Category Archives: Energy & Natural Resources

The Impact of COVID-19 on Democracy

Posted on March 22, 2020 by susanonthesoapbox

James Madison said tyranny arises “on some favourable emergency”. The COVID-19 pandemic is today’s “favourable emergency.” It’s being used by unscrupulous politicians as a smokescreen for undemocratic behavior in Alberta’s Legislature and an excuse for Jason Kenney to enlist the … Continue reading →

Posted in Alberta Health Care, Economy, Energy & Natural Resources, General Health Care, Politics and Government | Tagged , , , , , , , | 51 Comments

COVID-19: A Study in Leadership

Posted on March 15, 2020 by susanonthesoapbox

 “The first role of government is to help people in crisis or need. That’s why we have government.”– John McCain Crisis separates the leaders from wannabes. We will be watching our leaders and wannabes very carefully over the next few … Continue reading →

Posted in Alberta Health Care, Economy, Energy & Natural Resources, Politics and Government | Tagged , , , , , , | 59 Comments

Budget 2020 and the Snake

Posted on March 8, 2020 by susanonthesoapbox

On Feb 27, 2020 the Kenney government released Budget 2020. The day it was tabled it was under water, less than two weeks later it drowned. It sank beneath the surface once and for all because of a snake (or … Continue reading →

Posted in Economy, Energy & Natural Resources, Politics and Government | Tagged , , , , , | 39 Comments

Teck Withdraws the Frontier Application

Posted on February 24, 2020 by susanonthesoapbox

Let’s try to have a sensible conversation about Teck, shall we? On Sunday, Feb 23, 2020 Teck Resources Ltd pulled its application for the Frontier oil sands project.  The federal government was supposed to give Frontier the green light, or … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change, Economy, Energy & Natural Resources, Politics and Government | Tagged , , , | 53 Comments

The Teck Decision Provides a Lesson on Handouts

Posted on February 9, 2020 by susanonthesoapbox

For a long time Ms Soapbox has been trying figure out what Mr Kenney and the UCP mean when they talk about a “hand up” and a “handout”. She knew from the context that a “hand up” was good and … Continue reading →

Posted in Economy, Energy & Natural Resources, Politics and Government | Tagged , , , , | 73 Comments

Why Is It Always Someone Else’s Fault?

Posted on February 2, 2020 by susanonthesoapbox

When Jason Kenney convinced Albertans that our economy is solely dependent on fossil fuels (diversification is a luxury, remember) and government policy, not the global marketplace, drives our economy; he needed a scapegoat when our economy failed to grow. Cue … Continue reading →

Posted in Economy, Energy & Natural Resources, Politics and Government | Tagged , , , , | 55 Comments

In the Eye of the Storm

Posted on January 19, 2020 by susanonthesoapbox

Here we are in the eye of the storm, a place of relative calm surrounded by a ring of thunderstorms (known as the eye wall). We passed through one eye wall to get here and we’ll have to pass through … Continue reading →

Posted in Economy, Energy & Natural Resources, Politics and Government | Tagged , , , , | 64 Comments

The Day We Demonstrated Outside the UCP AGM

Posted on December 2, 2019 by susanonthesoapbox

“Public services are under attack.  What do we do? Stand up, fight back!” – Protest cheer Ms Soapbox, her husband and her good friend from Edmonton joined the public school teachers, healthcare workers, and deeply concerned Albertans at the huge … Continue reading →

Posted in Economy, Energy & Natural Resources, Environment, Politics and Government, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 47 Comments

The Fog of Politics

Posted on November 17, 2019 by susanonthesoapbox

The fog of politics is like the fog of war.  It’s hard to see what’s really going on.     Albertans are choking in UCP fog.  We wonder why Mr Kenney who came to power on the Thatcher/Reagan ideology—small government, low … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy & Natural Resources, Law, Politics and Government | Tagged , , , , | 87 Comments

The Anti-Alberta Energy Inquiry (Thank God for Lawyers)

Posted on November 3, 2019 by susanonthesoapbox

In his book On Tyranny historian Timothy Snyder sets out twenty lessons from the 20th century to help democracies resist the “the usurpation of power by a single individual or group, or the circumvention of law by rulers for their … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy & Natural Resources, Environment, Law, Politics and Government | Tagged , , , , | 39 Comments