-03/oil-seen-surging-about...
and now in more fkn stupidity:
BREAKING: Rachel Notley May Be Removed From Power March 8
He doesn’t expect either the Notley government or Lt.- Gov. Lois Mitchell to give the plebiscites, so he is arranging further activities, including displaying the petitions to Queen Elizabeth II.He says he has found a component to expel Premier Rachel Notley from office “legally and democratically” in the event that she denies the appeal demand for a plebiscite, yet he won’t uncover his arrangement.
The administration can be unseated on the off chance that it declines to take part in the plebiscite process, Clark said.
“(March 8) is the day we can take action to remove Notley from the premier’s office. Legally, peacefully and democratically if she denies our petitions for Plebiscites,” Clark wrote in the tweet.
Reads like someone has been sipping the "freemen on the land" koolaid.
what do you say to the people spreading this crap and believing it?
Rachel Notley's Job Approval Rating Tumbles, Brad Wall Still Most Popular Premier: Poll
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/02/17/rachel-notley-job-approval-ratin...
not due to the constant media attacks against her or anything and their fawning over Brad Wall.
you put these things up debater like you think we here don't know how the corporate media indoctrinates people into corporate pleaures.
why\?
next thing you know you'll be putting up Rebel Media' screaming how wronged they were up.
quizzical, you're reading more into this than there is.
I just happened to be on Eric Grenier's polling site today because I hadn't chcked the latest polling numbers for a while, so I thought I would post a few updates.
I'm no fan of corporate media or Brad Wall.
That doesn't mean that we can blame everything on the right-wing, though.
Mid-term slumps are common for many Premiers based on their decisions and the reality of governing. The same thing has happened to Kathleen Wynne in Ontario, (and several other Premiers across the country).
you should try AB news out, it's constant negative against her even though they're getting things done which should've been done 30years ago..
imv you're just jumping on their band wagon.
Alberta violates Aboriginal and Treaty rights in tar sands region: report
APTN National News
The Province of Alberta is refusing to release a scathing study revealing how it violates Aboriginal and Treaty rights when it comes to tar sands developments.
The province has had the report since last July.
Some of the violations include: failing to be effective or meaningful for the “inclusion of Aboriginal Peoples in land-use planning, disregard for traditional land uses and culture, failing to include consideration of continued access and peaceful use/occupation of reserve lands; and failing to protect the environment of Treaty holders.
A government appointed panel conducted a review of the Lower Athabasca Regional Plan (LARP) that revealed government approved industrial development projects are violating the rights of the people who live there....
it's hardly been the current government who did this.
they didn't refuse to release anything. truth is everyone of the affected communities were hand delivered the report. plus others received it too.
shame on aptn for the inaccurate inflammatory headline.
..since july the government has had the report. the ndp have been in power since may.
Eriel Deranger, communication coordinator for Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) located downstream from the tar sands in Northern Alberta, said she believes the government was hiding the report because of what it contains.
“Because the plan is legislated. A lot of the projects, questions and queries were surrounding the oil sands region,” said Deranger. “We have a crashing price of oil, a crashing economy right now. Now First Nations are putting forward a report that says these development projects are a direct violation of our treaty and Aboriginal rights.”
ACFN only received a copy of the report a few weeks ago.
“They wanted to share an early embargoed copy of the report and discuss moving forward…But it should have been in the public’s domain since it was done,” explained Deranger.
As least someone in the NDP is actually doing something for their citizens.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/alberta-ndp-to-put-new-brakes-on-...
wow maybe we can get AB vehicles licensed in BC then
David Climenhaga has noted good news for the Alberta NDP in a poll focused on the Alberta PC Leadership race. The NDP being clearly ahead in Edmonton and tied with the PCs in Calgary shows basic patterns from the 2015 provincial election remain over a year later. As he notes, no one in the press corps (beyond one sentence in the daily giveaway paper) seems likely to report on this.
ha! notalib tried to spin something completely different in another thread.
i knew this was true. there's too many on the ground who i talk to in AB liking the new ways of the province under the NDP.
ha! notalib tried to spin something completely different in another thread.
i knew this was true. there's too many on the ground who i talk to in AB liking the new ways of the province under the NDP.
Let's not get too out there. This is one poll. I try not to react too happily/sadly for every new poll that comes out. My comment above was intended to focus on how the good results for the NDP in the poll were ignored in the news coerage that instead chose to focus on the "Who is the best Tory leader?" aspects of the poll.
Most polls in the past year have had the gap between Wildrose and the NDP in the 1-9% range (Wildrose in the lead all but one poll) and the gap among the NDP, Wildrose, and PC within 10-13 percent (PCs all but once in third place). The last two polls by ThinkHQ (the pollster in the most recent poll, linked above) had Wildrose 7 and 4 points ahead of the second place NDP, so this new poll is a departure from the findings of the same pollster in the recent past.
But the NDP being "in the mix of things" in terms of party support levels in definitely not the message carried by the mainstream press in Alberta and Canada.
'Nothing came about:' Alberta First Nation revives oilsands pipeline lawsuit
An Alberta aboriginal leader says inaction from the provincial government is forcing his First Nation to reactivate a court challenge to an approval for a major oilsands pipeline already under construction.
"With the new NDP government coming in, we were hoping they'd come to the table and start working on things that are outstanding," Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation said Monday.
"But when they came to the table, nothing came about. Nothing has moved on anything."
The band originally filed a lawsuit in January 2015 against regulatory approvals for the Grand Rapids pipeline, a 460-kilometre 900,000 barrel-a-day line from northern Alberta to southeast of Edmonton. It is co-owned by TransCanada Corp. (TSX:TRP) and a unit of PetroChina.
The band alleges Alberta's aboriginal consultation office violated its rights by saying it wasn't directly affected by TransCanada's Grand Rapids proposal, even though it crosses land claimed as traditional territory.
The aboriginal consultation office, intended to make talks between First Nations and industry smoother and more predictable, has instead become a major friction point.
quote:
In papers filed this month, the band also alleges there was pressure to approve the pipeline quickly.
It quotes a letter written by a senior official at the consultation office that says: "TransCanada’s treatment of our staff […] has been minimally professional and on the border of bullying."
Another government official wrote that the handling of the Grand Rapids proposal "will not be the routine way of doing things going forward. This is an exception due to the higher level of interest in this project."
A provincial spokesman wasn't immediately available. The province has changed some aspects of the consultation office but the bulk of it remains in place.
The province's energy regulator began public hearings on the project in July 2014. The Athabasca Chipewyan withdrew after the panel refused to give them an 18-month adjournment to consider project changes. Nor would the panel grant research funding.
The Grand Rapids proposal was ultimately approved and is under construction.
'Nothing came about:' Alberta First Nation revives oilsands pipeline lawsuit
An Alberta aboriginal leader says inaction from the provincial government is forcing his First Nation to reactivate a court challenge to an approval for a major oilsands pipeline already under construction.
"With the new NDP government coming in, we were hoping they'd come to the table and start working on things that are outstanding," Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation said Monday.
"But when they came to the table, nothing came about. Nothing has moved on anything."
The band originally filed a lawsuit in January 2015 against regulatory approvals for the Grand Rapids pipeline, a 460-kilometre 900,000 barrel-a-day line from northern Alberta to southeast of Edmonton. It is co-owned by TransCanada Corp. (TSX:TRP) and a unit of PetroChina.
The band alleges Alberta's aboriginal consultation office violated its rights by saying it wasn't directly affected by TransCanada's Grand Rapids proposal, even though it crosses land claimed as traditional territory.
The aboriginal consultation office, intended to make talks between First Nations and industry smoother and more predictable, has instead become a major friction point.
quote:
In papers filed this month, the band also alleges there was pressure to approve the pipeline quickly.
It quotes a letter written by a senior official at the consultation office that says: "TransCanada’s treatment of our staff […] has been minimally professional and on the border of bullying."
Another government official wrote that the handling of the Grand Rapids proposal "will not be the routine way of doing things going forward. This is an exception due to the higher level of interest in this project."
A provincial spokesman wasn't immediately available. The province has changed some aspects of the consultation office but the bulk of it remains in place.
The province's energy regulator began public hearings on the project in July 2014. The Athabasca Chipewyan withdrew after the panel refused to give them an 18-month adjournment to consider project changes. Nor would the panel grant research funding.
The Grand Rapids proposal was ultimately approved and is under construction.
That's unfortunate. Hopefully the lawsuit will get the government's attention and they will reconsider their position.
ha! notalib tried to spin something completely different in another thread.
i knew this was true. there's too many on the ground who i talk to in AB liking the new ways of the province under the NDP.
Let's not get too out there. This is one poll. I try not to react too happily/sadly for every new poll that comes out. My comment above was intended to focus on how the good results for the NDP in the poll were ignored in the news coerage that instead chose to focus on the "Who is the best Tory leader?" aspects of the poll.
Most polls in the past year have had the gap between Wildrose and the NDP in the 1-9% range (Wildrose in the lead all but one poll) and the gap among the NDP, Wildrose, and PC within 10-13 percent (PCs all but once in third place). The last two polls by ThinkHQ (the pollster in the most recent poll, linked above) had Wildrose 7 and 4 points ahead of the second place NDP, so this new poll is a departure from the findings of the same pollster in the recent past.
But the NDP being "in the mix of things" in terms of party support levels in definitely not the message carried by the mainstream press in Alberta and Canada.
There's good news and bad news for the NDP in that poll. Most concerning is that 3 in 10 voters want a different Premier other than the one they have now. Also, to be an effective government, you have to have a solid team of MLAs who know their portfolios, a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the government MLAs, you need to know which areas are safe for your party and which areas need extra attention, and you need a clear, coherent platform that can withstand public scrutiny. These are all hard things for a party which went from 4 seats to forming government quickly to acheive, esepcially since government decisions inevitably alienate voters. Being handed the worst economy in decades (if not the province's history) doesn't help matters.
However, 31% is much higher than what the NDP polled on average pre-2015, so that shows that there is a framework to a foundation being built. Unfortunately, this year is a write-off for the NDP, however they have 2 full calendar years to turn things around. If their economic diversification plan starts taking off and economic opportunities outside the fossil fuel industry are found, that can have a positive impact. The other thing to watch will be the budget figures. Watch closely within the next 18 months, you are probably going to see deficit figures (both projected and fiscal updates) start to improve and actually drop over their original forecasts. The crazy antics of Brian Jean are also a wildcard.
Hey, look what happens when you raise the minimum wage to the highest in the country
http://www.660news.com/2016/09/30/report-predicts-alberta-economy-will-l...
Hey, look what happens when you raise the minimum wage to the highest in the country http://www.660news.com/2016/09/30/report-predicts-alberta-economy-will-l...What's interesting is that the news report credits the good news to an anticipated return of higher oil prices, yet Newfoundland and Labrador is ranked next to last even though they rely on oil as well.
i'm happy the minimum wage in AB has gone up. at least all the TFW will be better off. they're the only ones making min wage in AB. well maybe the walmart greeters but no one else.
businesses would never get employees.
the real bonus is getting rid of beverage server lower wages. it ONLY affected women. they've had to objectify themelves to get tips to make up for being the lowest paid workers in the province.
their low wage only benefitted men.
i'm happy the minimum wage in AB has gone up. at least all the TFW will be better off. they're the only ones making min wage in AB. well maybe the walmart greeters but no one else.businesses would never get employees.
Exactly quizical. It was never about the minimum wage in Alberta. Many businesses there, if they offered to hire someone at $15/hour, that person would laugh and go somewhere else. What it means is that $15/hour is the general benchmark for what is considered a living wage overall (with some jurisdictions requiring more and some less) and if one provincial government reaches that benchmark, there will be that much more pressure on all provinces to follow suit. That's a welcome change from the Manitoba government not moving as quickly on raising the wage because we had (at one point) the second-highest of all the provinces. Already the NDP in BC and Nova Scotia have committed to raising the wage to that level, and I'm sure every provincial section of the NDP will commit to that very soon.
Alberta government will not support federal climate change plan without pipeline approval
Premier Rachel Notley said her NDP government will not support the federal government’s climate change plan without serious progress on pipeline approval.
The statement from Notley came Monday morning, shortly after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the federal Liberal government will establish a “floor price” on carbon pollution of $10 a tonne in 2018, rising to $50 a tonne by 2022.
quote;
Notley said the Alberta government supports the idea of all provinces and territories doing their fair share to tackle climate change but stressed that revenues from Alberta’s climate change plan will stay in the province.
“With regard to the federal government’s proposals today, Alberta will not be supporting this proposal absent serious concurrent progress on energy infrastructure, to ensure we have the economic means to fund these policies,” Notley said.
“It is time for the Government of Canada to act on this issue. Albertans have contributed very generously for many years to national initiatives designed to help other regions address economic challenges. What we are asking for now is that our landlock be broken, in one direction or another, so that we can get back on our feet.”....
gj rachel