While Albertans suffer from brutal austerity corporations in Alberta will collectively pocket $4.7 billion dollars from Kenney’s corporate tax cut - at least that’s what the government of Alberta and the media is telling you. But when you dig into what these companies are telling their shareholders you find something else entirely. To help us sort through this we have Angella Macewen, senior economist with the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

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

Further reading:

• Labour party video on why corporate tax cuts don’t work
• Darren Gee, CEO of Peyo Exploration on climate change 
• Calgary Oil CEO Warns Workers Alberta Could Separate From Canada If Conservatives Lose the Election
• UCP’s Corporate Tax Cuts Could Let Five Companies Alone Reduce Public Revenues $4.3 Billion
• CUPE: The hidden cost of corporate tax cuts
• Spreadsheet – Alberta's Corporate Tax Cut: What they're actually saving

Meet Frank Oliver, the man who tried to block black people from coming to Canada, created modern western Canada by stealing massive amounts of land from Indigenous people and personally profited from the whole thing.

If you like our podcast and want to support it head to https://www.theprogressreport.ca/patrons and become a monthly patron :)

Further reading:

• First Nations Land Surrenders on the Prairies
• Frank Oliver and the Michel Band
• A tax-eating proposition : the history of the Passpasschase Indian Reserve
• Details on land surrenders from the Government of Canada
• No Means No: Erminskin’s Resistance to Land Surrender
• Frank Oliver and infantile Edmonton
• Remains of 28 First Nations people reburied after nearly 50 years in storage
• Order-in-Council P.C. 1911-1324 — the Proposed Ban on Black Immigration to Canada
• Paul First Nation History: Sharphead Band at Wolf Creek
• The Curious Case of the 1908 Enoch Surrender
• The Yards: Canada 150 and some tougher history for Edmonton

Don Cherry is finally off the air. We run through some of his greatest hits Rock‘Em Sock‘Em style but instead of brain damage and sweet goals it's racism, misogyny and climate denial. And to help us process the news of this hockey commentator cut down in his prime we turn to comedian Mav Adecer and writer and hockey dad Tej Swatch.

There's a group of Canadian veterans often overlooked on Remembrance Day--the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion who fought the fascists in the Spanish Civil War. Kaarina Mikalson of the Canada and the Spanish Civil War Project joins us on the pod to tell us the story of Canada's original anti-fascists.

Further reading:

• Canada and the Spanish Civil War
• Quill and Quire: Generals die in bed
• Jim/Jean Watts

Alberta has deliberately designed its economy to be reliant on oil and gas production--which means the international climate change crisis matters here more than almost anywhere else. But you won't hear much on that subject from Alberta's monolithic, corporate media establishment. On this special episode of the Progress Report, taped live at the University of Calgary on November 4th, we interview climate activist and former Oil Sands Advisory Group member Tzeporah Berman to understand the climate debate beyond the narrow perspective and shallow discourse we get here in Alberta.

Outside of the Ukrainian Youth Unity Complex in north Edmonton is a statue of Roman Shukheyvych--a Nazi collaborator who took part in the mass murder of Jews. Local activist Paula Kirman and host Duncan Kinney discuss Shukheyvych’s historical legacy with Per Anders Rudling, an expert on the Ukrainian far right.

The UCP have dropped their first budget and it's the cruel and brutal austerity they promised. Producer Jim steps out from behind the mixing board to join us as we sift through this awful budget to bring you everything you need to know.

The $30 million war room. A $2.5 million public inquiry. And untold amounts of hate and fear whipped up by Jason Kenney. All based on a lie. Climate activists have not sabotaged Alberta’s economy or landlocked Alberta’s oil - in fact Alberta barely rates as a blip on the worldwide global climate activism stage. And it took Sandy Garossino to debunk it. We have her on to discuss her National Observer story and to discuss #elxn43 results. 

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

Further reading:

• Media Matters - Targeting Tides: The Dangers of Beck's Campaign of Fear
• Video: Kenney as abortion conspiracy theorist 
• National Observer: Data-based dismantling of Jason Kenney's foreign-funding conspiracy theory
• Follow @Garossino on Twitter

Greta Thunberg is coming to Alberta. And while she’s been the centrepiece of a massive youth led climate uprising no one does this work alone. There are Greta Thunbergs all over the place and we were lucky enough to speak with a couple of amazing young Alberta based climate activists this week on the podcast.

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

Further reading:

• CBC: Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg of Sweden 'doesn't understand' Alberta, environment minister says
• Daveberta: WAR ROOM ENGAGE! Kenney hires former UCP candidate Tom Olsen to run the Canadian Energy Centre
• Edmonton Youth for Climate Facebook page

When something terrible and racist happens you often see well meaning folks go on about how “This isn’t us,” or “This isn’t Canada.” But when you scratch the surface and dig into the history of Canada you quickly find that’s not the case. In this episode we dig into Alberta’s not-so-secret and extremely problematic past with guest co-host Bashir Mohamed.

Further reading:

• St. Albert Fire and Rescue Chief Suspended For Wearing Blackface At Party In 2016
• Officials apologize after staff member at Alberta Christian school appears in blackface for event
• Twitter thread on how Prince Rupert made his fortune (hint: slavery)
• Cheryl Foggo: My Home Is Over Jordan – Southern Alberta’s Black Pioneers
• Bashir Mohamed’s Twitter thread on Calgary’s little known race riot
• Canadaland: Two Centuries of Blackface in Canada
• Human rights struggles of black Canadians too often overlooked. (CBC story featuring Bashir)
• The Grab-A-Hoe Indians: The Canadian State and the Procurement of Aboriginal Labour for the Southern Alberta Labour Industry 
• 'You had no choice': Indigenous Manitobans shed light on exploitative farm labour program that ran for decades