A dear friend - a most discerning & distinguished poet - shares a birth month with me. It is also the birth month of my daughter & grandmother, a lost mentor, 2 uncles. So I wrote this off-the-cuff for my friend on his day. Since today is mine, let me share it here for all the November birthdays.

In normal democracy terms, we've in bad shape and things are getting worse. In consolidated authoritarianism terms, we're doing pretty well, as the regime is haphazard, meeting resistance, and growing increasingly unpopular. Depends on one's perspective. I started using the latter standard in Jan.

Wait WHAT?!? Dale Nally somehow audited the voting records of Albertans and is using that as a metric for who can initiate recall? And now all of the applicant statements and member statements have been removed from Elections Alberta? #abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli

This is no longer a slippery slope to privatized & commodified healthcare: this is the Alberta Government pushing us off the cliff and telling us to enjoy the ride. www.alberta.ca/release.cfm?...

"What you have to remember is that healthcare is politics. And politics is healthcare ... Healthcare has huge paybacks... Healthcare is going to be there. People are going to get ill." -Lyle Oberg, former AB cabinet minister & sole chair of AHS (appointed by Smith after dismissing board in 2023).

Absolutely incredible reporting by @charlesrusnell.bsky.social on the blatant intervention by the AB govt to skew our healthcare even further in flavour of privatization & commodification. PSA: these policies *will* deteriorate quality & access.

SCOOP: Alberta intends to allow doctors working in the public health care system to simultaneously offers services in a parallel private market, according to draft amendments obtained by The Globe and Mail www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/alber...

With this leaked document it will be difficult for the UCP to deny their endgame is to privatize healthcare in Alberta. As is the case with the dismantling of AHS, there is no evidence to support this. To the contrary, both will further weaken the public healthcare system.

“Every doctor and nurse diverted to private-pay clinics is a resource taken away from the collective effort to rebuild universal primary care." writes Broadbent Research fellow @danyaalraza.com Read his latest @thestar.com op-ed: www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

As the toxic drugs crisis continues to tragically end lives & devastate communities across Alberta, healthcare workers are struggling to provide evidence-based, empathetic care with too few supports. UofC's Dr Jennifer Jackson for Parkland Institute www.parklandinstitute.ca/ripple_effects

At the end of the day I'm not sure how much difference it makes. But it is striking to put out a budget that axes a luxury tax on yachts and adds a co-pay for refugee claimants accessing drugs and dental care.

Join us & Dr. Paul Parks on our Alberta tour to talk public health care issues & solutions! ➕ Lethbridge: TODAY ➕ Medicine Hat: Tuesday, Nov. 4 & many more coming soon! Find an event near you & RSVP: www.friendsofmedicare.org/UrgentConver...

We’re sorry, but The Void is full of screams today, so please try these alternatives: - headbutt the sea - have a dance battle with squirrels - write a bad Yelp review of the moon - mutter obscenities into your soup bowl

The budget is coming up next week, and it's amidst all the nation-building talk, it's great time to ask what kind of country we want to be. My vote is one that invests heavily in social supports and worker control of the economy. www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

*please just don’t remember we’re the ones who shut this down a few years back… oopsie! #abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli

Stand up. Fight back. Get loud. #alberta #union #ucp youtu.be/z0sfd-DGgvg?...

“Alberta’s use of the notwithstanding clause continues an alarming trend of provincial governments putting political expediency ahead of people’s human rights.” #abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli #abed amnesty.ca/press-releas...

In 2021, waiting in the queue to access Covid-19 vaccinations felt like agency. In 2025, waiting in the queue to possibly, perhaps get an opportunity to pre-book a vaccine for $100 feels like powerlessness. Challenging the claims of the new AB vax policy: www.parklandinstitute.ca/sabotaging_p...

The paperback edition of #OnFreedom is out today. It preserves a positive argument about how to build a better country and has been updated to account for what has happened in 2025. timothysnyder.org/on-freedom

Reminder to Albertans today, as our teachers are forced back into challenging working conditions to attempt to teach a garbage curriculum: Danielle Smith was the guest speaker at a PraegerU event mere months ago. www.ctvnews.ca/edmonton/art...

See the cruelty of Premier Danielle Smith & her government. The egregious destruction of Charter rights is appalling. The government spent one year's worth of potential teachers' compensation by paying out coal developers for Alberta government policy changes & errors. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

So honoured to have been able to contribute alongside some of the best policy researchers in the country - including the legendary Pat Armstrong. In these turbulent times, it is vital to remember that budgets are political choices. Better is possible - if we fight.

Former MLA Jon Carson stayed up to bear witness as Smith's UCP steamrollered our Charter Rights - and our public education system.

Looking ahead to next week and the prospect that the UCP will introduce back-to-work legislation to end the teachers' strike... Rumour has it they are considering invoking both time allocation and the notwithstanding clause. Here's why that's doubly dubious.+

Separately, time allocation & the notwithstanding clause have their place in Canadian democracy. Combined in the way the UCP is contemplating, they're toxic. Just like the Sovereignty Act, their combination removes legislative & judicial brakes on the premier's power. Anything but conservative.

If this is the state of the actual bill, it will be the most draconian strike-breaking legislation in Canadian History. Turning point, not just for Albertans, but for every Canadian worker.

Health policy experts say the UCP government's ill-informed and ill-timed policies have created a "perfect storm" for a crisis during this year's inevitable flu and Covid season. 'Pure Chaos': Warnings of an Alberta Health-Care Crisis via @thetyee.ca thetyee.ca/News/2025/10...

From the DM’s… As Danielle Smith and the UCP are focused on violating the charter and bringing in a provincial police force… This is the state of healthcare in Alberta… #abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli

When our Charter rights to collective bargaining are superseded by hubris and pettiness, how will we respond? This is our tipping point, Albertans. #Bill2 #abpoli

Massive restructuring chaos, overcapacity hospitals and low immunization rates with flu and Covid season approaching creates the "perfect storm" for a crisis in Alberta's healthcare system. 'Pure Chaos': Warnings of an Alberta Health-Care Crisis via @thetyee.ca thetyee.ca/News/2025/10...

The govt of Danielle Smith is all about liberty, freedom & choice But in reality choice & freedom are the privilege of the wealthy That's the case whether we talk about primary education, advanced education, health, diagnostic services, access to vaccines or even access to public lands #abpoli

Albertans are struggling to book COVID shots; doctors worry many might give up https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/covid-vaccine-booking-challenges-alberta-9.6951352 𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗹𝘆 𝘂𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 ⇢ CanadaHealthwatch.ca/newsletter

In Canadian federal, provincial & municipal elections, every candidate is entitled to authorize a scrutineer to observe the vote on their behalf. At *every* polling station. Scrutineers can challenge ballots that get flagged for judicial review in event of a recount. This is the opposite of that.

Some people on this island are voting to elect their head of state Others are digesting the fact that their state deployed paratroopers as peacekeepers - an oxymoron in itself, who killed children in broad daylight & then frustrated justice to the point that it was impossible. Such a stark contrast

As much as my own kids want to be back in class, I will continue to stand with teachers for better learning conditions. Pry our right to strike from our cold, dead hands, Premier. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Premier Smith keeps trying to pin this on AHS—a go-to scapegoat for Alberta governments—despite the provincial health agency being subject to the direction of her own Health Minister, as per their mandate. If the government did nothing wrong they should prove it: Albertans deserve a public inquiry!

Oooh, now do Derrida.

In Alberta, the dilemma is framed as: Is my migraine due to a barometric pressure shift, or did Danielle Smith just break something else that was once fundamental to our society? 🤔

Update: Thu Parmar defeats Better Edmonton Party candidate Darrell Friesen in Ward sipiwiyiniwak after today’s recount.

TONIGHT! Poilievre built his brand on anger over inequality — then served it to the billionaires on a silver platter. Join Martin Lukacs and Ricardo Acuña to discuss the playbook that propelled Poilievre’s rise. Register at www.eventbrite.com/e/book-launc...

It's municipal election day in Alberta. It's also COVID-booking-opens-to-the-general public day. Both processes are operating under new rules imposed by the provincial government. Neither is going smoothly.

Wake up, babe, the least subtle visual metaphor in history just dropped

Albertans, the 🚩🚩🚩are the only thing you can rely on with this government. Look around. Research Orbán's playbook for "competitive autocracy." Read @stevelevitsky.bsky.social & @timothysnyder.bsky.social .Identify the institutions & spaces intended to safeguard our democracy & mobilize around them.

How wealthy Edmontonians mix personal and corporate donations to double-dip campaign contributions to election candidates theijf.org/edmontonians...

@djclimenhaga.bsky.social: What’s with this apparent contradiction in the report from a panel set up to advise the government how Alberta’s post-secondary institutions should be funded, but then dives into how to respond to MAGA obsessions dear to the hearts of Premier Smith and her UCP base?

Those of you standing in long lines for municipal elections in Alberta today: 1) stay in line; your voice matters 2) the long lines are a direct consequence of the conspiracy-driven policy changes brought forward by the UCP government (and not your beleaguered election workers); be kind

“I mean, Hitler’s already taken 40% of France, just leave it the way it is.”

ottawacitizen.com/public-servi... “Depending on how the cuts play out, we can expect wider employment gaps, wider pay gaps and the erosion of access to critical employment benefits” @davidmaccdn.bsky.social @kjscott.bsky.social @policyalternatives.ca

Absolutely brilliant craic with the lads from @foilarmsandhog.bsky.social in Edmonton last night! And incredibly generous of them to hang about and sign a few (hundred) autographs. Best moment of the night: the 🎶Doom-dah 🎶 #speirgorm