Alberta Advantage Podcast

Team Advantage treks to the great northern bastion of social democracy known as Edmonton, Alberta. We speak to some really excellent Alberta NDP members doing important work, and witness some flawlessly executed stage management. The funniest part was when we heard the UCP observer ask "are they all related? how are they all each other's brother and sister?"

Paige Gorsak is running for the federal NDP nomination in Edmonton-Strathcona, a seat currently held by the NDP's Linda Duncan (who is not seeking re-election). Kate interviews Paige about her ambitious platform and bold vision for the future, which includes a fossil-fuel phaseout and just transition fund, housing as a human right, free education, universal healthcare, drug decriminalization, and Indigenous sovereignty. Members of the Federal NDP in Edmonton-Strathcona can vote for Paige at the nomination meeting on November 26th, 2018. See votepaigegorsak.ca for details.

We're being told that wheat is legal now ... ? To celebrate the Greatest Grain, Team Advantage dives into Alberta's agrarian history, including the "clearing" of the plains, anti-capitalist ideas and agrarian radicalism, the history of the Canadian Wheat Board, Soviets stealing grain from America, the reorganization of rural life as Alberta discovers oil, and why the free market sucks.

Team Advantage submits themselves to a reading of a known piece of socialist propaganda, Tommy Douglas' Mouseland. Will they ever be the same again? If you're in Calgary this Friday, October 19th at 7pm, join us at the Hop In Brew (213 12 Ave SW) to hang out! Team Advantage will be there along with Duncan Kinney of Progress Alberta, who will be selling copies of Mouseland for $25.

David Gray-Donald (@dgrdon), publisher of Briarpatch magazine, joins Team Advantage to discuss his experience at this past summer's Global Petroleum Show in Calgary. Is the fossil fuel industry planning decarbonization and energy transition? What climate scenarios are they considering? What problems is the industry ignoring, how are they mobilizing their supporters into astroturf campaigns, and what role do these campaigns play? Read David's recent pieces: Checking in with the oil crowd - August 29, 2018 https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/checking-in-with-the-oil-crowd The Oil Industry's PR Offensive - August 30, 2018 https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/the-oil-industrys-pr-offensive What Canada's major media are forgetting when they report on oil - August 13, 2018 https://thenarwhal.ca/oil-projections-climate-change/ Too fast, and now too furious - August 31, 2018 http://www.mediacoop.ca/story/too-fast-and-now-too-furious/36761

CW: Kavanaugh stuff. The Calgary Herald will not apologize for Naomi Lakritz's terrible opinions because they "are a platform for free speech." Team Advantage reads the Calgary Herald's September 29, 2018 editorial: The importance of free speech https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-the-importance-of-free-speech

The conclusion of our compelling Social Credit series! Team Advantage takes a hard look at Premier Ernest Manning, his religious views (and how these impact his politics), the discovery of oil in Leduc 1947 and Alberta's emerging relationship with large multinational corporations, paranoia over CCF-style welfare-state programs, and some absolutely shocking antisemitism.

Our Teen Tankie Podcast Gang reassembles to discuss the brouhaha surrounding Unifor's recent video identifying strikebreaking labourers. Unifor Local 579 has been locked out for 21 months (!) by the aerospace company D-J Composites in Gander, N.L.

What happens when public education isn't quite public? What happens when your public schools have to compete with each other in the name of "choice in education" or "parental choice?" Team Advantage is joined by Barbara Silva, Communications Director for Support Our Students to discuss how exclusivity, artificial scarcity, specialization and market logic have contributed to an increasingly dysfunctional education system. As an alternative, we make the case for a comprehensive, accessible, robust public education system in Alberta! Visit https://www.supportourstudents.ca and follow Barbara and SOS at @thatsilvalining and @SOSAlberta.

Here's our first mini-episode, as promised! What should we call it? We're trying out Teen Tankie Podcast Gang, for reasons. We decided to read Edmonton Journal writer David Staples. He recently wrote a nice essay in AlbertaViews, which definitely doesn't make any of us mad with arguments for "competition" and "choice" in public education. Read along with us here. https://albertaviews.ca/should-private-schools-get-public-funding/