he Breakdown - Special Solar Flare edition! (Part 2) Our weekly live episode this week had more technical challenges than any episode in recent memory, and required more than a little bit of editing to make presentable, so we’re splitting it into two parts! In Part one, we presented our regular weekly round up of some of the biggest stories of the week, including Alberta Day, the UCP Leadership debate, the state of COVID in Alberta, the opiate crisis and more! In Part two, we continue our live s...
Sep 06, 2022•39 min•Season 4Ep. 40
he Breakdown - Special Solar Flare Special Edition! (Part 1) Our weekly live episode this week had more technical challenges than any episode in recent memory, and required more than a little bit of editing to make presentable, so we’re splitting it into two parts! In Part one, we present our regular weekly round up of some of the biggest stories of the week, including Alberta Day, the UCP Leadership debate, the state of COVID in Alberta, the opiate crisis, convoy feedback with Deirdre Mitchell-...
Sep 06, 2022•1 hr 19 min•Season 4Ep. 39
The EMS Crisis in Alberta has been making the news for quite some time now, with news outlets reporting stories of extremely long times for ambulances to arrive at an emergency, or even worse, increasing stories about no ambulances being available. To get a better understanding of what’s going on, we sat down for a conversation with citizen FOIPer and Paramedic Ryan Middleton! Ryan has been FOIPing EMS data for a while now, and using this publicly available data, he is able to help us understand...
Sep 01, 2022•48 min•Season 4Ep. 38
On our weekly live episode we are not only round up some of the events of the week, but we are also doing a deep dive on the recent APP/The Rebel UCP Leadership forum/debate, and there’s some quotes from the candidates you won’t want to miss! After that, we’re joined by our new regular commentator, the one and only Deirdre Mitchell-MacLean to take a look at the what the impact the debate, the greater impact of the rhetoric and a whole lot more including one of our most active open mic’s to date!...
Aug 29, 2022•1 hr 51 min•Season 4Ep. 37
With the front running candidate for the UCP Leadership Race seeming to bet her entire campaign on a piece of legislation that she claims will allow her to choose what federal laws to follow (supported by a provincial police force she says she will direct), we sat down with Lawyer and Associate Law Professor Martin Z. Olszynski to get a better idea of what this act means and what the implications for Alberta, and Canada are! As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that we’re trying to p...
Aug 25, 2022•57 min•Season 4Ep. 36
On our weekly live episode we are joined by our new regular commentator, the one and only Deirdre Mitchell-MacLean to take a look at the what the impact of Danielle Smith announcing that she won’t be seeking an MLA seat in a by election, what a provincial police force would potentially mean for Albertans, and we take another look at the Alberta Sovereignty Act, the Alberta Prosperity Project and we try and sort out what makes a person a “real” Albertan! As always, if you appreciate the kind of c...
Aug 22, 2022•1 hr 33 min•Season 4Ep. 35
On this episode, we sit down for a conversation on AISH with AISH advocate Don Slater! Don Slater is an AISH recipient, a stage 4 cancer patient and one of the most amazing conversationalists that we have had on the show! In this episode, we debunk some AISH myths as well as talk about what the future of AISH could and probably should look like. As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that we’re trying to produce here at The Breakdown, please consider signing up as a monthly supporter a...
Aug 18, 2022•47 min•Season 4Ep. 34
On our weekly live episode we take a look at the latest twists and turns in the UCP leadership race, the scandal surround the UCP Essay contest, and we take a bit of a deep dive on the Alberta Prosperity Project! Plus we’re joined by a few folks from our twitter spaces who share their thoughts on the events of the week! As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that we’re trying to produce here at The Breakdown, please consider signing up as a monthly supporter at our patreon site at www....
Aug 15, 2022•1 hr 25 min•Season 4Ep. 33
Dr. Robert Ascah has a stunning amount of experience in Economics and Public Policy. Holding multiple degrees, experience as the director of The Institute for Public Economics at the U of A and someone who oversaw the transition of ATB into a provincial corporation, her brings a staggering amount of experience and knowledge to the table. As someone who has worked in both the public and private sector he has seen firsthand how ALberta’s economy functions, and he graciously joins us to discuss not...
Aug 04, 2022•51 min•Season 4Ep. 32
On our weekly live episode we talk about Canada’s ranking for quality of life, pediatric vaccines, the UCP Leadership debates, the Liberal leadership race, and we have a groundbreaking interview with NotDanielle Smith! As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that we’re trying to produce here at The Breakdown, please consider signing up as a monthly supporter at our patreon site at www.patreon.com/thebreakdownab, and if you’re listening to the audio version of our podcast, please conside...
Aug 01, 2022•45 min•Season 4Ep. 31
On our weekly live episode we talk pipelines, 4th doses, COVID comeback, UCP Walkbacks and gas prices and we take a look at Danielle Smiths doubling down on her race to the bottom with her hour long special on woo medicine and where she wants to take “health care” in Alberta. As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that we’re trying to produce here at The Breakdown, please consider signing up as a monthly supporter at our patreon site at www.patreon.com/thebreakdownab, and if you’re lis...
Jul 25, 2022•55 min•Season 4Ep. 30
On our weekly live episode we talk Carbon Tax Rebates, Alberta (Heritage?) Day, healthcare in Alberta, the Thomas Dang affair and apparent NDP cover up, and a deep dive on Danielle Smiths week where we try and sort out if she’s somehow set a record for being wrong about things (like facts and stuff)! As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that we’re trying to produce here at The Breakdown, please consider signing up as a monthly supporter at our patreon site at www.patreon.com/thebreak...
Jul 18, 2022•1 hr•Season 4Ep. 29
On our weekly live episode we take a look at COVID numbers during Stampede, Convoy Commander being denied bail, the healthcare crisis, and an extended update of the UCP Leadership Race! As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that we’re trying to produce here at The Breakdown, please consider signing up as a monthly supporter at our patreon site at www.patreon.com/thebreakdownab, and if you’re listening to the audio version of our podcast, please consider leaving us a review and a ratin...
Jul 11, 2022•48 min•Season 4Ep. 28
On our weekly live episode we take a look at UCP Accounting Errors, the Safe SUpply report, The Alberta Provincial Police Force, Supportive Housing and update on the UCP Leadership Race! As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that we’re trying to produce here at The Breakdown, please consider signing up as a monthly supporter at our patreon site at www.patreon.com/thebreakdownab, and if you’re listening to the audio version of our podcast, please consider leaving us a review and a rati...
Jul 04, 2022•41 min•Season 4Ep. 27
In this episode we sit down with another UCP Leadership candidate and MLA for Chestermere-Strathmore, Leela Aheer. Not only do we get into what inspired her to run, but we also ask some hard questions about the legislative history of the UCP, what direction she would like to lead the party and how she would address the division that exists inside the UCP. As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that we’re trying to produce here at The Breakdown, please consider signing up as a monthly s...
Jun 30, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Season 4Ep. 26
On our weekly live episode we talked a look at the impact of Roe V Wade, the fallout of the first UCP leadership candidate panel, the quietest cabinet appointments in recent memory, NDP nominations and we have a chat with strategist and campaign manager Sarah Biggs! As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that we’re trying to produce here at The Breakdown, please consider signing up as a monthly supporter at our patreon site at www.patreon.com/thebreakdownab, and if you’re listening to ...
Jun 27, 2022•53 min•Season 4Ep. 25
With the race to elect Alberta’s Premier through the UCP race kicking into gear, we’ve invited all UCP leadership candidates to sit down for an interview and we’re excited to present the first in that series! Bill Rock is the mayor of Amisk and while he has previously run for the Wildrose, he’s jumping all the way into provincial politics with a leadership bid! We sat down with Bill for a conversation on rural Alberta, His positions on education, the opioid crisis, the provinces COVID response, ...
Jun 24, 2022•1 hr 9 min•Season 4Ep. 24
In Part 3 of our series taking a look at the inner culture of political parties, we wanted to hear from some people who have been as inside the system as you can get, so se sat down with Ex NDP MLA’s Robyn Luff and Stephanie McLean as well as EX Wildrose/UCP MLA Derek Fildebrandt to get an inside perspective on how political parties ensure and maintain “discipline”, and it’s definitely not the view of being an elected official that most people think! In this extended episode, not only does this ...
Jun 16, 2022•1 hr 19 min•Season 4Ep. 23
In Part 2 of our look at the inner culture of the NDP, we sit down with ex-political staffer and party volunteer Sharie Valentine to hear her description of what she calls a toxic internal culture and what she believes could be done to address it. As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that we’re trying to produce here at The Breakdown, please consider signing up as a monthly supporter at our patreon site at www.patreon.com/thebreakdownab, and if you’re listening to the audio version o...
Jun 14, 2022•43 min•Season 4Ep. 22
On our weekly live round up, we take on ⁃ the teachers contract, provincial police, Jason Nixon and performative politics, crime in Alberta and more! As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that we’re trying to produce here at The Breakdown, please consider signing up as a monthly supporter at our patreon site at www.patreon.com/thebreakdownab, and if you’re listening to the audio version of our podcast, please consider leaving us a review and a rating and don’t forget to like and follo...
Jun 13, 2022•30 min•Season 4Ep. 21
In what is going to be part 1 of a three part series on the problems of political parties, in particular how parties approach maintaining party discipline, we sat down with Krista Li, who up until earlier this year was a Constituency Asociation president and aspiring NDP candidate. It appears though, that the NDP had very different plans for Krista’s constituency of Calgary Bow, which led to a stunning turn of events that left Krista and others feeling very much like party central had pulled a f...
Jun 11, 2022•48 min•Season 4Ep. 20
There’s a lot of talk about carbon taxes and the transition to greener energy, but a critical missing piece of that conversation has to do with the development of new wells. We sat down with Omar Mawji of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis to learn more about how some oil companies are prioritizing making sure that shareholders are getting their money as opposed to making sure that they can remediate their oil and gas wells. For the full report, visit https://ieefa.org/art...
Jun 09, 2022•30 min•Season 4Ep. 19
On our regular weekly Live at the Space Bar, we take on ⁃The revalations around the decision to remove masks from schools, the current state of the UCP leadership race, BC decriminalizing personal amounts of drugs, the UCP’s tepid harassment policy and more! As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that we’re trying to produce here at The Breakdown, please consider signing up as a monthly supporter at our patreon site at www.patreon.com/thebreakdownab, and if you’re listening to the audi...
Jun 06, 2022•30 min•Season 4Ep. 18
Teachers in Alberta will be voting on a mediator provided contract after 3 unsuccessful negotiations with the bargaining association that represents school boards across the province and the provincial government. That vote though, forces them into what many are calling a no win scenario, not only for them but for students across the province. In this episode we try and take a look at why. As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that we’re trying to produce here at The Breakdown, please...
Jun 02, 2022•34 min•Season 4Ep. 17
Editors note - It has recently come to our attention that Mr Wallace has radically changed his version of events, potentially casting significant doubt on the entirety of what he presented to us here. We encourage anyone lwatchingbthis episode to bear that in mind. On this episode of The Breakdown, we sit down with self identified ex-political “fixer” David Wallace. David was identified by multiple media sources as being a key figure in the recent scandal involving the Jonathan Denis wedding (ht...
Jun 01, 2022•35 min•Season 4Ep. 16
On our weekly live episode, we go through our top 5 Alberta politics stories of the last week! This week it’s the early end of the legislative session, Shandro moving his war on physicians tactics to the city of Edmonton, tension in caucus, a variety of candidate announcements and more! As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that we’re trying to produce here at The Breakdown, please consider signing up as a monthly supporter at our patreon site at www.patreon.com/thebreakdownab, and if...
May 30, 2022•37 min•Season 4Ep. 15
On our weekly live episode, we go through our top 5 Alberta politics stories of the last week! The ever changing state of Alberta’s premier, the ongoing legal case against the provinces removal of health protections in schools, the Alberta Parents Union, the ongoing health care crisis and more! Of note… During the last segment of the show, Nate incorrectly identified two murder victims as First Nations and instead should have identified them as Métis. In order to recognize the nuance and differe...
May 23, 2022•37 min•Season 4Ep. 15
When is someone premier after they appear to have resigned? As always with Jason Kenney, the devil is in the details. To try and understand the confusing rapid fire turn of events that we saw with Jason Kenney’s Leadership review, we go back to where it started to try and make sense of things as well as speculate on what happens next! As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that we’re trying to produce here at The Breakdown, please consider signing up as a monthly supporter at our patre...
May 20, 2022•46 min•Season 4Ep. 15
On our weekly live episode, we go through our top 5 Alberta politics stories of the last week! More changes to diabetes pumps, revelations around the lengths the UCP go to in order to avoid transparency, more leadership review questions, Bill C-69 and more! As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that we’re trying to produce here at The Breakdown, please consider signing up as a monthly supporter at our patreon site at www.patreon.com/thebreakdownab, and if you’re listening to the audio...
May 16, 2022•33 min•Season 4Ep. 14
On our weekly live episode, we go through our top 5 Alberta politics stories of the last week! Changes to diabetes pumps, the premier potentially being compelled to testify, more leadership review questions, the legal aid scandal and the worsening Health care system crisis and more! As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that we’re trying to produce here at The Breakdown, please consider signing up as a monthly supporter at our patreon site at www.patreon.com/thebreakdownab, and if you...
May 09, 2022•41 min•Season 4Ep. 13
