On November 29th, Danielle Smith finally unveiled her Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act, and as much as people were expecting it to be be bad, it turns out it’s actually much worse and gives the UCP the power to create and change laws with no oversight whatsoever. To try and make sense of it, we held a special live episode with the help of Deirdre Mitchell-MacLean that got more than a little feisty! As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that we’re trying to produce here a...
May 06, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Season 4Ep. 64
Danielle Smith has finally introduced her Alberta Sovereignty Act and despite the wide expectation that it was going to be watered down, to the shock of many it is actually much, much worse! We sat down with Sarah Biggs who has been in Edmonton for the throne speech and the introduction of the Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act as well as Deirdre Mitchell-Maclean to try and figure out some of the implications of this democratically corrosive piece of legislation. As always, if you ap...
May 06, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Season 4Ep. 65
The last few days have been moving at breakneck speed in Alberta politics. In under 4 days we went from having UCP MLA’s and Ministers swearing that Smiths Sovereignty Act was perfect to having Smith herself acknowledge some of the foundational flaws that exist within the act, and we try and track that all down. In addition we’re joined by advocate Don Slater to get his take on AISH being reindexed before we’re joined by strategist and politico Sarah Biggs to try and make sense of the rollercoas...
May 06, 2023•2 hr 11 min•Season 4Ep. 66
There’s a pediatric health crisis in Alberta and with it a major shortage of children’s tylenol (acetaminophen) and childrens ibuprofen. On Monday Danielle Smith announced that she had arranged for the purchase of 5 Million bottle of children’s acetaminophen and ibuprofen. Only problem is, the company that she bought it from doesn’t make it yet, they aren’t legally allowed to seek drugs Canada yet, and many estimates put the drugs arriving in the spring of 2023. Plus the press conference was a d...
May 06, 2023•1 hr 28 min•Season 4Ep. 67
On this episode we unpack the roll out of of Bill 1 and it’s fascinating evolution from a Bill that Smith sold to an angry base as being a Bill that would redefine how Alberta relates to confederation to it’s current form which appears to be business as usual with added red tape and the flawed expectation that MLA’s can interpret the constitution better than the courts. Plus, she’s really angry about straws. We also take a much deeper look at Danielle Smith’s bizarre decision to buy 5 million bo...
May 06, 2023•1 hr 44 min•Season 4Ep. 68
The UCP is having a rather bumpy start to the week… First Danielle Smith announced that despite an ongoing health care crisis and trailers parked outside of the Children’s Hospital in Calgary that she was being told that it was unimaginable that healthcare could be doing any better. But then the real fireworks started when Smith equated the oppression and genocide of Indigenous peoples under colonialism to the relationship that Alberta has with Ottawa, followed up by the minister of Advanced Edu...
May 06, 2023•1 hr 47 min•Season 4Ep. 69
As we head into the homestretch for the year (and maybe even a short break over the holidays), we try and get a handle on not only where Alberta Politics is heading but where we actually even are right now! To try and get a clear view of this, we sat down with provincial politics prognosticator and political scientist Dr. Lisa Young and chatted about the current state of Alberta, what’s happened to the level of our political conversation and what political parties in Alberta might need to do in ...
May 06, 2023•58 min•Season 4Ep. 70
It’s our second last show of 2022! And while we still have one show left in the year, MLA’s and Ministers called it early this week, ending the latest legislative session early despite having limited debate and rushed through legislation! Also, Alberta has a surprise new member of cabinet with Parliamentary Secretary for Civil Liberties, Tracey Allard being appointed with literally no announcement! We try and make sense of all of this and more with the help from our chief WTAF correspondent Sara...
May 06, 2023•1 hr 15 min•Season 4Ep. 71
We’re back from break! We start by running through the events of the last few weeks in Alberta Politics including taking a look at new UCP nominations, the importance of one vote, Danielle Smiths walking back of pretty much all of her leadership race promises before we do a deep dive on the “Take Back Alberta” Initiative that has been buying up NHL game advertising time to see who is behind them and how they’re connected to Smith. (It’s pretty close) Then we sit down with @ZiadFazel to hear his ...
May 06, 2023•2 hr 20 min•Season 5Ep. 1
On this episode, we take a look at the recent provincial political party fundraising numbers, the effective of the gas tax being cut (again), we try and fill in the blanks on on a recent story about Danielle Smith’s Chief of Staff and we take yet another look at the ongoing children’s fever medicine purchase by the UCP from a company that wasn’t allowed to seek those drugs here. As always, we’re joined by Sarah Biggs to try and makes sense of it all! As always, if you appreciate the kind of cont...
May 06, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Season 5Ep. 2
Danielle Smith and the UCP have announced to task forces to address social issues, but there are a lot of people who are raising some very serious concerns around the motivations and methods of these task forces. One of those people is Euan Thomson, founder of the harm reduction group Each & Every. We sat down with Euan to hear what his concerns are in regards to these task forces and why he’s concerned that instead of harm reduction, they might well just be causing more harm… As always, if ...
May 06, 2023•56 min•Season 5Ep. 3
On another one of our Alberta Politics round-ups, we take a look at the embarrassing controversy surrounding UCP Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Nick “S-CLub” Milliken and his weekend of embarrassing and brutally ignorant tweets. Plus we do a bit of a deep dive on exactly what is this “Just Transition” that has the UCP all up in arms 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 supp...
May 06, 2023•1 hr 19 min•Season 5Ep. 4
The start of this week saw two press conferences from the UCP government that didn’t go very well at all… First we saw the “Affordability” Presser where UCP Minister Nate Glubish effectively admitted that the UCP had dropped the ball on several programs during COVID and then inexplicably couldn’t explain why the Alberta government had opted to create a costly program that delayed affordability payments instead of working with the CRA like BC. But then we saw a Danielle Smith Press Conference tha...
May 06, 2023•1 hr 33 min•Season 5Ep. 5
We’re super excited to be able to share this episode! Lydia Greene is one of the founders of backtothevax.com, a grassroots organization working to dispel vaccine hesitancy and she comes to it from a place of very real personal experience! Lydia spent years immersed in the extreme anti-vax/wellness culture but has since come out the other side and is now not only working to better inform people but also pursuing a career in healthcare/public health! As always, if you appreciate the kind of conte...
May 06, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Season 5Ep. 6
On Thursday Danielle Smith flipped the world of Alberta Politics on its head (again) by stating at a press conference that she had been directing prosecutors to look at specific cases, which would be a huge violation of the independence of Crown Prosecutors. What followed was a dizzying few days where statements were issued, Smith offered multiple clarifications and ultimately it was said on her weekly radio show that there would not be any kind of an investigation. We walk through all of the ev...
May 06, 2023•1 hr 27 min•Season 5Ep. 7
It's January 18th and we're back to talking about the "Just Transition" because that seems like it's all we talk about in Alberta these days... On Tuesday Danielle Smith falsely claimed that the "Just Transition" would eliminate up to 2.7 million jobs, and despite being corrected by, well, pretty much everyone, she has continued to double down on this ridiculous claim. Add to that the fact that Opposition leader Rachel Notley finally took the bait and also condemned the federal plan (that hasn't...
May 06, 2023•1 hr 28 min•Season 5Ep. 8
Danielle Smith announced her new COVID Inquiry Chair, and it's a figure well known in Alberta Politics, Preston Manning! But there's some very important questions about Prestons payday and the kind of bias that he's potentially bringing to the inquiry. Also, on Thursday, yet another scandal broke in regards to the Smith government potentially trying to influence the independent Crown Prosecutors Office when CBC broke another story. This comes on the heels of Smith trying to walk back multiple co...
May 06, 2023•1 hr 29 min•Season 5Ep. 9
Alberta Justice Minister Tyler Shandro finally has his hearing with the law society and for inexplicable reasons, his defense has spent a surprising amount of time debating whether or not Tyler actually cried on the day he showed up to confront a physician in their driveway. Plus! The privatization of Alberta Health care continues and we recap the ongoing scandal and new revelations from the last days about Danielle Smith and the premiers office allegedly trying to influence prosecutors, apparen...
May 06, 2023•1 hr 28 min•Season 5Ep. 10
What was the Alberta Party thinking? That's the question that we kick off this episode with after they deployed a clunky AI Avatar in a new video this week. From there we move into the ongoing developments in Justice Minister Tyler Shandros hearing with the Law Society, skyrocketing insurance rates and why the UCP's measures won't make the impact people need, the ongoing health care crisis and Smith's bizarre pivot on Justin Trudeaus "Just Transition". As always, if you appreciate the kind of co...
May 06, 2023•1 hr 31 min•Season 5Ep. 11
Many people know "True North" as a fairly far right conservative media platform, but as we started to try and pull back the curtains on their story, we were shocked to find out just how intertwined they are with a number of other organizations, most shocking of all that they share a "Corporate Headquarters" address with none other than Danielle Smiths "Free Alberta Strategy" PAC! Strap in, because this is one wild ride! As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that we’re trying to produc...
May 06, 2023•31 min•Season 5Ep. 12
On this episode, we take a look at the latest events in Alberta Politics, including the walk back of Smith's COVID advisory council, Danielle Smith's drug deal that just keeps getting worse, Take Back Alberta's headfirst run into a brick wall on nominations being reopened, and we try and make a bit of sense of the story so far with the UCP 'S takeover (?) of Athabasca University! As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that we’re trying to produce here at The Breakdown, please consider ...
May 06, 2023•1 hr 46 min•Season 5Ep. 13
What was up with that handshake? As groundhogs across the continent were just tucking themselves back in, Danielle Smith finally appeared in public again, which can only mean at least another 6 weeks before the next provincial election! At this weeks First Ministers health meeting, Danielle Smith and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau exchanged what could only be called a handshake using the lowest definition of the word, but what was the deal that potentially came out of that meeting? Plus we catch ...
May 06, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Season 5Ep. 14
On this episode of The Breakdown, we're excited to welcome back Regan Boychuk to the show for a conversation on the irresponsible R Star program and on why he believes that Albertans need to demand a fresh look at how oil and gas royalties are handled! As always, thank you so much for your support! 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/thebreakdo...
May 06, 2023•44 min•Season 5Ep. 15
Danielle Smith came back from her sunny vacation this week and blew in with all the fury of a tropical storm! At her press conference on Thursday, not only did she reveal that she's recently been talking to an anti-vax protestor who claims she promised him a free pass on charges for his involvement in the Coutts border blockade, but also that she never knew that it wasn't;t a power available to a premier to even do that! But then on Friday she released one of the most whitewashed revisionist his...
May 06, 2023•1 hr 39 min•Season 5Ep. 16
After a brief break we're back! And what a week it's been! The NDP's downward polling numbers in Calgary are rapidly becoming a bit of a trend, the Western Standard lowers the standard with a bigoted attack against Janis Irwin, The Emergencies Act was justified and Alberta's Justice Minister Tyler Shandro sure isn't happy about that despite the fact the UCP had asked the feds for help, Sheriffs in Calgary, Take Back Alberta continues their takeover of the UCP, and Preston Mannings panel is up an...
May 06, 2023•1 hr 42 min•Season 5Ep. 17
On this episode of the Breakdown we unpack the conspiracy theory around "15 minute cities" and as well take a look at the recent uproar around Trans people in bathrooms before we get into a discussion and Q&A on how everyday Albertans can be prepared for and get involved in the upcoming provincial election with Politico and Strategist 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 suppo...
May 06, 2023•1 hr 20 min•Season 5Ep. 18
If there was a theme to the last week in Alberta Politics, it was that who you know determines how much you're getting paid. There were multiple stories breaking about the UCP using sole source contracts to make sure their friends are making bank at the taxpayers expense. Plus, Danielle Smith continues to muse about how to introduce more private health care delivery in Alberta and an ex-PC minister is doing reputational rehab for for the leader of the Freedom Convoy and alleged architect of the ...
May 06, 2023•1 hr 46 min•Season 5Ep. 19
So it appears the APP had their own internal independence movement and their leader Conspiracy Theorist Denis Modry is running for the UCP? We go through that, the healthcare update and the impact of privatization in health care, the new provincial budget and Sarah Biggs helps us try to figure out what happened with those bizarre introductions of insurrections on bail was all about? As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that we’re trying to produce here at The Breakdown, please consid...
May 06, 2023•1 hr 25 min•Season 5Ep. 20
Recently, a local website published an article that disseminated a story about a trans woman in a change room that provoked a very strong response. With escalating rhetoric and bigotry targeting the trans community, we take a look at how that "story" has evolved and highlight the fact that the Calgary Police Service has since called it. Additionally, we take a look at some of the bizarre legislation that the UCP announced that they will be introducing, the ongoing scandal around the $1400 limo r...
May 06, 2023•1 hr 37 min•Season 5Ep. 21
With the Alberta EMS system simultaneously in crisis and not in crisis depending on who you ask, we get into the recent EMS report as well as the both political parties attempts to politicize the situation! Plus we talk Budget Blowback! Danielle's Drugs! Property Taxes! AP Problems! GP Police! Shandy Shenanigans and more with commentary from 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 su...
May 06, 2023•1 hr 26 min•Season 5Ep. 22
