A political party’s AGM tells you a lot about the party.
What we learned after the UCP AGM is the UCP’s big tent isn’t big enough to hold all its members.
But first a quick recap relating to the small matter of Jason Kenney’s leadership review.
The proposal to make it tougher to trigger an early leadership review failed and the 22 constituency associations that want to fast track Kenney outta here are now in position to do so while Brian Jean and Danielle Smith are standing ready to take over the reins.
Let the internecine games begin.
What’s on the agenda?
Okay, back to the agenda.
What made it onto the agenda and what didn’t is enlightening because it signals which factions, the moderate conservatives or the right wing nutjobs, are ascendant in the party.
The UCP powers-that-be rejected resolutions that proposed introducing a provincial sales tax and creating a revenue-neutral Alberta carbon tax to replace the federal carbon tax (hmmm, that sounds familiar). They also rejected a moratorium on new coal exploration and development on the eastern slopes of the Rockies.
These resolutions gave way to ones calling for the elimination of Alberta’s debt and beefing up the rainy-day fund and a swack of anti-union, anti-public sector, and anti-teacher resolutions. Heaven forbid we forget who the enemy is here.
Some resolutions, like the one “vigorously opposing” the imposition of the federal carbon tax make you wonder whether they were asleep the day the Supreme Court of Canada said the federal carbon tax was okay.
Most disturbing were resolutions addressing “cancel culture” and religious freedoms/conscience rights.
Cancel culture and conscience rights
The grassroots says cancel culture threatens free speech and suppresses conservative values and opinions. They tabled 3 separate resolutions (out of 30) which called for:
- standing with the federal CPC in denouncing actions by Trudeau (and Google, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook) that cancel culture (#1)
- protecting post-secondary students or employees from being harassed or ousted because they expressed their political opinions or beliefs (#8)
- safeguarding “our achievements and respecting our accomplishments by addressing the threats to our history and culture posed by cancel culture and the woke temperament with their historical revisionism and vilification of individuals” (wow, that was a mouthful! #23). The rationale in support of this resolution notes that Idaho banned teaching that “any sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color or national origin is inherently superior or inferior” and here in Alberta the ATA opposes the new K-6 curriculum.
They’re also concerned about rules and regulations that violate conscience rights by requiring professionals to do their jobs properly and propose:
- to strip professional associations of the power to “discriminate” against healthcare workers who refuse to do their jobs on moral grounds by enshrining conscience rights in the law (#12)
- to protect the right of medical professionals to refuse to give patients reasonable and timely access to MAID consultation services on the grounds of religion or conscience rights (#19)
It looks like right wing nutjobs are winning, but wait, there are also some resolutions that appear to recognize that climate change is real and Alberta will have to transition away from fossil fuels.
Diversifying the economy
Resolutions with language that acknowledge a future beyond fossil fuels were tabled. They called for the government:
- to prepare for the “post-fossil fuel world” by developing a strategy for nuclear and hydrogen fuel industries (#27),
- to call on the feds to impose a carbon tax on foreign imports from countries without similar carbon tax regimes, while this is a protectionist strategy it could benefit climate change mitigation (#24),
- to support small modular reactors (SMR) because nuclear power is a viable source of clean energy and workers could transition from fossil fuel energy plants to SMR.
Covid-19
Resolutions that appeared to take notice of Kenney’s abysmal management of the pandemic called for research to identify best-practices to mitigate illness and death societal disruption, and economic damage, better care for seniors, a plan to develop Alberta-based vaccines, pharmaceuticals, and PPE. As well as a rapid response plan for public health emergencies.
In the wrong hands these proposals could turn into a nightmare, but at least they acknowledge Kenney did a poor job.
Who holds the pen?
The last time the UCP held an AGM Kenney said he was not bound by the policy resolutions because he holds the pen.
That was then, this is now.
Then he was riding high in the polls and had the freedom to defy the grassroots. Today his popularity is at rock bottom, his caucus is openly hostile and his nemesis Brian Jean is openly campaigning against him.
Kenney may hold the pen, but he won’t hold it for long.
It really doesn’t matter though.
Because by the time his replacement picks up the reins, he or she will have aligned themselves with the moderate conservatives or the right wing nutjobs, the big tent will collapse and the party will split.
And Jason Kenney’s UCP will be finished once and for all.
Oh happy day!
Susan on the Soapbox 
I so hope you are correct! The UCP needs to go, ALL the UCP MLAs are corrupt assholes and they ALL need to go.
We need better government so badly.
Janna, we certainly do need a better government. I figure if Kenney (who learned all there was to know about leadership from Harper) can’t keep the Wildrose and the PC factions together under the big tent, then Brian Jean, Danielle Smith, or whoever eventually assumes the mantle of leadership won’t have a snowballs chance in hell of doing so.
The party will fracture and Kenney’s attempt to replicate what Harper accomplished will fail.
The same fault lines that will inevitably fracture the UCP in two, three, or more parties (or perhaps denominations is more appropriate), are also in play with the CPC and they will play out in a similar fashion over the next two or three years. You cannot keep a bunch of ignorant, bitter, and angry wolverines in the same bag for too long. Same for today’s so-called Conservatives.
Susan: Thanks for another great blog. The UCP have an agenda, or rather have agendas, that do not work for the greater good of all Albertans. It is apparent that the UCP will go full steam ahead, and push their agendas onto Albertans, much to our disapproval. In the end, we are the ones who will suffer. This isn’t good in any way, shape or form. Since it’s close to Christmas, I’ll share a classic hymn that was recorded by the British guitarist, Jeff Beck, who was a one time member of the Yardbirds, which also had Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page in it. It’s Amazing Grace, and this was recorded in 1997.
Dwayne…as I listened to this I realized why it sounded so fresh. I haven’t been to the mall in ages and as a result haven’t been inundated by Christmas carols. It’s refreshing not to have been buried in Christmas music and Christmas paraphernalia for the two months.
Thanks.
Susan: I thought I’d share another song that seems fitting for the times we are in. It’s a Bob Dylan composition, from 1989, Ring Them Bells.
I’m beginning to think you don’t like Kenney.
Just saying.
Who Does? One has to be out of his/hers mind to like Jason Kenney
James, you made me smile. I don’t know Kenney personnally so I can’t say I like or dislike him, but as a politician I think he came to power in a questionable way, he’s a crummy leader who puts ideology ahead of the public good, he lacks vision and is divisive. I could go on but I think you catch my drift.
Remember a few years ago when three little words – “lake of fire”- were enough to shut the RWNJs immediately? Now we get endless hateful word salad from a collection of bigoted dinosaurs that this so-called government panders to & has enabled for years.
And the horrific possibility they could gain even more power.
Midge, this is a very good point. WR leader Danielle Smith said Mr. Hunsperger was free to speak his mind and his “lake of fire” comment lost her the election. At their AGM in 2012 the WR tabled a number of resolutions which would have softened the WR position on sexual orientation, race, climate change, the human-rights commission, conscience rights and citizen-initiated referendums. Political scientist Keith Brownsey said the proposed changes risked alienating the party’s rural base.
That was in 2013. It is now 2021 and if anything the UCP has gone backwards. How any self-respecting progressive conservative feels comfortable in the UCP is beyond me.
Here’s the link to the 2013 story: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/wildrose-party-aims-to-drain-lake-of-fire-that-cost-it-2012-alberta-election/article15027074/
I do believe that UCP members are politely giving Kenney a message with the early leadership review likely to go ahead, while the AGM was on the surface generally fairly supportive of him. They would like him to go, but don’t feel the need to push him too hard right now, the likely advanced leadership review in a few months will deal with that. Of course, Kenney also sort of stacked the AGM and controlled who could speak, so a unity facade narrative could prevail in the short run. He still controls the power structures in the party, but not the membership, so everyone will still need to consider a possible post Kenney UCP and what it will look like.
Given the policy resolutions, I have a feeling the post Kenney UCP will look a lot like the current UCP, except with a different, maybe less unpopular leader, who can come across as kinder, gentler and less arrogant at times. I don’t know who it will be, but I doubt it will be Danielle Smith.
Absolutely yes, the ucp membership did send Kenney a message to leave gracefully. He won’t heed it. I suspect he will a launch membership drive to increase his support, in conjunction with everything he can to prevent a party wide, indepently audited, secret ballot on his leadership.
I can’t see a path for him to remain premier. Many scenarios cross my mind, none good for him.
1) The UCP pushes him out the door before March 1st.
2) The UCP party splits into it’s PC/Wildhorse wings again, and he loses a non-confidence vote in the legislature. Election loss ensues.
3) He calls a snap election before March 1st and loses (best case scenario for Alberta).
4) Erin O’Toole is escorted to the door by the CPC, and Kenney jumps back to federal.
5) He does (or did something) illegal and the Lt. Governor is forced to remove him from office. My personal fantasy, but is theoretically possible. Refer to B.C’s Bill Vander Zalm and Nfld.’s Joey Smallwood.
Dave, I agree. UCP MLA Richard Gotfried was quoted in the Globe saying Kenney delivered a strong keynote speech, but “the elephant in the room–why is trust in the UCP so low, popularity of our Premier the lowest in the country, and our standing in the polls so dismal–just got bigger by not addressing it head on.”
So that next question is this: is it possible for Kenney to address these issues? What would he do? What could he say? I’m sorry, I screwed up. I told the grassroots they matter but I ignored them. I promise to be better?
I figure he’s hoping for another economic boom (god knows in what) that will cause Albertans to forget he’s screwed up education, healthcare, gambled $1.5B on KXL, etc, etc, etc. I don’t think there’s a snowball’s chance of that happening between now and the leadership race which will take place, one way or another, within the next 4 months.
I do agree with the point that the post Kenney UCP will look very much like the current UCP and we need to prepare for it.
I feel the “conscience rights” proposal particularly dangerous. Canadians have fought long and hard for guaranteed access to rights that the majority may not have agreed with, from racial equality to gender equality, to women’s reproductive rights, to LGBTQ2S+ rights and marriage equality, to Medical Assistance in Dying and giving competent adults full autonomy at the end of life. So-called “conscience rights” would abrogate those achievements on the unchallenged whim of any random physician, NP, Pharmacist or other relevant health care provider, as well as the whims of public servants as varying as marriage commissioners and officiants, social assistance adjudicators, border services officials, and law enforcement officers.
If an agency or organization denies services to someone based on such grounds as race … ethnicity … religion or lack thereof …sexual orientation & gender identity … or whatever, that person has recourse to human rights tribunals, professional regulatory bodies and the courts. But with “conscience rights” entrenched in legislation, to whom do you appeal? It would immediately defang every court decision from R. v. Morgentaler to Carter v. Canada on down.
Jerrymacgp: I was appalled by the conscience rights proposals for the reasons you mention.
What makes these proposals even more shocking is at the 2013 AGM the WR recognized the need to pull back on conscience rights and other nutjob policies because they cost the WR the election. So look what’s happened since then.
The PCs’ sense of entitlement caused them to lose to the NDP in 2015.
Kenney showed up in 2016, became the leader of the PCs in Mar 2017, merged the PCs with the WR in Oct 2017 and won the election in Apr 2019.
In the space of two and a half years his divisive and polarizing policies dragged this province even further back in time. Our education curriculum is reviled, our healthcare is a mess, the War Room and the Allen Inquiry are a joke and his insane bets on fossil fuels put us even deeper in debt.
Some days it’s all I can do not to stick my head out a window and scream “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.” Anyway, we’ll be able to bounce him or whoever replaces him out of office in another 2 years. The trick will be to hang on that long.
Tea-leaf readers have it easy compared to armchair political commentators. I was SO SURE that Lord Jason would face a palace revolt. Alas, it was merely wishful thinking. The UCP rank and file didn’t want a new Leader, they wanted assurances the Old Leader would stay on. “Better the devil you know,” right?
That leaves a pile of upcoming problems for the entire province to deal with. Most are caused by the stubborn refusal of old fogies (of all ages and both genders) to admit they’re behind the times. The “anti-cancel-culture” resolutions are a case in point. These resolutions amount to, “You’re telling us to shut up and we don’t like it!” That’s what happens when people are rudely stupid in public.
The resolutions touching on Covid-19 make some sense, until you look closely. “Best practices” were what Dr. Hinshaw recommended during the first wave, before Kenney learned to ignore her advice. Rural MLAs and their constituents mostly never took her advice in the first place. As for Alberta-based “vaccines, pharmaceuticals and PPE”: sounds great. Got any idea of the startup costs for these industries? Yeah, me neither. It must run into the billions. Where are we going to get the loans and private partners to start three new industries that compete with global corporations? Can you say, “Wonderland”?
I’m actually surprised the steering committee (or whatever the UCP call the clique that vetted the proposals) allowed the “we-gotta-do-something” post-oil resolutions to stand. I suspect the most important part of the strategy will be, “Make Ottawa pay.”
Of course, the resolutions are mere suggestions from the rank-and-file on what the guv’mint oughta do to Make Alberta Great Again. What the UCP government actually does will depend on what they think they can get away with (and get Ottawa to pay for). Time will tell…..
Mike, I too wondered about the UCP steering committee. On the one hand they allowed the post-oil resolutions to stand, on the other they allowed the conscience rights and cancel culture resolutions to take up 5 of the 30 resolution spots.
The rationale for one of the cancel culture resolutions verges on hysteria. It condemns the “self-anointed arbitrators [who] are pursuing a political blitzkrieg to destroy legacies and reputations. Audacious and self-righteousness, they demand that only “the evil” of these leaders be remembered and “lives after them” and any “good” be cancelled. The main victims are white males whose misdeeds and alleged misdeeds occurred when social mores and political climates were much different.”
My goodness fellas, get a grip!
Good Lord, call up QAnon and make some more tin-foil hats. Whoever wrote that blather needs serious help.
As for “when social mores and political climates were much different”–that’s the whole point! The best riposte I ever saw was: “You see what they did? Don’t do that.”
I thought for years the Wildrose types were trying to drag Alberta back to the Good Ol’ Days of the 1950’s. The quote you’ve given, Susan, makes me think some of those right-wing-nuts want us back in the 1850’s!
Mike I meant to mention that on Day 3 of the AGM, (Sunday Nov 21) the first item on the agenda was 8:00 AM Catholic and Protestant Service. I guess non-Christians are expected to worship on their own time.
Yes, Susan, your fellow blogger David Climenhaga mentioned that. He didn’t know if the two groups prayed “together or separately.” It wouldn’t have mattered to me even if I’d been there; as an atheist, I’d have been in the foyer having breakfast….
Mike J Danysh: I remember a newspaper article, from around 16 years ago. It featured Albertans attending a rodeo, and the patrons were saying why they would vote for Ralph Klein and the Alberta PCs in the provincial election. One man said it’s better to vote for the devil you know. A letter to the editor was written and talked about this. They said the devil we know hasn’t treated Albertans right. Shamefully poor social programs, and a bunch of other problems that went on with Ralph Klein and the Alberta PCs, had been mentioned. The letter writer said they were tired, but not weak, and would still try and stand up to Ralph Klein and the Alberta PCs. If we have the UCP in power for as long as Ralph Klein was in power, it wouldn’t be so good.
Dwayne, “the devil you know” is such a peculiar phrase. The devil is the devil whether you know him or not. We know what the UCP are like, who in their right mind wants to see them continue to polarize our province with their divisive ideology.
True, Dwayne, but sadly some folks would rather be miserable (because they know what to expect) than try to change for the better (it might not work, and that’s actually scary!).
Even dumber, there was the woman in rural Alberta, interviewed during Don Getty’s second election (late 1980’s; I thought it was in one of Mark Lisac’s books, but I cant’ find the quote.) The lady complained about Getty and his government. Then she said she’d vote for them again. Lisac asked why, when she hated what they’d done, was she was voting for the PC’s again? She hesitated, then said, “Well…it’s their mess, they should clean it up!”
So here we have three possible reasons for the UCP to attract votes: cowardice (“the devil you know”), stupidity (“they should clean it up”) and the True Believers of Jason Kenney’s Gospel. Honestly, I can’t decide which is worst.
We’ll have to follow your letter writer’s advice, and stand up to Kenney and the UCP right through the next election–and probably beyond.
Mike J Danysh: I have one of Mark Lisac’s books, and I have read another one of his books. He was a political columnist for the Edmonton Journal, for many years. Ralph Klein and Rod Love had something to do with him being removed from his position. They didn’t like what he was writing about. I don’t know why Albertans continue to support such blatant corruption. It’s there in the UCP as well. Peter Lougheed certainly wouldn’t be happy with the UCP.
Dwayne, I agree Mr. Lisac was a very good columnist while he wrote for the Edmonton Journal. So were Paula Simons and Graham Thomson. Last time I heard, Lisac was publishing a political-commentary quarterly (subscription only). Simons, of course, is now a Senator (she publishes a blog, I believe, about the Senate’s activities). Thomson is still active in journalism as a freelancer; I look forward to his weekly column published on the CBC web site.
(BTW, I suspect Peter Lougheed spins in his grave whenever Kenney or his ilk invoke Lougheed’s memory.)
Cases like the following outline just how shamelessly the UCP operate on behalf of the oil companies:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/kenney-environmentalists-lawsuit-1.6260639
I mean if he loses this will it be the province that pays? The UCP? Or from his personal wealth?
I would be absolutely fine with either of the last two payment options, but it better not be that first one.
oops, did not mean to leave that comment as a reply.
Hello!
Oh yes they just love to be subordinate to big companies – pays well I guess
Jason Kenney never ever said that what Trump was doing in the US was inciting violence. Never considered his own attitude calling everyone other than UCPers to be communists and terrorists to incite violence including also his aloofness when antivaxxers harassed people in front of hospitals, but it took David Suzuki to warn that ignoring what the pipeline companies are doing in native territory and WOW he just lost his mind
I want to see what he will do now that he will be sued if he does not retract his own fact less garbage.
I’m afraid Kenney is not going anywhere. He has his new, very friendly Board. Even if there is an early Leadership Review, his very friendly Board will set the rules in Kenney’s favour. Kenney will be leading the UCP going into the next election.
Unfortunately I agree – the man is made of some new product better than velcro.
Incompetence continues and then we will probably get worse especially if Danielle Smith and Brian Jean return to the circus.
Carlos: If I recall correctly, Ralph Klein was called the Teflon Premier. Nothing seemed to stick to him. However, that came to an end, after Ralph Klein got a 55 percent approval rating from his party, after he kept on saying and doing very stupid things, especially while in an alcoholic stupor. Teflon eventually wears off. The head of the UCP might go down sooner, and retire from being a lifelong politician. The last thing we want, or need, is Brian Jean, or Danielle Smith to be our premier. That would be very troubling. The UCP are very troubling as it is.
I love that Dwayne, even Teflon wears off!
In my experience, friends, Teflon coatings have to be scraped off. Ralph Klein rubbed most everybody the wrong way in his final term. With luck, Kenney has been even more abrasive than Ralph–or maybe Brian Jean will sandpaper Kenney’s Teflon layer thin enough to make something stick. We can but hope….
Jaundiced Eye: I suspect you’re right about the Board. Cynthia Moore the party president said the Board is verifying the motions from the 22 CAs (I wonder if she’s also asking them whether they really and truly want to go ahead with this) and will provide a formal response on Dec 7. If the Board accepts all 22 motions and then turns around and sets the rules in Kenney’s favour CAs will go ballistic. This will further divide the party.
Carlos, I’m of the view it doesn’t matter if Kenney stays on until the next election or is forced out. Either way I think he’s toast. A fitting legacy for the man who thought he’d ride into Alberta in a blue pickup truck and lay the foundation for his return to federal politics.
I agree with you Susan, it does not matter to me either.
With his cheating degree he can go and try to get Erin O’Toole’s job and hopefully find a basement to live in. It would help us a lot if he moved back to Ontario where they seem to like him a bit more than us. What a treat that would be for all of us in the New Year.
Susan: What are your thoughts on this?
https://calgaryherald.com/business/energy/pembina-pipeline-ceo-dilger-steps-down
Hi Susan. One can but hope the UCP ends in the dustbin of history, but I think it will be around in some incarnation or another for quite some time to come. I don’t know much about Mr. Jean, but Ms. Smith aired enough of her viewpoint for me to say ‘Nyet’! should she be in the running for premier of the province. To be fair at this point any UCP or variation thereof would get a thumbs down regardless of who was in charge or what their party platform might say. Even a sharp leftwards slant wouldn’t change my mind, as I’d simply dismiss it as election froth meant to appease the voters enough to secure their vote.
But Kenney said the AGM went great and pretty much every last UCP’er loves him down to his very bones now that all is forgiven and water under the bridge!
Those must be some super extra ultra rose coloured glasses Jk’s wearing over there.
The only thing playing in Kenney and the UCP’s favour right now is the increasing price of oil…not sure what bamboozle they will try to do it, but I am sure the UCP will attempt to take all credit for the resulting revenue increases for themselves, rather than take advantage of the circumstance to secure a future for the rest of us; like we are paying them to do and they ought to do.
GoinFawr: The price of oil will be going downwards, not upwards. It’s already been happening.
Perhaps, but the reality is that global demand for the stuff keeps increasing while US hegemony (formerly controlling producing states on other continents) continues to disintegrate, threatening ‘cheap’ supply for much of the western world.
Recently announced use of ‘strategic reserves’ in an overt attempt to control the price can only function for a very short time, and the fact that its deployment was publicly announced is a warning sign of desperation.
It is quite something to listen to Jason Kenney calling David Suzuki irresponsible.
It is like an alcoholic calling a marijuana user a druggie – talk about hypocrisy and being irresponsible
Mr.Kenney needed to throw his dogs a squirrel, and quick:
I should add that it is decent that Mr.Suzuki has already publicly apologized for the incendiary statement; doing so despite the fact that the oxymoron spouting Jason Kenney quite apparently removed the words from their original context in order to deliberately misrepresent Mr.Suzuki’s implication.
I’m not holding my breath waiting for Mr.Kenney to reciprocate such integrity, naturally.
This case with David Suzuki is interesting because I cannot understand why people are so excited about the truth. It seems we not only stick our heads in the sand for extremely important issues like climate change but also for factual issues.
Anyone that doubts that people are so fed up with politics and lies and neo-liberal propaganda can easily be thinking about more extreme measures to allow this planet to survive and us as a species, is obviously drinking the propaganda.
It is very clear that not only we are running out of time to move this social / political world to sanity but that violence will be the consequence to the problems we are now facing.
People have their limits and they will be forced to the use everything they can to survive.
With the politicians we have at this moment, and the continuation of this out of this world fake political display not just in Canada but around the world trying to convince people that the control exercised by plutocrats is the ONLY way and irreversible, I think people are betting on the end as we know it.
We do not need just adjusting to climate change and sustainability, we need to reform our political system to allow our world to move forward to more equality, more integrity and better outcomes for our children and grandchildren. Short of this we are just heading fast to a collapse in many fronts and we see the glimmers of that world already.
David Suzuki is not a perfect person but neither is anyone of us. He was just trying to tell us the obvious. People are being put in jail and disrespected even in their own land by corporations that cannot understand the pain they inflict on others in the name of profit.
So what do we expect? Calm and acceptance? The so called Canadian virtues?
We do have reality coming soon to a theater near you, believe me.
Only those that have never experienced violence or severe disruption in their lives can sit so aloof witnessing what is going on.
Prime Minister whatever his name is, should immediately stop the RCMP from treating Canadians like we are criminals for defending our own territory that by Canadian Constitutional belongs to out first nations peoples and not to any politician or company that decides that is what matters to them. We have done enough of that. Excuses that the Prime Minister cannot interfere are the same used to allow what has happened to native people in Canada so far.
You’re right Carlos, my branding of Mr.Suzuki’s observation as ‘incendiary’ is incorrect, he was simply describing an ongoing situation that has already been dangerous for a long, long time.
Even less of a reason for HIM to apologize.
Yes GoinFawr you are absolutely right. I cannot interpret it as incendiary at all or anything else other than a warning. One just has to look at David Suzuki’s life to realize what frustration means. It has been at least 30 years or more that he has been telling us too wake up to reality. I do understand that some people are upset about the fact that David Suzuki does not seem to walk the talk but who is? No one.
So my post is also a warning to all of us. Violence is inevitable if we do not start taking our lives seriously. If convenience is our ultimate choice, the planet as we know it will die.
Imagine that the Conservatives have not even acknowledge that climate change is real and people like our smart Jason Kenney believes God will fix it. Yes the universal powerful existence on its own will fix us big time.
Thank you for your comment.
He does not have to apologize at all, Jason Kenney has to and preferably get out of the way so we can move forward with reality rather than the billions and billions that he seems to live for.
GoinFawr: Now, as I was saying about the price of oil going down. That’s happening, and it will continue to do so. Who will the UCP try and blame for this?
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-26/u-s-crude-oil-prices-plunge-10-as-covid-19-selloff-accelerates
Dwayne, “RE: GoinFawr: Now, as I was saying about the price of oil going down.”
Now, as I was saying about the effects of the US’ pre announced release of a portion of their strategic reserve: as long as that resource is being bled into the market its effect will be felt, but that effect is at best temporary, and smacks of desperation.
So let’s look at another example from today’s market: while we all know all hydrocarbons aren’t the same I think it is worth noting that today natural gas futures (something not so easily strategically reserved in great volumes) went UP in price at roughly the same rate (+8.5%) that the strategically suppressed price of oil went down:
https://www.investing.com/commodities/natural-gas
Just sayin’
Carlos: In response to one of your other comments, God doesn’t agree with us polluting and damaging the planet, because if we do that (which it is happening), we will bear the consequences and responsibility for doing so. People simply cannot eat money. It’s not going to help us.
Here is a good read for today
https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2021/11/25/How-To-Destroy-Conservative-Brand/
Thank God for Liberal Democracy
https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/what-the-wetsuweten-raid-tells-us-about-canadas-liberal-democracy
This is the Liberal Freedom but of course it depends on who you are – this is the so called reconciliation.
It is not only Alberta – neo-liberals are everywhere and in BC with John Horgan it is not much better
So much for Social Democracy these days
https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2021/11/26/Bill-22-BC-Democratic-Backslide-Freedom-Information-Privacy-Law/