Omnibus Alberta Thread
Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 118 Next
llama66 @ Thu Apr 08, 2021 11:45 am
As have I, I've been thinking a lot about home, in Kitchener.
DrCaleb @ Fri Apr 09, 2021 6:35 am
$1:
91 per cent of Alta. teachers unhappy with new draft curriculum: ATA survey
EDMONTON -- New survey results released by the Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA) on Thursday suggest a large majority of educators are unhappy with the Alberta government's latest K-6 draft curriculum.
The preliminary results of the ATA survey seem to back up what CTV News has been hearing from school boards and teachers in Alberta since the new draft curriculum was unveiled by the Alberta government late last month.
According to the ATA survey - which heard from over 3,500 Alberta teachers, school leaders, and central office leaders between March 29 and April 7 - 91 per cent of respondents are unhappy with the new curriculum draft.
The survey also showed 90 per cent of teachers are not comfortable teaching the new K-6 curriculum.
“We wanted to give teachers time to review the documents and provide their feedback to us since the government failed to engage teachers in the curriculum process. But the preliminary data is overwhelming: this draft curriculum is fatally flawed," ATA president Jason Schilling said in a news release.
Among the key areas of concern, according to the ATA survey, is the age-appropriateness of the curriculum.
Eighty-nine per cent of Alberta educators who took the survey believe the draft curriculum is not "age-appropriate" or "logically sequenced each grade and from grade to grade."
“Teachers are the experts," said Schilling. "Teachers know what will work in a classroom and what will not, and they are overwhelmingly telling us that this curriculum won’t work for Alberta’s elementary students.”
EDMONTON -- New survey results released by the Alberta Teachers' Association (ATA) on Thursday suggest a large majority of educators are unhappy with the Alberta government's latest K-6 draft curriculum.
The preliminary results of the ATA survey seem to back up what CTV News has been hearing from school boards and teachers in Alberta since the new draft curriculum was unveiled by the Alberta government late last month.
According to the ATA survey - which heard from over 3,500 Alberta teachers, school leaders, and central office leaders between March 29 and April 7 - 91 per cent of respondents are unhappy with the new curriculum draft.
The survey also showed 90 per cent of teachers are not comfortable teaching the new K-6 curriculum.
“We wanted to give teachers time to review the documents and provide their feedback to us since the government failed to engage teachers in the curriculum process. But the preliminary data is overwhelming: this draft curriculum is fatally flawed," ATA president Jason Schilling said in a news release.
Among the key areas of concern, according to the ATA survey, is the age-appropriateness of the curriculum.
Eighty-nine per cent of Alberta educators who took the survey believe the draft curriculum is not "age-appropriate" or "logically sequenced each grade and from grade to grade."
“Teachers are the experts," said Schilling. "Teachers know what will work in a classroom and what will not, and they are overwhelmingly telling us that this curriculum won’t work for Alberta’s elementary students.”
https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/91-per-cent ... -1.5379682
DrCaleb @ Tue Apr 13, 2021 7:22 am
$1:
UCP caucus revolt latest in a long history of splintering conservative parties in Alberta
Last week, a caucus revolt enveloped the Jason Kenney government in Alberta.
A group of 17 United Conservative Party MLAs, all from outside the large cities of Calgary and Edmonton, endorsed a public letter on Wednesday condemning the COVID-19 restrictions that were reintroduced by Premier Kenney. This caucus revolt, which has been brewing for months, has considerable potential to lead to a splintering of the UCP.
This revolt was not due solely to provincial COVID-19 restrictions (which have hit all of Canada), nor was it triggered by the sizable drop in popularity of the Kenney government, as seen in multiple polls. After all, the approval ratings of the Pallister government in Manitoba and the Ford government in Ontario have also shown a strong decline. Yet, those government caucuses are not facing revolts from within.
Moreover, this revolt appears not to be about public opinion splits regarding COVID-19 restrictions.
Public opinion polls show that the minority of Albertans who are opposed to COVID-19 restrictions are concentrated in rural parts of the province, and ideologically, further to the right on the political spectrum. But, we find this same ideological/rural opposition to pandemic restrictions in Saskatchewan, and this comes without any internal threats to the leadership of Premier Scott Moe.
An Alberta-made battle
As we are not seeing similar revolts in the six other provinces governed by conservative parties, we suggest that the UCP's internal fracturing is not entirely a matter of the ideological disposition of the government. Rather, this is an Alberta-made internecine battle over the type, intensity, and direction of conservative policy-making, and the inability of Premier Kenney to contain and accommodate the variety of right-wing perspectives within the party.
We have previously argued that the history of conservative parties in Canada exhibits a pattern of splintering and merging at both the national and provincial levels. This is most pronounced in Alberta.
There were failed merger attempts between Alberta's Social Credit party and Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta (PCPA) in 1966, and the Wildrose Party of Alberta (WRP) and the PCPA in 2014.
More recently, the WRP and the PCPA successfully merged to form the United Conservative Party (UCP) in 2017. In less than two years then, the UCP went from an idea to merge two (sometimes hostile) conservative parties, to winning an overwhelming majority of seats in the Alberta provincial election by April 16, 2019.
However, as the recent caucus revolt suggests, the UCP, like all other right-of-centre parties in Alberta, is vulnerable to splintering apart.
Last week, a caucus revolt enveloped the Jason Kenney government in Alberta.
A group of 17 United Conservative Party MLAs, all from outside the large cities of Calgary and Edmonton, endorsed a public letter on Wednesday condemning the COVID-19 restrictions that were reintroduced by Premier Kenney. This caucus revolt, which has been brewing for months, has considerable potential to lead to a splintering of the UCP.
This revolt was not due solely to provincial COVID-19 restrictions (which have hit all of Canada), nor was it triggered by the sizable drop in popularity of the Kenney government, as seen in multiple polls. After all, the approval ratings of the Pallister government in Manitoba and the Ford government in Ontario have also shown a strong decline. Yet, those government caucuses are not facing revolts from within.
Moreover, this revolt appears not to be about public opinion splits regarding COVID-19 restrictions.
Public opinion polls show that the minority of Albertans who are opposed to COVID-19 restrictions are concentrated in rural parts of the province, and ideologically, further to the right on the political spectrum. But, we find this same ideological/rural opposition to pandemic restrictions in Saskatchewan, and this comes without any internal threats to the leadership of Premier Scott Moe.
An Alberta-made battle
As we are not seeing similar revolts in the six other provinces governed by conservative parties, we suggest that the UCP's internal fracturing is not entirely a matter of the ideological disposition of the government. Rather, this is an Alberta-made internecine battle over the type, intensity, and direction of conservative policy-making, and the inability of Premier Kenney to contain and accommodate the variety of right-wing perspectives within the party.
We have previously argued that the history of conservative parties in Canada exhibits a pattern of splintering and merging at both the national and provincial levels. This is most pronounced in Alberta.
There were failed merger attempts between Alberta's Social Credit party and Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta (PCPA) in 1966, and the Wildrose Party of Alberta (WRP) and the PCPA in 2014.
More recently, the WRP and the PCPA successfully merged to form the United Conservative Party (UCP) in 2017. In less than two years then, the UCP went from an idea to merge two (sometimes hostile) conservative parties, to winning an overwhelming majority of seats in the Alberta provincial election by April 16, 2019.
However, as the recent caucus revolt suggests, the UCP, like all other right-of-centre parties in Alberta, is vulnerable to splintering apart.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/ ... -1.5984055
Thanos @ Tue Apr 13, 2021 12:40 pm
Just proves that there's a difference between conservatism and right-wing radicalism. Whenever conservatives try to make themselves comfortable with the reactionaries it blows up in their faces. The only one who succeeded in taming the beast was Stephen Harper and he was only able to do it thanks to the massive support he had in suburban Ontario which gave him the numbers to keep the social conservatives from the rural areas under control as they had no chance at all in negating the strength of the number of urban MPs.
All Kenney really had to do to see what was going to happen when he empowered the former Wildrose members was to do a quick review of what happened to Danielle Smith. Everything any leader needed to know was right there, that due to the Klein-era jury-rigging/gerrymandering of seats in the Alberta legislature to blatantly favour the rural areas the hardcore radicals will always have an over-sized footprint in provincial politics. As much of a goof as Smith was, and still is too, her betrayal by the rural Wildrose was a massive lesson Kenney should have learned but obviously didn't.
Not sure how many times this lesson has to be learned. Conservative moderates simply can't co-exist with the radicals. The radicals simply want too much and their willingness to compromise on anything has a short shelf-life. That's why "progressive conservatism" shouldn't have been abandoned so quickly, because it was the only thing that kept the nutcases from sending the entire vehicle over a cliff.
DrCaleb @ Wed Apr 14, 2021 8:34 am
Alberta NDP would likely form majority if election held today, new poll suggests
bootlegga @ Wed Apr 14, 2021 9:04 am
DrCaleb DrCaleb:
My choice government would be an NDP minority government, propped up by several Alberta Party (which needs to swallow up the AB Liberal party) MLAs.
I like Notley, and if she led the Liberals or AB Party, she'd get my vote with no hesitation, but I'm not voting NDP again, as their caucus is too far left for my liking.
DrCaleb @ Wed Apr 14, 2021 9:23 am
bootlegga bootlegga:
DrCaleb DrCaleb:
My choice government would be an NDP minority government, propped up by several Alberta Party (which needs to swallow up the AB Liberal party) MLAs.
I like Notley, and if she led the Liberals or AB Party, she'd get my vote with no hesitation, but I'm not voting NDP again, as their caucus is too far left for my liking.
Some of her party are a bit extreme, but I think she did a good job of pulling them toward the center last time. The NDP may be far left federally, but I think provincially they are very much in the Liberal space.
Most of her mistakes were because of lack of experience, not for lack of concern. That I think is where Kenney falls down. He's more about ideology than doing what Albertans need to be done.
I would also like the Alberta Party to do better, but their former leader, Stephen Mandell, was my preference for Premier.
bootlegga @ Wed Apr 14, 2021 1:03 pm
DrCaleb DrCaleb:
bootlegga bootlegga:
DrCaleb DrCaleb:
My choice government would be an NDP minority government, propped up by several Alberta Party (which needs to swallow up the AB Liberal party) MLAs.
I like Notley, and if she led the Liberals or AB Party, she'd get my vote with no hesitation, but I'm not voting NDP again, as their caucus is too far left for my liking.
Some of her party are a bit extreme, but I think she did a good job of pulling them toward the center last time. The NDP may be far left federally, but I think provincially they are very much in the Liberal space.
Most of her mistakes were because of lack of experience, not for lack of concern. That I think is where Kenney falls down. He's more about ideology than doing what Albertans need to be done.
I would also like the Alberta Party to do better, but their former leader, Stephen Mandell, was my preference for Premier.
I liked the Alberta Party, but wasn't a fan of Mandel's cockamamie ideas. What's worse, after the election, he and Clark got appointments from the UCP for cushy government posts. If I was a tinfoil hat wearer, I'd think they were another kamikaze campaign like Calloway, but I chalk it up more to incompetence on Mandel's part than conspiracy.
As it stands, I don't know who I'd vote for if an election was called now.
Thanos @ Wed Apr 14, 2021 1:13 pm
I think getting the UCP out, and thus forcing them to have their inevitable schism to separate back into the old PC's and the radical Wildrose, is the most important thing to happen. Even if the NDP won back a majority next time there's no guarantee they do it again in the following one. Hence, vote NDP to give the PC's time to build them back up into a force, hopefully a positive one. It's important to make sure that this province gets a government with as many urban members as possible because IMO the rural areas are permanently lost to the same sort of hyper-religious and economic social-Darwinist kooks that now form up the entirety of the GQP in the US. They have to be defeated and put into perpetual opposition because they simply cause too much damage when in power and do nothing, judging by their effect on the UCP, but act like termites within their own party.
Want to be more scared of something than another two years of Jason Kenney's ineptitude? Imaging Kenney getting deposed from leadership over the next few weeks and the Drew Barnes from Medicine Hat becoming premier. Hard to believe it right now with the ongoing Kenney gong show but it is always very possible for things to become much, much worse if the hardline rightists in the UCP do a full takeover of the leadership. And in Alberta over the last six years when have things gotten anything but much, much worse? 
DrCaleb @ Thu Apr 15, 2021 7:18 am
Just 11% of Albertans highly impressed with Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole: poll
I'm surprised the number is that high.
bootlegga @ Thu Apr 15, 2021 8:17 am
Thanos Thanos:
I think getting the UCP out, and thus forcing them to have their inevitable schism to separate back into the old PC's and the radical Wildrose, is the most important thing to happen. Even if the NDP won back a majority next time there's no guarantee they do it again in the following one. Hence, vote NDP to give the PC's time to build them back up into a force, hopefully a positive one. It's important to make sure that this province gets a government with as many urban members as possible because IMO the rural areas are permanently lost to the same sort of hyper-religious and economic social-Darwinist kooks that now form up the entirety of the GQP in the US. They have to be defeated and put into perpetual opposition because they simply cause too much damage when in power and do nothing, judging by their effect on the UCP, but act like termites within their own party.
I'm pretty sure the PC brand is dead in Alberta, because most moderate conservatives (COIN as the far right likes to call them) drifted to the Alberta Party when the UCP took over, and the rest probably feel disenfranchised right now. Plus, the UCP owns the party name, and there's no way they'll ever allow it to see the light of day again (just like the federal Conservatives own the federal PC party name).
No, I think it's time for moderate conservatives to support the Alberta Party full bore or support the NDP, because there's no way in hell they'll ever support the Alberta Liberals. However, based on their showing last election, it looks like moderate conservatives are few and far between in Alberta.
Either that, or they're doing what conservatives have done in Alberta for decades, holding their noses and sucking up to current crop of conservatives in power so they can get a taste of what of they want (and ignore all the shit they don't).
Thanos Thanos:
Want to be more scared of something than another two years of Jason Kenney's ineptitude? Imaging Kenney getting deposed from leadership over the next few weeks and the Drew Barnes from Medicine Hat becoming premier. Hard to believe it right now with the ongoing Kenney gong show but it is always very possible for things to become much, much worse if the hardline rightists in the UCP do a full takeover of the leadership. And in Alberta over the last six years when have things gotten anything but much, much worse?
You're right, we'd be on our way to some sort of Gilead-like theocracy if most of the RWNJs in rural Alberta had their way.
Thanos @ Thu Apr 15, 2021 2:14 pm
There aren't any MLA's from Calgary or Edmonton engaged in any of the bozo rebellions of the past few months - all the trouble seems to be coming from areas than embraced the Wildrose idiocy a long time ago. As such I think that there's more of the old PC's remaining than can be assumed. Kenney is now relying on those who are still centre-right to remain in power from what I can tell. The reality for him, if he ever opted to do the right thing instead of constantly trying to thread the needle between the two sides all the time, is that he would still have a safe majority even if those tools who put their name on that letter all quit as UCP members and sat out the rest of the term as independents or started a new party to replace the old Wildrose. He's ignoring those city MLAs he needs in order to cater far too much to those who are causing him nothing but problems and openly want his scalp.
At some stage Kenney has to realize the UCP experiment has been a massive failure because, as I've said a lot of times before, moderate conservatives and hardcore social conservatives are more alien to each other these days than the moderates are to the NDP. And all the proof there is in Stephen Harper's success as PM in suppressing social conservatism in the federal party because he had a massive stack of urban MPs all across the country, including Quebec, that gave him the ability to do so. Those MPs would have paid with their jobs if they'd gone along with any radical-right crap because those constituents, especially in Ontario and suburban Quebec, would never have tolerated it. If Kenney wants to salvage his government he has to copy what his old federal boss did.
I gave up on any third-party dreams a long time ago. In a place like AB the battlelines are firmly entrenched. If anything I'd like to see the provincial Liberals pack it in altogether as a party and just join up with the NDP. Those Liberal voters will never vote UCP but they could be strategic enough in number to really help out the NDP in critical ridings. It's time for the provincial Libs to quit playing that Hail Mary hope and do the right thing because them joining the NDP would be of massive benefit to stymie-ing the gerrymander of ridings in this province that gives the rural areas an oversized caucus in the government.
DrCaleb @ Fri Apr 16, 2021 8:29 am
$1:
Alberta committee consulting public about proposed coal mining in Rockies can't ask about land, water use
A committee that is supposed to consult Albertans on coal development in the Rocky Mountains won't be allowed to hear what people want to say about water and land use.
"The terms of reference say we're consulting on everything but what we want to talk about," said local landowner Kevin Van Tighem.
That document, posted to a government website, says the five-member committee will only be able to consider issues under the control of the Department of Energy.
"The committee will focus only on matters related to coal that are under the administration of the minister of energy," the document says.
That means it will only be able to discuss matters that arise under legislation such as the Coal Conservation Act and the Responsible Energy Development Act. The panel won't be able to consider concerns that would come under laws such as the Land Stewardship Act, which controls land-use plans, or the Water Act.
"The vast majority of people are concerned about water and they're concerned about protecting the Rockies," said Van Tighem. "We're not allowed to talk about water and we're not allowed to talk about land use."
A committee that is supposed to consult Albertans on coal development in the Rocky Mountains won't be allowed to hear what people want to say about water and land use.
"The terms of reference say we're consulting on everything but what we want to talk about," said local landowner Kevin Van Tighem.
That document, posted to a government website, says the five-member committee will only be able to consider issues under the control of the Department of Energy.
"The committee will focus only on matters related to coal that are under the administration of the minister of energy," the document says.
That means it will only be able to discuss matters that arise under legislation such as the Coal Conservation Act and the Responsible Energy Development Act. The panel won't be able to consider concerns that would come under laws such as the Land Stewardship Act, which controls land-use plans, or the Water Act.
"The vast majority of people are concerned about water and they're concerned about protecting the Rockies," said Van Tighem. "We're not allowed to talk about water and we're not allowed to talk about land use."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/ ... -1.5989514
DrCaleb @ Fri Apr 16, 2021 8:29 am
And the committee's conclusion will be that Albertans aren't concerned with pollution or land use with respect to coal mining. 
bootlegga @ Fri Apr 16, 2021 8:31 am
Thanos Thanos:
There aren't any MLA's from Calgary or Edmonton engaged in any of the bozo rebellions of the past few months - all the trouble seems to be coming from areas than embraced the Wildrose idiocy a long time ago. As such I think that there's more of the old PC's remaining than can be assumed. Kenney is now relying on those who are still centre-right to remain in power from what I can tell. The reality for him, if he ever opted to do the right thing instead of constantly trying to thread the needle between the two sides all the time, is that he would still have a safe majority even if those tools who put their name on that letter all quit as UCP members and sat out the rest of the term as independents or started a new party to replace the old Wildrose. He's ignoring those city MLAs he needs in order to cater far too much to those who are causing him nothing but problems and openly want his scalp.
At some stage Kenney has to realize the UCP experiment has been a massive failure because, as I've said a lot of times before, moderate conservatives and hardcore social conservatives are more alien to each other these days than the moderates are to the NDP. And all the proof there is in Stephen Harper's success as PM in suppressing social conservatism in the federal party because he had a massive stack of urban MPs all across the country, including Quebec, that gave him the ability to do so. Those MPs would have paid with their jobs if they'd gone along with any radical-right crap because those constituents, especially in Ontario and suburban Quebec, would never have tolerated it. If Kenney wants to salvage his government he has to copy what his old federal boss did.
At some stage Kenney has to realize the UCP experiment has been a massive failure because, as I've said a lot of times before, moderate conservatives and hardcore social conservatives are more alien to each other these days than the moderates are to the NDP. And all the proof there is in Stephen Harper's success as PM in suppressing social conservatism in the federal party because he had a massive stack of urban MPs all across the country, including Quebec, that gave him the ability to do so. Those MPs would have paid with their jobs if they'd gone along with any radical-right crap because those constituents, especially in Ontario and suburban Quebec, would never have tolerated it. If Kenney wants to salvage his government he has to copy what his old federal boss did.
Even the urban UCP MLAs are a disaster - just look at Shandro, Savage, LaGrange, Schweitzer to name but a few screw-ups. By and large, most of the ministers in the Cabinet are a dismal failure.
They are just as ideological and far right as most of the rural MLAs are, and most of them have made an absolute mess of their portfolios. Even though was polarizing as hell, I don't recall most of his Ministers screwing the pooch as badly as the current crop has. Now the majority of doctors have no confidence in the Health Minister, teachers have no confidence in the Education Minister, rural counties and towns have no faith in Municipal Affairs, etc.
Thanos Thanos:
I gave up on any third-party dreams a long time ago. In a place like AB the battlelines are firmly entrenched. If anything I'd like to see the provincial Liberals pack it in altogether as a party and just join up with the NDP. Those Liberal voters will never vote UCP but they could be strategic enough in number to really help out the NDP in critical ridings. It's time for the provincial Libs to quit playing that Hail Mary hope and do the right thing because them joining the NDP would be of massive benefit to stymie-ing the gerrymander of ridings in this province that gives the rural areas an oversized caucus in the government.
Agreed, although I'd prefer to see the AB Liberals merge with the Alberta Party, as I think they are a closer fit than the NDP. Either way, they need to disappear and stop splitting the centre-left vote.
Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ... 118 Next