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. 

If your laptop went missing, how many police detectives do you think would get assigned to the case?

When Alberta’s UCP government set up the Canadian Energy Centre, a.k.a. Jason Kenney’s oil and gas ‘war room’ back in 2019, they kept it off the books. All public bodies in Alberta are supposed to be open to ‘freedom of information and protection of privacy’ (FOIP) requests, but due to some fancy legal footwork by the UCP the war room was exempt. 

University of Calgary chancellor-elect Jon Cornish clearly understands the challenges that both people of colour who are born here and many newcomers face after they arrive in Canada.

Chris Parsons of the Nova Scotia Health Coalition (formerly of the Dog Island podcast) joins host Duncan Kinney to walk him through Canada's currently terrible pharmacare system, what is in the works between the Liberals and the NDP and why the struggle for pharmacare is not only winnable but absolutely key to the left staying relevant. 

The city of Edmonton knows a crisis is coming. There are more unhoused people in Edmonton now than ever due to the pandemic and the emergency shelter available to these folks is going to drop steeply in June when temporary emergency shelter sites that were used in the winter close.

The rich and powerful know that one of the most important things to do if you want to continue being rich and powerful is to constantly and consistently show class solidarity with your fellow elites. 

Former conservative justice minister Jonathan Denis just refuses to step out of the spotlight: now Denis has been accused of a conflict of interest by a former conservative operative involved in Kenney’s ‘kamikaze candidate’ scandal.