Alberta Advantage Podcast

Rick Bell. He's Calgary's Best Journalist. His paragraphs? They're tiny. His opinions? They're terrible. Listen, dear reader, and learn.

BONUS MATERIAL: Enjoy this episode of Unpacking the News from April 17, 2019 featuring Alberta Advantage contributor and Sports Are Gay co-host Elaine Pauls joining Andre Goulet to explore the aftermath of the 2019 election. In a grim morning-after conversation, Alberta Advantage contributor and Sports Are Gay co-host Elaine Pauls joins host Andre Goulet from Calgary to explore the aftermath of just what the hell happened in the 2019 Alberta provincial election. Plus: the province's new binary politics, anthropomorphic cat young adult novels are self-care in a UCP hellworld + a deep dive into 'At Home With Premier Kenney', a spooky election night Choose Your Own Adventure mystery. And: Toronto gets ready to host a titanic collision of egos and intellect at the already-legendary Jordan Peterson vs. Slavov Zizek debate happening Friday, April 19th at the Sony Center for the Performing Arts. Is Canadian society ready for this clash of titans? Subscribe to Unpacking the News: https://www.spreaker.com/show/unpacking-the-news-by-ricochet-media Subscribe to Sports are Gay: https://player.fm/series/sports-are-gay

Predictably, the Alberta NDP's focus-grouped and poll-driven strategy to get re-elected failed, despite Jason Kenney's campaign having multiple run-ins with xenophobia and white nationalism. Who could've foreseen after the 2016 Clinton-Trump contest that people would vote for magic nostalgic "make the economy better" beans, even if the leader in question is an asshole? Surely in Alberta, where Ralph Klein was Premier for 14 years, people at the ballot box ask themselves "hrmm I wonder who is more fit to be Premier?"

BONUS CONTENT! Repost of Ricochet Media's "Unpacking the News" with Andre Goulet, featuring Team Advantage member Stephen. In the lead up to Alberta's April 16th election, Stephen Magusiak of pressprogress.ca and The Alberta Advantage podcast joins host Andre Goulet to explore (likely future Premier) Jason Kenney's twisted past as a far-right campus activist in the United States. Plus: cataloguing the extremist political views of many of Kenney's United Conservative Party candidates and assessing the successes and failures of the last 4 years of Alberta NDP government under Premier Rachel Notley. This conversation was recorded on April 5th, 2019.

Alberta's New Democrats have some legitimate victories: minimum wage increases, modernization of labour rights, and their protections of Gay-Straight Alliances are commendable. But fiscally they've accepted too many conservative frames, which left them without the capacity to pursue truly transformative policies like a green jobs guarantee or more aggressive decarbonization programs. Is this new platform what will stem the tide of alt-right fascism and usher in the fair and equitable future we all yearn for? Join Team Advantage as they consider Notley's 2019 platform and all of its thrills and delights.

Jason Kenney's United Conservative Party released a 114-page platform detailing how they would like to go to war with Albertans. "Job creation" programs that just hand giant tax breaks to corporations! "Cutting red tape" by rolling back labour regulations! Repealing overtime pay entirely! Suing higher orders of government for fun! Conspiracy theories about foreign interests land-locking our oil! Outing gay kids in schools to their parents!

Danielle Smith interviewed disgraced former UCP candidate Caylan Ford on March 29, 2019. Caylan Ford withdrew her candidacy on March 20, 2019 after messages she authored were released which revealed that Ford thought "white supremacist terrorists" are treated unfairly, and that she is "saddened by the demographic replacement of white peoples in their homelands" and "it's clear that it will not be a peaceful transition." The messages were authored two days after the Charlottesville "Unite the Right" white supremacist rally. Bashir Mohamed and Avnish Nanda join Team Advantage to discuss Danielle Smith's interview and more generally the mainstreaming of white supremacist talking points in popular discourse. View Danielle Smith's interview with Caylan Ford here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QQsTTXrHSc Urge Corus and Global News to stop platforming and mainstreaming white supremacy: https://www.progressalberta.ca/danielle_smith Follow Bashir and Avnish on twitter @BashirMohamed and @avnishnanda.

Fun fact: Grant Notley, Rachel Notley's father, led Alberta's New Democrats from 1968 until 1984. Surely he was inspired by the radical politics of his time and serves as a useful contrast to today's social democrats who claim that "Pharmacare doesn't grow on trees... ?" Team Advantage compares and contrasts the members of Alberta's only social-democratic dynasty, and gives careful consideration to their theory of social and political change.

Jason Kenney's star UCP candidate, Caylan Ford, recently resigned over white supremacist comments. But did you know that the Calgary Herald's star columnist, Licia Corbella, wrote a glowing puff piece on Caylan Ford? Join Team Advantage as they read through Corbella's insightful profile. For legal reasons, please consider this entire episode parody. https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/corbella-from-human-rights-to-film-to-politics-caylan-ford-is-a-force-of-nature

Did you know that the post-war CCF once wrote admiringly about the Red Army? That it saw Canada's wartime economic planning as a great argument for the superiority of central planning and public investment? That they authored pieces like "Political Action for the 99%" in 1943? Or that NDP leader David Lewis used to publicly name-and-shame Canadian corporations that avoided taxes while soaking up publicly-funded subsidies? Dr. Roberta Lexier from Mount Royal University joins Team Advantage to discuss David Lewis and the CCF-NDP's policies in the post-war period, and helps us think through how these ideas might be relevant today. Follow Roberta at @rlexier!