West of Centre

Premier Jason Kenney is applying financial shocks to a flatlining Alberta economy. Will deep corporate tax cuts, billions in infrastructure spending along with investments in oil and gas, jolt the economy back to life? How will women fare? Host Kathleen Petty talks to Lynette Tremblay of Edmonton Global and Adam Legge of the Business Council of Alberta about the business case for the premier’s plan and whether his economic wager will work.

Albertans may have more at stake in the Conservative Party leadership race with all but one of their MPs flying the party flag in a minority government. Erin O’Toole has the enthusiastic endorsement of Premier Jason Kenney and other high profile Conservatives in Western Canada. Host Kathleen Petty asks Erin O’Toole about his economic ideas and how he’d cope with western alienation if he wins the leadership. Political scientists Jared Wesley of the University of Alberta and Duane Bratt of Mount Royal University listen in and provide their analysis.

Alberta is moving more quickly than other provinces to reopen the economy as the trend line for COVID-19 slowly improves. The challenges are monumental - with an economy gutted from the pre-pandemic oil price crash and an effective unemployment rate of 25 percent. The UCP government is making almost daily announcements to encourage job creation and investment. Guest host Jim Brown assesses Alberta’s plans with commentator and business owner Emma Grace May, energy and opinion journalist Max Fawcett and political strategist Stephen Carter of Decide Campaigns and The Strategists podcast.

What lies at the core of Alberta's identity? Is it conservatism? An attachment to the oil and gas industry? Or something else? The answer could help to determine the province’s future. Guest host Jim Brown in for Kathleen Petty looks at why, with University of Calgary political scientist Lisa Young, U of C economist Trevor Tombe, and C.D. Howe Institute research fellow Ken Boessenkool.

Four podcasters, from three podcasts, all veterans of the political trenches dissect the big political news of the week. David Herle and Jenni Byrne of the Herle Burly, and Zain Velji of The Strategists get down and partisan with West of Centre host Kathleen Petty. They tackle the fall out from the Fair Deal panel, whether the West wants out and the Conservative Party leadership race.

The Alberta government released its Fair Deal recommendations calling for more provincial autonomy - from a better deal on equalization to the creation of a new Alberta police force to replace the RCMP. It warns that if Ottawa doesn’t act, separatist sentiment will grow. Guest host Jim Brown looks at the Fair Deal report, and assesses the CPC leadership race post debate with three Alberta journalists and commentators: Graham Thomson, Jason Markusoff of Macleans and Jen Gerson.

Anxiety levels are high in Alberta months into the pandemic.The latest CBC-Road Ahead poll surveyed Albertans on what they think now on a range of political issues. Kathleen Petty breaks down the numbers with Janet Brown of Janet Brown Opinion Research, data scientist John Santos, political scientists Melanee Thomas of the University of Calgary and Duane Bratt of Mount Royal University.

The prime minister’s $2.2 billion infrastructure announcement this week had many rural and urban leaders asking, “is that all there is?” The money isn't new, but will come all at once, instead of the usual two annual payments. It will be shared among more than 3,500 communities. It’s far from the $10 billion the Federation of Canadian Municipalities had lobbied for. Kathleen Petty talks to the mayor of Saskatoon and a rural Alberta councilor, both vice-chairs of FCM’s Western Economic Solutions Taskforce, about what they do now amidst a deepening economic crisis.

Covering politics is a changing enterprise. Fewer reporters with more deadlines are feeding news cycles around the clock. Are politicians getting a fair shake? An almost two-year-old comment from former prime minister Stephen Harper during a book tour has fired up the debate once again. Kathleen Petty talks to three journalists: Rob Russo, CBC’s Ottawa bureau chief, Globe and Mail columnist Kelly Cryderman and Murray Mandryk, a columnist with the Regina Leader-Post and Saskatoon StarPhoenix.

Covering politics is a changing enterprise. Fewer reporters with more deadlines are feeding news cycles around the clock. Are politicians getting a fair shake? An almost two-year-old comment from Stephen Harper during a book tour has fired up the debate once again. Kathleen Petty talks to three journalists: Rob Russo, CBC’s Ottawa bureau chief, Globe and Mail columnist Kelly Cryderman and Murray Mandryk, a columnist with the Regina Leader-Post and Saskatoon StarPhoenix.