Euan Thompson of Each + Every joins Duncan Kinney to discuss the incredibly evil "Alberta Model" of addressing the drug poisoning crisis and why it must be destroyed. 

When government officials only tell the media late on a Friday afternoon about a presser scheduled for Monday morning, you can tell they know it’s not going to be a crowd-pleaser. 

Edmonton city council officially killed the regional transit commission when it pulled out of the project during budget deliberations in December. And according to transit union president Steve Bradshaw, the cause of the commission’s death can be traced to February 2020 when Strathcona County, the second largest transit system in the region, pulled out. 

A catastrophic failure in our social safety net occurred last winter as a CBC report shows that frostbite amputations hit a 10-year high in Edmonton. The numbers weren’t that much better in Calgary which saw a 340 per cent year-over-year increase. 

Ex-Edmonton city councilor Michael Walters made several assertions in a recent column about city council’s decision to withdraw from the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Transit Commission (EMTSC) that deserve careful scrutiny. In his list of reasons why the commission initiative failed, Walters lists first,  “The outsized influence of the local transit union at city hall.”

The UCP trotted out four Calgary-based cabinet ministers to announce the creation of the Edmonton Public Safety and Community Response Task Force on Dec. 13. While its goal is ostensibly to improve things the UCP have made worse concerning houselessness, addiction and public safety, this announcement centered the police and their value as “the pointy end of the stick” in directing unhoused substance users to the correct services. 

University of Calgary law professor Martin Olszysnki joins Duncan Kinney to discuss the recently passed Alberta Sovereignty Act and its corrosive effects on democracy, the rule of law and the treaties.  

Danielle Smith and the UCP rammed their Alberta Sovereignty within a United Canada Act through the Legislature at 1 AM on Thursday morning. Once again Danielle Smith is doing her part to undermine the rule of law and break our democratic institutions. 

The UCP government has introduced legislation that if passed will update the Police Act, create a new independent oversight body to investigate complaints against police officers, and concentrate power and control of municipal policing in the hands of the provincial government. 

A long-running police misconduct complaint against Const. Wayne Paesch concluded on Nov. 4, 2022 when he pleaded guilty to two counts of neglect of duty and one count of discreditable conduct under the Police Act. The fourth charge, unlawful or unnecessary exercise of authority, was dropped. Const. Paesch received a suspension without pay of 80 hours to be served in five hour increments per pay period.