jaredwesley.ca
#UAlberta political scientist | Black Faculty Collective | Lead: Common Ground (@cgroundpolitics.bsky.social) | jaredwesley.ca | drjaredwesley.substack.com
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They've said they were not part of the website and comms. Which is mind-boggling.
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I agree.
I was invited to present to the Fair Deal Panel on our Common Ground research.
I had the sense that the panel had a handle on the process, were genuinely interested in exploring options, and had the pen on the final report.
Not this time. Everything suggests this cake is baked.
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Absolutely. bsky.app/profile/sena...
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For decades, Albertans have been consistent in telling their provincial government they want more influence on the national stage and better relations with the rest of Canada.
When will they finally listen?
albertaviews.ca/should-alber...
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In the end, it's hard to see the Alberta Next process as anything other than a distraction from the pay-to-play scandal gripping the government, and the real and pressing domestic policy challenges facing the province. thetyee.ca/Analysis/202...
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The UCP has promised to hold referendums on *something* next year. "The best ideas," Smith has said.
Referendums are a dumb way to solve policy problems. They're an even dumber way to decide on intergovernmental policy. albertaviews.ca/referendum-g...
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As Smith, herself, is chairing, the Premier's Office will have final say over the content of the report.
It won't be independent.
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At the conclusion of the Alberta Next junket, the panel will release a report in December.
That will come a month after the UCP AGM, which is expected to centre on these issues (and separatism).
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Released just last week, the government's own polling revealed only 1 in 10 Albertans want to ditch the Canada Pension Plan.
The UCP discontinued its own engagement / sales campaign on the issue.
Now they're hitting the road to sell it again.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
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All of Smith's grand plans have been on sale for decades, most recently just months ago in Jason Kenney's Fair Deal package.
Albertans aren't buying.
ucp.manifoldapp.org/read/blue-st...
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As @jlisayoung.bsky.social puts it, these ideas are like moldy leftovers in the musty "rec room" of Alberta politics. (Her description is so vivid, I can smell the dank.) open.substack.com/pub/lisayoun...
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Second, there's nothing new in the list of policy ideas being shopped around the province again: pensions, police, revenue agency, immigration.
These are "zombie policies" -- roundly killed by reason and public opinion several times, but the UCP keep bringing them back to life.
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First, the Premier's promo video is laced with disinformation about Alberta's fiscal contributions to the rest of Canada.
The lies aren't worth repeating here, but suffice it to say that the economist on the Alberta Next panel will face an uphill battle in the months to come.
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Sovereignty is in the eyes of the beholder.
Pensions are in the pockets of thousands of Albertans and their families.
That's the main difference.
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By contrast, "sovereignty" is ambiguous -- and deliberately so, on the part of separatist leaders who are selling a chicken in every pot.
Some even promise Albertans could keep their CPP if they leave Canada.
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Pensions are real, and really important to individual Albertans. That's why they don't want to lose them, or to handle control over to a provincial government bent on investing in oil and gas.
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Survey questions vary, as do people's reasons for answering them.
It wouldn't surprise me if half of the so-called "separatists" being captured in polls are really automists: people lodging a protest vote to send a signal to, and gain leverage with, Ottawa.
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Why do you have to turn everything into an argument, Paul? WHY?
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Suggestions welcome.
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No sign of those two.