The Progress Report

We have friend of the pod Jeremy Appel on to talk about how his latest story for the Progress Report, The Manitok Manoeuvre, as well as the Sprawl getting shutout of the media bailout, the Herald caring more about "big beef days" than dead meatpacking workers and the Progress Report's transition to a full-time media organization. Show notes at www.theprogressreport.ca/jeremy_appel_manitok_meatpacking_postmedia_manifesto

Filipinos in Alberta are bearing the brunt of COVID-19 in Alberta as outbreaks in meatpacking plants and continuing care facilities hit our province. Around 60-80% of the workers in the Cargill meatpacking plant, the largest workplace outbreak in Canada, are Filipino. And now they're feeling unfairly blamed because of the government's and even Dr. Deena Hinshaw's statements on the matter. We talk about this and the Healthcare for All campaign with Migrante Alberta director Marco Luciano. Full show notes at www.theprogressreport.ca/filipino_community_and_covid_19

Learn how Alberta's most incompetent pension fund manager, AIMCo, vapourized $4 billion of pensioner's and Heritage Trust Fund money and how they've shovelled more than $1.1 billion towards likely to fail oil and gas companies with more than $3 billion in environmental liabilities. 

Our guest this week is Greg Meeker, former chair of the Alberta Teachers' Retirement Fund, and one of Alberta's most knowledgeable and outspoken commentators on pensions. 

Jason Kenney just committed the biggest mass layoff in Alberta's history in the middle of a pandemic. It's the kind of cruel and contemptible behaviour we've come to expect. To help us process and understand the fallout from the brutal decision to fire 26,000 education workers we have Edmonton Public School Board trustee Bridget Stirling on the pod.

The pandemic has only just begun but the folks working overnight to stock shelves and spending exhausting days on their feet dealing with panicky, frazzled customers are absolutely essential workers. They are keeping our society together. And yet the workers at your local Safeway in Alberta have been fighting for a fair contract for months with an employer that wants to roll back wages and cut benefits for these heroes. 

To discuss the issues facing unionized grocery store workers in Alberta during this emergency health crisis we talk with Tom Hesse, president of UFCW 401.

With the global economy in freefall thanks to the one-two punch of coronavirus and an oil price war we explore a very relevant subject in the months and years to come – AIMCo's investments in oil and gas companies that will likely go bankrupt and drop billions of dollars worth of environmental liabilities on the public. 

We have Regan Boychuk of the Alberta Liabilities Disclosure Project on to discuss the subject.

The UCP government tried to stop us from reporting on their no-good, very bad 2020 budget. They called us an advocacy organization and tried to keep us out of the media lockup. But we didn't back down, we took the government to court and won and now Jason Kenney owes us $2000. We talk with Heidi Besuijen, Progress Alberta's lawyer, about the case and Jim and Duncan break down the worst parts of the 2020 budget. 

How did reconciliation die? Arresting peaceful land defenders so a corporation could build a pipeline through unceded Indigenous territory at the end of RCMP-held assault rifles didn’t help but Jason Kenney played his part too. He stoked the flames of petronationalism for political gain and continues to use the time-tested settler tactic of divide and conquer. We get into the specifics of Kenney’s reconciliation strategy with Rob Houle.

For full show notes visit https://www.theprogressreport.ca/reconciliation_is_dead_and_kenney_helped_kill_it

We talk with Scott Schmidt and Jeremy Appel of the Medicine Hat News. We learn how they carved out a space for themselves in the Alberta political discourse as two of the only members of the mainstream media willing to say that THERE! ARE! FOUR! LIGHTS! when it comes to Jason Kenney’s regime. For the full show notes, head to www.theprogressreport.ca/the_news_boys

Everybody's talking about it. It's the latest, best policy idea to come from the left since public healthcare and public education – it's free (and good!) public transit. We don't pay to go to the park, we don't pay to ride elevators, we don't have toll roads – so why do we pay for public transit? We already pay for most of the costs of public transit, "free" transit is just properly funding transit with public money, which we get by taxing the rich. When we eliminate fares for everyone we reduce carbon pollution, traffic and the cost of living not to mention all the positive economic effects and the reconciliation, racial justice and accessibility issues that are addressed with free transit. Can you tell we like the idea? 

We talk with Laura Kruse and Paige Gorsak with Free Transit Edmonton about their exciting new campaign to bring free transit to all. 

If you like this podcast and you want to support it go to https://www.theprogressreport.ca/patrons and become a monthly patron!

Further reading:

• The Amalgamated Transit Union of Canada's support for fare-free transit
• Jacobin: Public transit can be free
• Vox: Kansas City is making its bus system fare-free. Will other cities do the same?
• Free Transit Edmonton