At some point, even for the toughest of cookies, enough is enough. After years of enduring threats, harassment, and even an illegal surveillance campaign by local police officers — one that never resulted in criminal charges — Alberta NDP MLA Shannon Phillips announced last week that she was resigning from politics. “I’m the next in a line of woman politicians who are taking a pass,” she told the Globe and Mail.
Phillips, who served as Alberta’s environment minister from 2015 to 2019, was a popular target for right-wing trolls and online agitators like Rebel Media. Catherine McKenna, who endured a similar campaign of targeted abuse when she was the federal environment minister, knows a thing or two about that.
“Yes, I'm mad,” McKenna said on social media. “We are seeing the deterioration of politics on our watch - allowing attacks on politicians especially on women — by right wing politicians & their mouthpieces. This toxic workplace would never be tolerated anywhere else. It's democracy that's at stake, folks.”’
For what it’s worth, I am highly conflicted here. I worked closely with Phillips when she was the Minister of Environment and I was in the Alberta Climate Change Office, where I helped write speeches and prepare communications material for her department. As impressively fierce and formidable as she was from a distance, whether dealing with the oil and gas industry or opposition MLAs, she was even more so in close quarters. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say she was the most effective environment minister in Alberta’s history — and maybe even Canada’s.
But the price she paid for her political involvement was high. And while she switched to the opposition benches in 2019, that price just seemed to keep getting higher. “These conditions are not improving,” she told the Globe and Mail this week. “The right is only getting more crazy and more bonkers, and disinformation is just getting worse. And that is going to have an effect on people’s desire to do this work.”
For her worst critics, of course, that’s the point. They want to raise the cost of getting involved in public life for those with progressive views or values so that anyone with a family, a career, or some other non-political life experience won’t want to come near it.
That obviously includes harassment on social media, which has become exponentially worse since Elon Musk bought Twitter in 2022. "Twitter used to be our best contact for bringing [harassment and threats] down off social media and once the new owner took over, our contacts there were let go and now there's nobody to contact at that particular social media platform," said Patrick McDonnell, the sergeant-at-arms and corporate security officer for the House of Commons, during testimony before a committee of MPs studying the House’s harassment policy.
The volume of that sort of harassment is growing exponentially, too. "In 2019 there was approximately eight files we opened up on threat behaviours, either direct or indirect threat towards an MP, and in 2023 there was 530 files opened," McDonnell said. Worse, it’s now increasingly happening in real life instead of online, with people showing up at the homes of MPs and MLAs. As RCMP deputy commissioner Mark Flynn told the Toronto Star’s Tonda MacCharles, “we’ve seen a shift from people protesting or appearing…at Parliament Hill, minister’s offices, constituency offices, et cetera, to where we are now seeing people go to their residences and start taking actions at their residence.”
While the MPs involved are reluctant to talk about it, some of them have already had their windows broken and buildings vandalized. If the ongoing escalation here doesn’t stop, at some point soon this is going to lead to something far worse than property damage or threatening behaviour. Someone is going to get hurt, maybe even killed, and that puts the families of every elected official at risk. Is it any wonder that people like Phillips and McKenna, progressive women who take the lead on issues that most rile up far-right agitators, decided to leave?
If we want to make politics safe for everyone to practice and participate in, it’s time to make some meaningful changes. First and foremost, that means dialing down the rhetoric about a political opponent’s supposedly nefarious intentions and treating them like a human being with a difference of opinion rather than a threat to anyone’s livelihood or existence. It means significant additional resources for the offices in both the House of Commons and provincial legislatures that are responsible for maintaining the safety and security of elected officials. And it means finding ways to ensure both the police and courts are taking these threats more seriously.
Then again, maybe some people don’t want that. And as Phillips knows only too well, the police and courts aren’t always interested in looking out for everyone's protection. But if we don’t get a handle on this, and soon, we’re going to drive even more good people away from public service. There’s no reason for us to tolerate this state of affairs, and those who do — or worse, contribute to it — are confessing something very ugly about themselves.
Comments
A quote from Bertrand Russell is highly appropriate here: "The first step in a fascist movement is the combination under an energetic leader (Poilievre, Trump) of a number of men who possess more than average leisure, brutality and stupidity. The next step is to fascinate fools and muzzle the intelligent, by emotional excitement & terrorism."
So true; people have never been easier to manipulate, and at the worst possible time.
This all comes back to the fossil fuel industry. This is the foreign actor that is really influencing Canadian politics. They know their days are number but they're going to get every last drop of blood money they can get and they don't care who they hurt.
Yup.
And then they'll pack up and split the scene, leaving Albertans to clean up the mess. And Alberta will beg, plead, goad and guilt trip the federal government to fund the cleanup, which may well stimulate a national backlash against that notion and pin the blame squarely where it is most deserved -- at the Alberta government's half century of mismanagement and subservience primarily to foreign oil companies.
I really hope the rest of the nation is well on its way to full electrification by the time this comes to pass.
I'm more than perplexed that the police who were part of the "illegal surveillance campaign" have not at least been charged, or that the police force has not been seriously castigated for their involvement and ambivalence toward the incident. One can complain all one wants about social media and right-wing trolls -- all legitimate complaints -- but we now know of at least one incident where our police were involved in "illegal" anti-democratic, unprofessional activity. No charges. No real investigation. No outrage at this obvious flaunting of our so-called democratic system. Heck, I'm flabbergasted! (to be nice about it)
Fawcett: "I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say she was the most effective environment minister in Alberta’s history — and maybe even Canada’s."
Which probably isn't saying very much.
The job of environment ministers, particularly in Alberta, is to cater to extractive industries, not protect the environment.
Check out Forgotten Corner's appalling interview with former NDP Env Minister Shannon Phillips.
https://www.forgottencornerpod.com/episodes/episode-2
The Alberta Advantage podcast eviscerated Phillips and the AB NDP.
https://albertaadvantagepod.com/2020/06/02/fear-of-a-green-new-deal/
Alberta's NDP government cynically took industry's side against caribou:
Environment Minister Shannon Phillips: "'The federal Species at Risk Act is an extremely inflexible instrument that has already had negative economic consequences (in Alberta). We are going to do our best to make sure that we protect jobs on this.'"
Industry's and government's strategy is to let the clock run out on caribou.
The NDP approved clear-cut logging in the Kananaskis region:
"Concerns range from dismay over visible swaths of bald landscape, to potential effects on jobs, tourism and the environment — including water quality and risk of flooding.
"'We want the minister to press pause on this so we can assess what is the value of clear-cutting in Kananaskis," said Stephen Legault, program director at the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative.
"Also, over the long term, we need to have conversations about our watersheds. Kananaskis Country is where Calgary and High River and other municipalities downstream get their water from. We want to have those conversations.'
AB Agriculture and Forestry Minister Oneil Carlier: "We continue to work to ensure a thoughtful and sustainable approach to forest management that balances the economic, social, and environmental needs of our communities – in the Kananaskis region and across the province."
"Residents from towns south of the park, such as Longview, Turner Valley and Black Diamond, have long opposed logging there, dating back to 2001 when the forest management plan was signed with Spray Lakes Sawmills of Cochrane. Recently, a group of recreational users started a Facebook page called Take a Stand for the Upper Highwood and created a petition calling on Premier Rachel Notley and Environment and Parks Minister Shannon Phillips to stop logging in the park."
"Residents, environmentalists sound alarm over clear cutting in Kananaskis Country" (Calgary Herald, May 19, 2017)
http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/residents-environmentalists-so…
Phillips co-wrote the foreword for the 2004 book "An Action a Day Keeps Global Capitalism Away" by Mike Hudema, a campaigner for Greenpeace Alberta. As Environment Minister, Phillips minimized her role and renounced those views.
• https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/shannon-phillips-helped-with-so…
Don't get me started on Catherine McKenna.
Both ministers shilled for the O&G industry.
Neither stood up for the environment, climate, or your grandchildren.
Nonetheless, the NDP also accomplished a few significant things, starting with taking out coal-fired plants and the kickstarting of renewables here, cutting child poverty in half, introducing 10 dollar a day childcare, and raising the minimum wage. Under the circumstances, and in retrospect, they should have just gone for broke since as women they couldn't win here anyway or anyhow, which is still the political reality. It's why Nenshi has been embraced so heartily by progressives; he's not just experienced politically; he's also a man, period.
Agreed about the excessive toadying to big oil, particularly at this last election with the backdrop of catastrophic wildfires astonishingly not even mentioned, but this is the other political reality. And Nenshi is still talking about "supporting them in the transition," but I think the fact that we're THREE years out from a reprieve explains this in part.
Politics remains the "art of the possible" and denying that reality denies THE reality of ever more "low information" voters manifesting, inflamed by the ever-more-evil cons.
TP: "Politics remains the 'art of the possible'"
TP: "Under the circumstances, and in retrospect, they should have just gone for broke since as women they couldn't win here anyway or anyhow"
You refute your own argument. (Except, of course, the NDP women won in 2015 and came close in 2023, defeated by the UCP woman.)
Agreed, the AB NDP should have "just gone for broke". Notley and Phillips could have stood up to the O&G lobby and extractive industries. They passed.
A one-term majority government with no hope for re-election is relatively free to act, unconstrained by "political reality". The AB NDP, for example.
Given a petro-economy weighed down by low oil prices, the NDP stood no chance against a united conservative party in 2019.
"the art of the possible"
A slogan, not an argument. You can always count on partisans to drag out that old warhorse whenever somebody criticizes their pet politician or favorite party.
An excuse for failed leadership. An attempt to lower expectations and diminish responsibility. Echoed by the party faithful to discourage voters from holding elected leaders accountable.
The suggestion that our petro-progressive politicians might be failing us is typically met with mindless slogans: "Politics is the art of the possible." "Don't let perfect be the enemy of the good."
Politics is the art of the necessary. Anybody can do the politically expedient. Anybody can govern by poll. Anybody can follow the parade. Anybody can pander to industry. True leaders do what is necessary, even if unpopular. They persuade people to follow.
If "progressive" politicians are not willing or able to defend the public interest, why run for public office? Why enter politics in the first place if you cannot sell and defend your values and policies? If all parties simply go where the votes are, that eliminates any role for leadership. Government by poll fails to serve the public interest.
We do not need any more nominally progressive politicians who blow with the wind. A government that merely follows the parade and turns its back on science (i.e., reality) is worse than useless.
"Politicians are weathervanes when they are supposed to be compasses."
The reality is that sooner or later the world will shift away from fossil fuels, starting with coal. Failing to prepare Albertans for that eventuality is irresponsible. Doubling down on fossil fuels when the world is on the verge of turning away from them sets Albertans up for massive economic crashes and upheaval. Not the responsible leadership we need for the 21st century.
The AB NDP's obsession with re-election in 2019 led to short-sighted policy that emulated previous Conservative govts and betrays future generations.
A NDP win in 2019 was not on the menu. Notley was always a one-term premier.
No one and nothing forced Notley and Phillips to prop up the oil industry and sabotage Canada's climate efforts. Their poor choice. Their efforts won little credit from Alberta voters.
The AB NDP did not have anything to gain by sliding right — or by aping conservative rhetoric on energy and pipelines. That territory was already held by the UCP.
Pandering to fossil-fuel dinosaurs just fed the right-wing frenzy. Stoking Albertans' perennial resentment over pipelines and everything else under the sun only helped the UCP.
The more Notley fought for pipelines, the more she fanned the flames of anger among Albertans. A pipeline project became the rallying flag for Albertans, whose sense of grievance against Ottawa burns eternal. Fuelling the right-wing rage machine.
Notley has a very bad reputation in communities on the coast where TMX ran roughshod. She'd be best advised not to show up in Metro Vancouver.
TP: "starting with taking out coal-fired plants and the kickstarting of renewables here"
In 2014 AB Premier Jim Prentice agreed to phase out coal and focus on renewables. The NDP decided to retire Alberta's coal fleet by 2030. For financial reasons, the industry decided to accelerate the switch. The market was heading in that direction already. Based on economics alone, the rapid decline of coal was inevitable:
"And we now have Premier Jim Prentice publicly stating he, too, sees the 10- to 15-year phase-out in this province's future."
Dr Joe Vipond: "A coal-free grid within our grasp" (Edmonton Journal, Dec 17, 2014)
"For one, 12 of the 18 coal-fired plants in Alberta would have been shuttered by 2030 anyways (with four planned for closure by 2019)."
"Ethics Complaint Filed Against Alberta Minister Turned Coal Lobbyist" (The Narwhal, April 5, 2016)
"Mr. Prentice, a former federal environment minister, is also shaping a new climate-change strategy that will see the province shutter many of its coal plants and replace them with new investment in renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.
"'Alberta will have a visionary long-term approach to climate change and we'll never again go to Copenhagen in the circumstances that I did as federal environment minister in 2009.'
"While the Premier concedes emissions from the oil sands will continue to rise over the next several years, the province can make GHG emission inroads elsewhere, he believes. The province gets 85 per cent of its electricity from coal-fired plants – many of which were built in the 1960s and 70s.
"'They're all nearing the end of their useful life,' he said. 'They're in their wind-down phase and can be phased out and we can achieve very significant emissions reductions just by not burning coal.'
"He said he's a big believer in renewable energy, noting that Alberta already has more capacity from wind power than anywhere else in the country. He said solar energy is also developing quickly. 'I think what we should be doing is making investments in those areas in the context of an overall climate plan for the province,' Mr. Prentice said. 'I think as people have seen in the early days since I've been Premier, this is not business as usual anymore in Alberta."
"New premier Prentice says Canada needs new markets for Alberta oil" (Globe and Mail, Sep 18, 2014)
Note that Prentice was the last of the old Progressive Conservatives in Alberta. He stood out as one of the more "reasonable" members of Harper's federal cabinet and seemed a bit out of place and uncomfortable with the Harper group's tendency for social warfare and environmental imperialism. He tripped up badly when he accepted Danielle Smith into the Alberta PC fold, being taken in because she was in disguise as a moderate at the time.
It's all very interesting to this old ex-Albertan.
I didn't know about logging the Kananaskis. I got to love that valley back in the day. Shameful.
Anyone who thinks being environment minister anywhere is easy and should be applying to be the next one. This is a nightmare job where you are required to consider the economy first, the wants of special interest groups next, and the environment last. When you don't get everything people want, you are harassed unmercifully and berated for your misses by the public.
KG: "This is a nightmare job where you are required to consider the economy first, the wants of special interest groups next, and the environment last."
Agreed. As noted above: "The job of environment ministers, particularly in Alberta, is to cater to extractive industries, not protect the environment."
Anybody who hoped the AB NDP might do things differently was disappointed.
Ms. Phillips got her marching orders, and she carried them out with enthusiasm.
If a minister cannot accept what he or she is being asked to do, the honourable option is to resign.
KG: "When you don't get everything people want"
Climate change is the issue of our time.
Taking Alberta in the wrong direction and locking in fossil fuel production for decades during a climate emergency is grossly irresponsible — an abdication of office.
KG: "you are harassed unmercifully and berated for your misses by the public"
Let us not conflate legitimate dissent and political analysis by concerned citizens, other politicians, party members, union leaders, public figures, environmentalists, climate activists with harassment and criminal behavior.
The harassment of politicians, especially women, is primarily, though not exclusively, a right-wing phenomenon, especially in Alberta. The misognynist Lock 'er Up crowd is a UCP phenomenon in imitation of Trump supporters in the U.S..
Big difference between harassment and holding your elected representatives accountable. Citizens have not only the right but also the responsibility to hold their MLAs and MPs accountable. The essence of responsible government. This is done through peaceful means such as public debate, letter-writing, petitions, peaceful protests, joining NGOs, political analysis in the press, and ultimately by voting.
Neither Notley nor Phillips was a champion of the environment. Ms. Notley has no vision for an orderly transition away from fossil fuels. Notley's grasp of climate science and ecological perils is tenuous, at best.
Not the leadership we need for the 21st century.
And it is up to concerned citizens — people who care about their grandchildren — to say so.
Shannon is our MLA and I'm glad to see her throwing in the towel for her own sake.
She's one of the good ones and I think her resigning now is a last act of generosity to provide a seat for Nenshi that's fairly secure due to the University of Lethbridge (still attempting to be a "liberal arts" university) being in the riding, AND despite personally supporting her friend Kathleen Ganley for leader.
(Side bar on that; we live across the street from a field owned by the university that is now rumoured to be up for commercial development rather than anything educational because the institution is so strapped for money now, so mission accomplished by the monstrous UCP....)
The ignorance, arrogance and staggering level of entitlement found in these police officers, so depressingly common in "Alberduh," can be summed up by a sign carried at the time protesting the NDP's plans for addressing ongoing offroad damage by designating the wild area a park; the sign read "Right to Ride." Here's an example of how these emboldened nutbars "think": https://www.westernwheel.ca/beyond-local/undercover-rcmp-officer-testif…
And speaking of riding roughshod, social media will remain the primary vehicle for the rabid right until someone of note actually DOES get killed.
Not only did Ms. Phillips and her colleagues in a first time elected NDP government often face the wrath of the Calgary based oil industry, the bankrupt legacy of a string of politicians who consistently disregarded the wisdom of having any sort of Plan B whatsoever, attacks from pundits in the right-wing dominated MSM and the self styled wanna-be’s outside of it, a rural electorate who suspend critical thinking for the hollow promises from long term conservative incumbents, threats of violence from extremist nutbars, and unaccountable police goons gone rogue, there was also the ultimate humiliation. That was the treatment from the fair weather ‘fellow travellers’ of the Left who howled almost from the get-go about a first term NDP government getting into bed with Big Oil, while completely refusing to understand the socio-political environment that the Party had to navigate during it’s inaugural run.
Did these so-called ‘progressives’ think the realities of governing in Alberta could be instantly toggled like a light switch after a nearly half century as a defacto one-Party conservative state? There was absolutely no chance a first time governing party was going to be able to the turn the poorly maintained, rusting hulk of a ship christened Princess Alberta and it’s denizens aboard 180 degrees in a single term to meet the expectations of the hardcore left ideologues. As if keeping the province out of a deep economic depression through investments in rebuilding the province’s decaying infrastructure during one of the worst of times wasn’t quite enough in it’s first term. Significant change was going to need significant time and effort. Trust and buy-in from the public needed to be developed in order to achieve the larger strategic outcomes. There were no quick solutions.
Why, given this reality, would anybody with a progressive vision want to assume the task of trying to unite Albertans in tackling the steep challenges the Province is currently facing on it’s doorstep? To those who identify as Progressive but criticize the ones who tried as not meeting your expectations, maybe it’s time to put up or shut up.
A one-term government with no prospects for re-election is a government with nothing to lose.
And nothing to gain by hopping into bed with Big Oil.
Given a petro-economy weighed down by low oil prices, the NDP stood no chance against a united conservative party in 2019.
DG: "the fair weather ‘fellow travellers’ of the Left who howled almost from the get-go about a first term NDP government getting into bed with Big Oil"
Neither a necessary nor a successful political strategy. On the contrary. It backfired big-time.
Instead of selling NDP policy and fighting for NDP values, Notley tried to outconservative the conservatives. Predictably, that failed. No matter how much Notley pandered to the petroleum crowd, the NDP still had no hope of re-election.
Pandering to fossil fuel dinosaurs just fed the right-wing frenzy. A pipeline project became the rallying flag for Albertans, whose sense of grievance against Ottawa burns eternal. Fuelling the right-wing rage machine. Pipeline supporters will vote will vote for the real O&G party: the UCP. Notley's pipeline hysterics only inflamed Albertans against the NDP and alienated her own supporters.
The AB NDP's shift to the right was a political blunder. By shifting right, Notley effectively sold out a once-progressive NDP to centrist voters, supporters of dead or dying political parties: red PCs, the Alberta Party, and the AB Liberals. All hail, King Nenshi!
It will not be Jason Kenney or Danielle Smith who erode and finally erase the progressive party in Alberta. It will be the NDP. A coup for the centre-right. Engineered by the AB NDP brain trust.
That failed strategy leaves progressives and greens with no representation under the dome. The PC party is now resurrected under a new name and management.
What was open to the NDP?
The NDP's other option was to accept that it was a one-term government. Stand up to Big Oil, reject petro-politics, put the province on the right track, and show Albertans what principled progressive government looks like.
The NDP brain trust balked. Far from leading the NDP to glory, Notley blew it up. Notley's lasting legacy.
If "progressive" politicians are not willing or able to defend the public interest, why run for public office? Why enter politics in the first place if you cannot sell and defend your values and policies? If all parties simply go where the votes are, that eliminates any role for leadership.
Doubling down on fossil fuel production in the face of climate change is insane. If the nominally progressive party refuses to take on the challenge, who will? An admission of defeat.
We do not have the time for idling in neutral. With its pipeline campaign, Notley's NDP actually took Alberta in reverse.
Alberta's drive for fossil fuel growth is irrevocable. Oilsands infrastructure, including pipelines, takes decades to recoup its costs. There is no redemption. No going back. No path from oilsands expansion to lower emissions and Canada's climate targets. NDP policy locks AB into fossil fuel development and rising emissions for decades.
Neither the NDP nor the UCP will take AB where we need to go.
"UN leader slams 'dangerous radicals' increasing oil and gas production"
U.N. Secretary-General Guterres: "It is a file of shame, cataloguing the empty pledges that put us firmly on track towards an unlivable world."
"Some government and business leaders are saying one thing – but doing another."
"Simply put, they are lying. And the results will be catastrophic."
"But high-emitting governments and corporations are not just turning a blind eye; they are adding fuel to the flames."
"Investing in new fossil fuels infrastructure is moral and economic madness."
UN Secretary General António Guterres: "We cannot afford slow movers, fake movers, or any form of greenwashing."
When world leaders claimed to truly understand the perils of climate change, Greta Thunberg rebuked them: "I do not want to believe that. Because if you really understood the situation and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil." (2019)
Reakash Walters, federal NDP candidate in Edmonton Centre 2015: "As one of two people who nominated Rachel in 2015, I am truly disappointed in the direction the provincial party has taken and that they have chosen to prioritize oil extraction in the middle of a climate crisis."
"What was Rachel Notley suggesting when she said she's not committed to voting for Jagmeet Singh's New
David Climenhaga: "Indeed, the more [Notley] fights for the pipeline, the stronger Mr. Kenney seems to get because the file is seen, however wrongfully, by too many voters as a United Conservative Party strength."
"Sounds as if the Trudeau Liberals are listening to their Natural Governing Party lizard brain, finally" (Alberta Politics, 19-Feb-19)
"Arguably, the law allowing Alberta to blockade shipments of fuel from refineries here to force B.C.'s government to ignore the concerns of its own voters and knuckle under to Alberta's demands for a pipeline was a moral and political failure by the NDP.
"Democracy depends on a consensus not to abuse power, and drafting legislation known in advance to violate the nation's constitution, putting that consensus at risk, amounts to moral failure.
"Hoping the belligerent attitude demanded by Mr. Kenney's Conservatives would persuade die-hard right-wingers to grant the NDP another term in office in gratitude for legislation that horrified many of its most loyal supporters was foolhardy."
"Court's decision to turn off Alberta's turn-off-the-taps law should surprise no one" (Alberta Politics, Sep 25, 2019)
Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour and recent NDP leadership candidate lashed out at the NDP govt on its failure to raise royalties:
"Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan assails Notley Government's royalty 'mistake'"(Alberta Politics, 2016)
"At the heart of Mr. McGowan's critique of the government's announcement and the panel report that recommended it is the view it is both bad economics and bad politics. 'Some people say the NDP have come face to face with reality. I say what happened can best be described as the government being captured by industry.'
'I honestly think the government has made a profound political mistake. We don't believe progressive governments have to become conservative to deal effectively with economic issues or to succeed politically. That's a fallacy.
'Virtually none of our concerns or suggestions are reflected in the royalty report. Those ideas were passed over in favour of a plan that could have been introduced by a PC or Wildrose government.'"
Naomi Klein (06-Feb-18): "Alberta has a left-wing political party in power, one that has somehow convinced itself it can beat the right by being a better suck up to Big Oil."
Former AB Liberal leader Kevin Taft: "…Questions that should be coming to the legislature, around the tens of billions of dollars of unfunded liabilities for environmental cleanups aren't even being asked. Nobody's asking why are royalties so low. Those questions aren't coming up because those institutions aren't serving the public."
"Oilpatch odours in northwestern Alberta still pungent, years after inquiry"
"[Donna Daum, a retired teacher] points out that members of the current NDP government — including Premier Rachel Notley — were loud in their support when they were in opposition.
"'(Notley) talked about the precautionary principle, which obviously is no longer in their dictionary. I can't believe how these dictionaries get rewritten the moment there's some responsibility attached to things.'"
Former AB Liberal leader Kevin Taft: "Through her whole career and her whole party, up until they became government, [Notley and the NDP] were very effective critics, counterbalances to the oil industry. As soon as she stepped into office, as soon as she and her party became government, they've simply became instruments of the oil industry."
Taft: "The world is working hard to end its dependence on oil, so hitching the country's economy to an industry that must be phased out is recklessly short-sighted."
Dr John O'Connor: "Pre-election, the NDP/Rachel Notley were vocally supportive of bringing accountability and responsibility to bear on the environmental and health impacts, especially downstream, of the tarsands. After the AB Cancer Board report on Fort Chipewyan, she was notably outspoken on the need to comply with the recommendation for a comprehensive health study of Fort Chip, which was never even started.
"Now—it's buried and forgotten. Such hypocrisy."
In opposition, the NDP voiced support for a comprehensive healthy study on cancers in Fort Chipewyan. In govt, the only sound was crickets.
"[Allan Adam, chief of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation,] said his people continue to die from cancer at alarmingly high rates, a fact he blamed on oilsands developments. 'Whatever food I'm bringing in from the bush, it is getting our people sick.' The chief said he had hoped that after four decades of Conservative rule in Alberta, things would be different when the NDP government came to power in May 2015. But under the Rachel Notley government, he said, it's business as usual. 'I feel very, very ashamed to call myself an Albertan. I feel very, very ashamed to call myself a Canadian citizen.'" (January 2017)
"The talk around our table is that the NDP government is just another platform of the previous Conservative government with a different logo. Nothing has changed." (Chief Allan Adam)
Indeed, well said, and those same overly purist NDP types are currently agitating (in tandem with mainstream media) to scuttle the precious agreement with the Liberals despite it being not only the best thing they've ever done for their own supposed "goals," but also providing real respite as the only sane governance for the country as a whole, both now and in the foreseeable future where politics will likely continue to be binary. That's inevitable when one side goes "bonkers" as Shannon said.
This same holier than thous nonsense has been displayed during the NDP leadership here with some candidates wanting to cut off ties with the federal party to proclaim their "individual values" of "made in Alberta" or some such utter BS, simply helping the cons to divide and conquer. And a couple of candidates proposed dropping the carbon tax for the same reason, adding to the piling on of the ONLY federal political party qualified to actually deal with climate change, EVEN though the pandemic could be seen as a trial run, and they passed the test.
I keep saying this but it totally applies; NDP and other "progressives" continue to succumb to the stupid tribalism that is undeniably the "narcissism of small differences."
I am of course responding to Don Gillard here.
With their 20-20 hindsight and the convenience of ignoring the social and political milieu that the NDP found themselves in after being elected, the chattering class galls me with their smug pronouncements of the mistakes made by the rookie government. No mention made of the many initiatives that were successfully implemented that were antithetical to the long prevailing Alberta governance model of the previous regime. Such as, the disallowing of corporate and union donations to political parties, the freezing of tuition increases on students, funding for Early Learning Childcare Services, protections for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, safety buffers around abortion clinics that were under seige, raising minimum wage from $10.20 to $15.00, reversed cuts and increased funding for post-secondary education, implementing school lunch programs for vulnerable school children, and much more if one only looks.
Yet with the City of Fort McMurray on fire with Notley attending on the ground while just outside Calgary oil fat cats whacked golf balls at images of her face, and Swastikas were being unfurled by a mob angry about a farm workers protection Bill at the Leg and death threats were being phoned in, the NDP government didn’t manage to immediately shut down the fossil fuel industry in Alberta like they were supposed to do?!!
Spare me, please
I would like to re-iterate that this rare bird of a Party did a yeoman job under extremely hostile conditions, and I for one am grateful for the service of each and every member in that caucus. After many decades of political complacency you gave hope to some of us who believed there were alternatives to the way things could be done in Alberta, given enough time and support.
DG: "the convenience of ignoring the social and political milieu that the NDP found themselves in"
It is Mr. Gillard who ignores the political milieu that the NDP found themselves in. The NDP was always a one-term government with no prospect for re-election. The NDP had nothing to lose by taking strong action on climate. If not now, when?
Again, Mr. Gillard overlooks the importance of leadership. The NDP accepted the role and responsibility of leadership, but on the issue of our times failed to provide it. If "progressive" politicians are not willing or able to defend the public interest, why run for public office? Why enter politics if you cannot sell and defend your values and policies?
DG: "the NDP government didn’t manage to immediately shut down the fossil fuel industry in Alberta like they were supposed to do"
Straw man. No one proposed shutting down the fossil fuel industry overnight. That is why we call the energy shift a transition.
Transitions start by moving in the direction you wish to travel. Instead, Notley and Trudeau took Alberta the other way. Doubling down on fossil fuels takes us in the wrong direction. Building major fossil fuel infrastructure (TMX) that locks us into a fossil fuel future. Sabotaging Canada's climate targets for decades. Oilsands expansion and new pipelines are obvious lunacy.
When you're in a hole, stop digging.
DG: "mistakes made by the rookie government"
Flouting the best available science is not a "mistake". The science dictates a rapid shift away from fossil fuels. Turning your back on scientific reality demonstrates a wilful blindness and delusion. Cheerleading for the industry that threatens our demise and throwing environmentalists and climate activists under the bus demonstrates a profound failure of leadership.
DG: "No mention made of the many initiatives that were successfully implemented"
Climate change disproportionately affects women and children. The global poor are the most vulnerable. Does not matter what your policies are on farm labor, GSAs, childcare, etc. If you're not progressive on climate, you're not progressive.
If we fail to act on climate change and other existential issues, no number of progressive social policies will save us.
You can improve services for third-class passengers on the Titanic all you want, but if you fail to avoid the iceberg, all is lost. You can move all the third-class passengers to first class, but if the ship goes down it won't help them.
If your house is on fire, what is your main concern? The fire — or childcare, farm labor, and GSAs?
Do you rush to rescue your children — or worry about whether the daycare centre has space for them?
If we don't put out the fire, if we fail to save our children, nothing else much matters.
Climate change is not one issue of many. Climate change does not rank with healthcare, childcare, GSAs, EI. Climate is the lens through which all economic and quality-of-life issues must be viewed. Climate and environment are the background to all our activities. Climate change is existential.
Most of us can survive, for better or worse, with or without NDP social policies. We can't survive, much less thrive, amid ecosystem collapse.
DG: "After many decades of political complacency you gave hope to some of us who believed there were alternatives to the way things could be done in Alberta, given enough time and support."
Actually, the NDP's abject surrender to the O&G industry dealt a crushing blow to those Albertans who hoped that politics could be done differently.
To top it off, the NDP have sold off Alberta's progressive party to the centrists.
DG: "Notley attending on the ground while just outside Calgary oil fat cats whacked golf balls at images of her face"
Exactly. Notley's pandering to the O&G industry won the NDP no credit, but merely fanned the flames of Albertans' eternal resentment. To this day, industry boosters give Notley no credit for building the TMX pipeline. Notley merely alienated her own supporters.
In a delusional play for unattainable power, the NDP chased the UCP to the right, with no hope of success. Predictably, those efforts not only failed, but backfired.
The NDP had no prospects for re-election. Its sole option, therefore, was to stand up to Big Oil, respect the science, reject petro-politics, put the province on the right track, and show Albertans what principled progressive government looks like.
Not give in to the insanity.
Exactly so.
And these were/are not just the usual token, interchangeable "cheerleader" women for the male-dominated status quo like Smith is, i.e. cold, Thatcher-like deniers of the very concept of "society" and the concomitant reality of it being comprised of actual, fellow human beings, they were/are genuine progressives who are actually "among" us.
And few men appreciate what it's like for women in positions of power in what is still predominantly a man's world, but as a woman I saw Rachel and Shannon age over these last years, their natural smiles frozen into a different expression. It's one thing I didn't understand, why they weren't more honest about the unprecedented, relentless hostility and disrespect they were subjected to here in macho "Alberduh," apparently unlike anything seen in the rest of the country before, an example being the smirking, bad-boy UCP putting in ear plugs at one point while IN the legislature FFS!
We went to one of their meetings here in Lethbridge and there were police at the door, which we asked about and were told it was because of death threats, which they kept to themselves, not wanting to look overly "emotional." I talk about them "going for broke" but that would actually be the reckless, thoughtless CONSERVATIVE style wouldn't it, completely ignoring context at all times?
And they did give us hope, which is what Nenshi is doing now because he's also a basic outsider like they were, but has the most essential passport of being male, and tall. A short, cute blonde woman who actually LOOKED like a cheerleader was the ultimate target for the disproportionate number of stupid, nasty misogynists here. And we're all looking forward to an Harvard educated, genuine "smartest guy in the room" going toe to toe with the anti-intellectual, mean-spirited "United Clown Posse" of Proud Boys Inc. generally, and PARTICULARLY if they ALLOW Smith to remain, who took a class with Nenshi while at U of C that was taught by Peter Lougheed (he mentions that at least HE was paying attention), and where HE was president of the Student's Union, not her. Ha.
Not to mention the "Take Back Alberta" idiots led by a home-schooled evangelical who's apparently read the bible TWELVE times, so has unmitigated male entitlement beyond comprehension, so felt free to actually call Nenshi "grotesque" on social media.....should be interesting.
Again, I am replying to Don here.
Madeline Albright wrote "Fascism, A Warning"
And says
"First of all, I don’t think fascism is an ideology. I think it is a method, it’s a system.”
Want to see the system in place for 40 + years in the USA
https://evonomics.com/how-to-disguise-racism-and-oligarchy-use-the-lang…
Albright is especially fond of a Mussolini quote about “plucking a chicken feather by feather” so that people will not notice the loss of their freedoms until it is too late.
Abertans and Canadians are being plucked and loving it