Budget drops and cork pops

In this ep we make the point that you can never have a budget as harsh as 1995 again unless you rebuild the welfare state first, which we haven't done. But I think I'm going to be mumbling the phrase "Minister Champagne is repealing the yacht tax" to myself for a while. 🍾

Truly a fate worse than death.

packing luxury tax breaks into your austerity budget is crazy. they're dabbing on us. they tricked you with a bunch of elbows up shit and now they're dabbing on us

NEW: After years of Canada claiming it won't support Azov Brigade due to its far-right ideology and neo-Nazi links, the Canadian Defence Attache in Ukraine met with Azov at the Embassy this summer. An Azov contact said it was a “friendly and open dialogue.” www.readthemaple.com/canadian-emb...

NEW EP: Escape from the Planet of the Mines: Canada's Resource Imperialism albertaadvantagepod.com/2025/10/14/e...

Police in Airdrie, Alberta (just north of Calgary) say this driver hit a 17-year-old girl in a marked crosswalk, got out of the vehicle, and appeared to get upset at the teenager before driving away. They released this video and are now trying to identify the driver.

Watch: A new Calgarian is exploring his adopted city in a unique way, by turning his bike rides into art, and mapping out designs on his GPS app. Mark Villani has more. #yyc #calgary www.ctvnews.ca/calgary/vide...

Petition signatures needed! - Do you think the government of Alberta should scrap the Mature Asset Strategy and ensure oil and gas companies pay for cleanup? actionnetwork.org/forms/clean-... #ABLeg #ABPoli #CDNPoli

Air Canada strike: “We’re going to stay committed to making sure that those workers can do the job that they love doing and actually be able to afford a roof over their heads, to afford caring for their families,” CUPE president just said. “If it means folks like me going to jail, then so be it.”

NEW EP: The Death and Life of Canadian Socialism - Live at the Progressive Publics Symposium feat. @robrousseau.bsky.social @fritzlechat.bsky.social @andremarrgoulet.bsky.social @robertalexier.bsky.social albertaadvantagepod.com/2025/08/14/t...

As Netanyahu launches the final phase of his monstrous plan for Gaza, they are eliminating the few journalist witnesses still left alive. Unbearable that under Carney, Canada can’t manage more than occasional symbolic gestures. Sanctions, weapons ban, real consequences now!

Horrible news. Yesterday, a pickup truck driver hit & killed a one-year-old girl in Calgary. Today, a pickup truck driver hit & killed a nine-year-old girl in Spruce Grove, near Edmonton. Both happened just outside homes: One in the back alley, on off the front driveway.

Frankly it is frustrating. In the 10 years has seen a 1.5km extension west (12 Ave) and two 1.5km partial extensions south (11th St and 2nd St). A funded 15th Ave improvement has been delayed another year. Every community should be able to get the benefits the extension did for Sunalta. #yycbike

Beginning in Feb 2024, I became the target of an online harassment campaign that affected my personal and professional spaces. The individual behind it uses an anonymous X account to post defamatory, hateful, and inaccurate statements about me in response to posts made by me or posts about me.

NEW EP: Elbows to the Left – Is Canada Worth Fighting For? albertaadvantagepod.com/2025/07/15/e...

Left nationalism. It didn’t work the first time, but if we try it again, it also won’t work

Some people who care about things are annoying about it. This is a personal attack on the things I'm annoying about.

I am over thinking of Ximena as a journalist. It's not the tired, reductive, divisionary take that wanting 5A infrastructure makes you smug ableist - it's that she would post this as engagement bait days after someone on a bike was killed while legally minding their own business. Don't engage.

Checking in on that elbows up thing

I’m so blown away by the size and fun vibes of Critical Mass rides these days. It gives me so much hope! @criticalmassyyc.bsky.social

30 years ago today: Alberta Premier Ralph Klein meets with Palestinian Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat in Gaza City. (📸News clip: Edmonton Journal, June 23, 1995)

The Progress Report has caused so much trouble over the years for Canada’s most cartoonishly evil police chief and his corrupt UCP buddies that their only recourse was to make up phoney charges to silence this outlet — Support this western canadian treasure!!

Help these folks out! Local journalism needs all the support it can get

I’ve remedied my error of not already supporting The Progress Report’s journalism work and started a monthly donation. Independent journalism is more important than ever, so I hope you’ll do the same.

Alberta needs strong progressive voices. Help keep Progress Report alive

Folks, it’s time to get real for a minute. The organization I work for, @theprogressreport.ca is in dire financial straits right now. The departure of our co-founder, editor, investigative reporter and top fundraiser Duncan Kinney in February left a big hole in our organization.

The Progress Report does important work in Alberta chasing stories other outlets have missed and holding government to account. Losing this work would be a big loss. If you've got any money to spare please consider pitching in.

My second piece for the Guardian in a month! As promised, I wrote about Bill C-2 the border bill and how it’s MAGA-inspired www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I had extremely low expectations for Carney since the beginning, but he’s quickly managed to be worse than I could have imagined.

🧵 As unchecked climate apocalypse burns our forests and the city is filled with smoke — As slaughter, starvation and genocide continue in occupied Palestine — As unaccountable, anonymous ICE thugs disappear innocent people from the streets of the US —

More oil and gas pipelines will fix this, right, Danielle?

On a new 🌾 @albertaadvantage.bsky.social 🌾union researcher Tom Fraser joins Team Advantage to discuss the political economy of pension funds and the forgotten horizons of revolutionary possibility they once represented. albertaadvantagepod.com/2025/06/09/p... 🔶

Absolutely fascinating ep! Made me wanna become pensionpilled lol

NEW EP: Pension Paradox: How deferred wages go to work for capital, with Tom Fraser albertaadvantagepod.com/2025/06/09/p...

ChatGPT is down but The Museum of English Rural Life still stands, proving once again that Silicon Valley cannot compete with the history of rural England and its people.

THIS WEEKEND!! Friday: The Death and Life of Canadian Social Democracy (an @albertaadvantage.bsky.social intervention) www.eventbrite.ca/e/progressiv... Saturday: panels by @cjsw.bsky.social @pressprogress.ca @briarpatch @theorchard and more www.eventbrite.ca/e/progressiv...

Carney is going to so severely shift the economy further into the private sector. He’s signalled massive cuts to everything but resource extraction and the military. This is a conservative government.

The rightward shift in Canadian politics election after "lesser evil" election means that we now have Harper 2.0 being aggressively defended by people who still think of themselves as "centre left". Partisan politics melts partisan brains.

LAPD fired rubber bullets at Australian journalist @laurentomasi.bsky.social

You fucking idiots this is coming here too. It'll just look more Canadian.

BREAKING: Canada exported $18.9 million of military goods to Israel in 2024, despite the Liberal government's "pause" on new export permits. international.gc.ca/transparency...

The Strong Borders Act would allow "Canada Post to open mail based on vague criteria [and] law enforcement to get IP addresses w/o a warrant ... police will be able to ask digital service providers to hand over data voluntarily and protect them from being sued ..." www.thestar.com/opinion/star...

Oh we are SO fucked

While the minister looks for ways to ban books about sexuality. Here’s a reminder of the kind of books Nicolaides is a fan of.

All the best logicians in the country got together here to prove "if A then A"

@livewirecalgary.bsky.social uncritically reprinting Calgary Police Commission statement on Chief Neufeld’s resignation. Are there more misconduct proceedings now, or less? More disciplinary action on violent cops, or less? Is this something you could look up? Not journalism.

one more reason i'm not that worried about AI replacing jobs super broadly is that it an LLM doesn't know how to ignore directions from a boss that are actively detrimental to a business

Yes we should credit the Grits for more effectively cooking the planet than the Tories could do

We have fallen so far from the proud day when Obama closed Gitmo.