Yesterday Premier Danielle Smith issued a statement celebrating Alberta Day—a non-stat holiday created by her predecessor Jason Kenney to commemorate the day Alberta became a province—without once mentioning Confederation.
Today the UCP government went one better. It issued a Happy Labour Day statement without once mentioning unions.
Here’s the release in its entirety:
Happy Labour Day: Minister Jones
September 02, 2024
Minister of Jobs, Economy and Trade Matt Jones issued the following statement on Labour Day:
“Labour Day provides an important opportunity to recognize Alberta’s workers and the extraordinary contributions they make to our province’s economy and communities.
“Alberta’s workforce is the backbone of the economic engine of Canada. Each day it makes our province the best place to live, work and raise a family.
“Our government is working to promote safe, fair and healthy workplaces that support job creation, investment attraction and our continued economic leadership.
“On behalf of Alberta’s government, thank you to the 2.5-million Alberta workers for what you do each day. We wish you all a happy Labour Day.”
That’s it folks.
Just for the record, the origins of Labour Day can be traced back to 1872 when 10,000 workers marched in solidarity with the striking Toronto Typographical Union. This led directly to the enactment of the Trade Unions Act which confirmed the legality of unions.
It’s pitiful that this government is so lacking in humility that it can’t give credit where credit is due: It’s the trade unions, not the government, that work hard every day to “promote safe, fair and healthy workplaces.”
In the words of Manitoba premier Wab Kinew let’s take a moment to celebrate the labour movement and our unions.
Happy Labour Day!
Susan on the Soapbox 
Thank you! This is an important message that should be given by all Albertans.
Karen: you’re welcome. It’s like whack-a-mole…every day a new mind numbing announcement. But the sheer gall of this one took my breath away.
“Every day a new mind-numbing announcement” indeed. I think I’ve figured out where the UCP gets their policy ideas …
jerrymacgp : this was wonderful. Idea ball. It all makes sense now!
Thank you Susan, for your post today. If it weren’t for unions where would we be today. I started working full time in 1976, when I was 20 and just graduated from college. Going to interviews, you were asked when you were having children! Back then, no maternity leave, then in 1988 when I had my daughter it was 6 months. No health and safety considerations (in some places it was still is) or workplace accommodations. I retired at 65 and I thank goodness for unions and how they changed my working life.
Mary-Louise Your post reminded me that when I went out on articling interviews 40 years ago I had 2 small children and they asked me what I was going to do for childcare, and who was going to take care of the kids if one of them got sick, etc. What made it even worse was the people asking these questions were lawyers at the biggest law firms in town. It was brutal back then, it’s such a shame that people don’t understand we have unions to thank for making our work lives so much better.
Thank you Susan for once again calling out the utter hypocrisy of the Smith government. They despise workers and especially workers who are represented by a union. Their hostility towards doctors, nurses and teachers is hurting this province. It is obvious that they are trying to destroy public healthcare and education so as to enrich themselves through privatization.
Public servant, you nailed it. The UCP goes after anyone who isn’t a boss, preferably a big boss in a big corporation. Everyone else is left to fend for themselves.
The anti science, anti intelectuals Take Back Alberta gang give themselves a lot of importance. As if without them we could not run the province.
One thing is for sure without our Labour Unions and workers this province would be nothing. On the other hand without these idiots we would be progreassing instead of going back to the past century. They think so much of themselves that they cannot say the word UNIONS. Pathetic. Not much different than those countries that deny their colonial past.
They get so excited with the word socialism as if all the LABOUR RIGHTS they have today was given to them by their fascist friends. All they do is lies, given their friends private contracts under the excuse that they do better than the public services and bring in corruption.
I honestly hope they crash everything so we can get rid of them for a long time again.
This is what the UCP is good at and without any shame.
This is fine in their view because they DESERVE IT of course.
https://nationalnewswatch.com/2024/08/29/did-nothing-wrong-alberta-minister-had-free-vip-tickets-to-oilers-playoff-games
Carlos: isn’t it interesting that something that had been defined as a breach is suddenly not a breach because the UCP changed the rules. Then, to boot, if the new limits on gifts isn’t high enough to cover whatever lavish gift someone is trying to bestow on our esteemed MLAs, then all the MLA has to do is take it to Smith’s chief of staff and he’ll rubber stamp it for them. And, to top it all off, when the MLAs are questioned as to who went with them to enjoy these little perks, the MLAs don’t have to tell us. I’ve worked with large publicly traded companies for decades. If we ever pulled this kind of stunt our auditors would red flag it as an example of very poor corporate governance. It’s appalling. .
Carlos, your comment reminded me of an article that appeared in the Globe last weekend. Carol Off was writing about the misuse of language to push ideas that trigger emotions (victimhood, us against them, etc) instead of forming the basis for reasoned dialogue. The fact that the Alberta government cannot say the word “union” let along give unions credit for the hard work they’ve done to protect the health, safety and environment of our workplace is the perfect example of this utter breakdown in the governance of our province.
Susan: The UCP doesn’t care about worker’s rights, and that’s been evident. I’ll share some more music. This is a Randy Bachman composition, from 1973-74, from Bachman Turner Overdrive, called Takin’ Care Of Business. Randy Bachman was previously in the groups, The Guess Who, and Brave Belt. I have seen Randy Bachman 8 times live and met him. This is in my music collection.
Dwayne: a perfect song for this post. I really loved the sound of the piano at the beginning of the piece. Thanks!
Susan: Here is my next song pick. This is a Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings composition, from The Guess Who, called These Eyes. It was recorded and released around 1968. Randy Bachman will turn 81, on November 27. I have also seen Burton Cummings 4 times live, and met him. This is also in my music collection.
Dwayne: thank you for this piece. I haven’t listened to These Eyes for a long time and I’d forgotten how lush the music is…the horns are incredible. How lucky you were to have seen and met Burton Cummings. Like I’ve said before, I’ll bet you could write a book!
Susan: Here is my final song pick. This is a Stevie Wonder composition, from 2024. It is called Can We Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart. Fitting for the times we are in.
Wow, Dwayne this is an amazing song. I loved the lyrics, Stevie Wonder’s voice, and the way the words were displayed on the screen. And of course the message was bang on. Thanks!
Thanks again susan. It is one exposed UCP lie/grift/theft after another. Every campaign promise-not-to-do-something was a fingers-crossed sneer-signal that THAT would be the goal.
Dani and the basest of the UCP base are laughing at Albertans while they rob the investments of the sick and elderly of all Canadians’ families, not to mention what they are stealing from THEIR OWN.
I wonder, will the new UCP Police Brown Shirts be unionized, or will Queen Danielle just hire them from an international private entity like Blackwater/Academi/Wagner, or the House of Saud?
#Imjustaskingquestionshere
‘I wonder, will the new UCP Police Brown Shirts be unionized, or will Queen Danielle just hire them from an international private entity like Blackwater/Academi/Wagner, or the House of Saud?’
Good one GoinFawr. I would not be surprised at all, although I can suggest the convoy participants. The leaders can easily run it from jail. There will be lots of them available and weapons is not an issue.
On the other hand, it would be quite an onion in the UCP ointment should New Democratic Party leaning Albertans apply as well.
After all there are millions of them, and a lot of them are cleverer than your average bear.
Absolutely correct. More likely than not.
GoinFawr: great questions. Your comment reminded me that we shouldn’t be surprised by what Smith is rolling out given that Rob Anderson, et al laid them all out in black and white in the Free Alberta Strategy–a nasty document that built upon the recommendations coming out of Jason Kenney’s Fair Deal Panel. I mentioned the Carol Off article in the Globe in an earlier comment. In it she refers to a German Jewish professor, Victor Klemperer, who documented the way Hitler shifted his use of language to make it more dogmatic and poisonous. Those who were alert saw the horrors that were to come, those who were not, suffered.
Too many Albertans dismissed the Free Alberta Strategy document as a fever dream and now it’s being shoved down our throats.
So now we have to buck and kick and scream to (at least) slow it down as much as we can.
This is a little off topic but very important. From the Tyee regarding Covid, written by Andrew Nikiforuk:
“That means about one million infections are occurring every week and that this “severe” level of infection translates like clockwork into more than 1,000 deaths per week from COVID-19 in Canada based on five-week average trends. Ultimately these infections will result in more cases of long COVID in both younger and older populations.
There is more bad news: on an annual basis COVID infections still account for 20 times more deaths than influenza.
The data is not complete but this death toll likely made COVID the second or leading cause of death in the country last month.”
When are we going to hear anything from the Alberta Government about this?
Jaundiced Eye – in fact we have not heard from no one not just our premier. I am not even sure there is any communication on vaccines this year. I believe that they are not interested anyway. Invectermin is good enough.
This provincial (or does the private, but vitalhub (VHI.TO) of The Covenant and Copeman Clinix LLC and Tyler Shandro own it now?) resource is surprisingly still up, though I have no idea for how much longer…
https://www.alberta.ca/stats/dashboard/respiratory-virus-dashboard.htm
According to that 732 Albertans died of that one disease this year vs. 177 from the flu; yeah, it’s not the flu.
Jaundiced Eye: thank you for bringing us back to reality. Especially since the UCP government isn’t inclined to give us the facts about the seriousness of covid vs the flu. While this is strictly anecdotal I’ve noticed an increase in the number of people in my social circle who complain about symptoms like extreme fatigue and foggy brain. I can’t help but wonder whether they’re suffering from long covid, but of course it’s too late to do anything about that now for most of them. It turns out that turning a blind eye to a problem doesn’t actually make it go away. How about that.
Daniele Smith cannot wait to get inspiration from the worst places in the US. It is embarrassing but she is in her cool environment.
Is this really what she is hoping for Alberta? Hmm somehow I think it will be interesting. Texas?
https://albertapolitics.ca/2024/09/hope-yall-had-a-great-labour-day-labor-day-fellow-albertans-while-our-premier-popped-up-in-texas/
Once i a while I like to stir the pot and remind us all what being a brainwashed North American really means.
Those horrible socialists in Norway wow
As of August 2024, it had over US$1.71 trillion in assets, and held on average 1.5% of all of the world’s listed companies, making it the world’s largest single sovereign wealth fund in terms of total assets under management. This translates to over US$307,000 per Norwegian citizen.
Yes you got it – those stupid communists (what the UCP calls them) managed to get an investment that gave them the pocket change of 307 thousand US dollars per citizen.
We the smart capitalists do not even know what our governments are doing with the surplus of 10 billion a year. Have you seen them? the famous Heritage Fund does not increase at all.
Well when we have surpluses, the government reduces corporate taxes so that they can take even more and then we threaten leaving confederation because the rest of Canada is taking our money. I believe in the future we will be known as the country and the province where the biggest oil scam ever happened and the biggest idiots ever lived.
Comparable with the romance and other fraud ventures on our citizens that has reached millions every year. CSIS cannot help because they are too busy with political crap, like China influence on our elections that they do not even bother doing anything about it.
Carlos: The UCP lied and said we have a surplus. We don’t, because of how much money the UCP wastes, and as I am typing this, oil prices are sinking. How much more are the UCP prepared to cut funding to the programs and services that we all depend on?
Carlos, every time I hear about how well Norway’s fund is doing I want to cry. Then to rub salt in the wound I remember that we created our fund before the Norwegians created theirs and they came to us to see how ours worked as a model for theirs. Sadly they managed their fund responsibly, and actually used taxes to provide the public services we let ride up and down on the oil boom and bust cycle. Albertans are such foolish people.
Oh and by the way, all those low corporate taxes will not hold corporations here, they’ll flee like rats from a sinking ship the minute Smith starts acting like she really wants to leave Confederation.
Carlos: The Norwegian government copied Peter Lougheed, to create their Sovereign Wealth Fund. In Alberta, the Conservatives reversed what Peter Lougheed did, and this is where it got us.
https://www.theenergymix.com/alberta-mismanages-heritage-fund-misses-out-on-575b-in-revenue-over-44-years/
Well, well, well. The plot thickens for Davey Parker of TBA…. I’ve got money on my flank that says the following article is why the ‘edgelord’ is so desperate to continue breaking the law and defying Elections Alberta requests for where he and his get their funding for their traitorous activities.
https://www.reuters.com/world/russia-focusing-american-social-media-stars-covertly-influence-voters-2024-09-09/
Even everyone in your congregation knows you’re a traitor now Davey, regardless of what they say to your lying, scheming face.
GoinFawr: I’m just waiting with bated breath to see how this story plays out. I suspect it will get a whole lot messier before it’s over.
The rosy outlook the UCP claims to have for Alberta isn’t so rosy, after all. This isn’t going to be good.
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Oil-Prices/Oil-Drops-45-Percent-Amid-Record-Bearish-Sentiment-from-Money-Managers.html
Dwayne: all I can do is shake my head as yet another story appears indicating that the boom won’t last forever. Given that Smith delayed her promise to decrease the personal income tax rate because we didn’t have the finances to carry it off (that was when oil prices were booming) and given that her base is demanding she deliver on that promise and given that she’s facing a leadership review in November, what do you think, will she reduce the person income tax rate or not.
There’s no logic to her policies, it’s all about staying in power so I think she may lower the personal income tax rate just to keep her base happy.
So lower corporate taxes and lower personal taxes, which means less money for public services. Oh joy.
I think that Danielle Smith and her gang, strongly believed that the NDP government headed by Rachel Notley was just mismanaging the province big time. They have always believed they are the ONLY money managers people can trust and of course Rachel Notley is a socialist that does not have a clue of what she was doing.
Well she forgot that the Conservatives have run this province for 43 years and the she herself is part of this awful mismanagement that went on for all those years.
Now of course she is realizing that even with 10 billion surpluses she cannot cover her promises and if she does she will have the province in a hole very fast.
They do not deal with reality very well and we all know that without having a fat oil budget Alberta cannot be managed without a deficit. I believe it will take another 30 years before they can understand that. All they can say is ‘Axe the Tax’ and ‘No Sales Tax’ and all the other beautiful slogans they love to scream everywhere. That is their platform along of course with the usual dignified F… Trudeau.
Step by step we will destroy this horrendous wave of lies and deceit that the conservatives showered on us. Fact by fact we will change it to a new ethical order. I wished the Canadian government along with the Western allies will start putting the real screws on Facebook and Instagram and X to make them more responsible for what they are throwing at us. This is a disgusting world that will destroy democracies and any possibility of real freedom.
By the way, for those that want to get a more focused idea of what the reality of misinformation is, there is a new book that is worth every penny. Furthermore the book is written by the ex CBC Canadian journalist Carol Off. Give it a try, it is one of the best books I have read in the last while. The title is ‘At a Loss for Words’.
Talk about Labour Day – there is not such a thing in the UCP world so we just need to make sure they understand that labour builds a country and not their idea of slaves that even with minimum salary are making too much.
Now she is screaming again as if she is the only voice in the country. This time the pilots should not have the right to strike. She is the truth and she is the only one who decides what is acceptable.
Her Decision – COUTTS is good and legal. Pilot strike is dangerous and destroys the economy.
I am not sure how people can get to this low and disgusting behaviour but there are lots of them.
Thank God there are still Journalists in Alberta that have not been taken over by insane fascist untruthful and lunatic ideas.
https://albertapolitics.ca/2024/09/danielle-smith-complains-to-feds-about-looming-air-canada-strike-never-mind-that-other-airline/
Lets all take a quiet moment and bask in the glowing delight of the following tasty example of
FAFO, or ‘the consequences of being a Violenly seditious, Holy Coaly Rolling, Convoying Diagolonist’. From the article you linked:
“Right now she (the premier Smith) is being bitterly assailed on social media by the most committed members of the UCP base – the Take Back Alberta cadres who dominate the party’s governing board and other convoy supporters – for not trying to interfere on behalf of the two men sentenced Monday in Lethbridge for criminal activities during the two-week blockade, which was supposedly a protest against cross-border COVID-19 vaccine requirements but was really about the usual litany of MAGA *complaints.”- D. Climenhaga
…….
BWAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA!!!! (wipes tear) thank you for the link Carlos, Dave C. is a treasure, and that is welcome news.
* The very same ‘complaints’ known to be amplified and supported by rubles everywhere.
Yes I agree with you. Dave is a treasure and I cannot imagine what it would be like to just have the articles written by Bell and Gunther. It is ridiculous.
GoinFawr: Agreed.
This story makes me wonder how Smith is going to respond at the upcoming leadership meeting when she comes face to face with the crowd that’s been demanding that she “free the Coutts boys.” She did promise to pardon them all when she ran for the leadership.
I know I keep posting David C here but I just want to make sure more people read this.
What are Danielle Smith shared values? She definitely does not share anything with my values and if she manages to get hers to be the dominant values in this province I am sure we will be in deep trouble. What are they? Lies and deceit? Corruption with big oil corporations and keep the poor really controllable so that they have cheap labour? Pray of course!!
https://albertapolitics.ca/2024/09/danielle-smith-alberta-welcomes-newcomers-but-only-if-they-possess-our-shared-values/
It is hard to believe a Premier , and she is not the only one by the way, says something like ‘Yes we want more immigrants but only if they share our values’ – Ok so what is the suggestion from the government to make this happen?
First of all clarify please. You mean Christians? you mean corrupt and easily controllable so that we can make more money on them and if possible we can dispose of them when needed?
Secondly what are our shared values? Take Back Alberta values?
How are you going to make sure their values align with hers? Are we creating a new Agency called Alberta Shared Values Testing?
I can see a good reason for a picture like a refugee mother with a very thin baby from a war zone desperately looking for a peaceful place to exist and some food so the baby makes it and right beside her an Albertan values police asking ‘What is your religion? What is your skin colour? Do you believe in making less than the minimum salary? …’
Yeah this Danielle Smith and her gang need to have a big wake up call and if they bring guns into the picture I can already imagine who are the first to get shot.
Here is the Shared Values with the UCP
https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2024/09/13/Alberta-Meat-Plants-Exploit-Temporary-Foreign-Workers/
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This is very interesting, and for different reasons. Notice how UCP Finance Minister, Nate Horner says Alberta has a surplus, and then he says we don’t have a surplus, and that we will have to borrow money. He also tries to justify himself and the UCP when they were involved with conflicts of interest (involving the hockey tickets in the luxury box seats). These reporters/columnists sure know how to ask the right questions.