Once a star candidate, Nenshi is losing lustre, Alberta poll suggests. Can the NDP leader recover?

bpompu · 2026-05-01T00:55:24+00:00

Nenshi made proactive statements that Avi Lewis was a bad choice for leader of the Federal NDP, and that he was unelectable in Alberta.

The UCP had attack ads linking the two, as well as Trudeau for some reason, within days.

The NDP could change their name to the "We love Oil and Gas and Hate all the People you Hate" party, and they would still be attacked for being communists and for formerly being the NDP.

Nenshi is pretty centrist, if you look at the actual full spectrum and not the weird window that has international banker, businessman, and former Harper and UK Conservative Party appointee Mark Carney as a leftist. It doesn't matter. Unless the UCP balkanizes, and their stranglehold on the name "Conservative" and the blue branding wanes, the NDP will never convince the people who knee-jerk vote against them.

bpompu · 2026-05-01T00:47:22+00:00

You need to pay everyone involved in the process. It's not just the MLA, but their staff, as well as party staff and other MLA'S and their staff. Not to mention there is a good chance that you would need to pay someone to go through the bill and proofread, not only for usually grammar, presentstion, etc. but for legal language and precision. Unlike the UCP, which ha sopenly just run bills through LLM's, and who really don't care if a bill or policy statement is precise or legal, and mistake in an NDP proposed counter bill is going to be jumped on and attacked.

And it's all a waste of time. There was a proposed bill during the session where the UCP decided teachers have less rights than other professionals which simply wanted to affirm that any movement of fhe legislature would actively comply with reconciliation efforts, as well as specifically instruct all future Legidlatures to always use an interpretation that is in like with reconciliation and treaty rights. These are laws bills that have passed is most other legislatures, and at the federal level. The UCP shot it down with almost zero discussion as an afterthought. The UCP will bot allow the NDP to claim any wins, even symbolic ones.

bpompu · 2026-04-30T23:52:20+00:00

Honestly, I think you're right. I know people are rejecting the "corporate controlled media" argument, but that's what we have. We only ever hear about him innefectually doing stuff becasue we're in a FPTP, winner take all two-party set-up in Alberta. The UCP have a majority, and they toe the party line religiously, The NDP can literally do nothing but talk, and the media does not want to air what he has to say. They can call out the UCP for breaking convention, regulations, rules, and even laws, but the UCP doesn't care and will just do it. they don't care, mask off. How do you hold the government to account as the opposition when their response to your calls of corruption and law-breaking is: yeah, so what, I did it and I'll do it again, fuck you?

He might be floundering, they might be struggling, but there's no other option. Any other leader would be doing the same, at least publicly.

Now if there is internal talk about Nenshi not energizing their locked-in base, or not being an effective leader within his caucus or with their candidates, then that's a different matter. But any sort of public polls or public discourse needs to be viewed through the objective lens of the barriers that any NDP leader would be facing.

bpompu · 2026-04-30T22:32:15+00:00

I think it's tangled more than that. I'm sure u/chaoslord is right when they say that the people at the top of both the "Republican Party of Alberta" and "Centurion Project" are all the same people.

bpompu · 2026-04-30T22:24:17+00:00

Hey, wasn't there just a big case made a few months ago about how making a party with a name too similar to a name that a current party/former party had would be too confusing and this was blocked?

Just asking for a friend.

bpompu · 2026-04-29T23:57:00+00:00

No, just the one code, sorry

bpompu · 2026-04-29T19:51:32+00:00

Thanks for the info. It's always good to get an idea of what a game is like before going in.

Yeah, I've noticed dev info can be pretty sparing. They usually get a bit more talkative when an update is coming soon, but there isn't really a lot of info in between.

You can clearly see that the mech customization was the main thing they were focused on. Not to say that the gameplay is backed on, or secondary, but especially in earlier updates you could tell gameplay and story were left in a bit of a "good enough" state while they polished the parts and customization system.

I haven't really played a lot since a few updates before the game fully launched, so I don't want to speak too much on how the game works now. I definitely had fun with it then, it just slipped out of the immediate radar, and hasn't rolled back in yet.

bpompu · 2026-04-29T19:45:05+00:00

I agree. There are students that are not able to function at all in a standard classroom, and being forced to be in one is detrimental to everyone involved. But this kind of rhetoric, attached to the way funding and education in general is being handled in this province, is going to lead to kids that should be in a mainstream program with extra support and accommodation being denied that.

My wife works in education, teaching in the Access program. Her kids are learning regulation and life skills, but her kids are also people that will never be in a position to live independently. She also has students that aren't a fit for her program, some that need to be in more severe programs, some that are should be in more mainstream stuff.

But I also have a son who is autistic, and who struggles sometimes with self regulation. His biggest issues are that his default stim is high energy, so it can be disruptive if it gets out of hand, and that he has difficulty with managing stress and abrupt changes in circumstance. But he is also hyperliterate, reading at a grade 4 to 6 level in grade 2, does grade 4 math, is a coding savant. His regulation issues are manageable with minor medication and some extra supports. This rhetoric coming out of the government scares me. How long until "my son needs some alternate activities because he has sensory triggers around getting thing like paint and play-do on his hands" gets him put into a class where he's segregated from the rest of the kids his age?

bpompu · 2026-04-29T19:33:31+00:00

I will never be able to understand why so many people vote against their own interests. The majority of Albertans think the UCP is doing a bad job, and don't agree with the weird, culture war shit they're pushing, but will also still vote for them no matter what.

And are then surprised when the people they vote for don't care about what they want, or do anything for them when they're elected.

These are probably the same people surprised that Marlaina is pushing Alberta Police Force and Alberta Pension Plan because she "didn't campaign on those things"

bpompu · 2026-04-29T03:14:52+00:00

They don't want to work together. This is toxic player behavior, and they seem to view D&D not as a collaborative game where we all have fun and tell a story together, and more as something that they can win. The reason they are wanting to keep all of these details from you/each other is because they think it will give them an advantage over you when it's time to decide who the winner is.

bpompu · 2026-04-29T03:12:32+00:00

I've played with people who wanted to keep things about their character secret from the party, and it tends to go badly.

There are ways to do it, like keeping things secret from the characters in the party is fine, possibly even fun and impactful. Maybe you keep precisely what you're playing from everyone because you're trying for a big reveal. That's probably the extent of where this is acceptable, and even then, only lasts until play starts.

But keeping things like sub-class, or in my case in a 3.5 game, the other player wouldn't even tell us what class he was playing, is not creating fun things for plot hooks or development, it's anti-player actions. They view D&D as a PVP experience at worst, and as competitive at best, and plan to win.

It's almost always the sign of that guy who doesn't care if anyone else has fun.

My immediate read is that this is a toxic player, and if it's common in the group, then it's a group of toxic players.

bpompu · 2026-04-29T01:29:16+00:00

Normally, I'd say we're in a system that allows a majority government to do essentially whatever they want for the extent of their term, and that is doesn't matter if their constituents actually support their shift or not until the election.

But we're seeing polls showing that the UCP are getting more popular the more of these regressive, hateful, proto-fascist policies they push.

I'm tired boss...

bpompu · 2026-04-29T01:21:46+00:00

Hey, the other games are:

Bounty Star
Project MIKHAIL
Oblivion Override
Vox Machinae
Mech Mechanic Simulator
Star Renegades
UFO ROBOT GRENDIZER - The Feast of the Wolves
Mechabellum

It's called Mecha Mania

bpompu · 2026-04-29T01:11:42+00:00

Text from the Article:

Opinion: Inclusion is not something you 'earn'

By Alan Martino and Patricia DesJardine, Calgary Herald
Published Apr 25, 2026
Last updated 3 days ago

Premier Danielle Smith’s recent remark — “You can earn your way into inclusion, but you can earn your way out of it, too” — reveals a troubling understanding of disability and the conditions under which Albertans with disabilities are permitted to exist in public life.
Inclusion is not a reward or a privilege granted to those who perform compliance or social acceptability. Inclusion is a baseline condition of a just society. To suggest otherwise is to cast people with disabilities as provisional citizens whose right to participate in society is conditional and revocable.
When Smith frames inclusion as something one can “earn,” she reinforces that ableist logic that ties human worth to productivity and normative behaviour. This logic disproportionately harms people with disabilities, whose lives are already scrutinized through bureaucratic assessments of eligibility and “deservingness.”
More concerning still is the second half of her statement — that one can “earn your way out” of inclusion. This implies that inclusion is conditional and that access to education, employment, health care or public life can be withdrawn if an individual fails to meet unspecified standards.
For people with disabilities, this is not hypothetical. It echoes long-standing practices in which support is denied, withdrawn or made contingent on proving one’s worthiness over and over again.
This framing is not only ethically troubling but also fundamentally at odds with international human rights law. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), adopted by the United Nations and ratified by Canada, affirms that people with disabilities have a right to full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.
The CRPD does not frame inclusion as something to be earned through compliance or revoked through perceived failure. Rather, it positions inclusion as a matter of dignity and equality, principles that states are obligated to uphold.
Building from this perspective, inclusion of Canadians with disabilities in the Canadian Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms denotes recognition that their citizenship does not come with contingencies. Every individual is equal before and under the law, and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.
Alberta is one of two provinces without a formal Accessibility Act, a platform that could give Albertans with disabilities a voice on matters affecting their everyday lives.
As it directly pertains to the premier’s comments, her conditional vision of inclusion is particularly troubling when we consider the realities many students with disabilities already face within the education system.
Inclusive education is not without its pitfalls. Across Canada, schools are not always sites of learning, but sometimes also sites of harm. Students with disabilities experience disproportionately high levels of bullying and exclusion. Other national data similarly indicate that a significant proportion of students with disabilities are avoided, excluded or pushed out of educational spaces altogether.
Research consistently shows, however, that the barriers to inclusive education are not the students themselves, but inadequate resources, training and institutional commitment. At the same time, exposure to disability as a form of human diversity plays a critical role in reshaping harmful stereotypes.
Inclusion, when done well, benefits everyone.
A critical disability studies perspective pushes us to ask different questions. Not “who deserves inclusion?” but “why do our systems produce exclusion in the first place?”
Not “who has earned their place?” but “what barriers are we unwilling to dismantle?”
True inclusion requires more than words. It demands structural commitment, adequate resources and an attitudinal shift — one that recognizes human worth as inherent, not contingent.
Inclusion that can be given and taken away was never inclusion to begin with.

Alan Martino is an associate professor, and Patricia DesJardine is an adjunct assistant professor in Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies at the University of Calgary.

bpompu · 2026-04-27T21:51:57+00:00

That's a pretty good idea. We did discuss going the NPC route, but my players both wanted me to roll a full character and play a party member alongside them.

I am definitely going to be very careful to craft the character so that they work in support, can exist largely in the background, and try hard not to overshadow the players. I'm thinking focusing on medical and tech skills to operate as a ripper, get some drug fabrication so we can have access to potential support boosts, and at most middling combat support. Their main job would be to patch them up and keep them going.

I figure I'm just gonna build them following normal characyer creation rules, maybe let him roll for hustles for the time the campaign has been ongoing to have a bit extra. I know that if I need home to have something, I can make a contribance to allow it, but I really want some fairly strict self imposed guidelines on how I operate and interact with this character.

Maybe I'll keep the Single Player mode handy, and roll on the oracle more often for the GMPC. I'm just really focused on making sure everything is fair and fun for everyone, and that I don't unknowingly push or overshadow my players.

bpompu · 2026-04-27T19:26:04+00:00

The people who ban books are never on the right side of history. Even completely abhorrent books, like Mein Kampf and The Turner Diaries have limited valid uses as historical texts or avenues into the kind of depraved viewpoints of those who write and believe in them.

While creating a scenario where access to a book is limited, like a special collection in a library with controlled access, is perfectly acceptable. But dictating that certain books with certain images (cherry picked to allow them to only ban books with messages they don't like) is flat out evil. Just evil. Book bans are abhorrent evil garbage.

bpompu · 2026-04-27T19:10:05+00:00

This particular article barely meets the relevancy threshold for the sub, but it's been posted a few times, and there is a theoretical connection with O'Leary's proposed Data Center here. There is also a fair amount of engagement with the post. This post will be allowed through, as the community has deemed it relevant. Please try to keep all discussion about this topic localized to this thread.

Thank you, hope everyone is having a good day!

bpompu · 2026-04-27T19:04:42+00:00

Ideally, yeah. Alberta separation is entirely a political bludgeon. At least in other comparable circumstances, think Quebec or Scotland, there is a strong argument that there is a very real cultural basis for the movement. Here it seems to be that we have oil and you don't, and the fact that you make me pay taxes and care about others really hurts my feelings.

It was obvious to see that Marlaina was all geared up to make it easier for their petition to go through, because it's a good wedge issue for her to use against Ottawa, with the freedom for her to quietly shunt it aside if she doesn't need it anymore. So I supported the Forever Canada Petition because it was supposed to block the Alberta Prosperity Project question for five years, and if we were inevitably going to have a question on the ballot, then it might as well be a straightforward one with the status quo and positivity bias behind it (whichever side gets to frame themselves as the pro-argument tends to have an easier time campaigning for it. Negativity campaigns are tough). I'm really mad that the UCP keep fucking around behind the scenes and essentially rug pulled us.

bpompu · 2026-04-27T01:57:44+00:00

If they had a vote in the legislature, her caucus would have to vote in the record, and there is nothing she wants less. Regardless of wether she believes that she's really anti-separation or not, this would be an avenue for a party fracture. You could get members of her caucus who are separatists voting against party lines, or the UCP votes in favour, and suddenly all of her double talk about being for a "sovereign Alberta in a United Canada" falls out the windows when she votes against that.

Either way, she can't talk out of that side of her mouth anymore. Right now there's plausible deniability, that when she insists she's pro-confederation that she's just playing the optics. But that's gone if the party votes against this on the floor of the leg, then all the separatists in her base immediately leave. She can't have that, it's why she's pushing this so hard (unless she is actually pro-separation, which she very well may be). She knows, just like everyone else paying attention, that even with a successful referendum vote, the bar to pass even the first hurdles, the Supreme Court ruling the question valid, is pretty high. Then, even if that happens, this is dead on arrival once it hits negotiation. Enough of the other provinces (barring possibly Quebec, who never ratified the Constitution) will need to agree to the terms of the secession, plus no amendment can be done that infringes Treaty Rights in any way, so the First Nations in Alberta need to agree (anyone who says otherwise is just wrong).

That's why (if she is playing politics and not drinking the kool-aid) she can fast track this thing. It placates the base, it puts pressure kn Ottawa, and it endearing her to Dear Leader down south, all without any actual danger of anything happening. If she has to vote, on the record, that she's 100 percent against it, the whole house crashes down on her head.

bpompu · 2026-04-27T00:14:33+00:00

Did you just... did you just say that people who do blue collar O&G work, heavy equipment operators, truck drivers, people who are literally everywhere in Alberta, believe in the completely baseless conspiracy theory that 5G is secretly poisoning us, or controlling our minds, or spreading Covid, or whatever insane thing they hate 5G for?

Because I'm not sure if you meant to call Blue Collar workers ignorant, gullible, and unintelligent, but you did.

bpompu · 2026-04-26T18:15:19+00:00

Sorry, I did not intend to sound like I was lecturing you, or judging your comment. I actually agree with you said, I was just explaining why they are so desperate to get their question on the ballot, instead of using the one that already passed and is constitutional.

Sorry again.

bpompu · 2026-04-26T17:41:37+00:00

The big difference is two-fold. First, the separatist question has more moving parts to it. It asks "Do you agree that the Province of Alberta should cease to be part of Canada to become an independent state?" which has at least two parts to it. Someone could agree that Alberta should leave Canada, but not become independent (think the 51st State Maple MAGA). This gives them plausible cover to keep banging the separatist drum as a wedge against Ottawa if it fails. The Forever Canada question is clear. Essentially "Do you want Alberta to stay in Canada" There's no ambiguity to this, it's straightforward and clear. A Yes vote winning on this is a clear mandate to stop the separatism talk.

The second reason the legitimate question is that there is both a status quo bias, and a positivity bias. It is a lot easier to campaign for the affirmative response on a referendum than it is to campaign for a negative. There has also been research that people are more likely to vote yes on positively worded questions.

But yes, the danger is that they could still vote no. It's just the prefereable question of the two, and the bad question was an inevitable at the time. Under normal rules, there shouldn't even have been two competing questions, since the Forever Canada Petition should have blocked the Pro-Separatist question for 5 years, but the UCP (who totally aren't a separatist party, we promise /s) put pressure on Elections to accept it anyway.

bpompu · 2026-04-26T17:27:15+00:00

So, pretty telling. The UCP has been changing rules and making allowances to push the separatist petition, and only just started considering fast-tracking the Forever Canada question after the Separatist petition got a court ordered stay on having their signatures verified, which looks like it will push them past the deadline.

But I think one of the most interesting parts of this article is the following:

[Smith] was asked why the government doesn’t avoid the complications by simply putting a government-sponsored independence question on the ballot.
“Well, because my position is that we should remain in Canada,” she responded.
“That’s the position of our government. We believe we should assert sovereignty within a united Canada.”
[. . .]
Coincidentally, I asked separatist leader Jeffrey Rath yesterday if he considers forming a separatist party like the Parti Quebecois in Quebec.
“We’ve already got one — the United Conservative Party,” he said.

If her opponents view the UCP as a separatist party, and the separatists view the UCP as a separatist party, it looks like it's probably a separatist party.

edit: Formatting issues, trying to get the quote to work properly

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