On Monday, Alberta’s COVID-19 emergency benefits program came to an abrupt halt.

Barely 80,000 Albertans were able to access the service in the brief time it was available. Applicants complained that onerous ID requirements delayed their applications--pushing many people to Monday and then shutting the door on them entirely. For several days the website was simply entirely offline.

Jason Kenney just committed the biggest mass layoff in Alberta's history in the middle of a pandemic. It's the kind of cruel and contemptible behaviour we've come to expect. To help us process and understand the fallout from the brutal decision to fire 26,000 education workers we have Edmonton Public School Board trustee Bridget Stirling on the pod.

Buried in legislation that was passed last fall by the UCP is a provision that means people will see far less cash from their defined benefit public sector pensions if, for whatever reason, they leave or cash out their pension.

The pandemic has only just begun but the folks working overnight to stock shelves and spending exhausting days on their feet dealing with panicky, frazzled customers are absolutely critical workers. They are keeping our society together. And yet the workers at your local Safeway in Alberta have been fighting for a fair contract for months with an employer that wants to roll back wages and cut benefits for these heroes. 

To discuss the issues facing unionized grocery store workers in Alberta during this emergency health crisis we talk with Tom Hesse, president of UFCW 401. Also, if you have a second thank a grocery store worker on your next trip, they’re doing incredible and important work. 

Progress Report #210
Your weekly update on Alberta politics for March 24, 2020

(This is an online version of the Progress Report email newsletter which comes out every Tuesday morning. You can subscribe here)

We knew the UCP government would use the cover of the coronavirus crisis to ram through some wild policy, but even I’m surprised by the audacity of this one.

With the global economy in freefall thanks to the one-two punch of coronavirus and an oil price war we explore a very relevant subject in the months and years to come – AIMCo's investments in oil and gas companies that will likely go bankrupt and drop billions of dollars worth of environmental liabilities on the public. 

We have Regan Boychuk of the Alberta Liabilities Disclosure Project on to discuss the subject.

Progress Report #208
Your weekly update on Alberta politics for March 10, 2020

(This is an online version of the Progress Report email newsletter which comes out every Tuesday morning. You can subscribe here)

To spite all the stress and anxiety that the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak is putting on us, I want to open this edition of the newsletter with a story that fired me back up a little.

The UCP government tried to stop us from reporting on their no-good, very bad 2020 budget. They called us an advocacy organization and tried to keep us out of the media lockup. But we didn't back down, we took the government to court and won and now Jason Kenney owes us $2000. We talk with Heidi Besuijen, Progress Alberta's lawyer, about the case and Jim and Duncan break down the worst parts of the 2020 budget. 

Today was bound to be a letdown. After the high of crushing the Alberta government in court and gaining access to the media budget lockup (not to mention winning $2000 in costs) spending a whole day locked in a room full of journalists, civil servants and political hacks sifting through hundreds of pages of conservative ideology, charts and financial tables was going to suck. Especially as the Kenney government continues its steady four year grind of brutal austerity and class warfare. But given that I was locked up all day with no phone and a 232 page budget to pick through here's what I think you need to know about.  

How did reconciliation die? Arresting peaceful land defenders so a corporation could build a pipeline through unceded Indigenous territory at the end of RCMP-held assault rifles didn’t help but Jason Kenney played his part too. He stoked the flames of petronationalism for political gain and continues to use the time-tested settler tactic of divide and conquer. We get into the specifics of Kenney’s reconciliation strategy with Rob Houle.