While all conservative premiers are moving in the same direction - allowing more for-profit health care, encouraging private education, gutting environmental & labour laws - I think Kenney is the test balloon to see how fast this can be done to all of Canada if the CPC form gov't
Of all the conservative premiers, Kenney is the most ideologically driven, almost fanatical. And he really doesn't care much what people think. The others are a bit more timorous, worried about backlash. Kenney is going in guns blazing...
And, by conservative calculation, Alberta is the most ripe for harvesting. The far-right has a stronghold here, more so than any other province. There are fewer voices that will stand up and call the UCP out.
Because harvesting is what they are doing. They are taking our tax dollars and giving them to corporations. They are taking money from the most disabled. They are turning their backs on the addicted. They are pushing people off social assistance.
They are cutting back labour regulations and minimum wages, eliminating overtime pay, cutting environmental protections, opening the door to an increase in coal mining, making child labour appealing to employers, trying to grab our pension money from CPP...
Making public education less appealing, opening the door to two-tiered medicine, supporting for-profit health care, allowing insurance rates to skyrocket, opening the door to water harvesting and continuing to woo oil & gas companies to haul away our resources...
This is harvesting. They are harvesting everything of value in Alberta and giving it away to their friends in far-right corporations. They are driving jobs out of the province. And we don't hear a peep from the media about this because the far-right owns most of them.
They are preparing Albertans to be desperate enough to take lower wages. They are preparing Albertans to pay for their own health care or die. They are preparing Albertans to become economic slaves to big corporations. And UCP supporters embrace this wholeheartedly.
We are the testing ground. If we complain, they gaslight or claim we are victimizing them. They blame the NDP for any (valid) criticism of what they are doing. They are engaged in normalizing helplessness in the population.
Their online trolls bully the outspoken, trying to silence us. The MLAs attack private citizens who raise concerns. They have a $30M war room that is completely unaccountable to anyone. They have massive PACs flooding our media with pro-UCP ads.
This is NOT Normal. The behaviour of this UCP government is NOT normal. They are trying to make us think it is. To make us think cruelty to the province's most vulnerable is business as usual. To make us think we need a police force run by Kenney.
To make us believe some people are expendable because of age or ability or mental health condition. We are only human capital to them. And they seem ready to weed out "the weak", the negative balance individuals, to keep the captains of industry happy.
For the sake of our children and the future of this province, we need to WAKE UP. For the sake of Canada, we need to spread the word. What is happening now in Alberta will come to all if people keep on electing conservatives. #AlwaysVote#NeverVoteConservative#cdnpoli
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Shane Getson put his foot in it at a town hall in Alberta recently when he suggested Albertans receiving CERB are lazy and spending the money on cheesies and drugs while watching cartoons.
Seems like political suicide to say that about your constituents, eh? 1/25+
Only, not only did Kenney not ask for his resignation, he backed Getson up. And then his issues manager, Matt Wolf, got busy doubling down. 2/25+
Ever have thematic problems? One year it was water problems. The basement flooded 2x. Then a toilet mysteriously overflowed while we were out & damaged the drywall in the basement. Then the septic alarm went off in the middle of the night & we had to get an emergency service 1/5
Then the outdoor tap froze and cracked and created a huge ice sculpture attached to the side of the house. And the shower leaked and had to be seen by a plumber 3 times before it was resolved. And then the dishwasher hose came unattached... 2/5
Another year it was mice. Mice got into the cottage in the summer. Then mice got into the house just before Xmas (we think they came in from the garage in a box of ornaments). It took ages to be mouse-free. Now our mouser dog inspects anything coming in from the garage. 3/5
So, Ontario is going to go to the polls early. Following New Brunswick's lead. Will Manitoba and PEI and Alberta follow? Saskatchewan has an election coming in November... 1/25 #cdnpoli
What would move premiers to call an election, several years ahead of schedule, during a pandemic? Ford has until 2022. So does Legault. Kenney & Pallister both have until 2023. It seems unlikely Kenney will call an election. Albertans aren't as sweet on him any more 2/25
Higgs had until 2022, but he called it early. What, indeed, would move these conservative premiers to call an election with years left on their mandates? During a pandemic, no less? 3/25
And here we see, in real time, a Canadian reporter attempting to smear government MPs. Ms Walsh is not the only one, but the example handy. She links the MPs with a notice from the ethics commissioner's office. No explanation. 1/15 #cdnmedia#cdnpoli
It implies the MPs are in trouble with the ethics commissioner. They are not. Nevertheless, conservative trolls are already squawking on social media about another Liberal ethics violation, where there is none. This is very poor journalism. 2/15
This is using omission of an explanation to cast shade on innocent people. I have no doubt that Canadian media know that most people will not read past the very first couple of lines. They are planting the suggestion of malfeasance by omitting any detail. 3/15
What are we to do when our MEDIA picks favourites? What are we, as a society, to do when journalists are part of the right-wing propaganda machine? #cdnmedia
What are we to do when Canadian journalists repeat conservative talking points as facts, without verification? When they use tentative terms, like "claims" or "alleges" when reporting government statements, and absolutes like "says" and "stated" when reporting CPC statements?
What are we to do when #cdnmedia look to junk "think-tanks" like the Fraser Institute and the Canadian Taxpayer's Federation to paint a picture of reality? What are we to do when our fourth estate has been bought and controlled by those who are not interested in our public good?
This person and the organization she represents, are knowingly trying to misinform Canadians. Student jobs disappeared because of COVID. This was a way for the government to get money to students who need it for books and tuition.
The program was not intended as a wage-for-service program, so it was not paying students less than minimum wage. It was meant to acknowledge students for doing volunteer work by helping them access money they need to go to school in the fall.
With the current conservatives in opposition, the government is in a "damned if they do, damned if they don't" situation. I don't recall ever a Canadian political party so opposed to public money being used to help the public as these hard-right CPC/UCP/PC people.