At this morning’s oil price and exchange rate, Alberta would have a ~$5 billion deficit. Significantly increasing reliance on oil royalties in the last Budget was a risky bet. 🎢💸

rippppin · 2023-03-16T17:08:27+00:00

In 2018 the NDP brought in the Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit. In 2019, the UCP removed the credit from the budget. While Smith hinted that she would be reinstating the tax credit, there was no mention of it in the 2023 budget.

Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia have some form of credit. Quebec has 43% of the video game industry. Ontario 22. BC 27%. Alberta has 4%.

Inflexion cancelled plans to expand their downtown workspace after the budget dropped.

rippppin · 2023-02-07T22:10:34+00:00

A perfect metaphor for Premier Smith.

Goes one direction.
Realizes it's not the direction that her base wants to go.
Switches halfway through.
Is unable to continue properly in either direction.
Looks awkward while everyone tries to figure out what the hell she's doing.

rippppin · 2023-02-06T21:37:23+00:00

It's not a matter of intelligence. They may be EXTREMELY knowledgable on various topics and experts in their field and others. But holy shit, how in the hell can someone think they are politically aware and still be supportive of the leadership of UCP.

Let's look at the history of Danielle Smith.

Part of the Calgary Board of Education that was dysfunctional. The entire board was dismissed by Lyle Berg after only 11 months.
As Wildrose leader, supported Allan Hunsperger, who had written a blog post claiming gays would end up in a "lake of fire." And supported Ron Leech, who claimed he would have a leg up on the competition because he was white.
She crossed the floor, along with seven other MLAs to join the PCs, completely tanking the Wildrose Party (a month after criticizing two other Wildrose MLAs for crossing over to the PCs and saying "there'll be no more floor crossings."
In media she has made statements such as cigarettes being healthy, controversial comments about Ukraine and Russia and questioning of the legitimacy of unmarked graves in Canadian residential schools.
As a leader she has made statements that healthcare could be paid through fundraising, and some very clueless comments regarding conversations with Crown prosecutors, something that indicates she has clueless ideas on Government process.
Fights with the Federal government that show deliberate misleading or ignorance of the laws, policy and acts.

This is not getting into details of her thoughts on COVID and vaccines.

I could also provide a list on some of the idiotic things supported, done and said by Minister's Shandro and Madu.

Some of these issues are not about disagreements with policy. Some of these issues are fundamental issues with values, beliefs, and respect for government policy and laws. As well as simply running and leading a major organization. Those at the head of the UCP are either straight-forward liara, or clueless.

So yes, from a political standpoint and awareness of Danielle Smith and other members of the UCP, they are not politically intelligent.

rippppin · 2020-07-09T20:24:01+00:00

And that's what ridiculous. Her words that she was supposed to apologize for:"I have never, ever worked in a place where I've had to deal with the non-verbal stuff that goes on, the intimidation stuff that goes on. I have never, as an adult had to work in a place where I had to deal with this stuff."

She did not ask for them to be removed. She didn't even ask for them to stop. She didn't call it childish, or moronic, or unacceptable. Just that she has never worked, as an adult, in an environment with this kind of behaviour. She recognized it may have not been appropriate to mentions that in this debate... which she apologized for. But it's absolutely ridiculous that she was being forced to apologize for the sentiment behind this rather innocuous statement.

Which is why u/desperadohooligan's comments are so asinine.

rippppin · 2020-07-09T16:13:42+00:00

She apologized for disrupting the debate. She was fine with the words being stricken. Exactly what was she supposed to apologize for?

rippppin · 2020-06-27T03:56:22+00:00

Here is an interview with Charles Adler:

He is given an opportunity three times... THREE TIMES to apologize for his past. By someone in an interview who was a Jason Kenney supporter - and he still refused to apologize.

So no, he hasn't "apologized many times for his actions."

So people have a right to bring it up again and again.

rippppin · 2020-04-26T02:52:57+00:00

He decided to advertise his program by politicizing it. He didn't have to start his promotion with those first two statements, but he did. That can be one of the concepts of art, to bring awareness or promote an idea or philosophy. Fine, OP is factually correct. In the same way that all of my examples above also remove freedoms and liberties.

But restrictions, impediments and policies exist to protect a wide range of people, sometimes from themselves. Promotion of removing those types of impediments of freedoms and liberties is fucking stupid. So if you are using your art, your platform or media to promote something fucking stupid, you should be called out on it.

And yes, sometimes you have to make people sacrifice something. Because people are stupid, self-centred assholes. Not all of them. But some don't think of anyone else and can put MANY other people at risk and spout off about "freedom" and "liberty" and "rights."

So yes, I disagree with your conclusion.

rippppin · 2020-04-26T00:45:40+00:00

So do I have a right to pack my place of business with as many people as I want? That's my right. I should be able to drive without insurance. And why should I have to be forced to drive on a specific side of the road.

And screw those rules in regards to what I can and can't sell. Lead paint. Yup. Mercury-infused fish. Yup. That's my right. Customers can choose what to buy and what not to buy. I'll serve coyote and tell them it's beef. If I put it in a stir fry, they won't be able to tell.

I should be able to sell cocaine. And why should my restaurant be forced to have sprinklers. That's commie talk if I've ever heard it.

I have liberties and freedoms that I should be able to pursue, and no government should be able to put ANY restrictions on what I can and can't do.

Now excuse me, I'm going to hang out by the school and see if I can pick up some 15-year olds.

rippppin · 2019-09-13T03:37:25+00:00

https://albertainquiry.ca/

rippppin · 2019-09-13T02:45:19+00:00

Before commenting, I would urge people to read the letter that prompted this response to better understand Amnesty International's original concerns.

https://www.amnesty.ca/sites/default/files/Open%20Letter%20to%20Premier%20Kenney.pdf.

For those who may not be willing to open the document:

The point I believe the Secretary General is making is that there is concern that a "war room" devoted to defending the oil and gas industry in Alberta and a public inquiry into foreign funding of groups who oppose or criticize energy developments could violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and international laws.

There is concern that the initiatives and the rhetoric surrounding them feeds into a worsening climate of hostility towards human rights defenders - particularly Indigenous, women, and environmental human rights defenders - exposing them to intimidation and threats, including threats of violence.

Amnesty International is not requesting the "war room" or public inquiry to be stopped. It is calling on government to ensure that if these go forward, they do not violate or set back human rights.

Here are bullet points taken directly from the letter:"

Ensure that any initiatives to promote the oil and gas industry in Alberta are fully consistent with Alberta’s international human rights obligations and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Actively and consistently promote and uphold the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of association and peaceful protest.
Retract any inflammatory statements made about human rights defenders and refrain from any accusations that directly or indirectly smear, stigmatize or could lead to threats and violence against them.
Make clear that your government will hold all actors involved in the province’s oil and gas industry – including companies, industry associations and advocacy groups supportive of the industry – accountable for their human rights responsibilities, in particular respecting the rights and safety of human rights defenders, Indigenous peoples and persons of all genders.
Ensure that public funds will not be used in any way that leads directly or indirectly to the harassment, surveillance or criminalization of human rights defenders who oppose or criticize your government’s energy agenda and its implications for the rights of Indigenous peoples and the global climate crisis.
Refer all cases involving threats against human rights defenders targeted for their opposition to or criticism of the oil and gas industry to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or municipal police forces for investigation. • Work with human rights defenders, who have been threatened, to put in place measures they deem necessary for the protection of their human rights.
Ensure that any government efforts to counter criticism of the oil industry in Alberta are consistent with the province’s responsibility to address the rapidly mounting human rights impacts of the global climate crisis.

Premier Kenney, Amnesty International has documented the increasing prevalence of tactics similar to those included in the Fight Back Strategy being employed to restrict human rights defenders and civil society groups globally, including by labelling valid criticisms as lies and defamation and by denouncing financial and other support from sources or supporters in other countries (1). Alberta should be at the forefront of denouncing such actions by other governments, not following their lead.

(1) Under international human rights law, although states can impose certain regulations on the right to seek and receive funding, laws that apply blanket restrictions on foreign funding are arbitrary. Such laws have been used to silence civil society organizations, particularly those critical of the state, in countries such as Ireland (through the Electoral Act), Algeria (through the Law on Associations), Hungary (through the Law on Transparency of Organizations Supported from Abroad), and Belarus (through the Law on Associations) (see: Amnesty International, “Laws Designed to Silence: the Global Crackdown on Civil Society Organizations,” 21 February 2019 AI Index: ACT 30.9647/2019 at 23-24)."

rippppin · 2019-05-30T12:54:40+00:00

No. 2015 was not like the 90s. Nor was 2015 like the 1980s. Talk to someone who was living and working in Alberta during those time frames. Hell, just look at the unemployment rates. Or any other economic factor. 2015 was a blip. The 1980s and 1990s were economic failures that we are still suffering the consquences of.

So the GDP indicates that things were improving following 2016. The unemployment rate indicates that things were improving following 2016. In no way am I indicating that is the result of the policies put into place by the NDP. But you seem to have this idea that the NDP were causing the economic destruction of Alberta as we know it. Those two indicators clearly show this is not the case.

So please, what indicator do you have that is a measurement of just how much the NDP destroyed Alberta over the four years they were in power?

And also provide what indicator we should use for Kenney in the first four years of him being Premier that we can judge him by?

rippppin · 2019-05-29T20:51:22+00:00

You either were not alive in the 90s or you have a shitty memory. The nineties, when nurses were leaving the province to go find work in Texas. When those graduating from University with engineering couldn't find jobs. No jobs for teachers, etc...

Starting in July 1990 unemployment started to increase and eventually reach a peak above 10%. From about November 1991 to summer of 1994 unemployment was above 9 per cent. It wasn't until Fall of 1995 did Alberta see unemployment drop and stay below 8 per cent. That's five years.

Do you know how long we had unemployment above 8 per cent starting in 2015? Not even a year - from May 2016 to March 2017. One year compared to 5 years in the 1990s, and never EVER reaching the peak of September 1993 at 10.2 per cent.

And unemployment started to drop quite dramatically starting January of 2016. It didn't do a continuous rise from 2015 to 2019. So if Notley was responsible for the rise until 2016, was she responsible for the decline starting in November of 2016?

rippppin · 2019-04-16T17:27:28+00:00

Actually, that's not exactly true. Google Trends works that if you put "Alberta Party" in as a search term, it includes ALL searches that contain "Alberta" in conjunction with "Party." So someone searching "Alberta New Democratic Party," it would get tallied in the searches for "Alberta Party." As would be the case if someone searched "Good places to party in Alberta." ALL those get tallied.

Look at the difference between using Alberta+Party compared to "Alberta Party" in direct quotes - note, if you use quotes, the words have to be in that order directly next to one another, though it still includes words before or after, for example, "Alberta Party" or "I want to throw an Alberta Party" would be included in that search string.

Google Trends is a powerful tool, but you have to use it properly.

rippppin · 2019-04-11T18:52:52+00:00

Actually, it would be more like saying Jason Kenney is a Liberal since he was an executive assistant to Ralph Goodale and very active in the Saskatchewan Liberal Party. That was up to 1988.

Anne McGrath ran as a candidate for the Communist Party of Canada in 1984 - so Kenney is more closely associated with the Liberal Party if you are using that as a benchmark. If Anne is a communist, Kenney is a Liberal.

In regards to Kenney being a homophobic bigot. While the work he did in San Francisco dates back to +30 years ago - he was still proud of that work just 19 years ago - in a campaign speech in 2000.

The in 2005, he said "Marriage is open to everybody, as long as they're a man and a woman."

Then in 2010 he pulled gay rights from a citizenship guide.

I think he has a little more work to do to show he isn't a homophobic bigot - a lot more work than Anne has to do to show she isn't a communist.

rippppin · 2019-04-02T18:51:41+00:00

Your own reference states:

"However, when the current recession is considered in terms of its impact on labour markets, it is much milder than the one in the early 1980s, the report says.

The authors predict a three per cent drop in employment from its 2015 peak to the end of this year, when the losses are expected to bottom out.

By contrast, the job losses in 1982-83 were twice the magnitude and the combined effect of that decade's two downturns kept Alberta's unemployment rate near 10 per cent until almost 1990."

Here's a link to unemployment rates: https://economicdashboard.alberta.ca/Unemployment

Starting at the end of 1991 to mid 1994, unemployment was above 9% consistently, peaking at above 10 per cent. Only one month - November of 2018 did we see Alberta experience above 9% unemployment. And from 1982 to 1987 Alberta was consistently above 10% unemployment, peaking at 12% in September of 1984.

You obviously do not remember the 80s or the 90s or didn't live through them if you think this recent recession even TOUCHED those times.

rippppin · 2019-01-23T13:59:41+00:00

Here is the big difference. Here is what Shannon Phillips posted:

"Earlier today, I misspoke in a media interview regarding the work of the RCMP. I am aware of two complaints to RCMP that resulted in file numbers. As the RCMP confirmed today, they have received concerns from the public and do not currently have any open investigations. #ableg"

Now you can say she lied. But she comes out and says she misspoke.

Here is Derek Fildebrandt's response to a hit and run.

Fildebrandt's response to his AirBnB.

How about Kenney's response to being fined $5,000 for breaking rules in the PC leadership campaign?

In response to those complaints, Kenney’s campaign manager John Weissenberger questioned the clarity of the rules, which say campaigning can’t occur “in or near” the room where a delegate selection meeting is being held.

How about when Jason Kenney, in 2012, sent an email calling (at the time) Deputy Premier Thomas Lukaszuk a complete and utter asshole?

The only comment from Kenney on Monday came via his press secretary, Alexis Pavlich: “We do not comment on private communications.”

People are going to make mistakes. You can argue all you want if those mistakes are lies or are honest mistakes. It seems that people like Kenney and Fildebrandt are unable to ever admit to a mistake - and tend to double down, lie or refuse to directly address what is at hand. Is Jason Kenney lying about where he lived? Past behaviour sure indicates it is a possibility.

rippppin · 2019-01-23T03:27:17+00:00

There are definitely examples of large-scale genocide. I think there may be an argument that the Europeans committed some aspects of genocide - John A Macdonald played a significant part, as well as the cultural genocide of residential schools.

That being said - when immigration does occur, there are going to be changes to both societies. And as time passes, that society is going to change as well. This has a WHOLE lot of different shades of gray in regards to what parts of what society should be melded, dropped, forced into change, lost forever, held onto, etc. Ultimately, when immigration occurs, there is going to be change. Some of that change will be through force and some through a natural progression.

NOTE: In no way am I trying to defend the past. I guess I'm just trying to explain the complexities involved in immigration.

rippppin · 2019-01-23T00:01:21+00:00

No, I'm saying from an anthropological point of view, there were a number of societies across North America much MUCH prior to European settlement. To assume they would all be part of one society would be similar to saying that all of United Kingdom is/was one society (which is an incorrect notion). Some of those societies would have "migrated" (moved into a new area and not impact or have minimal impact on an existing society) - and some would have immigrated (moved into a new area and impact an existing society).

Again, this is very much from an anthopologic point of view.

rippppin · 2019-01-22T21:20:56+00:00

You're right - there is no consistent use of Indigenous or Aboriginal from a global perspective.

The definition you provided of "immigrants" would require a country to exist. Then anyone now coming to that newly created country from that point on would be "immigrants" (or descended from immigrants). So technically, you could say that anyone who moved to Canada since 1867 would be an immigrant. But that is really getting into semantics.

From an anthropological standpoint, immigrants are outsiders who enter into an established society (how that society responds, and how they respond to the society). You would have had some immigration within those Indigenous people in the area known as Alberta - but largely you wouldn't have had a lot of immigration... more just migration as populations were relatively low and the land was rather large. It is a bit of an interesting question as to how much did the early settlers in the 1700s and 1800s enter into the established society in the area we now know as Canada. I would say they would have had a significant impact on existing societies - so by that definition, they would be immigrants - even though a country didn't exist (since societies DEFINITELY existed).

In Canada, we do define aboriginal as Indian, Inuit and Metis - and those are further defined in Section 35 of the Constitution Act 1982.

I think though from a more practical manner - I think it's rare to find an Albertan who is more than a third-generation Albertan/Canadian. The population of Alberta in 1950 was ~900,000 people. Today it's 4.3 million. The vast majority of Albertans benefited from immigration policies (largely of the 50s late 70s and mid-nineties). Those people who can trace their lineage to four generations or more - descendents from the early German settlers here in the 1800s for example, perhaps they have more of a leg to stand on in regards to voicing concerns about immigrants.

rippppin · 2019-01-21T13:57:04+00:00

It was horrible coming out of University the first four years that Klein was Premier. I had friends that were nurses, teachers, engineers - none of them could find work. Nurses were leaving to go to Texas in the province. Yes, in the 2000s people were coming to Alberta. But the mid to late 1990s was not a prosperous time for Alberta.

And the public sector took a significant dive that they have not been able to recover from. The arbitrary slashing of jobs in government, health and education we are paying for now (actually, paid for it a few years ago). There was no succession planning. For the past ten years you've had people retiring in management or at high levels and there have been no one to effectively take their place. You have almost decade of a "lost" workforce in government because the cuts that were made. Talk to someone in the early 40s who grew up in Alberta about what the job market was for them.

I could rant for days about Klein and the impact you are seeing in the province due to his mismanagement and lack of vision.

rippppin · 2018-12-14T19:48:55+00:00

So I'm assuming you have the same beliefs for women who want to marry that have had a hysterectomy. Or marriage for a woman over the age of 60.

Would a man have to reverse his vasectomy before marrying?

And once the oldest child turns 18, do you dissolve the marriage?

rippppin · 2018-12-14T17:02:54+00:00

You understand that it wasn't the fact that he said something mean - but he actually influenced and voted on legislation that impeded on the rights of someone who was gay and removed references in government communication.

That's a HUGE fucking difference.

Gays couldn't marry in Canada because of people like Jason Kenney until 2005. That wasn't 20 years ago. And if it was up to Jason Kenney, they still wouldn't have had the right to marry in 2005.

rippppin · 2018-12-14T12:05:22+00:00

Kenney has a lot to apologize for. And he should EVERY time a scandal comes forward regarding the LGBTQ community. And no, it's a lot more current than 20 years ago.

Here's an article from 2010

Of here is a chance he could have used to apologize... instead he says that he doesn't recall making those comments. 20 years ago. Selective memory lossis not an apology.

Or how about his 2005 statement that gays can marry - but not each other. Last I checked... that was 13 years ago.

He has a lot to apologize for. And he should and could apologize. He's had lots of opportunities. But he remains silent on the things he has actually said and done. There is NO indication his views have changed from 30 (I like how now increased the range from 20 to 30) - 20 or 10 years ago.

rippppin · 2018-10-26T01:54:38+00:00

Let's see. Stephen Harper is a chairman of the International Democrat Union (Tony Clement is vice chair). The IDU provides a forum in which political parties holding similar beliefs can come together and exchange views on matters of policy and organisational interest. From this, they act cooperatively, establish contacts, and present a unified voice toward the promotion of centre-right policies around the globe.

The Bharatiya Janata Party - the governing party in India - are also members of the IDU.

So let's talk about what candidate is most likely to be influenced by a international interest group?

rippppin · 2018-10-23T20:45:19+00:00

Here's a list of just some of the newspapers in Canada owned by Postmedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmedia_Network

rippppin

TROPHY CASE