Despite what Jason Kenney (and Rachel Notley) say, our neighbors in BC are not our enemies. There has been so much hype and misinformation around the pipeline debate that we reached across the Rockies to dispel some of the myths. Kai Nagata of Dogwood speaks with us about left wing populism, why he and so many other folks are fighting the Trans Mountain pipeline and the political realities on the ground in B.C.

Guests Mack Lamoureux, Bridget Stirling and Katie Cutting break down organized white supremacy like a beat-em up side scroller – starting with the easiest baddies and moving on to the biggest and scariest villains at the end. We’ve also got a healthy dose of media criticism as we discuss the baffling decision by the Globe and Mail to platform Ezra Levant and the troubling trend of mainstream media getting played like a fiddle by Nazis.

This week on the pod: the other 9/11. On September 11th, 1973 a fascist coup, backed by the USA, overthrew the democratically elected socialist government of Chile and installed Augusto Pinochet, a brutal and murderous dictator. Two Albertans whose families were caught up in the coup tell the story and make the connections between current Alberta politics and Chile. 

The only way to defeat organized greed is with organized labour--so how much do you know about organized labour?

On Friday, August 16th, the UCP dropped a gigantic announcement. They appointed 61 people to some of the province’s most important and powerful institutions. Almost 20 separate agencies, boards and commissions saw people fired and replaced with more conservative operatives, donors, and CEOs than Alberta’s few remaining politics journalists can count. 

Well, we counted. We at Progress Alberta have attempted to document the connections between these new appointees and the conservative political project. Here are the lowlights:

If you haven’t yet go and read You Must Be This Conservative To Ride: The Inside Story of Postmedia’s Right Turn from Canadaland. It’s a crucial piece for anyone who wants to understand the current state of news media in Canada, and Alberta especially--the Postmedia corporation owns nearly all of Alberta’s newspapers.

Faisal Khan Suri was giving his suggestions to the Justice Committee in the House of Commons on how to combat online hate when Conservative MP Michael Cooper confronted him by reading from the Christchurch shooter's deranged manifesto. We explore that moment and its fallout, and share a broader discussion on the ideology and goals behind white supremacist terrorism as well as how to defeat it.

This week on the Progress Report podcast: you might think Alberta is Canada's Texas. Actually, it's Oklahoma. Duncan and our guest Russell Cobb break down Oklahoma's failed austerity experiment--soon to be repeated by Alberta's UCP government.

Also, some breaking news on AIMCO divesting from the companies running Trump's immigrant concentration camps.

Episode 3 of the Progress Report, "Left Wing Podcast All Star Team Up" is out!

This week Duncan and special guests Abdul Malik (from Kino Lefter) and Kate Jacobson (from Alberta Advantage) meet to talk chat about Alberta journalism, Unplanned, Calgary's horrible austerity and giveaways to billionaires, and also to celebrate AUPE kicking UCP ass in court.