Category Archives: Politics

Economics, Free Enterprise, Politics

Danielle Smith As Premier of Alberta

When I first heard Danielle Smith speak back in the days of the Wildrose Party….I was impressed. She has the capacity to think and she has admitted to mistakes.  Her biggest blunder of course was crossing the floor to the conservatives prior to the formulation of the “UCP”. In a word, she “blew up” and high tailed it right out of politics.

Years later…her constituents were willing to let bygones be bygones. 

Last week as premier she spoke again in defense of the Oil and Gas Industry. She makes strong arguments and is an admirable stalwart in representing the industry as she has characterized Ottawa’s “just transition” dogma.

However; COVID is coming back to haunt her. An election campaign promise to pardon rebel anti-covid campaigners from legal breaches wasn’t so well thought out now that it’s been determined legally that pardons are untenable. Most recently, there is rumour that her office had reached out to prosecutors assigned to the Coutts crossing blockade which transpired during the height of the pandemic. 

Serious conservatives are left wondering if her pandering to lunatics on the fringe is going to get the better of her and once more put us right back in the position of an NDP agenda.  I envision much head shaking in downtown Calgary board rooms as we wonder if this will be yet another government imbued in scandal rather than good governance.

Policy initiatives to help her gain our trust:

  1. Get to the very bottom of the health care crisis and implement strong accountability measures (including professional bodies) while carefully budgeting new federal transfer moneys.
  2. Clean up runaway crime working with cities
  3. Enact policy to shore up a housing shortage
  4. Clean up abandoned wells ensuring tight admin for reclamation deposits
  5. Facilitate smooth flowing commerce

Philosophy, Politics

CBC On The Internet

Today I decided to check out a CBC article on the internet presented via link on their website. The first thing a received was video ad and a one paragraph blurb offering nothing more than the headline. On this occasion did not even a drill down link to get deeper into the article. However; after the ad completed an interview with a subject to the article did appear to provide some substance to the headline. 

You fund the CBC and you pay your internet host monthly fees and now you also get journalists substituting video feeds for the written word after getting through an advertisement. Paper media certainly was more simplified. By the way…the profits of Shaw Cable are up substantially during the pandemic. I’ll be monitoring the CBC more now going forward. I’ll learn whether the newer crop of journalists over at the CBC are equipped intellectually to present articulate and well researched op-eds. Society is in need of such journalists and I wonder whether the demand for them is lacking due to an unfair perceived lack of value.

Could it be that the profession of journalism is fatigued after the Trump debacle and a proliferation of attacks from the not so savvy? I suspect yes. Do you remember the days of Allan Fotheringham, George Will, Rex Murphy, and Diane Frances? These were folks who had the capacity to silence the noise and pen an article with intellect. Unfortunately, for newer aspiring journalists the variable of bafflegab can befuddle. 

Health, Lifes Lessons, Politics

Nurses Quebec Example

Did you know that Quebec reported 50,000 health care workers now on “leave” from work due to “burn out”? Just when your country needed them most….those nurses in Quebec are now collecting a disability cheque. That’s right – short term and long term disability claims are enormous right now. The actual number not on the job is actually 70,000 with the other 20,000 associated with those in current isolation. It’s staggering and you can look to see an increase in insurance costs for whichever policy for which you apply because you are not immune from the effect of claims paid in sectors unrelated to your policies. There is some correlation between sector related claims pertaining to generating premiums but that correlation is not 100 per cent. Insurance companies spread risk through a process called “reinsurance” thereby indirectly affecting you. 

You know when Canadian soldiers lined the trenches while securing our freedom, there was no 1-800 number to call for applying for mental health leave. Of course, there are the “professional associations” and “unions” which provide complicating variables in restricting governments from casting a broader net for acquiring human resources necessary during this critical time. It should be no surprise that doctors are sparse and unavailable to assist due to our system of education and influence of the professional association in limiting access to the profession.    

 Here we are in a health care crisis whereby those associations so adamant at protecting their professions are now desperate. Nurses in Quebec and across Canada are needed now. Help them help us.  

Free Enterprise, Politics, Sport

Flames Arena Deal Iced

Once again your tax dollars have been wasted. This time on a fantasy gone wrong. The Saddledome is a relatively new building built for the 1988 Olympics but for many it was already outdated because it wasn’t good enough for particular musical acts and there wasn’t enough luxury revenue generating suites for the liking Flames brass. For the wrong reasons, Calgarian’s tax dollars intended to meet the needs of every Calgarian were committed toward a special interest and a sport represented by players and management whose salaries far exceed those responsible for contributing funding. It was odorous from the beginning and the rightful ending has arrived but not without costs. The Flames Arena Deal is Iced but count on continued deliberations.  

You see….back when community rinks were established in the 1940’s and1950s all over Canada, these rinks were built with the pretext of bettering communities because all taxpayers would have access to them for figure skating, hockey, and recreational skating. Community programs could be advanced through the utilization of the facility. The health and wellness of all Canadians could be advanced in lieu of a community investment. This model is a good representation of a budget line item worthy of public funds given the direct benefit to tax payers.

You’ve all heard the economic argument of “spin offs” from building bigger and better. The trouble is that there is simply too much risk in postulating “economic benefit” from the standpoint of the magnitude of investment. Canadian cities are becoming more diverse with an aggressive immigration policy attracting new citizens who have not been acclimatized to the sport of hockey.

The NHL and its teams are financially successful evidenced by published salaries earned by players. In a capitalist model which Canada is barely retaining, corporations should be looking to the markets or investors for funding and not the public purse. 

Ironically and yet to be confirmed by rumours it may become evident that the nixing of the deal had much to do with a matter relevant to a reasonable Flames request associated with public funding of roadways / public works associated with the vicinity of the arena.

This has been a fiasco and could have been avoided. My sense is that prior Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi had his instinct correct in the beginning about this project but then ceded his position from variables which I’ll allow you to speculate.          

Politics

Will Gondek Be Recalled in Calgary?

Will Mayor Gondek be recalled in Calgary? The question is becoming a viable one in lieu of the recent passage of Bill 52 in Alberta regarding “recall” and Calgary Mayor Ms. Gondek’s apparent propensity to overreach in jurisdiction. Firstly, it was her declaration of a “climate emergency” and now it is her suggested $100,000 deployment  of Calgarian tax funds for the purpose of challenging Quebec’s Bill 21 legal fight. 

Bill 52 requires 40 per cent of the populous to vote in favour of recall and terms also require a 60 day window to collect signatures. Eligibility to begin collecting signatures starts at 3 months of tenure by the official. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is “urging” the mayor to use her own salary for the Quebec challenge. Undoubtedly, Calgary taxpayers are watching closely to see if Ms. Gondek’s apparent zeal for politics beyond the municipal will yet again post up Calgarians as soldiers toward causes beyond the city limits.