Mayor Sohi, and the members of Edmonton city council: even a crank like me feels a bit of sympathy for you, stuck in a trap laid by former city councils and the provincial government. While the city struggles with growing homelessness and a horrific drug crisis, right-wing blowhards and the powerful police lobby are trying to pin every crime in the city on you for budget cuts that you haven’t even made. 

The Edmonton Chamber of Commerce—an advocacy organization that lobbies for the interests of ‘the business community’—owns over 11 million dollars of property in the heart of downtown Edmonton, profits from renting it out, and yet is exempt from paying taxes on most of it thanks to a loophole meant to support community organizations. In 2022 alone, the lobbying group will dodge taxes totalling nearly $150,000.

Megan Linton, the creator and host of the stunning and incredibly well done podcast Invisible Institutions, joins host Duncan Kinney to discuss Alberta's past and present when it comes to when it comes to eugenics, the Michener Centre and institutionalizing and confining people labelled as having intellectual disabilities. After a short interview with Linton that puts the podcast in context for Alberta listeners the final part of the podcast is a replay of episode five of the first season of Invisible Institutions: Let’s Talk About Sex & Reproductive Justice.

Stephen Magusiak of Press Progress and Shama Rangwala, assistant professor at York University, join host Duncan Kinney to discuss Jason Kenney's exit from Alberta politics (god willing). 

Edmonton city council spent all of Wednesday debating the police funding formula but the most drama came in an exchange between a police commissioner and a member of city council who also sits on the Edmonton Police Commission.

One very clear takeaway from the shocking leak earlier this month, which showed the American Supreme Court on the verge of tearing up Roe v. Wade, is that a lot of damage can be done if the wrong people are installed in a place’s judicial system.

It’s a thought that was front of mind for me when I read last week’s mind-boggling opinion from the Alberta Court of Appeal on a new piece of Canadian environmental law, the Impact Assessment Act.

  Writer James Wilt joins host Duncan Kinney to discuss how cop "unions" use fear and a permanent war posture to get what they want—increased police budgets. 

In 2021, Edmonton’s police chief Dale McFee announced a new unconscious bias learning module in response to calls from the community to address brutal and racist policing. But academics are panning the program, describing it as near-useless and a distraction from reforms that might make a real difference. 

The top story in Alberta politics this week wasn’t in Alberta at all: in the United States, a leak revealed that the Supreme Court is about to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that had prevented bans on abortion in the U.S. (and from which a number of policies to protect privacy and bodily autonomy derive, too.)

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has avoided commenting on the news and it’s easy to guess why. Kenney has been an anti-choice soldier since his salad days—you may have seen the old screenshot floating around of his CNN appearance back in the nineties as an anti-abortion activist. It was a busy time for a young Mr. Kenney, who was also vigorously working to take away hospital visitation rights from gay people.

Edmonton’s Chief of Police, Dale McFee, has a habit of giving out year-end interviews. We even got one in 2020 but while he declined our interview request in 2021 he did make time in his busy schedule to speak with cryptocurrency enthusiast and recently-resurrected political figure Danielle Smith at the end of 2021.