The Forgotten Corner

We are pleased this week to welcome Corey Ranger, a registered nurse who is currently a project manager and clinical lead working on safe supply initiatives in Victoria, B.C., and a longtime advocate for people who struggle with addiction.

David Khan offers listeners a look into his life growing up in Calgary, the struggles behind coming out as gay at a time when so many were forced to keep it a secret, what led him to toward politics — and, specifically, the Alberta Liberals — and, of course, his expertise into a piece of legislation that he says is unconstitutional… and then some.

The Forgotten Corner welcomes Bridget Stirling this week to take a strong look at the direction of Alberta education, from the government’s eagerness to help private and charter schools, to politicized curriculum and the “role” of police officers in schools.

Dr. Ratti joins the Forgotten Corner this week to discuss everything from her childhood and her mindset behind becoming a doctor, to her run for federal politics in 2015; from her pre-Christmas social-media video that brought the ire of Issue Manager Matt, to her ongoing fight to provide the heath care her patients deserve under a government.

The Forgotten Corner is back with another instalment of Just Us, but with an expert twist, as we once again welcome MRU professor and Dr. Roberta Lexier to the show.

Mark Sakamoto takes our listeners through his own personal journey growing up in the Hat with a mother battling alcohol addiction, and his eventual departure to pursue a career in law on the other side of the country. He talks about writing the tragic, yet triumphant stories from his family’s history, outlines his new docu-series Good People and discusses both the systemic issues his show pinpoints and the people on the frontlines working to make the world a better place.

The Forgotten Corner welcomes Kim this week to take a deeper look into who he is, where he came from and what motivated him to take on this new and important role within the province.

We get into everything from his “radical left” ideology — boosted by a tragic story from his past — to his strong faith within southwest Alberta’s Mormon community, and his efforts to balance the two.

Drew Barnes is Alberta’s MLA for Cypress-Medicine Hat. He is also the owner of First Choice Property Management, which owns several rental properties in Medicine Hat and around the province.

A recent story by Press Progress featured a tenant of Barnes named Dustin, who was facing the threat of eviction mere days after a COVID-related ban on evictions had concluded. The story ends positive for Dustin, as the eviction threat was pulled back and the company suggested it would work with its tenant on a rental plan that worked for Dustin.

On our first episode of The Forgotten Corner: Just Us, we take a look at the broader concept of mass property ownership and the problems we have with someone earning large profits off people’s need to have a roof over their head. Join us for a half-hour chat and ask yourself one question: Shouldn’t housing be an essential right shared by all?

Read Press Progress’s story here:

https://pressprogress.ca/ucp-mla-drew-barnes-company-has-stopped-threatening-a-struggling-tenant-with-eviction/

A little more about Jared Kushner’s appearance in Netflix series Dirty Money:

https://www.indiewire.com/2020/03/dirty-money-jared-kushner-slumlord-netflix-1202216998/amp/

We are extremely pleased for just our second episode of The Forgotten Corner to welcome Lethbridge West MLA Shannon Phillips to the show. Phillips joins us for a great discussion that takes listeners through her early life growing up in a conservative Albertan home to her eventual election as part of an NDP majority government in 2015.

She talks about her time as the province’s minister of environment, and what it was like to face a specific, often vitriolic, opposition. We dive into the Alberta NDP’s record on the environment, and Phillips talks extensively about the myriad issues a government faces from all sides when trying to diversify an economy that has long relied on its energy industry.

The Alberta NDP has faced questions for years about its stance on oil and gas, but those inquiries have mostly come from a staunch conservative point of view. The Forgotten Corner takes a different approach, and Phillips is kind enough to enter into a healthy debate about when and how fast we should be shifting away from oil sands development.

You can follow Phillips on Twitter @SPhillipsAB and on Instagram under the same handle.

Read more about Castle parks:

In 2018, the NDP signs a deal to protect Indigenous rights:

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/globalnews.ca/news/4625600/indigenous-rights-castle-parks/amp/

In 2019, the UCP quietly pauses that plan:

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5234811

Welcome to our first episode!

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the many failures of our neoliberal system of capitalism, from the lack of hospital beds to mass unemployment and a failure of the market to meet basic needs. It will take years to know the full ramifications.

Dr. Roberta Lexier, an historian and associate professor at Mount Royal University joins The Forgotten Corner to discuss some of those failures, as well as what possible future could be imagined out of the wreckage.

Lexier is an expert in political activism, and has been active herself on the landscape of social change for nearly two decades. She talks about a new pandemic-related course she will begin in May, as well as some of the things Albertans can do to help see positive change in their own province.

Check out her many great peer-reviewed works and media appearances on her website at robertalexier.com, and be sure to follow her on Twitter at @rlexier.