Share this page!

Laurie Adkin Profile picture
Twitter logo
26 Feb, 6 tweets, 1 min read
"Governments [sic] role is to provide a business environment that encourages the entrepreneurial spirit of its people." - Finance Minister Travis Toews in the Feb 25 2021 budget address
alberta.ca/release.cfm?xI…
And the UCP's supply side economics, that promise to reduce deficits, increase GDP growth, and increase employment, have done precisely the opposite. As they always do. 2/n
"Economic recovery" is always imminent for these guys--always "next year." They pretend to control and predict the future. The sure thing they actually deliver is the transfer of public wealth to private shareholders & CEOs. 3/n
The future they actually give us is one of impoverished public treasuries and public services, and a more degraded environment. Why are they believed? Because they are men in suits? 4/n
I take that back. Some of them are women who sit on expert panels and write "fiscal plans" for neoliberal govts. 5/n
What I want to know is, when will the neoliberal economists whose extremist ideology passes for credible policy advice (because it serves those in power), apologize for being consistently wrong, and for helping to ruin so many lives? 6/6

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Laurie Adkin

Laurie Adkin Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @LaurieAdkin

Laurie Adkin Profile picture
27 Feb
Did the UCP ask Albertans if they wanted their post-secondary education institutions (PSEIs), built up over decades with public funding, to be privatized? I, for one, don't remember that being on Jason Kenney's list of campaign promises. 1/n #abpse #abpoli
What does privatization mean? Well, at what point does a university education cease to be a public good and become a commodified private service? 2/n
When students pay for more than half the costs of their education individually, through tuition fees? When 70% of university budgets come from tuition fees and "entrepreneurial" endeavours (things one can charge money for)? 3/n
Read 23 tweets
Laurie Adkin Profile picture
26 Feb
#UCP govt says "over the next 3 years, we will spend $1.5 billion to develop key sectors and diversify the economy." They blew that much on one bad investment.
We'd have had $4.5 billion to spend on job creation if they hadn't given big corporations a tax holiday.
With a normal fiscal policy--not even an ambition plan for public finance--we wouldn't be losing hundreds of jobs in the public sector.
Read 4 tweets
Laurie Adkin Profile picture
17 Jan
Benga/Riversdale says: "The company has developed wildlife and fish monitoring programs to sustain those populations, and also has a plan in place to safely and effectively manage selenium." 1/n
calgaryherald.com/news/no-free-f…
@ABWilderness @cpawssab
"Monitoring" does not protect fish from selenium poisoning. Benga promises a lot of measures, most of which amount to experimentation or monitoring. The stakes are too high to approve another open pit coal mine on this basis. 2/n
Why do I say this? Because I read the submissions of the scientists to the JRP. You should read these, too, before you decide to take the proponents' promises at face value. That's what @Corblund did. That's why he said "I'm 100% opposed" to coal mining on the eastern slopes. 3/n
Read 12 tweets
Laurie Adkin Profile picture
16 Jan
Jason Nixon's reassurances are not credible. Look at the evidence, Albertans, and not at the pretty words. First, Alberta does not have a "robust" environmental regulatory system. Is there one environmental lawyer in Canada who would agree with this? 1/n #abpoli
One conservation biologist? One landscape ecologist? One conservation association? One environmental policy expert? One authority on the ecology of the eastern slopes? 2/n @Ablawg @ABWilderness @cpaws
Do you want to ask some of the landowners who have abandoned well sites on their properties? Indigenous communities living downstream of the oilsands? Or maybe have a look at the Cheviot mine site? 3/n
Read 18 tweets
Laurie Adkin Profile picture
16 Jan
One wonders if Alberta's Energy Regulator has any expertise about the costs of "restoring" open pit coal mines in mountain environments, or the past records of the companies being licensed to mine in this province. 1/n #Alberta #ableg @ReclaimAlberta @Pembina
What research has the AER done to establish that existing regs, incl. the MSFP requirements, are adequate? 2/n @OKWesternWheel @ABlawg @AER_news @SPhillipsAB
Because the record of open pit coal mining in the US, Australia, Turkey, and elsewhere really isn't reassuring. I don't see any evidence that mountains & their unique ecosystems can be put back together the way they were before being blasted apart. 3/n @CorbLund @paulbrandt
Read 4 tweets
Laurie Adkin Profile picture
16 Jan
This is a very informative and accessible (to non-scientists) explanation of how selenium gets into water, food, and animals, and how the Grassy Mountain coal mine would be likely to affect selenium levels in the Oldman River and throughout the watershed. 1/n
#Alberta #aboli
"[T]he top three sources of man-made selenium contamination worldwide in order of greatest to least are:
1. Mining
2. Irrigation
3. Feedlots
The Oldman River and South Saskatchewan watersheds already have large feedlots and supply irrigation." 2/n
"If additional pressures from a new coal mine were added to these watersheds, this area would be unique in the world as having all three top contributors to selenium contamination." 3/n
@JonathanWNV @HMcPhersonMP @SPhillipsAB @row1960 @DrewPAnderson @Pembina @cpawssab
Read 5 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @LaurieAdkin has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @LaurieAdkin!

Read all threads by @LaurieAdkin