“We’d like to know why we have not heard from you. Surely the suffering of our children merits more communication than a single tweet.” – Open letter to Danielle Smith from the parents and supporters of children infected in the E. Coli public health crisis
The only thing worse than Danielle Smith’s tweet in response to the worst pediatric E Coli outbreak in Canadian history was the press conference she held eleven days after the outbreak had been declared.
There was so much Smith could have said starting with the acknowledgment that the E Coli outbreak could have been prevented if the proper food handling and hygiene practices had been followed. Instead (after choking up at the mic for a minute or so) she focused on deflecting blame from herself and her government.
Where were you?
Smith said she was AWOL for 11 days because:
- Politicians can’t direct investigations or interfere with public health orders. The suggestion that a premier making a public appearance on the day the outbreak was declared to express sympathy and support for those infected and their families would be misconstrued as a premier interfering with the investigation or the public health orders is ludicrous.
- She didn’t have answers earlier. Neither did Churchill during WW2, but he still managed to go on the air with his “we will fight on the beaches” speech to support the British peoples. When Smith finally did show up she still didn’t have answers, but she did offer $2000/child compensation to the affected families. Perhaps she hoped this would settle them down. It didn’t. Smith’s decision to sit on the sidelines for 11 days shows an appalling lack of courage in fraught circumstances.
- Her priority was getting care for the kids and conducting the investigation. This excuse mirrors the first one. Does she even understand her job? She was not sitting in a conference room 24/7 telling the CMOH and AHS what to do. She’s the premier, she operates at a level higher than that..
- People don’t want politicians showing up at disasters and hindering emergency workers from doing their jobs. True, but consider: (1) this was a preventable crisis, not a natural disaster, the victims were in hospitals, not scattered across an earthquake zone and (2) no one is suggesting Smith should have done a photo op in an ER while a child writhes in agony in the corner. To use this as an excuse is callous and insulting.
The public has a right to expect their premier to show up in a public health crisis, to provide a political response commensurate with the immediate and effective response from the CMOH and AHS. It’s called political leadership.
Closing the kitchen?
Dr Joffe, the CMOH, acknowledged that people are concerned that a kitchen with a number of public health violations was allowed to continue to operate. He assured us there were no delays or gaps in inspecting this facility. Smith went further, saying there’s a deficiency in the Public Health Act that doesn’t allow AHS to permanently close a facility.*
The inference we’re expected to draw is that the government did everything it could under the existing laws.
This is a smoke screen.
The issue isn’t whether the public health inspections were carried out on schedule or whether AHS lacks the power to permanently close the kitchen; it’s that notwithstanding inspections which found violations in 2021 and 2022 and 2023—of the 4 violations in 2023, 2 were critical—the inspectors did not issue a Close Order at any point along the way which could have closed the kitchen before 339 people, mostly children, were infected with E. coli.
The real issue is this: how critical does a critical violation have to be, how many critical violations does an inspector have to find (over how many months or years) before an inspector is prepared to close down the owner and/or operator of a commercial kitchen?
Or to put it in terms the UCP government will understand: how does the Smith government balance lives vs livelihoods when a bias toward livelihoods may endanger children.
The public deserves an answer.
A public inquiry
Over 1000 people signed the open letter to Danielle Smith expressing shock and disappointment at her handling of this crisis. In their letter they said, “We trusted not only our daycare facility but that the government itself had regulations in place that were keeping them safe.”
This trust has been broken and the only way Smith can restore it is to call a public inquiry into the E. coli crisis.
*Under the existing laws and regulations an inspector has the power to close down a facility indefinitely. The AHS Calgary Zone Emergency Orders include a facility that’s been subject to a close order since 2017.
Susan on the Soapbox 
Those poor children and their families.
Linda, when our youngest child was in grade one she was infected with E. Coli. Although she was very ill the doctors let us keep her at home as long as we kept her well hydrated. She was in agony for days. It broke our hearts that there was nothing we could do to alleviate her pain. Thankfully she recovered with no lasting effects unlike some of those poor children who have suffered life long damage.
So sorry to hear that, I can’t imagine what you or those other parents have to go through.
Just heard “looking into” this has been added to Preston Manning’s file on the pandemic response. Remember that? Hope he gets a bonus for the extra work this will entail, to wit, finding someone else to blame.
Seriously??? Preston Manning is very ill prepared to do the pandemic review and this is also not anywhere in his bailiwick. We need experts in public health. Sad when science and public health are diminished to this.
These folks are simply incompetent, & the idea enlisting Preston F. Manning to institutionalize their incompetence is making me crazy.
Morbeau: I 100% agree!
Dawn: no kidding. I’d hoped that Smith finally understood the important of”experts in safeguarding public health when she thanked the “experts” not once, but twice in her Friday press conference. Then she announced that Preston Manning of all people is going to examine the legislation when he’s doing whatever it is he’s doing to review the government’s pandemic response. It’s as if Smith is deliberately trying to destroy her credibility as a leader.
Neil K. Isn’t this incredible. I read in the G&M that Manning will be “reviewing the Public Health Act in the context of this outbreak”. Given that Manning is not a lawyer, not an expert on public health, and clearly biased with respect to the seriousness of covid 19, the idea that he can bring anything of value to this discussion is ludicrous. But, hey, he’ll say what Danielle wants him to say so we’re all good, right?
Cronyism runs rampant.
This government will exhaust me, and I suspect others, with their bloody-mindedness and cruelty, intentional and otherwise.
I spent 3 hours standing in the cold Red Deer rain today. My MLA encouraged a crowd of hate-mongers outside my city hall. I and a stalwart group of citizens were there to let them know we were not okay with them threatening gay and trans kids at school.
The Smith, Anderson, Parker triumvirate will have a lot to answer for…
Thanks for articulating what many of us feel.
Right on. Smith tried to appear she was so upset she could hardly talk. What an act. She was hiding and when she appeared she did her usual point her finger and blame someone else. Wasn’t it her government under Klein that got rid of the inspectors and said it could be self regulated.
Carol, at first I wasn’t going to comment on whether Smith was putting on a performance, but then I heard the interview she did on the West of Centre podcast on Thursday, the day before she choked up at the press conference on Friday. She was a cool as a cucumber on the Thursday when she discussed the sick kids, the kitchen, the investigation and the supposed gap in the legislation, then on Friday she choked up and couldn’t speak until she got herself under control. It was the difference between her audio interview and her video interview that persuaded me that Smith became emotional on video to convince angry parents that she cared, she really did care.
Thank you Susan. Well done.
We were all crying over the sadness of this political theatre.
To truly show remorse she might wish to leave her premiership and return to working shifts at her family’s restaurant.
Er … maybe not. Maybe just the first part.
Mike >
Mike: I agree!
“Dr Joffe, the CMOH, acknowledged that people are concerned that a kitchen with a number of public health violations was allowed to continue to operate. He assured us there were no delays or gaps in inspecting this facility. Smith went further, saying there’s a deficiency in the Public Health Act that doesn’t allow AHS to permanently close a facility.*
The inference we’re expected to draw is that the government did everything it could under the existing laws.”
Looks to me like they’re, as usual, trying to play the Con’s favorite game; “It’s Justin Trudeau’s fault when we fuck up!”
“Smith went further, saying there’s a deficiency in the Public Health Act that doesn’t allow AHS to permanently close a facility.” If there’s such a deficiency, I don’t see it. Section 62(4) of the Public Health Act states, in part, “An order may include, but is not limited to, provisions for the following: … (c) requiring the closure of the place or any part of it;“.
OK, so it doesn’t say “permanently”, but still, the order could be for an indefinite period. At any rate, a plain reading of the Act suggests the Premier is either wrong or lying.
Jerrymacgp: I absolutely agree with you. The very definition of “indefinitely” means that a kitchen in violation of the regulations can be closed forever. Pretending that the E. Coli crisis is the result of a gap in legislation is a ruse, if the kitchen had been shut down earlier these kids would not have gotten sick in the first place.
How many violations does a kitchen have to rack up before the inspectors realize there’s a pattern of disregard for the regulations?
Sorry Jerry but she is never WRONG, she always lies even when she knows the truth. It is that bad.
Now the question is – does she care about the kids? Well her 2 thousand dollar compensation says it all.
Kelly, I agree that the CMOH’s response was pitiful. In his first interview when the cases were starting to mount he said something to the effect that there wasn’t a sense of urgency about this on the part of the government. In Friday’s interview he backtracked saying he hadn’t meant to imply there was no urgency. I think he nailed it the first time. The government, Smith, did not recognize the need for political leadership She said nothing (other than that silly tweet) until the angry families penned the public letter, shaming her into making an appearance. Pathetic leadership in a time of crisis.
The clown car just keeps rolling along the Clown Party has just changed drivers DS for JK. Buckle up we have almost 4 more years of this incompetent administration. How many more times are we going to see that face telling us not our fault, but we’re looking out for your best interest ? Already 33 billion out the window no real explanation and now over 300 children ill with a horrible disease way to go DS or should I say BS.
Paul, as you said, this UCP government from its inception has been a gong show. The list of stupid decisions is too long to enumerate, but Kenney’s decision to cut corporate taxes in the hopes that corporations would use the savings to create more jobs (they didn’t), to the Best Summer Ever (which landed hundreds of Albertans in hospital), to coal mining in the Rockies, to Smith dancing to the tune of TBA and their ilk, to the E. Coli crisis…it never stops.
How anyone can hold on to the belief that the UCP is better for Alberta than the NDP is beyond me.
Any Surprises?
Not to me, this is the normal way the UCP takes things seriously. Which means a joke. One week after the crisis started we had heard nothing from our ‘leaders’.
Then she shows up and as usual lies again. This is how this people operate. Remember Jason Kenney disappearance for 3 weeks during the hardest covid crisis after the best summer ever. Same style no substance.
The party continues as always in this province.
Carlos, you’re right about the similarity between how Smith and Kenney handled their health crises. It’s as if they are unable to recognize human suffering as a disaster, but the minute a corporation says it needs a government handout, they’re all over themselves to help out. Leadership is about setting the right priorities. This government places economic well being higher than social well being. It’s as if they don’t recognize that a well run economy depends on a health workforce.
I’m not much impressed by her tears, whether they were real or faked. In that video where she said vaccinated people were like those who were fooled by Hitler, she talked about politicians pretending they care, so I guess she thinks that’s how she has to behave.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/danielle-smith-adolf-hitler-netflix-rachel-notley-1.6836160
About the actual contamiation, this is my speculation, not based on experience, just reading:
The strange thing is, I wonder if the filth and the 42+ cockroaches might have had nothing to do with this outbreak, since the experts say this kind of E. coli probably came from beef. I mean, you get the beef from wherever already contaminated, make the meatloaf or whatever and undercook it, then send it out to the daycares.
The lack of cooling for transport may be very important, because cooling slows the spread of E. coli. And I’m not sure if the kitchen cooler worked properly or how long they had the meat?
On the other hand, cockroaches can spread E. coli and I wonder if they could have picked up the E. coli from the garbage and recontaminated everything in the kitchen, especially since the cleaning fluid was not strong enough to disinfect stuff.
In that case possibly the contaminated beef had come into the kitchen at an earlier time and was never cleaned away properly? I guess Occam’s razor would say that just over-complicates things.
Valerie: good points. One of the things reported in the health inspection reports was the kitchen staff failed to sanitize cleaning cloths properly, leaving wet used cloths on table tops and counters. I remember a commercial I’d seen once which was talking about the importance of wiping off countertops with clean sanitized cloths. To bring the point home they showed someone wiping down a countertop with a raw chicken breast. Unsafe food handling processes result in contamination and cross contamination, which in this case resulted in an E. coli crisis.
We need a public inquiry to figure out what happened and to send a message to the owner/operators of commercial kitchens that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated.
And yet the UCP would have us think that a Provincial Police Force would be better than the RCMP? THAT would be another disaster waiting to happen….
Good point Lori! Everything the UCP has touched so far has been a disaster and yet they’re asking Albertans to trust them with a Provincial Police Force and a provincial pension plan. Dream on!
Three thoughts come to mind with this absolutely preventable E.coli debacle.
Alberta, is Texas north. few regulations and virtually no oversite.
The Alberta Premier is nothing more than a bloviating gasbag.
Of course Smith is going to obfuscate and tell outrageous nose stretchers. Alberta voters have taught politicians over decades how to treat us.
Jaundiced Eye. Excellent points, especially the third point. Thank you.
So much to say. Firstly this government is ideologically allergic to regulations of any kind, so do we trust them to tighten up the regulations necessary to prevent a recurrence of this catastrophe? I don’t.
Secondly, we’ve seen an expansion of the outbreak beyond the original chain of child care centres, likely resulting from parents taking their kids from the closed sites to others without ensuring they were clear of the disease as required by public health officials. Given the culture of impunity attached to other public health orders in this province, I doubt this outbreak will stop with the initial case series.
jerrymacgp: On your first point: I agree 100%. On your second point, the only thing I’d add is if Smith had taken this outbreak seriously, she would have announced financial aid for the parents who had to stay home from work to care for their kids while they were waiting for the test results which would indicate whether their kids were infected or not, before they sent them to a new child care facility. Instead Smith was AWOL, whatever communication was sent to parents was clearly inadequate (either that or the parents didn’t take the crisis seriously) and they sent their kids off to new day cares where they infected more kids, resulting in more closures, all of which made the crisis worse.
This is the government’s fault and it must be held accountable.
No dispute here. But I feel the issue goes beyond Daniellezebub’s tardiness in addressing help for the parents affected by this. The fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic continues to irradiate public health policy in this province. The toxic notion that public health rules, regulations and orders intended to protect the community can be hand-waved away as infringements in our “freedoms”, now holds sway over any notion of taking care of each other.
This is very worrisome as we see an alarming rise in respiratory illness with the return of kids to school … the lowest population-level uptake of COVID vaccine boosters in Canada … and the new reformulated vaccine for the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant not being offered to Albertans until next month, in conjunction with the annual influenza campaign.
My union has decided — with some reluctance and a sigh of resignation from some us, myself included — that masking will once again be mandatory at our big Annual General Meeting next month. We don’t want ~800 nurses in a hall in Edmonton to become a super-spreader event.
But if more widespread masking becomes necessary, at least in hospitals and other health care facilities, how much compliance will we see? Will the public push back and create the sort of confrontations with staff that characterized past mask mandates? I’m not optimistic.
As Mike alluded to above, our beloved premier is also a restaurant owner. Given her ‘get government out of my way’ philosophy, I think it is pretty safe to say she had no use for the public health inspector when he/she came to inspect her restaurant. I imagine this whole E-coli situation has caused her to see there might be a point to restaurant inspections after all.
Susan: Thanks for another great blog. WordPress is giving me issues, so I will have to find another way to comment.
This is the second largest E-Coli outbreak in Canada’s history, after the Walkerton tainted water tragedy in Ontario, in 2000.
I have a brother in law, who is even more politically astute than I am. He has the capability of being a lawyer, but he is employed in another profession. After he completed university, he could have been a lawyer, but he didn’t do that.
My brother in law said to me that Mike Harris was a Ralph Klein clone, and he did cuts, and changed the way water treatment and testing was done. When people noticed that something was wrong, they contacted the Ontario Minister of the Environment, but were told that wasn’t their problem anymore. As a result, many people got very ill, and people also perished.
I have heard the term cutting red tape. Part of this is how safety standards are dealt with. The UCP reduced those. Also, the UCP cut back the requirements needed to become employed in the daycares in the province.
There have been people who were blaming Kent Hehr for what happened at these daycares. I forget what capacity he is in, but he does have a stake in one of these operations. He isn’t responsible for this.
The UCP’s response to this E-Coli outbreak at these daycares was a week too late. $2000 has been offered to people who were affected by this. It has one intention, and that is to silence people, and the amount isn’t enough to cover the suffering that is happening. If people sign for this money, they are forfeiting their right to sue the provincial government, and preventing themselves from getting further compensation, which they rightfully deserve.
Danielle Smith own response at her press conference, seemed phony and insincere. The following day, she was seen at a rodeo, all joyful and excited. It was so hard to watch, and comprehend.
E-Coli is very serious. It can affect people for life, or even or kill them. The UCP doesn’t see the magnitude of that. They need to take action to make sure that this will not happen again, and it would be better if the UCP resigns.
https://chatnewstoday.ca/2020/03/02/province-dropping-early-childhood-education-accreditation/
Shortfat…: given the start to this comment I wondered if you’re Dwayne. In any event I thought your brother in law’s comments about Walkerton were bang on. The conservatives are hellbent for leather to “cut red tape.” They say stupid things like for every new regulation enacted, two old ones have to be taken off the books. This kind of rhetoric resonates with those who don’t understand that these regulations are enacted to protect our health, safety and environment. Anyone (like me) who’s worked in the private sector will tell you it’s lunacy to let corporations police themselves. They’re full of grandiose promises, but when profit margins fall, the first thing that becomes a lower priority is health, c\safety and environmental compliance.
You mentioned Kent Hehr. I believe he’s a VP at either Fueling Minds or Fueling Brains, the companies involved. I don’t know what their directors and officers liability insurance policies look like, but those harmed by this outbreak have filed a class action. If I were a director or officer at these companies I’d be a little worried.
Bob Raynard: remember when she said tainted meat could be served to the homeless. The fact a restaurant owner would even consider such a thing is shocking.
Susan:
Dwayne: what happened? We miss your 3 song picks. I wonder whether your comment was caught in WordPress’s new sign on process. I can’t see what it is but I hope other commentators can chime in here to explain how someone who wants to include links to YouTube can sign in.
Susan: WordPress is giving me grief. It’s frustrating trying to comment.
Yes it changed during the last post. What works more me is using my email to log in.
Thanks for the tip Valerie!
Shortfat…: I hope you’re able to find a way to come back. I don’t know why WP makes these ridiculous changes but it drives me bananas too!
We had to use en e-mail address to comment before the change, but if memory serves, you could click a “remember me” tick box and not have to do it every time. That seems to be gone.
Hi Ms Wright:
Never mind the name of the political party, but, when the “small-c”
conservatives, elite,very ultra right wing, are in power in Federal,
Provincial, or Municipal; they do NOT
as a general rule give one licking damn about anyone else.
So.
Why are you surprised that Danny-girl took so long to comment ?
And, her seeming callousness ?
Its so very very typical of these super rich people.
Mind this is no comfort I realize to the families of the sick children,
and, of course the children sickened themselves.
This is going back to what Dickens, and Wilberforce and others railed
against in 1833….that is what ?
190-whatever years ago !!!
Hmmmmmm.
Sad and disturbing to say the least…..going in reverse at about 5,000-mph.
The smoke-n-mirrors act will continue, despite the E.P.A. regulations
against heavy smoke.
Gord-Peterboro
Gord: you raise a lot of interesting points here. I was struck by your comparison of what we’re seeing now with what life was like in the times of Dickens. This reminded me of something Salman Rushdie said about the Trumpers and other conservatives who blather on about making America great again. He said this comment is based on the belief that somewhere back in time America was great, so he asks people who preach it to identify exactly when that was. Was it during the Great Depression, during WW1 or WW2, or the periods between these wars. Was it the 50s, the 60s, the 70s, the 80s? The financial crash of 2008? When exactly? Rushdie said this idea of going back is based on the myth of a Golden Era which never existed. If it didn’t exist you can’t go back to it. I think Rushie makes a very good point.
Hi Ms Wright:
A few ragged thoughts from an old fozzil for you to ponder….they are
N O T necessarily my P E R S O N A L views but “thinking out loud”.
T H E G R E A T problem with The Donald & and his idiots, and,
similar ones here, is what is decade was America or Canada great ?
A $5 Canadian bet with you, says that you couldn’t get more than 100
people to agree on T H A T decade….I’m sure you-n-! can agree on
that……..the reference points would be shifting
faster than a fighter jet on takeoff boost.
By today’s standards, probably the decade of 1904 to July 1914….might
work…….primitive, of course, but, it I S a decade of continued
near full employment, Edison led the way
with inventions, but, he was by no means, T H E only one….trains got
people somewhere from everywhere in comparative safety, and, streetcars
were getting folks from one end of the city ?
Perfect ?
Well ?
Wages were grim, but, somehow, most families managed if barely to get
through.
Remember, average was about 60 for men, and, 70 for women in
1904…..something like that depending on which tome of history you read.
Is that the “Golden era”?
Except for Sir Arthur Currie, General Richard Turner, Col. Andrew
McNaughton, Sir Julian Byng, and, a few others that this fozzilzed mind
can’t think of with their very inventive
war they fought, World War !, more than World War 2 [even though World
War 2 W A S a wider war], flipped E V E R Y TH I N G upside
down-n-inside out.
Certainly it was T H E greatest game-changer in society and politics on
such a wide range since the American Civil War, which D I D affect
Canada too.
What decade would you pick ?
BTW: The Urainian war has flipped the concept of war into the Black
Sea. Never since Canadian Col. Andrew McNaughton, has a war been fought
almost exclusively by mathematics.
This is a war of the “brainiacs” who are at home with
logarithms and higher math associated with computers and other wizardry.
Sir Arthur, Col.. Andrew would be at home, with
improvisations, with pick the fights you K N O W you can lose T H E
least numbers,their pick-n-hold instead of a whole line moving.
We are seeing General Douglas MacArthur’s axiom at work,
“decapitate the leadership and the soldiers will have to retreat”.
Also, MacArthur’s axiom, of encircle strong points, and,
starve them out………..he was ignored by the USN in retaking the
Pacific Island war.
Also, General George Patton’s axiom, of punch-n-poke until
you find a soft spot and then roar through.
These are the ones that succeed, and, the old fashioned of
idea of the “Charge of the Light Brigade”, has lonng since gone, though
too many are still wed to that idiocacy.
Now, well organized, and, well equipped, the Ukrainians are
brilliantly moving forward and whether their generals are aware of
Currie’s/McNaughton’s war, or, MacArthur/Patton,
us ancient fozzils can see that style of fighting by these
Ukrainian generals.
So much of the French/Belgian/Dutch resistance is being
replayed in Ukraine to equal great success.
Personal, Private & Confidential
This note, just sent is personal to you and N O T a comment for the
website……..THANKS.
Gord: you’re welcome.
Thinking about this situation over the last few days, I’d like an investigative reporter to do a story on how many off site kitchens have been set up to minimize the expense of feeding our children. When I worked in a Calgary daycare, many years ago….we cooked simple lunches on site. I’ve never understood how it could be cheaper to prepare meals off site, and transport them daily to hospitals or day cares.
In fact, I didn’t realize daycares were outsourcing…and I bet a lot of Albertan’s were similarly ignorant. There’s an analogy in my mind between this and the care our seniors received in those privatized long term care homes.
Whenever maximizing profit becomes the motivation, corners get cut. What’s worse, is that if the operation is off site, out of sight……….it’s easier for the corners to continue to be eroded over time. Especially now, with food prices leading the rising cost of inflation…………having our future citizens eating food ‘from away’ sounds dangerous to me. Particularly when you have right wing free marketeers in power, its a disaster waiting to happen.
So who is out there Susan, who could do the analysis and let us know how far down this road to ‘skip the dishes’ for our most vulnerable, we’ve gone.??
Mary, your point about the analogy to seniors homes is very well taken. In 2009 the PC government switched away from on-site cooking of locally sourced food to a 21 day menu of pre-cooked, bulk purchased meals shipped into Alberta from other provinces and the US. The food critic John Gilchrist visited some of the 78 facilities under the new regime and found the food was unpalatable, the program negatively impacted staff and residents’ moral. The residents’ mental health also declined because they were no longer interacting with the staff and other residents in the cafeteria to the degree they had mingled in the past, because they weren’t being enticed to come down to the cafeteria by the sounds and smells of good food being prepared and served onsite. Despite years of complaints by the residents’ families the government stuck with the program because it was cheaper.
I did a blog post on it. Here’s the link if you’re interested https://susanonthesoapbox.com/2012/07/01/mustard-bean-pickle-is-not-tough-to-swallow/
I feared as much. There is no way off site bulk prepared food can compare….nutritionally, or in taste, to home cooked meals, no matter how simple.
Cheapness is the only criterion on which it surpasses on site meal preparation………..but men in suits, and the fembots who think like men in suits salivate over money, not aromas.
And alas…we elect em agin and agin.
The thing about Smith is that she believes she is in the job of Premier of Alberta for the purpose of serving the oil industry, not serving Albertans. At the World Petroleum Congress she is performing in lock-step with the Saudis and others, ridiculing projections that oil demand will peak before 2030 and that oil will be less needed in future, and fighting against our federal government’s narrative.
She’s too busy learning her oil scripts to do anything intelligent about E.coli.
https://energi.media/energi-notes/world-petroleum-congress-fighting-to-redefine-energy-transition-on-its-terms/
You’re right Valerie. Catherine McKenna did a blistering piece on the hypocrisy of the oil companies in a recent G&M opinion piece. She pointed to the “all systems go” comments from the CEO of Suncor and what she called “fronts like the Pathways Alliance” (of which Suncor is a member), noting that talk is cheap. Here’s the link: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-oil-companies-emissions-climate-change/
What boggles my mind is that other sectors know they have to be ready for the transition to a greener economy. One of the things the autoworkers union was fighting for was an orderly transition plan that would kick in when the plants they worked at shifted from gas fueled cars to EVs. (EV plants need far fewer workers). The autoworkers want a “just transition” but Smith and her oil sector bosses are fighting it tooth and nail. The sad thing is when it all hits the fan the oil/gas company CEOs will be just fines, they’ll walk off with millions, Smith will have left politics by then and the only losers will be the poor saps who didn’t push for a “just transition” in the fossil fuel sector when they had the chance.
Markham Hislop @politicalham is reporting on the World Petroleum Congress and tweets that everyone there agrees with Smith that oil will go on for decades (presumably except for Jonathan Wilkinson and any other feds there). Markham says he keeps asking what if Alberta needs a Plan B but no one answers.
Valerie, Markham deserves a medal for what he’s doing. I’ll go check out his tweets.
The Plan B question is interesting. Years ago I worked in the petrochemical sector, the company I worked for made plastic pellets which we sold to companies that manufactured plastic grocery bags. When the environmentalists started to push for cloth or paper grocery bags our CEO said there was absolutely no way people would give up their plastic bags. Guess what he was wrong.
I am disgusted, but the UCP and their premier’s callous responses don’t surprise me in the least.
Honestly, Albertans better prepare themselves for three and three quarter more years of alternating disregard and sneer signalling from their hypocritical government,
Eg. (Former) “Alberta Premier Jason Kenney travelled this month to Houston, where he encouraged energy leaders to invest in Canada rather than Russia, Saudi Arabia or Venezuela — regimes that Kenney says use oil profits to “fund terrorism, violence and global instability.” He has tweeted that “nobody wants Putin’s blood-soaked oil and gas.” writes Richie Assaly of the Toronto Star, Mar.26, 2022
Nowadays the UCP premier Smith is standing practically cheek to jowl (or just jowl to jowl) with rep’s of the murderous regime. But who likes sorcerors anyway (the House of Saud behead some every year)?
Watch for the UCP trial lead balloons they attempted to float during their campaign to start dropping on you like bombs Alberta, despite any and all polls and the promises the UCP made that they have dropped them. Eg. the CPP gambit.
As far as I can tell the evidence is suggesting that the endgame of UCP leadership is to destroy Alberta in order to take Canada with it. They are stoking a culture war so Albertans are too exhausted and angry at ‘ottawa’ and each other over bs to pay attention to what the UCP are actually doing to them, their province, and their country.
This outbreak is a disgrace. Food borne illness should very rarely occur in Canada and never to this degree. We trust our public health regulations to be comprehensive and enforced every time we buy food. When those regulations are not comprehensive or enforced we are all at risk and the most vulnerable, the very young and the elderly, will suffer the most. What I expect from out Premier and our Minister of Health is immediate action to follow up on what went wrong. Identify and fix the underlying reasons why the public health system failed. Instead, the UCP government, since COVID, has been dismissive of public health regulations and, in my view, this has set the stage for public health disasters.
Amy, you raised the issue of trust. I, for one, couldn’t help but think about all the restaurants and coffee shops that I patronize that may well be operating unsafe, unsanitary kitchens as well. If the government failed to be rigorous in protecting children from E. Coli, then what assurance do I have that they’re going to protect the rest of us from E. Coli when we order a pizza from Dominos?
I think it’s despicable, that she tries to pass the blame on this egregious issue. The problem is of course that they have a shortage of inspectors available, and likely don’t follow up on their initial inspections, once they’ve issued their complaint against them and their expectations.
When a catering company is supplying food to daycares where children are, this should have been treated with the utmost urgency and importance. Not only that but a follow-up should have been done within a short period of time, to ensure that the problems had been remedied. And stop them from catering to anybody, until the remedy had been successfully accomplished, and adequate proof that it was done.
If I was a parent, whose child was afflicted by our governments failure to ensure, that they have adequate and properly trained Health inspectors, that should have prevented this outbreak, and therefore my child was poisoned, I’d be suing the government along with that catering company, for gross negligence. Especially when Danielle Smith, our so called premiere, makes the ill attempt to pacify the parents by throwing $2,000 at each of them. Adding insult to injury. Like this is beyond insane.
This government is short-sighted and does not care about its citizens. Whether it be in fixing our healthcare, dealing with rising rents, lack of housing, and outrageous utility bills. IE: Power bills where the fees exceed the cost of the actual power used, doubling the bill, is extremely ridiculous. The UCP government is a failure no matter who’s leading it.
Denise L’H
Denise…your last sentence summed it up. “The UCP government is a failure no matter who’s leading it.” They can’t manage the status quo and yet they want us to believe they can take us into the brave new world where we have our own police force, our own pension plan, our own banking system, and are as independent as we can possibly be from the Feds (except when the Feds are handing out money, in which case Alberta is at the front of the line with its hand out).
Then when things blow up, the premier, whether it’s Kenney or Smith or her successor, will blame the Feds rather than taking responsibility for their own short sighted and expensive mistakes. This E. coli crisis is the latest in a string of bad outcomes under the UCP. We still don’t know why their brilliant plan to privatize all the labs to DynaLife blew up. I’d really like to know what that mistake is going to cost Albertans, because in my entire legal career I’ve never seen one party rip up a binding contract without paying significant damages to the other party.
“If a facility creates or maintains a violation, AHS may order the facility to be closed until the problems are fixed.” This taken directly off the Government of Alberta AHS website. What I was looking for but didn’t find was how many actual food safety inspectors there are in Alberta. I do know that when there were issues at Excel Beef’s meat processing plant in Brooks regarding E.coli or listeriosis contamination a number of years ago the fact that Alberta had a shortage of food safety inspectors was mentioned. Can’t imagine that the ‘cut government red tape’ meme of the UCP would translate into ‘hire more food safety inspectors’. Just the opposite, given that the UCP effectively declared war on health workers during Covid by tearing up the agreement they had with physicians, plus asking that health care workers take a wage rollback etc.
However this brings me to my point. Earlier this week I was at a post office to mail off a package – I know, so retro – & there was a single clerk behind the counter. Naturally the person at the counter had multiple packages that needed a lot of processing. The gentleman ahead of me in line turned to me & commented about the lack of available staff – we had by this point been waiting our turn for several minutes. I smiled at the gentleman & pointed out that the lack of staff was no doubt in response to the public demand to ‘cut back on government’ which in the real world translates to ‘front line services the public will actually be using’. His expression was priceless – he had obviously not previously connected the demand to ‘cut back on government’ with the personal inconvenience of having to wait for said services when/if he needed them. Maybe a parallel to be found there regarding this E.coli outbreak.
Linda, this is such a good point. The rhetoric “cut red tape” rolls easily off the politicians’ tongues. Their supporters cheer them on because fewer “gatekeepers” and less “red tape” means a reduction in government workers, less to pay in salaries and benefits and (don’t you know) business can move at the speed of light. What they don’t seem to understand is these “gatekeepers” and this “red tape” can be all that’s standing between them and illness or death.
I really liked your post office example. Kudos to you for pointing out to the impatient man that if he and others like him hadn’t pushed the government to cut costs, he wouldn’t be cooling his heels in line. Funny how that works.
Well, it is a bit of a strategy I think. Citizens ask for government cuts & the reduction of red tape. By cutting front line services, the impact of the cuts made is felt by the citizens relying on those services. Then they complain about the lack of service & in response new employees are hired & usually in larger numbers because by then there is a ‘backlog’ to deal with (the Landlord Tenant Board in Ontario is an example). So why front line workers? Because the process to come up with a list of who to fire is usually handled by department managers. They are not going to put their names on that list, now are they? I used to work for the local municipality & we knew times were rough when managers were being let go. Those lists were usually compiled by consulting firms hired to oversee the process of coming up with budget cuts instead of the department managers.
This is an interesting example of how Danielle Oil Shoe-in contradicts herself constantly – Here is what she said at the Petroleum Conference
“I like what the Saudi energy minister had to say this morning, you’ve got to live in the real world, not on computer models,” she answered. “He actually challenged the group to find a single time that the IEA has had a single projection that has been correct. So I think it takes a leap of faith to think that if they’ve never been correct that they will be correct by 2050.”
Well Danielle tell me a single time that Neo-Liberal Economists have ben right about any of their predictions? Never and in fact in the last 3 decades it is a FACT that there has been no gains in the income levels for regular workers while corporations have doubled and tripled their production and profits. That does not stop you from continuing with their policies which are doing exactly what these economists were told to use as propaganda, to destroy the middle class. We are too smart to have an income that allows us to challenge their domain.
So Danielle stop pretending you care about Albertans and go do the job you care for to make more money on every side of the table.
Carlos, I like how you turned that argument around. Let’s make it easy for Smith and the conservatives. Here are two simple challenges:
(1) Show me one time the “trickle down” theory actually worked.
(2) Show me one time cutting corporate taxes actually created more jobs.
Waiting…
Singing the Jeopardy song
la la la la la la la – la la la la la la ……………
This person is a full joke – she was having a blast with her oil rich Saudi Arabia spoiled princes. Apparently the House of Saud has 10 thousand of them. Really only lakes of oil can sustain that small of a Royal House.
Hi Carlos and Susan. Both the International Energy Agency (the IEA that Smith disses so much) and the American equivalent, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) have consistently UNDER-estimated the growth and importance of renewable energy.
Smith and other fossil-fuel apologists underestimate the potential of renewables at everyone else’s peril. Of course, that’s their point. “Everyone else” can fry, as long as oil & gas CEOs and shareholders get their share, plus 10% of ours.
Well said Mike but it is not only 10% – after the pandemic it must have gone to at least 25% , the royalty we do not get. It does not seem to bother her that we do not get it. What bothers her is what Quebec gets. That is how twisted mind she is. It is ok for oil companies to take whatever they want out of this province but for us, NO WAY.
Andrew Nikiforuk at the Tyee has done his usual thorough job of investigating the causes and history of this food-poisoning crisis.
Very briefly, feedlots have created ideal conditions for mutation of the common E. coli bacteria (there are lots of strains), giving rise to a very dangerous one called “strain 0157.” Industrial food production, from growing to processing (formerly known as “cooking”) to distribution, increase the risk of widespread food poisoning. Similarly, industrial child rearing, a.k.a. “day care,” create ideal conditions for the spread of diseases among kids, day-care workers and their families.
My Ex-Twitter version doesn’t do Nikiforuk’s analysis justice. Please read it for yourself, here:
https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2023/09/21/Rise-Toxic-Menace-E-Coli-O157/
This leads to a whole raft of important questions, specifically about how this could have happened in Calgary. I read somewhere that AHS, or food inspectors, or someone, prefer to “educate” commercial food-prep workers on proper procedures, rather than shutting down commercial kitchens. Great. In this case, it failed disastrously. So exactly who decided to “educate” the staff instead of punishing them and their bosses for breaking rules—again and again and again?
There’s a question of just where the E. coli bacteria came from, and how they grew in food to such extent as to be dangerous. Was it beef that was contaminated? Vegetables? Poor hygiene at a slaughterhouse, a produce warehouse, or in the kitchen?
Most important, and utterly not addressed by Danielle Smith et al: what are they gonna do to prevent it happening again?
Maybe there is a high turnover in staff, so people who were “educated” in sanitation were replaced by ignorant workers every few months.
Hi Valerie. You probably have a good point, but there’s a question in my mind of just who made the decision NOT to shut down this particular kitchen. Did some supervisor make a conscious decision to keep trying to “educate” the kitchen staff? Or was the whole mess simply buried under huge piles of urgent reports? We may never know.
Either way, it’s another example of how “cutting governemnt spending,” a.k.a. austerity budgeting, makes more problems than it solves.
Mike I believe they will not do anything because I bet this is already a consequence of the Cut Red Tape that is the only thing the UCP cares about.
Regulations cut companies profits because they are not allowed to spread e Coli. It is too much to have inspections. So why bother and if someone dies well to them it is the cost of doing business. The only thing they see in life is BUSINESS, they are like the BORG. They cannot think outside their Borg Box.
Furthermore she very quickly decided that 2 thousand dollars is the price to resolve the issue. OH MY GOD.
OK, I think Jack Mintz has just revealed why Danielle Smith is so determined to pull Alberta out of the Canada Pension Plan agaist the wishes of Albertans. It’s being used as a threat over cutting GHG emissions.
I doubt his numbers but we’ll see what Trevor Tombe and others say.
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/jack-mintz-an-alberta-pension-plan-would-be-entitled-to-half-of-cpp-assets-a-no-brainer
I think if Smith did manage to pull out and start an Alberta Pension Plan, that she would steal our pensions and give the money to the dying oil industry.
Oh by the way, that Australian coal company is back getting ready to poison our drinking water.
https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2023/09/20/Australia-Coal-Miners-Gina-Rinehart-Target-Alberta-Rockies-Again/
Valerie I hope I am wrong but I am sure the Australian company will have the coal mine one of these days. They are just trying to get us tired and non combative and they will give it to them when we are distracted.
The strategies are always the same.
People wonder why activists lose their minds and get very aggressive against these people. I would like to have one of those gas fire throwers to welcome them at the mine site.
Valerie, I’m convinced that bailing out small oil companies has been the UCP endgame since before Kenney won in 2019. Kenney more or less said so, when he first floated this idiotic idea. Smith is more blatant about it than Kenney ever dared to be.
I went through the “survey” the UCP/TBA government posted about this idiocy. It’s intended to steer the responses toward a “yes” result. There are a few places you can write your own comments. In Section 5, question 12 (factors for the Panel to consider), here are my responses:
Independence from gov’t: VERY IMPORTANT
Stability: VERY IMPORTANT
Maximizing returns: VERY IMPORTANT
Investing in Alberta: Not at all important
Diversified portfolio: VERY IMPORTANT
Low administrative cost: Somewhat important
Other: “Investing in AB” = “bailing out O&G.” NO.
Maybe she wants to threaten the CPP as a way to fight against federal regulations to cut emissions, or maybe she wants a real APP which she can then plunder to prop up smaller oil companies which should be allowed to fail in the free market as we move away from using so much oil.
The junior and intermediate O&G companies should be nationalized as they go broke. Their books should be audited and any financial irregularities proscecuted.
Ex-employees (below middle-management level) should be told, “You work for the government now” and trained to fill in and remediate abandoned oil wells. They get paycheques at union rates, the ex-owners are out of a job, and Oilberduh’s old oil wells get cleaned up. There! Danielle, I fixed it for you. You’re welcome.
Meanwhile, the Alberta funded CEC is bullying municipalities in BC which want to stop using gas hookups in new buildings:
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2023/09/22/news/alberta-fossil-fuels-war-room-singles-out-local-bc-government-battle
This is a new low, even for the UCP/ TBA party.
Susan: Word Press still gives me hardship.
Test.
Regarding the New & Improved login process, here’s what works for me.
1. Start typing in the “reply” box. One letter is enough to activate the “Log in to leave a reply” section.
2. Click on your preferred login option. I use email.
3. Fill in the email and name boxes. VERY IMPORTANT: use the tab key to complete each entry.
4. The “Reply” button activates when you tab out of the email address box.
5. Finish typing your comments.
6. NOW you can click on “Reply.”
7. Wait. The server is slow, so just be patient till the screen updates.
Hope this clarifies things a little. Gawd, ain’t computers wunnerful?
Sorry we got distracted from the E. Coli mess. Here’s a post about the gov’t responsibilities: