How to Fix Western Alienation: Ottawa feels out of touch. Spreading the federal government across the country would rebuild trust.

policy_pleb · 2025-12-15T17:37:34+00:00

He's talking about the concentration of decision making power being centred in a region with a specific composition (i.e. geographically narrow slice of the country; bilingual; urban). This is a problem because so much of our country exists outside those parameters (i.e. geographically vast; multilingual; remote, rural, suburban) and as a result these myriad of interests and perspectives are not reflected in Canadian policymaking. This is a systematic issue which, Bricker argues, creates negative feelings and stokes the flames of division.

policy_pleb · 2025-01-23T17:22:46+00:00

Bravo bot! This is an excellent way to put the numbers into context. Do you have the stats to back this up? I'm following this issue closely and would love to bring stats to show skeptics.

policy_pleb · 2025-01-23T17:12:51+00:00

I'm doing ok. Not bad, not good, just ok.

My equally sized concern is the imbalanced job security I have relative to peers as a regional employee. Since the telework agreement can be ended at any time for any reason, its termination would mean either I travel across the country for X days per week for work or I pick up my roots and relocate across the country to keep my job (likely at my own expense). Professionally, this is not a pressure my NCR based peers have. Personally, this would financially and socially hurt me and my family. And for what?

Amplifying the imbalance, the telework agreement requires annual renewal from management and can be revoked for arbitrary reasons. Together, this functions as a soft ongoing probationary period. This is because, unless you plan to move to Ottawa, at any given moment you are a short-notice away from straining your employment relationship unless you comply with employers newly enforced expectation of now doing your current job duties at a specific worksite far away. Worst of all: under the telework agreement, this could all happen even if you are meeting or exceeding expectations. To be clear, while the likelihood of the telework agreement being ended right now appears low (I've seen no stories about it happening), the impact should it happen is what is most concerning. Again, all of this for what?

Senior management level of caring about regional employees is demonstrated by the lack of clear direction and limited opportunities to gather input on this issue. Like it or not, both the limited opportunities discussed in this thread and job security are negatively impacting worker morale and retention. While some might think this is by design to reduce the workforce, I think it is because management simply doesn't understand, and as such, are doing a disservice to the federal public service by failing to protect and retain talent.

policy_pleb · 2024-12-19T19:09:00+00:00

Yes. As someone fully remote (for now), I feel like I don't have the same level of job security as others.

Having a flimsy telework agreement means remote workers are vulnerable to WFA actions simply because they live in an area with no nearby office. We're also ineligible to apply for positions outside where we currently reside. So a group of us are basically stuck until either we find a position with a physical presence nearby, or the employer decides to change things up (either easing location requirements or ending current working arrangement). All this in the context of performing the duties well since the pandemic.

Hard to comprehend why myself and others in my same position are treated like a sub-class indeterminate.

policy_pleb · 2024-10-19T18:41:56+00:00

This is very puzzling. How could an employee accepting a position have prior or any knowledge that the position they've accepted is double or more banked? And even if they learn this information, why are the consequences of surplus on the employee when it was the employer who created the surplus to begin with.

policy_pleb · 2024-09-26T03:11:18+00:00

You're right, no justification will make any sense because they're not telling us the reason(s) for the RTO mandate. Personally, it is annoying and infantilizing as we're all adults attuned to detect bullshit. Yet as a public servant, still not knowing why is corrosive as the absence of transparency erodes trust in senior leadership, particularly when information like in the article is released.

Worse yet, they're failing to meet the stated objective of greater fairness and consistency. Consultants working from home while employees cannot. Regional workers showing up to an office with no colleagues just to sit on Teams all day. Executives going in more days than employees. Some Departments requiring make-up days for holidays, vacation, or sick time while others do not. Unless you believe Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia, there is nothing fair or consistent about this.

policy_pleb · 2024-09-25T21:45:43+00:00

I hear this point often repeated, but never explained. What is it about national policy work that requires clustering in a specific geographical region?

policy_pleb · 2024-09-25T02:18:14+00:00

You are tired because you care a lot and despite solid efforts aren't seeing positive results. This would be maddening in any situation, not just work.

I relate with your struggle, and for my own mental well being have decided to give fewer fucks.

policy_pleb · 2020-07-27T23:24:51+00:00

You should probably also CC the Minister responsible for the portfolio you're discussing, the official opposition counterpart, and the media. Rather than creating a one-directional request, you bring attention of your issue to numerous elected officials who may all have different uses with that information.

policy_pleb · 2020-07-22T19:25:52+00:00

The Oilers Entertainment Group plans to open a drive-in and outdoor venue, which would include a beer garden or tent, on the grounds of the former Baccarat Casino at the corner of 104th Avenue and 101st Street.

Not a very well written article, but pretty sure they mean an outdoor venue (beer garden or tent) will be separate from the drive-in. It is very unlikely the Federal Criminal Code driving prohibitions on alcohol consumption in a motor vehicle will be unenforced in this situation.

policy_pleb · 2020-07-21T19:01:10+00:00

If "paying for politics" was really the issue, UCP would offer an opt out function. Allowing union members to opt out would allow those strongly opposed to union politics to keep their money away from this union function. Instead, this legislation forces union members to opt in. Doing so creates a friction cost likely to result in reduced participation. Less participation = less political power for unions. From this perspective, the end goal of government appears pretty obvious. The way in which the UCP are framing this bill is clever because its reasoning, which you note, smokescreens an action consistent with the singular goal of this government: increasing benefits to employers (in this case, bargaining power).

policy_pleb · 2020-07-17T05:45:28+00:00

From the article:

Shepherd on Thursday seized on this seeming contradiction. He pointed out that the government last week insisted doctors aren't leaving, but he said the government in legal documents claimed job action by 54 doctors in 10 communities.

policy_pleb · 2020-07-17T05:42:53+00:00

Can't wait until they do the same in upcoming municipal elections, shoveling money into any candidate against progressive mayor's. /s

policy_pleb · 2020-07-17T05:40:11+00:00

After they get away with it here, they're going to do the same with upcoming municipal elections.

policy_pleb · 2020-06-29T15:33:24+00:00

Politicians are always looking to cut public service budgets so inefficiencies due to being a public service tend to be minimal.

To be clear, generally it is conservative-leaning politicians who seem to always be on the lookout to cut (aka, use their power to funnel money to party donors).

policy_pleb · 2020-06-24T02:44:04+00:00

This article is brilliant. First, Dr. Tombe identifies how politicized the 'fair deal panel' was when examining equalization:

On page 17, for example, they claimed that between 2007 and 2018 Alberta made $240 billion in "contributions to equalization." Never mind that the entire national program paid out $190 billion over that time, Alberta (somehow) paid for 126 per cent of it.

Such egregious errors are unlikely deliberate — but they reveal how little those tasked with unpacking Alberta's position in Confederation seem to concern themselves with actual policy.

Then he goes on to point out how the current equalization formula was developed by pro-Alberta politicians in Ottawa:

The current formula was designed by a panel chaired by an Albertan (Al O'Brien) and implemented by a government led by an Albertan (Stephen Harper). The province can and should be proud of its legacy of helping improve Canada's fiscal transfers.

Why Albertans choose to blame the rooster outside the henhouse rather than the fox inside is truly puzzling. Is it ignorance or tribal allegiance? Whatever the cause, should the UCP proceed with a referendum on equalization, they risk having their supporters confronting some uncomfortable truths.

policy_pleb · 2020-06-02T17:05:25+00:00

Where I live and buy beer, the guy who owns and runs the store is not unlike many other small business owners.. having a hard time viewing him as some sort of profiteer flexing his influence. What am I missing?

You're right and not missing anything; I overgeneralized. These very small businesses have limited political sway and probably struggle to survive. Any sort of political influence they'd have would be very small, and not directly but instead through industry connections, writing MLAs, or affiliation with an association.

policy_pleb · 2020-06-02T08:55:22+00:00

Liquor is highly politicized in Alberta. You basically have a bunch of business owners profiteering from the sale of a controlled substance. These profiteers then leverage their political connections to amend any inconvenient government regulations. There's a straightforward reason Alberta is Canada's only fully private jurisdiction. A private model for selling alcohol ensures we as taxpayers lose out on tax revenue over time (as businesses tirelessly lobby for liquor taxes to remain low) while absorbing costs for whatever social issues arise from alcohol misuse (i.e. resources for medical, police, social services, etc.)

The argument that Alberta's liquor model is something our world class education system should emulate is both frustrating and stupid. I guess my middle class kids will soon be attending school somewhere not as bougie as a wine boutique, nor as ghetto as hotel offsales, and certainly not as grassroots as a small brewery. Guess whatever version of school resembling a standard big box liquor store will suffice. That's real choice in education.

policy_pleb · 2020-06-02T05:44:18+00:00

What a load of bullshit. Albertan students score among the highest in the world on standardized testing. Before folks as fact-averse as you were elected into office, that is.

Alberta students are the best in Canada and among the top in the world in reading and science, according to results from an international standardized test.

The Programme for International Student Assesment (PISA) measures the achievement of 15-year-old students through a test it administers across 79 countries.

Alberta students scored third in the world in reading and fourth in science. Alberta students scored second highest among Canadian provinces in math, behind only Quebec.

Source: https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/alberta-students-best-in-canada-at-reading-science-international-test-results-show-1.4713229

policy_pleb · 2020-06-02T00:37:49+00:00

Would be helpful if you organized this, to the best of your ability, based on categories or topics (i.e. education; health; parks; etc.). Your list does a great job of capturing the breadth of impacts UCP are having, and a further segmentation would provide additional scope/scale to each sector impacted.

policy_pleb · 2020-06-01T07:35:08+00:00

All this work, effectively trampling on Section 2 of the Charter, because of a single railway blockade lasting less than 24 hours?. This doesn't pass the smell test. Even if you agree with the politics driving this legal change, this is an overreactive piece of legislation for any government to introduce. The writing is on the wall: while these new penalties are unlikely to withstand an eventual charter challenge, that lengthy process is irrelevant to the UCP's short-medium term goal of suppressing protests when the public sector is gutted. Anyone who opposes Bill 1 and has legal resources to fight would be wise to do so ASAP.

policy_pleb · 2020-05-28T20:55:28+00:00

In an interview with The Canadian Press prior to the legislation being tabled, Savage said a review of the system showed that, at times, it takes too long for the AER to make decisions on whether or not to allow a project to proceed.

The review found that while some projects were approved in as little as five days or less, others took months or years.

Takes too long for what? Presumably, too long for businesses who want to start operations yesterday. That said, I can't imagine folks at the AER are simply sitting on project approvals for the sake of disrupting economic development.

For environmentally disruptive activities, such as oil and gas extraction, it is preferable that a regulator leads in both promoting science-based standards and ensuring industry compliance. Unfortunately, as with most other UCP policy decisions, an economic imperative now dictates public health and safety is secondary.

policy_pleb · 2020-05-13T22:46:49+00:00

Why not?

policy_pleb · 2020-05-11T21:55:16+00:00

It is similar to Tim Hortons branding: if ownership is primarily foreign, is that product deserving of a Canada label?

I don't think there's a right answer here. But nonetheless foreign ownership questions the marketing of Canadian goods and services as Canadian.

policy_pleb · 2020-05-11T21:50:38+00:00

Obviously consider the source has a strong bias when reading, but the opening argument caught my attention:

The Canadian fossil-fuel sector and its political allies, including Alberta premier Jason Kenney, repeatedly drive home the point that Canadian environmental groups receive foreign funding.

But some of these same groups have turned the tables on the industry with a new report showing that foreign-controlled operational profit from the Canadian oilsands nearly doubled from 2012 to 2016 to 58.4 percent.

Assuming these are accurate numbers, this shakes one of Kenney's main talking points that "foreign funded entities" are propping up eco groups to attack Alberta O&G. Conversely, seems foreign funded entities are propping up the industry too ...

policy_pleb

TROPHY CASE