We're back for another weekly Alberta Politics roundup! We start by breaking down some of the biggest news stories of the last week of Alberta politics, including the Westlock Crosswalk situation, a CSIS report that should turn significantly more heads than it has, Tanya Fir's very bad week in the Legislature, multiple leaks from the oils sands up north, Smith launching the Sovereignty Act (kinda) AND... We get into th results of our FOIP requests on the Pension Report that seem to strongly sugg...
Dec 04, 2023•1 hr 44 min•Season 5Ep. 87
Dr. Joe Vipond is an ER physician who has been an advocate for a number of causes, but over the lest few years his voice particularly stood our for his passioned positions on healthcare and on COVID prevention and mitigation. We sat down with Dr. Vipond to hear what his concerns are on Alberta healthcare, the respiratory virus season, COVID and perhaps most importantly, what people can do to protect themselves and their loved ones! Plus we now have merch that's available at www.abpoli.ca, includ...
Nov 30, 2023•28 min•Season 5Ep. 86
During this weeks open mic we heard from Jenney Yeremiy on a disturbing situation developing with logging in Southern Alberta and as well got some good news from one of our regular callers! Plus we now have merch that's available at www.abpoli.ca, including a fall lineup! 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. If you’re listening t...
Nov 28, 2023•57 min
We're back for another weekly Alberta Politics roundup! We start by breaking down the whole saga with Red Deer Catholic School Board Trustee Monique Lagrange before we tackle the provinces war on affordable housing, their war on healthcare, the continuing Turkish Tylenol debacle, some fascinating developments in renewable energy (despite the renewables moratorium from the UCP), the Manning Report, and an extended "Stuff Smith Says" segment. Make sure to look for the bonus episode that goes with ...
Nov 27, 2023•2 hr 4 min•Season 5Ep. 85
Alberta is seeing seismic changes to it's healthcare system and the implications can be a bit overwhelming. To try and make sense of the changes that Danielle Smith and the UCP are implementing and threatening to implement, we sat down with an expert in the field of health law, Dr. Lorian Hardcastle! Lorian Hardcastle is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Calgary, with a joint appointment to the Department of Community Health Sciences in the Cumming School of Medic...
Nov 16, 2023•1 hr 29 min•Season 5Ep. 84
Time for another weekly roundup! Ethics rules re-written! AHS Implosion! And... Tucker Carlson is coming to town for a play date with Smith? We had a LOT to talk about this week, including a special visit from David Grey for and update on the Citizens Research Foruum and we had our regular open mic!! Plus we now have merch that's available at www.abpoli.ca, including a fall lineup! As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that we’re trying to produce here at The Breakdown, please conside...
Nov 12, 2023•2 hr 5 min•Season 5Ep. 83
Dr Andrew Leach is an economist, a constitutional law scholar and a professor at the University of Alberta! He recently released a new book entitled “Between Doom and Denial” which takes a look at the ongoing conversation about Oil and Gas during a time of climate change and where investors are demanding companies and jurisdictions work to reach net zero. Plus we ask him for his thoughts on the Alberta Pension Plan, the Carbon Tax & Nate Horner’s announcement he’s pursuing a retrofit subsidy...
Nov 09, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Season 5Ep. 82
After our weekly roundup, we always open our mic up to the "X Spaces" for people to share their thoughts on the show, the topics we cover and Alberta Politics in general! Plus we now have merch that's available at www.abpoli.ca, including a fall lineup! 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. If you’re listening to the audio version...
Nov 06, 2023•1 hr 36 min
It's game on in the Alberta Legislature and we're back with another Alberta politics roundup in two parts! In this back to session episode, we take a look at the throne speech, all of the bills that have been introduced so far and we try and make sense of their impact and what they mean for Albertans. But if that wasn't enough... This weekend also saw the UCP AGM, and we take a look at the policies that passed and try and make sense of the impact of what they mean for Albertans! As always, we al...
Nov 06, 2023•1 hr 43 min•Season 5Ep. 81
A conversation with David Gray! Some of you might remember David from our earlier episode where we talked about how the primary driver of skyrocketing electricity prices was the policy of economic withholding that the UCP brought in. David is now working to create a space where Albertans can access unbiased information about the issues facing their province and sat down with us to talk about this new project, The Citizens Research Forum! Plus we now have merch that's available at www.abpoli.ca, ...
Nov 02, 2023•59 min•Season 5Ep. 80
Time for another weekly roundup of Alberta politics! The Banff Centre is embroiled in scandal (again)! We learn how much the Alberta Government is willing to pay for a prime website address! Take Back Alberta continues with some major drama! There's pension problems aplenty, Albertans got SCREWED on Smith's Turkish TyleNot and more! Plus our regular segment "Stuff Smith Said", and we host our weekly open mic! Plus we now have merch that's available at www.abpoli.ca, including a fall lineup! As a...
Oct 30, 2023•2 hr 46 min•Season 5Ep. 79
Time for another weekly roundup of Alberta politics! This week we're taking a look at the Red Deer School Board Trustee who claims she was told by god to post Nazi memes, Danielle Smith's Childrens Tylenol scandal that just keeps getting worse before we do a deep dive into the pension situation with Rachel Notley, Justin Trudeau and Pierre Poilievre all taking the stance that Alberta shouldn't leave the CPP. We also take a look at the things that Danielle Smith said this week, the True North eve...
Oct 23, 2023•2 hr 31 min•Season 5Ep. 78
The Alberta Pension Plan Proposal from Danielle Smith took a lot of people by surprise given she said that it wouldn't be an issue she would pursue, but nonetheless, Alberta's find themselves facing down an almost certain referendum and trying to make sense of what it all means... To help make sense of this situation, we sat down with renowned economist Dr. Trevor Tombe to first walk us through what the CPP is, how it works, and who pays for what. From there, Dr. Tombe explains the differences b...
Oct 19, 2023•57 min•Season 5Ep. 77
We're back after two weeks which makes this a record long episode! There's an absolute dumpster fire going in health care in Alberta, coal mines in the mountains are back, the UCP policies for their policy convention are public and we spend literally an hour fact checking Alberta Premier Danielle Smith before we open up the floor on our regular open mic! Pack a lunch because this is a long one! Plus we now have merch that's available at www.abpoli.ca, including a fall lineup! As always, if you a...
Oct 16, 2023•3 hr 13 min•Season 5Ep. 76
There's no question that the public education system has been under attack from the far right lately, and the attention that they've drawn by attacking vulnerable kids in the LGBTQ2S+ has had the additional side effect of distracting from some of the other major issues that teachers and kids in schools are facing! To help try and re-centre the conversation a bit, we sat down with Alberta Teachers Association Local 38 President Stephani Clements to talk classroom sizes, increasing complexity and ...
Oct 12, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Season 5Ep. 75
Many Albertans might be surprised to know that the oldest political party in Alberta is also the first political party to form government in the province of Alberta, the Alberta Liberal Party! While the Alberta Liberals have had a challenging run since the late 2000's and have been shut out of the legislature since 2019, Alberta Liberal Leader John Roggeveen assumed the role of permanent leader in 2022 and is hoping to rebuild the party. We sat down with John in advance of their 2023 AGM to hear...
Oct 05, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Season 5Ep. 74
It's our Alberta Politics Roundup for the week ending on October 1st! We start with taking a look at a few stories that were ironically ignored in the run up to the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, because these stories speak to how much work is still needed. We then run through a the biggest stories in Alberta politics including Smith's embarrassing performance on Power and Politics, her even worse press conference where she completely failed to show leadership on vaccination roll out...
Oct 02, 2023•1 hr 57 min•Season 5Ep. 73
With a monster week in politics we're back with another 2 part episode! In Part one, we do our weekly round up of Alberta Politics and in Part 2, we're joined by politico Sarah Biggs for her take on the week before we open up the floor for our regular open mic! In our roundup, we take a look at more changes to provincial party leadership, health care and curriculum "announcements", the latest environmental stories and a bit more before we break down both the recent anti-LGBTQ2S+ protests and the...
Sep 26, 2023•1 hr 26 min
With a monster week in politics we're back with another 2 part episode! In Part 1, we do our weekly round up of Alberta Politics and in Part 2, we're joined by politico Sarah Biggs for her take on the week before we open up the floor for our regular open mic! In our roundup, we take a look at more changes to provincial party leadership, health care and curriculum "announcements", the latest environmental stories and a bit more before we break down both the recent anti-LGBTQ2S+ protests and the s...
Sep 25, 2023•1 hr 30 min•Season 5Ep. 72
With an E. Coli outbreak striking to the heart of the province, we're back for another Alberta Politics Roundup! We start by taking a look at the environmental situation in Alberta before moving on to the incredibly on brand appointment of a lowered standard "writer" to the office of the deputy premier's press secretary. From there we get into the E. Coli tragedy and the provinces inexplicable response to not just the outbreak itself but the affected families as well, particularly the arguably s...
Sep 18, 2023•2 hr 20 min•Season 5Ep. 71
With many people in Alberta (and across the world) trying to make sense of Alberta’s Renewable Energy Moratorium, we decided to try and get some context from someone who works in that field to not only better understand the moratorium but the whole process for getting renewable energy approved in Alberta. Lindsay Amantea is a lawyer who works in renewable energy who has an up close view of what the moratorium is, how it’s affecting projects and energy workers in Alberta, and we’re extremely grat...
Sep 11, 2023•56 min•Season 5Ep. 70
For a "quiet" week in Alberta Politics, there's no shortage of ground to cover in this weeks roundup! This week saw the Kananaskis being clear cut while a company apparently violated protected lands, the War Room/Canadian Energy Center throwing taxpayers dollars across the border, the last day of the Shandro hearings and a whole lot more, and that's not even our main subject! Because we also unpack the whole debacle with the School Board Trustee who compared kids waving pride flags to kids wavin...
Sep 08, 2023•1 hr 52 min•Season 5Ep. 69
It’s back to school for students across the province, so we sat down with the executive Director for “Support Our Students” Medeana Moussa! In this conversation we cover a lot of ground, including what some of the biggest issues teachers and students are facing with the return to the classroom as while as what the future of those classrooms could like like with the looming threats from “Take Back Alberta” (and what Albertans can do to help)! As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that ...
Sep 04, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Season 5Ep. 68
Time for another Alberta Politics Roundup! The renewable moratorium situation just keeps getting worse, and Smith just keeps getting caught in lie after lie! Plus, what is going on in Fort MacLeod, who's going to be the new UCP president and does someone need to check on the leader of Take Back Alberta? Now is the time on The Breakdown when we dance! 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 suppor...
Sep 01, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Season 5Ep. 67
We are SO excited to present our conversation, with survivor, advocate and all around amazing person Guy Felicella! This is one of the most intense episodes we've done yet, and it's an absolute must watch/listen! Guy Felicella grew up in a middle-class home in British Columbia but due to trauma, undiagnosed ADHD and difficulty at home and school, he fell into addiction at a young age. Guy spent 30 years in the repeated cycle of gangs, addiction, treatment, and jail. He spent nearly twenty years ...
Aug 28, 2023•1 hr 19 min•Season 5Ep. 66
We're back from break with our first live Alberta Politics roundup in a few weeks and it's a monster episode! In this episode we take a look at the concerns Alberta Fire Chiefs have with the UCP's unexpected changes to Bill 5, Danielle Smith's Chief of Staff Marshall Smith’s Scandals that keep gaining mass, the Dynalife Buyback, the Renewables Moratorium, Dani’s very bad presser, Take Back Alberta and "Real Talk" and a whole lot more! We also welcome back politico Sarah Biggs to provide a little...
Aug 24, 2023•2 hr 27 min•Season 5Ep. 65
Back to school is coming and with it (in parts at least) is a new curriculum! But what about the most controversial part of the new curriculum, the social studies component? To try and find out a more on the status of things and what the Smith government intends to do with Social Studies in Alberta, we sat down for a chat with curriculum expert and amazing advocate Dr Carla Peck! As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that we’re trying to produce here at The Breakdown, please consider ...
Aug 21, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Season 5Ep. 64
It's a takeover edition of The Breakdown! In a complete switch up, disability advocate Don Slater takes over the hosting duties and our regular host gets put in the hot seat! Don runs the gamut of topics from the provincial election, the future of the major political parties in Alberta and a whole lot more in this unique and one time episode! 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 o...
Aug 17, 2023•2 hr•Season 5Ep. 63
In this chat with Alberta Party Leader Barry Morishita, we cover the Calgary Stampede scandal, what went right and wrong with the Alberta Party's strategy in the last provincial election, what the future of the Alberta Party looks like (and we've got a bit of a scoop there!) and what Barry believes is necessary for the future of politics 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 support...
Aug 11, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Season 5Ep. 62
Time for another Alberta Politics roundup! Fundraising! Healthcare Restrictions Revelations (but not really)! Private Healthcare in Alberta! Healthcare/EMS Crisis! No New Renewables! The UCP on Substance Use/Houselesness! Stampede Scandals! All this, our regular open mic and a whole lot 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. ...
Aug 08, 2023•1 hr 58 min•Season 5Ep. 61
