The Progress Report

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. 

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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

Justin Trudeau sucks, folks. Author Martin Lukacs' recently released book The Trudeau Formula: Seduction and betrayal in an age of discontent, is a fantastically written and well reported exploration of how Justin Trudeau's style of individualized, hyper image-driven, symbolic statecraft is just a fig leaf for maintaining the status quo for Canada's rich and powerful. From Trudeau's complicity in the genocide to Yemen, to the Liberal Party's history of corruption and deep financial connections to corporate Canada, to the details on how Justin's "reconciliation" agenda was derailed by Indigenous folks this book is a must-read for when anyone tries to guilt you into "strategically" voting Liberal because the Conservatives exist. 

Despite what Jason Kenney (and Rachel Notley) say, our neighbors in BC are not our enemies. There has been so much hype and misinformation around the pipeline debate that we reached across the Rockies to dispel some of the myths. Kai Nagata of Dogwood speaks with us about left wing populism, why he's fighting the Trans Mountain pipeline and the political realities on the ground in B.C.

Further reading:

• Dogwood
• EcoJustice throws down the gauntlet; Kenney responds with bravado; stand by legal action in 30 days
• Amnesty International urges Alberta Premier Jason Kenney to abandon ‘Fight Back Strategy’ in Open Letter
• EcoJustice's submission to the commissioner of the Alberta Public Inquiry Into Anti-Energy Campaigns

We’re breaking down organized white supremacy like a beat-em up side scroller – starting with the easiest baddies and moving on to the biggest and scariest villains at the end. We’ve also got a healthy dose of media criticism as we discuss the baffling decision by the Globe and Mail to platform Ezra Levant and the troubling trend of mainstream media getting played like a fiddle by Nazis.

Further reading:

Edmonton police investigating blog posts targeting LGBTQ gym

Patriot Pride Canada Wide 

Why Are So Many White Nationalists 'Virulently Anti-LGBT'?

Lyndsey Shepherd door knocking with Heather Leung

How Ezra Levant’s Globe Op-ed Got Published

Andy Ngo: How a Right-Wing Troll Managed to Manipulate the Mainstream Media

Undercover in Patriot Prayer: Insights From a Vancouver Democrat Who's Been Working Against the Far-Right Group from the Inside

Furries Got an Alt-Right Troll Banned From Their Convention

Resource: Confronting White Nationalism in Schools

Neo-Nazis Are Organizing Secretive Paramilitary Training Across America

Atomwaffen, an American Neo-Nazi Terror Group, Is In Canada

Police Warn that Accused Neo-Nazi Canadian Soldier Could Have Fled to U.S.

Winnipeg Free Press investigation and infiltration of The Base

The War on Everyone: An audiobook by Robert Evans

Ricardo Acuna and Sandra Azocar visit the pod to tell their stories of the CIA-backed coup by brutal Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet--the other 9/11. The one that America did.

Further reading:

CIA still refuses to reveal everything it knows about Pinochet coup in Chile

Canada’s support for the right wing coup in Chile 

Allende’s last words to the people of Chile

Documenting U.S. Role in Democracy’s Fall and Dictator’s Rise in Chile

Declassified American intelligence documents on American involvement in Chilean coup

Chile dictatorship victim toll bumped to 40,018

How the Chilean coup forever changed Canada's refugee policies

The ‘Chicago Boys’ in Chile: Economic Freedom’s Awful TollPinochet forced to mount coup, Klein says

Universities entangled in flap over Klein essay

Review clears Klein of plagiarism allegation

Further reading 

More than 4,300 overdoses reversed at Alberta supervised consumption sites since 2017: Report

Alberta Community Council on HIV: A Community-Based Report on Alberta's Supervised Consumption Services Effectiveness 

The Canadian Association of People who Use Drugs, “This Tent Saves Lives: How to Open an Overdose Prevention Site.” 

Keith Gerein: Restrictive agenda suggests the fix is in for Alberta's panel on safe consumption sites

With guests Bruce Fafard and Saba Mossagizi

In this episode we give you a look at how real union organizing works with two organizers who worked on successful certifications for two different worksites in Calgary. If you don’t know what card check or CLAC means or how to help workers build power you will by the end of the episode.

Further reading: 

Unifor grows in Kenney’s Alberta

YYC security guards win union

On The Line: The Struggle of Alberta’s Packing Plant Workers

Rebel Diaz - Which Side Are You On? Remix ft. Dead Prez and Rakaa Irriscience

Alberta Views: A Questionable Bargain, a magazine feature on CLAC