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"I have fired the (Canadian) Horse Catcher" - Printable Version

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"I have fired the (Canadian) Horse Catcher" - nocarename - 11-21-2019

So.

The current Premier of Alberta is under investigation for election irregularities involving becoming the leader of the United Conservative Party. There have already been a pile of fines, and a report where the election commissioner may be freely questioned by the Legislative Assembly is coming up next week.

Or it would be if Bill 22 wasn't being rammed through every stage at highest speed. First reading was Monday, and with repeated use of cloture, is expected to pass third reading before lunch mountain time today (Thursday).

The Leader of the Opposition, the previous Premier, has been barred from the Legislature for calling this out.

I am not surprised. I am tired and disappointed.

RE: "I have fired the (Canadian) Horse Catcher" - Norgarth - 11-21-2019

heh, maybe someone should phone in a bomb threat to the provincial parliment building, that'll cause a delay while they evacuate the place, just in case. 8P

RE: "I have fired the (Canadian) Horse Catcher" - nocarename - 11-22-2019

Considering that the votes listed as 'November 20, 2019, evening' went on past midnight and into the 21st I'm not sure that would have actually slowed anything down, not that anyone did so.

The bill is waiting for assent from the Lieutenant-Governor. This bill dissolves, as things with powers slightly outside the immediate grasp of the provincial government:
  • Alberta Sports Connection (Ran various athletic and sporting events, including to help fund the Special Olympics)
  • Alberta Historical Resources Foundation
  • Alberta Competitiveness Council (One of the organizations intended to try and diversify the Albertan economy away from Oil & Gas, but also to work on Oil & Gas)
  • Dissolve the position of Office of Election Commissioner (The Office investigating the UCP [the current governing party], and fining them, for cheating during the party's internal leadership race)
  • Dissolves the Alberta Capital Finance Authority (Provided loans for financing local capital projects)
  • Moves money away from the control of the Alberta Teachers Retirement Fund, Workers Compensation Board, AND Alberta Health Services to AIMCo (AIMCo is the only preexisting fund management in the province governed by provincial statue. Its returns are not as good as ATRF has been, I am less sure about the returns for the other funds.)
  • And as best as I can tell, does something to the Local Authorities Pension Plan, the Public Service Pension Plan and the Special Forces Pension Plan to prevent them from pulling their money out of AIMCo.
That's a whole lot of fiddling with money for something that isn't the budget from my perspective, and it also looks like a lot of effort to consolidate control as much as possible as closely to the government as possible.
EDIT: My apologies. This is part of implementing the budget officially, and so some of the money things make sense. Not money control ones, since at least the ATRF was paid for from returns and membership fees.

It also:
  • Drops the Mental Health Review panel from 4 members to 3,
  • Allows more teleconferencing for this
  • And takes the review period from 6 months to 12
I have no idea how this links with the rest, but there it is.
Main source: https://www.alberta.ca/implementing-budget-2019.aspx

RE: "I have fired the (Canadian) Horse Catcher" - robkelk - 11-22-2019

(11-22-2019, 01:39 AM)nocarename Wrote: ...
It also:
  • Drops the Mental Health Review panel from 4 members to 3,
  • Allows more teleconferencing for this
  • And takes the review period from 6 months to 12
...

So, fewer people taking longer to do the same amount of work. And it's in the healthcare field.

I thought shortening wait times for health care was what all the parties were campaigning on...

RE: "I have fired the (Canadian) Horse Catcher" - nocarename - 11-22-2019

(11-22-2019, 09:34 AM)robkelk Wrote: So, fewer people taking longer to do the same amount of work. And it's in the healthcare field.

I thought shortening wait times for health care was what all the parties were campaigning on...
The UCP has demonstrated a consistent gap between what they campaigned on and what the have delivered.

Like saying that they will produce a more fiscally responsible budget, and returning one with a 2 billion larger deficit than the NDP the year before and also service and infrastructure cuts.

Frankly, if the party leadership campaign issues hadn't been coming up before the investigation was shut down I'd be looking at buying a UCP membership. Not because I agree with them, but because I would then have a chance to vote against Kenney directly. Also my skim through the posts that are still up for election don't seem to have more than one person running for them which is surely the sign of a healthy democratic process.