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Gil McGowan Profile picture
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15 Nov, 9 tweets, 4 min read
As Alberta blows past 1000 COVID-19 cases a day, Jason Kenney needs to stop behaving like a Republican Governor. If he doesn’t, we’ll look like Republican states, with overwhelmed hospitals and refrigerator trucks outside to store the dead. #COVID19AB #AbLeg #abpoli #cdnpoli
Albertans will pay a steep price as Kenney continues to follow Trump’s playbook on COVID, says AFL president in urgent speech posted to You Tube. Alberta’s largest worker organization supports call for “circuit-breaker” lockdown. #AbLeg #abpoli #canlab afl.org/albertans_will…
Excerpts from the speech: "Premier Kenney said he would act when faced with a catastrophe. Well, a catastrophe is unfolding before our eyes. But instead of action, all we get is Republican-inspired talking points and half measures."
In addition to a "circuit-breaker lock-down," we also need renewed income support for those who lose jobs and hours; paid sick leave for those who have to isolate; dramatically increased support for schools; big investment in proper ventilation; and enforcement and fines.
We also need to heed the evidence on aerosol transmission of COVID and the demonstrated superiority of zero-COVID/"crush and contain" policies. We need to choose the path of New Zealand and Australia, rather than the path of Republican-controlled states in America.
"The Premier says he’s concerned about workers. Spare me.
If he was really concerned about workers, he’d address the rising numbers of COVID so working Albertans don’t have to risk their health & safety by going out into communities & workplaces with high infection rates."
"The bottom line is that there will be no economic recovery until the virus is dealt with."
In case anyone thinks I’m exaggerating or fear-mongering about the mobile morgues thing. This is what the Republican “Live-with-it/rule-out-lockdowns” approach can lead to.
Jason Kenney is embracing the American approach to COVID. Where will that take us? Here’s where.

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More from @gilmcgowan

Gil McGowan Profile picture
14 Nov
When chief medical officers of health like ⁦@CMOH_Alberta⁩ defer to politicians like Jason Kenney and fail to use their legal powers to save lives ... it’s like a firefighter refusing to order people out of a burning building. Ouch. #AbLeg #abpoli macleans.ca/opinion/politi…
“Every province in Canada equips their medical officers of health with the power to make systemic orders.”
“...most medical officers of health are only rarely using their powers in the second wave, or worse, they are doing so only with the consent of politicians.”
Read 7 tweets
Gil McGowan Profile picture
14 Nov
Charles Koch is the billionaire who bankrolled a successful 40-year campaign to poison the minds of Americans and plant the seeds of corporate authoritarianism. Now he wants to “build bridges” with progressives. Don’t fall for it! #USAelection2020 wsj.com/articles/charl…
Remember the parable of the Scorpion and the Frog. Koch will betray any progressive that is gullible enough to work with him “because it is in his nature.” …fairytalesandsocialjustice.weebly.com/the-scorpion-a…
Read 5 tweets
Gil McGowan Profile picture
27 Oct
Yesterday’s wildcat strike by health care workers is over, but the conditions that created it remain. Just read the statements made by UCP finance Minister Toews. He says there will be no layoffs — while confirming there will be layoffs. 1/n #AbLeg #abpoli cbc.ca/news/canada/ed…
He then goes on to blame the workers for putting patients at risk — when it is the UCP government itself that is putting patients at risk by implementing a radical restructuring of the health care systems in the midst of a surging pandemic. 2/n #AbLeg #abpoli
And he says that workers must obey labour laws — when the UCP tramples on all the laws, norms & traditions that surround Canadian labour law every day. They have zero respect for the collective bargaining process, believing they should simply be able to impose their will. 3/n
Read 6 tweets
Gil McGowan Profile picture
26 Oct
Wildcat strikes have apparently begun at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton and the Foothills Hospital in Calgary. When Kenney and the UCP decided to attack health care during a pandemic did he really think workers wouldn’t fight back? #Solidarity #AbLeg #canlab #cdnpoli
The strikes have now spread to the South Health campus in Calgary (huge!), as well as hospitals in Westlock (my home town!) and Cold Lake. Alberta Hospital in north Edmonton has also joined in.
Many, many more sites are now reporting that they’ve gone on strike. Trying to get a full list, but it’s hard to keep up. Stay tuned!
Read 4 tweets
Gil McGowan Profile picture
18 Oct
Yesterday, UCP delegates voted overwhelmingly to “make Alberta a Right-to-Work jurisdiction.” These are the laws used by right-wingers in the US to suppress wages and break the bargaining power of workers. We can’t allow them to import these toxic laws to Canada. #AbLeg #abpoli
What are Right-to-Work laws? They are laws designed to shatter worker bargaining power (in the workplace and on the political stage) by weakening unions so much that they can no longer act as an effective counterbalance to the power of billionaires and corporations.
Is the US, where right-wing politicians and their corporate backers have championed these laws, RTW has suppressed wages, destroyed the middle class and allowed corporations and the wealthy to dominate the political agenda ... at the expense of everyone else.
Read 10 tweets
Gil McGowan Profile picture
16 Oct
Jason Kenney is an economic illiterate. On one hand, he says we need to bring back economic growth to save Alberta. That’s true. But on the other hand, he wants to slash public spending by 20 percent during a recession. That will suppress growth, not promote it. #AbLeg #abpoli
Almost every jurisdiction in the world understands that this is NOT the time for budget cuts and austerity. In fact, the IMF recently concluded that public sector spending is the BEST way to spur economic growth in times like these.
In case you can’t read the small print, it says that increasing public sector spending by 1% increasing economic growth by 2.7% (which is a huge return on investment). In other word, Kenney wants to do exactly the OPPOSITE of what’s needed.
Read 5 tweets

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