During the pandemic, we worried about McJobs, the service folks behind the register. But people who need background to do their job, training and time-in-job to know it, are not replaced merely with money, it takes time and experience. Businesses lose, what, 5% of them every year, to retirement and babies and career change? But we probably lost 15%-20% of them in a lot of businesses, during the two years, not 10%.
And did almost no hiring. Why? The airlines were closed. No need. There WAS money, at least in the States; in 2020, the airlines were handed a $19B in federal funds - not long after they'd handed out about $19B in stock buy-backs. But, why not just keep the money? Always the investor preference.
Prasad's Law suggests there's always a stickiness to hiring, a tendency to stretch existing staff. Now our ERs and our airlines all have so many missing files, and it's hard to train staff when the would-be trainers are going 110% to keep up 75% service.
A good free market, with many airlines that were smaller, might have shown some real free market action: a few airlines would have kept staff, would be running at full, investors would notice, good behaviour rewarded, better service would come. But, they're an oligopoly. It's not really a free market, no more than Canadian telecommunications is. (The Rogers screwup will likely be found to be systemic employee errors, where there were several of them that collided into a 'perfect storm', from their own pandemic personnel losses.)
I wonder how many civil servants we lost during Covid. I wonder how many are still not back at work. I wonder if we had a quota on passport production if there wouldn't have been an issue.
The military has this concept of filling jobs whether they are needed or not. They understand that they sit around waiting for work, most of the time. Protective services in general get the concept.
I haven't heard of a lot of staffing problems for police or firefighters, for instance; a little googling just now turned up no stories. They probably kept up hiring. But passport offices? If business was way down, and people left, you can see most bosses just slow-walking the replacements, to save on budget. EVERY business, public and private, does this, unless they have a mandated requirement to keep positions filled.
Well I can think of 2 reasons -- keep the same budget levels or lose it and keep the same or larger number of direct reports. If fact, without quotas, I have to believe that WFH meant a huge drop in productivity and more new hires were required just to maintain levels of service.
Oh, not-filling-positions doesn't cost you the budget for empty slots - you just get credit for being under-budget! If you leave them unfilled for years, yeah - but the pandemic would have been the perfect excuse for not pursuing position-reductions.
The Pandemic was this brilliant time to train people, the way the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-2011 was a brilliant time to build infrastructure with low prices, and low interest. (The subject of a few dozen Krugman columns.) Naturally, both opportunities were squandered to "save money" ... at much greater cost, later on.
Unless, of course, the duties had been expanded. The real growth is over 15% in five years, by population alone. But if old people need more government employees, for health care, and the population of old people grows much more than 4%, you'd get an increased need for services, without changes in productivity.
Also, if societal standards just changed - that we should provide better health care,or education, or pave more roads - then government work would increase in response to demand. Then, complaint would be like saying the rapid growth of Tesla must show that Tesla employees have declining productivity.
I returned to Canada during the Orewellian common sense thingy. There can be no denying the visciousness with which the least powerful Ontario population was attacked. The changes being demanded came at breakneck speed. Municipalities of all sizes suddenly had social housing dropped in their laps, along with an envelope of the only pittance they would get to keep people housed. Income assistance became workfare which hit women with children with full force. Etc…. The ‘winners’ were the taxpayers who, instead of paying for the needs of those in dire straits at that time, have continued to pay for them and their trickledown results to this day.
The Wynne government ended up with an inherited debt with a significant number of zeros, and an opportunity to undertake a policy of investment rather spending. Instead of fixing the things that needed fixing, and still do, it took a road that went nowhere really good, with a lot of scenic side trips. The fact that they continued to use Mike Harris as a reason to avoid fixing things was just sad. Not incorrect but useless, since it doesn’t matter how the patient broke the leg, it still needs attention. I expect this lead to the complete loss of support amidst a lot of anger. And this is an excellent example of what happens when you refuse to take responsibility for something when it is in your court.
Toronto is 50 years of studies not followed by actions. Growing up there 50 years, ago, they were studying what to do with the Gardiner Expressway. 50 years; no changes. There is no plan.
The aviation industry is in full meltdown. There were significant pilot and controller shortages coming into COVID globally, but lets focus on Canada. These are not problems quickly overcome, as the learning process takes time, as does gaining the experience to move into the more complex roles. In short, aviation is going to be a mess for the foreseeable future; airlines need to check with crew scheduling, and then come out with a schedule that reflects the staff they have as opposed what they could do 5 years ago.
Oh boy!! Another task force. Sounds about as useful as farting at a hurricane. I would suggest the PMO; the office that runs the country is as paralysed as the government that is actually supposed to be doing it. They hold up shiny objects like the Pope's visit to distract from a collapsing healthcare system, a collapsing transportation system, a collapsed military, a failure of the civil service to approach provision of the most basic of government services while the debt spirals without a shred of a plan from any party as to how to reel it in.
They're just going through the motions now; overwhelmed and curled up in the corner in the fetal position but devoid of solutions for anything. It's all rather pitiful.
One of the criticisms of Trudeau in 2015 was that he had no real work experience other than short stints as a drama teacher and a motivational speaker. I think the past 7 years have illustrated that he’s been doing what he knows (the performative aspects of acting like a Prime Minister, playing the political messaging game), but has not otherwise grown into the job. Worse, he doesn’t seem aware of his own limitations, which could’ve been remedied by delegating more to cabinet ministers. He’s instead decided that his campaign successes are evidence of his genius in other areas, leading to increasingly centralized control of the government and marginalization of stronger, more capable people like Mark Garneau, Jane Philpott, and Jody Wilson-Raybould.
I think he had a vision in 2015...but no idea how hard it might be to implement. SNC was his first massive misstep and only because of Andrew Scheer did it not cost him his job. He's been an almost nonstop collection of bad decisions since...with a brief interlude for COVID where he actually listened to, and parroted the advice of experts. he hit his low point with JWR...but kept on digging. That he has continued to win speaks volumes about the alternatives.
First, I offer my condolences to Ms. Gerson for her loss.
Second, I must make clear that I am grateful that you (collective "you," to be sure) are back. I AM able to find intelligent commentary other than The Line but ...... it is rare, indeed. So, again, I am very happy that you are back. On that vein, I will have to check out The Hub; thank you for the mention.
Now, some comments; please understand that you have many topics this week so I have many (bloviating, to be sure) comments this week.
Jen, you clearly denigrate Danielle Smith's proposed Sovereignty Act, among other reasons, that it will purport to allow Alberta to abrogate federal law in federal jurisdiction, at least in terms of it's application to Alberta. I must - gently - advise that (as I understand it, anyway) you are slightly/completely/utterly incorrect.
As I understand it [yeah, qualifier, I know], the proposed SA is intended to deal with federal law that actually intrudes on PROVINCIAL jurisdiction as defined in Sections 92 and 92A of the Constitution of Canada. Additionally, where the federal government passes legislation that violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (of which there have been a multitude over the past few years), the Alberta government would be authorized to say, "Thank you, but not here." As I understand it, of course.
Now, for what would constitute examples of federal overstepping into provincial jurisdiction I can certainly think of many such example but, clearly, some of those have been with the agreement of the provinces (including Alberta), for example, health care. Others, there are examples of which I can think where the province held hearing on topics and came to a conclusion and the feds came to a contrary conclusion. I will leave that there and make no further assertions on that point other than to say I have written (last month, so recently) to an organization that purports to champion the SA and suggested that they publish examples of such violations. In turn, they wrote back (two weeks ago) to say, effectively, "Wizard idea; we will get right on that." No further response so far so I await those examples. I have some examples but I will leave them alone and await "authoritative" folks to provide their "ammunition."
Would that very limited contrary action provoke a constitutional crisis? I really think not; on the other hand, who knows with the current knuckleheads? I have heard DS answer folks who call her a separatist and her response is that she doesn't want to separate; what she does want, she says, is a "re-federation," i.e. a re-worked confederation. I for one absolutely believe that is essential or Canada will fly apart. On the other hand, perhaps it should. But that is a topic for another day.
So, Jen, I do believe - with respect, and very humbly, my dear - that you have that incorrect; let's just put it that way and forget that nasty word, "wrongo."
Okay, personal admission: I joint the UCP (first political party ever for me) to vote against Jason Kenney and I am now a supporter of DS. So sue me.
Next, after Jen finished her screed (thank you Matt for that descriptive), Mr. Gurney calls us "Big Sky Country" - note the capital "C". Please, Sir, Alberta is absolutely NOT Big Sky Country; that is Montana.
Mr. G. I absolutely agree with your commentary on the difference between blame and responsibility. The fact is that all oppositions place blame; that is fair. What is not fair is that when that opposition becomes government they keep blaming the last guy: "Yeah, but Harper..." Far better that the "new" government say, "The old guy did X wrong so here is how we are going to fix it." Simply put, no government wants to take responsibility as it may get in the way of taking credit. Dumbasses!
Jen, perhaps I missed it in the written form but in the video you comment about Alberta not collecting enough taxes to cover their costs. You are correct. I have been talking about that (endlessly, tiresomely, say family and friends) for years. It is not, you understand, that I WANT higher taxes; it is simply that we cannot avoid higher taxes. You (and Matt, also) talk about the level of services that we in Alberta expect, nay demand, to receive. Again, you are correct. We Albertans are spoiled and too stupid to recognize that fact.
Our "loyal" [quotation marks: does that tell you something?] swivel servants earn, on average, more than many similar public employees across the country. That comes as we have for many years had too much money and the politicians have bought off the public employees with higher wages and benefits for a long, long time. Ralph Klein didn't start it but he sure accelerated it by paying higher amounts to entice employees from Saskatchewan and BC. Dumbass!
The problem is that we, the public, are spoiled; we expect / demand far, far too much from our government and are not willing to pay for it. Right now, the UCP leadership candidates are all saying that the next "guy" [four candidates are women, three are men but I will use the generic "guy" nevertheless; again, so sue me] wants a sales tax, something that is verboten in Alberta politics.
There is one candidate (sorry Jen, again, you missed this; oh, you have been away) who did legitimately talk about a sales tax a few years ago when oil was in negative territory and it was clear that the royalties were so minuscule that we had to look at other financing. She also talked about it recently where she said that, really, we need to get our spending in order so that it matches what we raise from taxation, whether we limit that to income tax, fuel taxes, sales tax, etc. and that royalties should be saved. That was not much remarked upon but the ultimate point is that we need to figure out just WHAT SERVICES we want and that will be a difficult situation, you can be certain. Then we need to figure out what we are willing to pay for those services and how to pay for it. Obviously, we cannot use resource revenues endlessly.
Matt, your commentary on the "Russian turbine affair" simply confirmed my view of the JT style and approach to government: awful and unprincipled. But what is new?
I do understand that there are people who end up voting for the Liberals by a process of elimination. I don't agree but I do understand. What I do not understand is how anyone, I mean ANYONE, can be enthusiastic about JT personally.
And so ends my rebuttal screed; again, so glad to have you back.
The problem here is that in cases where the federal government attempts to interfere into provincial jurisdiction (there have indeed been such attempts) we already have legislation in place. It's called the Constitution. And it's why disputes over provincial/federal jurisdiction are and have usually been hashed out within the existing court framework.
What Smith is proposing here is pure theatre. It adds no muscle at all to Alberta's ability to assert jurisdictional authority *already* granted within the constitution.
First off, thank you, Jen, for the reply; as always you are to the point.
Next, I agree that all of this is largely theater ["re" "er" hmmm.... have to think through my Britishisms and Americanisms]. Largely, I believe that there are legitimate beefs with the feds overstepping but not as many as the proponents would have us think. Okay. Now, as near as I can tell, and please remember that I am NOT a constitutional scholar, there are some spots where the feds have actually stepped into clearly provincial territory and that is not okay. Well, unless the feds want to drop the Peace, Order and Good Government issue on everything to "legalize" everything.
So, to summarize, I do believe that there is a large element of theater but I also believe that there is a noticeable element of legitimacy.
And, finally, my own personal opinion (for whatever minuscule amount that is worth) is that the feds have been a) overstepping; and b) screwing up massively in so many ways for so many decades so, yeah, theater is fine, constitutional staring contests are fine, constitutional confrontation is absolutely great. I am simply fed up with the way that Canada is screwing over Alberta. I am of an age where I too can say, "Je me souviens" [with apologies to my French brethren for my poor spelling].
Oh, and the "existing court framework?" Surely you jest. That lot has totally gone over; I will say no more. Incredible delays. Not dealing with things in an even way. Ignoring the Charter, the Constitution, etc., etc. Ooops! I did say more.
So all in all, color me bitter on the subject of the country of my birth.
I live in Brampton. I take bicycle rides in various parts of TO in the summer. I'll second the opinion: TO is not nice to look at. Dundas Square is lipstick on a pig. The only place worth putting around in is Bloor St (just about anywhere, especially High Park area) and the Lakeshore. Everywhere else is meh at best.
There used to be conversations (maybe still are) comparing Chicago to TO. The Chicago project was *carefully planned*. Its waterfront is fantastic. You can still see it from the downtown area. Its streets are clean. Transportation is efficient. That's on top of the city's great historical monuments. Al in all, its the city Toronto should have tried to become, and didn't
In fairness to Toronto (I believe I am the first Calgarian-born to say that), Jen is spoiled by Calgary, which is all very new and shiny-looking, compared to nearly every city on Earth, from its massive 2%/year growth rate for 60+ years (save 1981-1983).
Calgary has the "weak mayor" system, but the Council is much more powerful than in most North American cities, because it is a "Uni-City"; there's no competition from nearby large cities. A Vancouver developer who gets angry at their "Strong Mayor" system forcing development rules can go to Richmond, Burnaby, Surrey, West or North Vancouver. A Calgary developer can go hang. So Calgary got some really smart development, downtown, and all along the river valleys, creating perhaps North America's best bike pathway system, and many other amenities. Decent, if not great, transit, and (relatively) awesome roads.
Here's a British pilot who just got on the main page of Slate.com today, just rhapsodizing about how it's his favourite city in the world:
I haven't lived in Calgary since 2001. Whenever I return, the city's true exceptionalism (good, bad and indifferent) is immediately apparent. Most cities grow at natural crossroads such as harbors, converging navigable waterways, gentle mountain passes etc. Calgary is inverted as it is upstream and up wind of the rest of the world, owing its existence to the artificial transportation link of a railway blasted through rugged mountain ranges along a route chosen mostly to thwart American expansion rather than economics, or terrain. Its geography places it in a surreal convergence of mountains, high plains, parkland and badlands with inland rain forest (around Fernie and Revelstoke) and boreal forest (north of Edmonton) also in relative proximity. The city is set in a giant basin, providing expansive views of the Rockies, the sprawling suburbs 50km away and often looks down on the downtown skyline. Critics may say that the earth is flat in Calgary, but it is actually concave.
Southern Alberta was one of the last regions of North America to be explored and settled, meaning that it was and is somewhat of a blank slate with some utopian ideals. I challenge anyone to name a city that is as clean, well maintained and mostly free of urban decay. Many cities have a large park, but Calgary has several: Fish Creek, Nose Hill, Bowmont, Edworthy, South Glenmore/North Glenmore/Weaselhead, all connected by 1,000km plus of pathways that wind through the entire city. The flipside is the missing "character" of older cities that grew more incrementally over longer periods of time.
Perhaps the greatest manifestation of exceptionalism is Calgary's contrarian steak. It is a city driven by its own economic, social and political cycles being that it is so remote and disconnected from the rest of Canada. Whether that phase sift is ahead of the curve or retrograde is subject to debate.
I can't see myself ever moving back as all Canadian winters are too cold, all Canadian tax rates are too high and no where can deliver the career opportunities available in the US. That being said, a trip to Calgary is always an unique experience.
I call Calgary "The Upside Down", economically. Happy when the rest of the continent is sad, and vice-versa. I didn't understand at the time, really, that the rest of the continent was very sad about "Stagflation" and thought the 70s a hard time. Two one-term presidents in a row, Ford and Carter. But In Calgary, the 70s were *awesome*, everybody had a job and steady raises, housing values went up but we could all pay for them. Then, in 1981, my engineering degree was just about to yield a PEng and a ticket to ease, when the roof fell in, and a year later, 90% of my company (Fluor Canada) had been laid off, I was back in school in a basement suite, and then there were 5 pages of "dollar sales" in The Herald.
Meanwhile, this was Good Times for everybody else, cheap oil put an end to the recession (along with Paul Volcker), and Reagan went from his 1982 ratings in the cellar (look it up) to running on "are you better off now" in 1984. Meanwhile, Calgary actually lost population in 1983, the only year of its history. I was out of my second degree in 1985, and still no work - for a guy with a PEng and CompSci.
So, yeah, we're 180 degrees out-of-phase with the whole global economy, except Houston must relate.
Bloor neighbourhoods, when I lived there, had very community active inhabitants. Dundas Square does not. The secret to a successful city is not just money but people who’adopt’ non-residential areas and lobby on their behalf. A lot of TO public spaces get built with a lot of money and fanfare and just left to moulder. Public spaces need‘guardians’.
I think what people misinterperate in the Alberta Soveriegnty act is they consider it to be separation, when in fact it is turning the tables on what the Federal Government has been doing to Alberta since 2015. The Province has been following the rules and regulations that are in fact "unconstitutional" or outside the Federal Government's jurisdiction to impose until it makes its way to the Supreme Court to be judged. If the Federal Government is truly with in its juridiction (which it is not as per the Constitution) then and only then will the Province comply. The rest is about doing as Quebec does and Collecting our own taxes, pension, Immigration, and have our own Firearms Regulator, and police force, for Provincial autonomy.
Its not about separation or leaving Canada. Until the Supreme Court can judge on the unconstitutionallity of the laws, rules, and regualtions, Alberta will continue to follow what is written in the Constitution. Not the other way around.
One of the key failures of the Canadian legal system is our slow court system. Covid policies saw literally every right in the Charter get violated on sometime very shaky grounds but we still have very few court cases on the merits. The SCC should have expedited the travel bans as they make Canada look like North Korea.
The Liberals know that and its exactly why they act against the Constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedom. The SCC tried to put everything together and due to the travel bans being dropped the Federal Government tried to get the case closed as they were no longer in effect. If they had of succeeded the SCC would have to go back to the drawing board the nexxt time they reinstated travel bans. As it is the Feds ended up getting it delayed until September or October. The whole thing is absolutely unjust. This is why they can ignore the Charter and the Constitution as they know how long it takes and they delay at every point. It needs to be turned around on them.
The CCF and other organizations are taking the Government of Canada to court over the breech of Charter Rights and Freedom. If anyone is unsure of their Charter Rights, it is imparative you get a copy of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and also the Constitution of Canada. If you do not have any idea what is with in the Constitution or the Charter of Rights and Freedoms you will not know when they are being breeched. It is available on Amazon and Indigo. This is also a link to the CCF which is a charitable organization to which is important for all Canadian's to support. https://theccf.ca/
I have had my copy of the Charter since it was signed. I even know where it is.
Of course the CCF is a charitable foundation. So is the Fraser Institute. Neither says much for charity. It's just a tax dodge. When you have to announce that you are independent and non-partisan and have donate buttons everywhere I hear warning bells. There isn't a constitutional issue that these guys wont make up and make money. Christine gives freedom updates and makes videos about her day in her life as a lawyer and broadcast TV hostess. So blonde, so pretty, stupid shoes, please click like on her videos. Christine Anderson follows her. Michael Walker is on the board.
Your belief system is your own and I shall not quibble. I am just answering your question. If your happy with the actions of the Liberal Government of Canada and their action against your fellow Canadian's, that’s your prerogative. There is no need to denigrate a charitable organization because you disagree. It’s not necessary and in fact shows that your ready to denigrate any and everyone who you do not agree with. Fill your boots sir. Far be it for me to argue with such a knower of all.
The passport problem is way different than the airport problem. COVID did not result in any federal workers losing their jobs. On the other hand, tons of airline industry workers left the business. The current demand for passports is lower than the pre-COVID period and the number of passport employees is the same, if not greater. So I really don't understand why they can't issue passports. Did they all forget how to do their job?
Regarding the idea of stopping the blame game; 100% agree. We spend far too much time figuring out who's at fault and not nearly enough time fixing the problem.
I only know what journalists tell me, and having ascertained that this is Trudeau's Problem, The Line have dusted their hands and left him to it. Why not ask them to phone up a bunch of passport offices and ask how many missing personnel files they have? Normally, the question would be brushed off, if possible, because the next question is, "How did you let that happen?"
But my basic calculation stands: it would be a rare business that didn't lose 15%-20% in two years, rather than the usual 10%. If they didn't keep up with the churn, they now have bad shortfalls.
The key here is rare "business". Would you leave a guaranteed government job where you could "work" from home and get extra covid days off in the middle of a pandemic?
Dan, you make it sound as if those who were able to work from home were automatically fog-ducking. Also to Roy's point, have you ever worked from home with kids underfoot and assorted people calling you because, hey, you're at home, right? How busy can you be?
I don't think all WFH'ers are less productive. However, WFH during COVID where children were also forced to be home and receive online education I have to believe that productivity suffered. Changing from hourly to piecework for items such as passports would be illuminating of the subject of WFM.
Yeah, for 15% more pay, like any other job. "Guaranteed" is of little meaning at 3.1% unemployment. Government IT cannot compete with the tech sector, which grew during the pandemic.
The people I'm talking about are valuable people. Everybody who's worked in an office knows there's people that know everything, "keep the place running". (In the Army movies, it's the sergeants. Militaries all try to bump off that 5% of their opponents, that turns the other side into a milling mob; Canadian snipers excel at it.)
The "snipers" that hollowed out the passport office were probably at-home schoolkids. And a bunch of near-seniors getting a case of the fukkits. Those government perqs include early retirement for about 80% of full-retirement.
"We think we spend too much time assigning blame. We need to start spending more time finding solutions." This, so much.
And with this comes a willingness to admit, maybe, we don't know what the solution is yet, and start trying things at a small scale to figure stuff out before we throw huge dollars at it (or keep stalling with another task force).
It’s how you do it. Deal with the easy and most necessary first while you’re thinking about the rest. Once some things are successfully completed, it has been my experience that a willingness to continue on arises, and, since the other things have been thought about, there should be a kind of plan. I have witnessed this many times in my work. Once you demonstrate that there are things that can be done right away, it’s rather amazing how that clears the way, so to speak.
On Ukraine, I'm not even prepared to listen to crapping upon my own country, not while France and Germany are so below us on the Ukraine Support Tracker:
Germany and especially France can start chipping in, proportionate to their larger size than Canada, their much closer proximity. We are fighting (via our support for Ukraine) FOR THEM, as well, to get them out of the damn mess they dug themselves into, trusting Russia to control their electricity and winter heat.
I used to visit Toronto frequently a long time ago and was back there just before Covid. I had forgotten how truly ethnically diverse it is. I had also forgotten how dynamic - in good and ways - downtown is. Finally I truly love how they sprinkle crazy people in an egalitarian way all through downtown. In my City they are mostly in one neighbourhood. For the three days I was in town there was a lady outside our hotel who screamed angrily at everyone who came down the street. Her energy and dedication were impressive.
I was not in this country when Toronto decided to undertake a kind of Grand Plan that brought the suburbs under the metro blanket. From my non-TO vantage point, it seems to me that this has impeded the city’s progress and City Council reflects this. Am I right?
I think there is a typo in "that the return of the PIPELINE wouldn’t prevent Russia from continuing to choke gas supplies to Europe". Is it possible you meant to say TURBINE?
Great dispatche. I'm happy to have read it and watched the video. Great points on "blame" vs "responsibility". I am certainly guilty as charged.
There is zero traction for an Alberta separatist or sovereignty movement. None. The elite and opinion makers don't support it and quite frankly Albertans aren't rebels. They don't have the will or stomach for it. Union or an association with the US though, yeah that can take off. It would have support from the opinion makers and elite from the top down. Central Canada can only kick down Alberta's movers and shakers so much before it looks for a new suitor. Ottawa has been so focused on Quebec and the Montreal Liberal Party for unity that it has forgotten about the rest of the country.
Toronto, one of the worlds most generous immigration systems doesn't build a city. It requires investment and leadership as well and Toronto suffers from a pathetically risk adverse elite that quite frankly isn't so sure about the world city thing. A big fish in small pond is fine, but a big pond?
Toronto is so wound up the city can't be managed properly and the leaders don't even trust corner stores to sell beer on a cold day let alone let the plebs have a cold one in the park. Mediocre Laurentian leadership in Toronto holds it back more than anything IMHO.
With respect to Danielle Smith, there is a logic to her decisions if you look deeper. At here floor crossing in 2015, she had predicted that a divided conservative government could not win against the NDP which ultimately proved to be true. With respect to vaccine mandates and federal decisions, her views paralleled a lot of rural Alberta which had one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country. This contributed to a lot of the flack around Jason Kenney, the increased infection rates, and his subsequent demise.
Similarly the Equalization Referendum and Sovereignty Act, although they will likely never succeed, at least indicate that Alberta has a bit of a problem with climate plan. Note that Saskatchewan has notionally said very similar things. It is like throwing rocks at the tanks when the Russians invaded in 1968 as it is more for the visual effect than anything else.
The challenge against the carbon tax however was different. It did have a possibility of succeeding because the carbon tax was both a pure carbon tax and a cap-and-trade effort in which the federal government could target industry sectors. Doug Ford dropped the cap-and-trade legislation that Kathleen Wynne brought in and Trudeau brings it back to tame Alberta's carbon emissions.
Why make this an election issue? Because climate change action is an existential threat to Alberta. About 70% of Alberta's exports are still oil and gas so anything you do to Alberta's oil and gas sector directly affects the incomes of all Albertans. There was a time before heavy oil helped Saskatchewan's income when I got to see some of this first hand. At the time the government was taking some primary roads and converting them back into gravel because hey didn't have the money to maintain them. To anyone in the oil and gas business, Steven Guilbeault is about as threatening as a gorilla with an assault rifle.
Will urban Alberta forgive Danielle Smith her foibles enough to elect her rather the leader of a party which is demonstrably anti resource industry? Rachel Notley has only avoided flack because she is politically invisible for the moment. I predict a political cat fight.
Christy Clark was in office in BC starting in 1996. in 2001 Gordon Campbell made her Deputy Premier and the Education Portfolio. She proceeded to trash the BC public school system but private schools and their parents made out like bandits. The changes made were challenged by the BC Teacher's Federation and were later found to be unconstitutional.
Christy left politics in '04 for her 3-year-old (she said) and took up with a radio station CKNW. And she wrote a few articles for Post Media. The Christy Clark Show ran until 2010 when she ran for party leader after Gordon Campbell stepped down with a 9% approval rating. Besides leaving education in shambles she was also involved in the BC Rail Scandal, privatizing BC Ferries and padding the books with ICBC monies.
She learned nothing while talking into a microphone. I'm sure Smith is much like our Christy. Listen if you like but remember they don't actually know anything useful at all. It's just blah blah blah and indignation.
You can do a lot worse than Notley and you have. David won't take the job, he's retired and enjoying life and his grandkids.
Why keep using the word woke. You don't know what it means. There is nothing common about sense. You should know that by now too.
I remember that for Horgan to get into power against Clark he had to make a deal with the Green Party. Since that time the greens have declared him a traitor for supporting LNG projects. But that's politics. The UCP dump Smith and Horgan dumps the greens. It shows the bipolar nature of the NDP however. They like union jobs and a lot of oil and gas jobs are union. They also want to tie themselves to the green movement which hates oil and gas but not as much as coal.
Rachel Notley and Jason Kenney have something in common. They are both tied to a party with conflicting interests.
You are not entirely wrong but the Green Party only took 3 seats in 2017. Just enough to hold the balance of power with the NDP against the BC Libs. Prior to the 2020 election, Green Party leader Andrew Wilkinson said he hopes Horgan wins the premiership again as BC is well served by the NDP. No, they didn't see eye to eye on everything but keeping the Libs out was the only logical thing to do. Weaver stepped down from the caucus in early 2020 so there was only 2 Green MLAs left. Not really a dumping.
Your first mistake is that there is a UCP in Alberta. Even those in the party know there is nothing united about it. A lot of people voted for the NDP. A lot of people remember Smith. While I don't know a lot of people who still live there, the ones that do are fed up with Kenney and don't look to Smith as a replacement.
Smith's sovereignty gig starts with: "Alberta’s treatment within Canada has become intolerable." Moves on to "the Empire Strikes Back", and wraps up explaining that they are "Western Canadians" even though they are still on the wrong side of the Rockies. The entire screed is another kick at the can of "Separation For Dummies" and one long whine. It's all the Feds' fault and they don't want to take it anymore. Nothing about responsibility (or blame). Nothing about what the people of Alberta have gone through the past 2 years and what they'll do to make life better for the people. No addressing current problems or issues. It's a very one-sided, cherry-picked, effort by two lawyers and a poli-sci prof who managed to write it in 45 pages including footnotes and pictures. Maybe these guys can find all that money that Jason lost.
Notley didn't do what you wanted her to. BFG. You call her brain dead and tone deaf. She did a lot for Alberta. Kenney, not so much. You? Even less.
You are up and time zone(s) over from me. What are you up to, peeking in sleeping people's bedrooms? I'm a night owl and I do my best work during the quiet hours. And you say night shift with a definite sneer as if any occupation that keeps people up late is a bad thing. You don't know what woke means and you also don't know its antonym.
You don't seem to take joy in anything Pat. So easy to always go with the ugly.
Kenney is not necessary for anything useful. He's a grifter and a fraud and a cheat. If the money, $4B, isn't missing where is it? Where did it go? Wylie covers both cheeks saying it's missing but not really missing. Even the AG is lame. Is Alberta the only province, er sovereign entity, that doesn't have to account for what it blows out the door? It's not my concern except when the riffraff slides over the mountains into the west. I'm sure the RCMP or the about to be newly formed para-military of AB will look into it soonish.
Starting with Nenshi we have a lot more political engagement through the internet, which Gondek also took advantage of. I consider it the "air war" of political strategies.
Baggage loader doesn't have a lot of skill, but it's miserable work, in horrid conditions for terrible pay. Ticket agent is now worse based on current passenger behaviour. We had a chance to rise to the occasion. Instead, we dug for the bottom.
"Government policy killed travel"? That's utterly absurd. Government policies weren't even in place when airlines started shutting down as passenger bookings plummeted. Traffic in Toronto dropped by 90% within 2 weeks after the NBA shut down and COVID's reality arrived in North America. People made their own decisions. Recall that at the time, very little was known about it, and governments were way behind. That's what crippled the industry; that and not making any coherent plans for a restart.
How much "government assistance" is still in place for workers? Aviation's collapse is global. Nice that at least you recognise that.
You really do think the very worst of your fellow man/woman. Yes, I suppose that in the past two plus years someone at all of the airports/ferries/transit companies said, "screw this, let's all go work for Mr X at XYZCorp because the pay/hours/job is better than humping luggage in the rain/snow/sleet/heat and we won't have strangers screaming in our faces or we could start that business we always wanted or maybe something else. And a few no doubt decided a life of leisure was the ticket.
COVID was unprecedented. The world tipped and has not completely righted itself. Maybe it never will. But most people, even with training, skills, certifications and clearances for one thing are perfectly willing and capable of making changes to avail themselves of other things. It is also known as freedom. Not everyone expresses themselves as poorly as those sad clowns in Ottawa this past winter.
If they are not behind their desks as you seem to think they belong, where do you imagine they went? They aren't collecting CERB, they haven't vanished, they are still out there. I'd wish them all the best if I were you.
I'm on the wet coast and on Friday we learned that the CEO of BC Ferries (one of the largest ferry fleets in the world) has been sacked. 173 missed sailings in 28 days, due to staff shortages, an insane reservation system, and a choice of 3 apologies. Staffing has long been a problem because regular crew are on call, miss 3 calls and you are out of work. There must be a minimum number of crew on board for a certain number of passengers (Transport Canada rules/regs (gatekeepers!)) If the number of crew is too low a ship that holds 100s of cars & walk-on passengers does not sail. Everyone waits for the next boat while more people line up behind them ... for hours. Soon it's thousands waiting and people are angry.
Now if BC Ferries (they know summers are always crazy busy) actually improved the crew's conditions, and hired them full-time, the training is pretty basic, cash in the cafeteria is even more basic, pay a living wage most of the problems including cancelling all sailings from one island all day! would not happen. Once BCF was a great job. Now, not so much.
It turns out the CEO was making more $$ than he should, he had 7 VPs also making big money, and he will get severance because he is leaving before his contract is over. Privatization at its finest.
Everything's running badly now because of people, and Prasad's Law.
https://boingboing.net/2019/12/06/lobby-rinse-repeat.html
During the pandemic, we worried about McJobs, the service folks behind the register. But people who need background to do their job, training and time-in-job to know it, are not replaced merely with money, it takes time and experience. Businesses lose, what, 5% of them every year, to retirement and babies and career change? But we probably lost 15%-20% of them in a lot of businesses, during the two years, not 10%.
And did almost no hiring. Why? The airlines were closed. No need. There WAS money, at least in the States; in 2020, the airlines were handed a $19B in federal funds - not long after they'd handed out about $19B in stock buy-backs. But, why not just keep the money? Always the investor preference.
Prasad's Law suggests there's always a stickiness to hiring, a tendency to stretch existing staff. Now our ERs and our airlines all have so many missing files, and it's hard to train staff when the would-be trainers are going 110% to keep up 75% service.
A good free market, with many airlines that were smaller, might have shown some real free market action: a few airlines would have kept staff, would be running at full, investors would notice, good behaviour rewarded, better service would come. But, they're an oligopoly. It's not really a free market, no more than Canadian telecommunications is. (The Rogers screwup will likely be found to be systemic employee errors, where there were several of them that collided into a 'perfect storm', from their own pandemic personnel losses.)
I wonder how many civil servants we lost during Covid. I wonder how many are still not back at work. I wonder if we had a quota on passport production if there wouldn't have been an issue.
The military has this concept of filling jobs whether they are needed or not. They understand that they sit around waiting for work, most of the time. Protective services in general get the concept.
I haven't heard of a lot of staffing problems for police or firefighters, for instance; a little googling just now turned up no stories. They probably kept up hiring. But passport offices? If business was way down, and people left, you can see most bosses just slow-walking the replacements, to save on budget. EVERY business, public and private, does this, unless they have a mandated requirement to keep positions filled.
Well I can think of 2 reasons -- keep the same budget levels or lose it and keep the same or larger number of direct reports. If fact, without quotas, I have to believe that WFH meant a huge drop in productivity and more new hires were required just to maintain levels of service.
Oh, not-filling-positions doesn't cost you the budget for empty slots - you just get credit for being under-budget! If you leave them unfilled for years, yeah - but the pandemic would have been the perfect excuse for not pursuing position-reductions.
The Pandemic was this brilliant time to train people, the way the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-2011 was a brilliant time to build infrastructure with low prices, and low interest. (The subject of a few dozen Krugman columns.) Naturally, both opportunities were squandered to "save money" ... at much greater cost, later on.
These stats only go to March of 2021, but show growth in the Federal Civil Service: https://www.tbs-sct.canada.ca/ems-sgd/edb-bdd/index-eng.html#infographic/gov/gov/people/
Suggests a lack of productivity, rather than a lack of resourcing
Unless, of course, the duties had been expanded. The real growth is over 15% in five years, by population alone. But if old people need more government employees, for health care, and the population of old people grows much more than 4%, you'd get an increased need for services, without changes in productivity.
Also, if societal standards just changed - that we should provide better health care,or education, or pave more roads - then government work would increase in response to demand. Then, complaint would be like saying the rapid growth of Tesla must show that Tesla employees have declining productivity.
I returned to Canada during the Orewellian common sense thingy. There can be no denying the visciousness with which the least powerful Ontario population was attacked. The changes being demanded came at breakneck speed. Municipalities of all sizes suddenly had social housing dropped in their laps, along with an envelope of the only pittance they would get to keep people housed. Income assistance became workfare which hit women with children with full force. Etc…. The ‘winners’ were the taxpayers who, instead of paying for the needs of those in dire straits at that time, have continued to pay for them and their trickledown results to this day.
The Wynne government ended up with an inherited debt with a significant number of zeros, and an opportunity to undertake a policy of investment rather spending. Instead of fixing the things that needed fixing, and still do, it took a road that went nowhere really good, with a lot of scenic side trips. The fact that they continued to use Mike Harris as a reason to avoid fixing things was just sad. Not incorrect but useless, since it doesn’t matter how the patient broke the leg, it still needs attention. I expect this lead to the complete loss of support amidst a lot of anger. And this is an excellent example of what happens when you refuse to take responsibility for something when it is in your court.
Toronto is 50 years of studies not followed by actions. Growing up there 50 years, ago, they were studying what to do with the Gardiner Expressway. 50 years; no changes. There is no plan.
The aviation industry is in full meltdown. There were significant pilot and controller shortages coming into COVID globally, but lets focus on Canada. These are not problems quickly overcome, as the learning process takes time, as does gaining the experience to move into the more complex roles. In short, aviation is going to be a mess for the foreseeable future; airlines need to check with crew scheduling, and then come out with a schedule that reflects the staff they have as opposed what they could do 5 years ago.
Oh boy!! Another task force. Sounds about as useful as farting at a hurricane. I would suggest the PMO; the office that runs the country is as paralysed as the government that is actually supposed to be doing it. They hold up shiny objects like the Pope's visit to distract from a collapsing healthcare system, a collapsing transportation system, a collapsed military, a failure of the civil service to approach provision of the most basic of government services while the debt spirals without a shred of a plan from any party as to how to reel it in.
They're just going through the motions now; overwhelmed and curled up in the corner in the fetal position but devoid of solutions for anything. It's all rather pitiful.
One of the criticisms of Trudeau in 2015 was that he had no real work experience other than short stints as a drama teacher and a motivational speaker. I think the past 7 years have illustrated that he’s been doing what he knows (the performative aspects of acting like a Prime Minister, playing the political messaging game), but has not otherwise grown into the job. Worse, he doesn’t seem aware of his own limitations, which could’ve been remedied by delegating more to cabinet ministers. He’s instead decided that his campaign successes are evidence of his genius in other areas, leading to increasingly centralized control of the government and marginalization of stronger, more capable people like Mark Garneau, Jane Philpott, and Jody Wilson-Raybould.
I think he had a vision in 2015...but no idea how hard it might be to implement. SNC was his first massive misstep and only because of Andrew Scheer did it not cost him his job. He's been an almost nonstop collection of bad decisions since...with a brief interlude for COVID where he actually listened to, and parroted the advice of experts. he hit his low point with JWR...but kept on digging. That he has continued to win speaks volumes about the alternatives.
Courtesy requires two things to begin.
First, I offer my condolences to Ms. Gerson for her loss.
Second, I must make clear that I am grateful that you (collective "you," to be sure) are back. I AM able to find intelligent commentary other than The Line but ...... it is rare, indeed. So, again, I am very happy that you are back. On that vein, I will have to check out The Hub; thank you for the mention.
Now, some comments; please understand that you have many topics this week so I have many (bloviating, to be sure) comments this week.
Jen, you clearly denigrate Danielle Smith's proposed Sovereignty Act, among other reasons, that it will purport to allow Alberta to abrogate federal law in federal jurisdiction, at least in terms of it's application to Alberta. I must - gently - advise that (as I understand it, anyway) you are slightly/completely/utterly incorrect.
As I understand it [yeah, qualifier, I know], the proposed SA is intended to deal with federal law that actually intrudes on PROVINCIAL jurisdiction as defined in Sections 92 and 92A of the Constitution of Canada. Additionally, where the federal government passes legislation that violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (of which there have been a multitude over the past few years), the Alberta government would be authorized to say, "Thank you, but not here." As I understand it, of course.
Now, for what would constitute examples of federal overstepping into provincial jurisdiction I can certainly think of many such example but, clearly, some of those have been with the agreement of the provinces (including Alberta), for example, health care. Others, there are examples of which I can think where the province held hearing on topics and came to a conclusion and the feds came to a contrary conclusion. I will leave that there and make no further assertions on that point other than to say I have written (last month, so recently) to an organization that purports to champion the SA and suggested that they publish examples of such violations. In turn, they wrote back (two weeks ago) to say, effectively, "Wizard idea; we will get right on that." No further response so far so I await those examples. I have some examples but I will leave them alone and await "authoritative" folks to provide their "ammunition."
Would that very limited contrary action provoke a constitutional crisis? I really think not; on the other hand, who knows with the current knuckleheads? I have heard DS answer folks who call her a separatist and her response is that she doesn't want to separate; what she does want, she says, is a "re-federation," i.e. a re-worked confederation. I for one absolutely believe that is essential or Canada will fly apart. On the other hand, perhaps it should. But that is a topic for another day.
So, Jen, I do believe - with respect, and very humbly, my dear - that you have that incorrect; let's just put it that way and forget that nasty word, "wrongo."
Okay, personal admission: I joint the UCP (first political party ever for me) to vote against Jason Kenney and I am now a supporter of DS. So sue me.
Next, after Jen finished her screed (thank you Matt for that descriptive), Mr. Gurney calls us "Big Sky Country" - note the capital "C". Please, Sir, Alberta is absolutely NOT Big Sky Country; that is Montana.
Mr. G. I absolutely agree with your commentary on the difference between blame and responsibility. The fact is that all oppositions place blame; that is fair. What is not fair is that when that opposition becomes government they keep blaming the last guy: "Yeah, but Harper..." Far better that the "new" government say, "The old guy did X wrong so here is how we are going to fix it." Simply put, no government wants to take responsibility as it may get in the way of taking credit. Dumbasses!
Jen, perhaps I missed it in the written form but in the video you comment about Alberta not collecting enough taxes to cover their costs. You are correct. I have been talking about that (endlessly, tiresomely, say family and friends) for years. It is not, you understand, that I WANT higher taxes; it is simply that we cannot avoid higher taxes. You (and Matt, also) talk about the level of services that we in Alberta expect, nay demand, to receive. Again, you are correct. We Albertans are spoiled and too stupid to recognize that fact.
Our "loyal" [quotation marks: does that tell you something?] swivel servants earn, on average, more than many similar public employees across the country. That comes as we have for many years had too much money and the politicians have bought off the public employees with higher wages and benefits for a long, long time. Ralph Klein didn't start it but he sure accelerated it by paying higher amounts to entice employees from Saskatchewan and BC. Dumbass!
The problem is that we, the public, are spoiled; we expect / demand far, far too much from our government and are not willing to pay for it. Right now, the UCP leadership candidates are all saying that the next "guy" [four candidates are women, three are men but I will use the generic "guy" nevertheless; again, so sue me] wants a sales tax, something that is verboten in Alberta politics.
There is one candidate (sorry Jen, again, you missed this; oh, you have been away) who did legitimately talk about a sales tax a few years ago when oil was in negative territory and it was clear that the royalties were so minuscule that we had to look at other financing. She also talked about it recently where she said that, really, we need to get our spending in order so that it matches what we raise from taxation, whether we limit that to income tax, fuel taxes, sales tax, etc. and that royalties should be saved. That was not much remarked upon but the ultimate point is that we need to figure out just WHAT SERVICES we want and that will be a difficult situation, you can be certain. Then we need to figure out what we are willing to pay for those services and how to pay for it. Obviously, we cannot use resource revenues endlessly.
Matt, your commentary on the "Russian turbine affair" simply confirmed my view of the JT style and approach to government: awful and unprincipled. But what is new?
I do understand that there are people who end up voting for the Liberals by a process of elimination. I don't agree but I do understand. What I do not understand is how anyone, I mean ANYONE, can be enthusiastic about JT personally.
And so ends my rebuttal screed; again, so glad to have you back.
Hi Ken,
The problem here is that in cases where the federal government attempts to interfere into provincial jurisdiction (there have indeed been such attempts) we already have legislation in place. It's called the Constitution. And it's why disputes over provincial/federal jurisdiction are and have usually been hashed out within the existing court framework.
What Smith is proposing here is pure theatre. It adds no muscle at all to Alberta's ability to assert jurisdictional authority *already* granted within the constitution.
J
First off, thank you, Jen, for the reply; as always you are to the point.
Next, I agree that all of this is largely theater ["re" "er" hmmm.... have to think through my Britishisms and Americanisms]. Largely, I believe that there are legitimate beefs with the feds overstepping but not as many as the proponents would have us think. Okay. Now, as near as I can tell, and please remember that I am NOT a constitutional scholar, there are some spots where the feds have actually stepped into clearly provincial territory and that is not okay. Well, unless the feds want to drop the Peace, Order and Good Government issue on everything to "legalize" everything.
So, to summarize, I do believe that there is a large element of theater but I also believe that there is a noticeable element of legitimacy.
And, finally, my own personal opinion (for whatever minuscule amount that is worth) is that the feds have been a) overstepping; and b) screwing up massively in so many ways for so many decades so, yeah, theater is fine, constitutional staring contests are fine, constitutional confrontation is absolutely great. I am simply fed up with the way that Canada is screwing over Alberta. I am of an age where I too can say, "Je me souviens" [with apologies to my French brethren for my poor spelling].
Oh, and the "existing court framework?" Surely you jest. That lot has totally gone over; I will say no more. Incredible delays. Not dealing with things in an even way. Ignoring the Charter, the Constitution, etc., etc. Ooops! I did say more.
So all in all, color me bitter on the subject of the country of my birth.
I live in Brampton. I take bicycle rides in various parts of TO in the summer. I'll second the opinion: TO is not nice to look at. Dundas Square is lipstick on a pig. The only place worth putting around in is Bloor St (just about anywhere, especially High Park area) and the Lakeshore. Everywhere else is meh at best.
There used to be conversations (maybe still are) comparing Chicago to TO. The Chicago project was *carefully planned*. Its waterfront is fantastic. You can still see it from the downtown area. Its streets are clean. Transportation is efficient. That's on top of the city's great historical monuments. Al in all, its the city Toronto should have tried to become, and didn't
In fairness to Toronto (I believe I am the first Calgarian-born to say that), Jen is spoiled by Calgary, which is all very new and shiny-looking, compared to nearly every city on Earth, from its massive 2%/year growth rate for 60+ years (save 1981-1983).
Calgary has the "weak mayor" system, but the Council is much more powerful than in most North American cities, because it is a "Uni-City"; there's no competition from nearby large cities. A Vancouver developer who gets angry at their "Strong Mayor" system forcing development rules can go to Richmond, Burnaby, Surrey, West or North Vancouver. A Calgary developer can go hang. So Calgary got some really smart development, downtown, and all along the river valleys, creating perhaps North America's best bike pathway system, and many other amenities. Decent, if not great, transit, and (relatively) awesome roads.
Here's a British pilot who just got on the main page of Slate.com today, just rhapsodizing about how it's his favourite city in the world:
https://slate.com/business/2022/07/mark-vanhoenacker-pilot-imagine-a-city-excerpt-calgary-running.html
I haven't lived in Calgary since 2001. Whenever I return, the city's true exceptionalism (good, bad and indifferent) is immediately apparent. Most cities grow at natural crossroads such as harbors, converging navigable waterways, gentle mountain passes etc. Calgary is inverted as it is upstream and up wind of the rest of the world, owing its existence to the artificial transportation link of a railway blasted through rugged mountain ranges along a route chosen mostly to thwart American expansion rather than economics, or terrain. Its geography places it in a surreal convergence of mountains, high plains, parkland and badlands with inland rain forest (around Fernie and Revelstoke) and boreal forest (north of Edmonton) also in relative proximity. The city is set in a giant basin, providing expansive views of the Rockies, the sprawling suburbs 50km away and often looks down on the downtown skyline. Critics may say that the earth is flat in Calgary, but it is actually concave.
Southern Alberta was one of the last regions of North America to be explored and settled, meaning that it was and is somewhat of a blank slate with some utopian ideals. I challenge anyone to name a city that is as clean, well maintained and mostly free of urban decay. Many cities have a large park, but Calgary has several: Fish Creek, Nose Hill, Bowmont, Edworthy, South Glenmore/North Glenmore/Weaselhead, all connected by 1,000km plus of pathways that wind through the entire city. The flipside is the missing "character" of older cities that grew more incrementally over longer periods of time.
Perhaps the greatest manifestation of exceptionalism is Calgary's contrarian steak. It is a city driven by its own economic, social and political cycles being that it is so remote and disconnected from the rest of Canada. Whether that phase sift is ahead of the curve or retrograde is subject to debate.
I can't see myself ever moving back as all Canadian winters are too cold, all Canadian tax rates are too high and no where can deliver the career opportunities available in the US. That being said, a trip to Calgary is always an unique experience.
I call Calgary "The Upside Down", economically. Happy when the rest of the continent is sad, and vice-versa. I didn't understand at the time, really, that the rest of the continent was very sad about "Stagflation" and thought the 70s a hard time. Two one-term presidents in a row, Ford and Carter. But In Calgary, the 70s were *awesome*, everybody had a job and steady raises, housing values went up but we could all pay for them. Then, in 1981, my engineering degree was just about to yield a PEng and a ticket to ease, when the roof fell in, and a year later, 90% of my company (Fluor Canada) had been laid off, I was back in school in a basement suite, and then there were 5 pages of "dollar sales" in The Herald.
Meanwhile, this was Good Times for everybody else, cheap oil put an end to the recession (along with Paul Volcker), and Reagan went from his 1982 ratings in the cellar (look it up) to running on "are you better off now" in 1984. Meanwhile, Calgary actually lost population in 1983, the only year of its history. I was out of my second degree in 1985, and still no work - for a guy with a PEng and CompSci.
So, yeah, we're 180 degrees out-of-phase with the whole global economy, except Houston must relate.
Bloor neighbourhoods, when I lived there, had very community active inhabitants. Dundas Square does not. The secret to a successful city is not just money but people who’adopt’ non-residential areas and lobby on their behalf. A lot of TO public spaces get built with a lot of money and fanfare and just left to moulder. Public spaces need‘guardians’.
I think what people misinterperate in the Alberta Soveriegnty act is they consider it to be separation, when in fact it is turning the tables on what the Federal Government has been doing to Alberta since 2015. The Province has been following the rules and regulations that are in fact "unconstitutional" or outside the Federal Government's jurisdiction to impose until it makes its way to the Supreme Court to be judged. If the Federal Government is truly with in its juridiction (which it is not as per the Constitution) then and only then will the Province comply. The rest is about doing as Quebec does and Collecting our own taxes, pension, Immigration, and have our own Firearms Regulator, and police force, for Provincial autonomy.
Its not about separation or leaving Canada. Until the Supreme Court can judge on the unconstitutionallity of the laws, rules, and regualtions, Alberta will continue to follow what is written in the Constitution. Not the other way around.
One of the key failures of the Canadian legal system is our slow court system. Covid policies saw literally every right in the Charter get violated on sometime very shaky grounds but we still have very few court cases on the merits. The SCC should have expedited the travel bans as they make Canada look like North Korea.
The Liberals know that and its exactly why they act against the Constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedom. The SCC tried to put everything together and due to the travel bans being dropped the Federal Government tried to get the case closed as they were no longer in effect. If they had of succeeded the SCC would have to go back to the drawing board the nexxt time they reinstated travel bans. As it is the Feds ended up getting it delayed until September or October. The whole thing is absolutely unjust. This is why they can ignore the Charter and the Constitution as they know how long it takes and they delay at every point. It needs to be turned around on them.
Who is suing the feds re travel bans? And what has it got to do with the Charter etc?
The CCF and other organizations are taking the Government of Canada to court over the breech of Charter Rights and Freedom. If anyone is unsure of their Charter Rights, it is imparative you get a copy of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and also the Constitution of Canada. If you do not have any idea what is with in the Constitution or the Charter of Rights and Freedoms you will not know when they are being breeched. It is available on Amazon and Indigo. This is also a link to the CCF which is a charitable organization to which is important for all Canadian's to support. https://theccf.ca/
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/breach-breech-usage
I have had my copy of the Charter since it was signed. I even know where it is.
Of course the CCF is a charitable foundation. So is the Fraser Institute. Neither says much for charity. It's just a tax dodge. When you have to announce that you are independent and non-partisan and have donate buttons everywhere I hear warning bells. There isn't a constitutional issue that these guys wont make up and make money. Christine gives freedom updates and makes videos about her day in her life as a lawyer and broadcast TV hostess. So blonde, so pretty, stupid shoes, please click like on her videos. Christine Anderson follows her. Michael Walker is on the board.
Be careful how much you donate. Get reciepts.
Your belief system is your own and I shall not quibble. I am just answering your question. If your happy with the actions of the Liberal Government of Canada and their action against your fellow Canadian's, that’s your prerogative. There is no need to denigrate a charitable organization because you disagree. It’s not necessary and in fact shows that your ready to denigrate any and everyone who you do not agree with. Fill your boots sir. Far be it for me to argue with such a knower of all.
The passport problem is way different than the airport problem. COVID did not result in any federal workers losing their jobs. On the other hand, tons of airline industry workers left the business. The current demand for passports is lower than the pre-COVID period and the number of passport employees is the same, if not greater. So I really don't understand why they can't issue passports. Did they all forget how to do their job?
Regarding the idea of stopping the blame game; 100% agree. We spend far too much time figuring out who's at fault and not nearly enough time fixing the problem.
The passport office didn't fire people, but lots left anyway. Early retirement, babies...
Roy can you tell me how many left and weren't replaced? I couldn't find that information anywhere. We do know that the government has been hiring like crazy! https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-the-pandemics-pain-vanishes-for-the-public-sector-as-jobs-surge-to/
I only know what journalists tell me, and having ascertained that this is Trudeau's Problem, The Line have dusted their hands and left him to it. Why not ask them to phone up a bunch of passport offices and ask how many missing personnel files they have? Normally, the question would be brushed off, if possible, because the next question is, "How did you let that happen?"
But my basic calculation stands: it would be a rare business that didn't lose 15%-20% in two years, rather than the usual 10%. If they didn't keep up with the churn, they now have bad shortfalls.
The key here is rare "business". Would you leave a guaranteed government job where you could "work" from home and get extra covid days off in the middle of a pandemic?
Dan, you make it sound as if those who were able to work from home were automatically fog-ducking. Also to Roy's point, have you ever worked from home with kids underfoot and assorted people calling you because, hey, you're at home, right? How busy can you be?
I don't think all WFH'ers are less productive. However, WFH during COVID where children were also forced to be home and receive online education I have to believe that productivity suffered. Changing from hourly to piecework for items such as passports would be illuminating of the subject of WFM.
Yeah, for 15% more pay, like any other job. "Guaranteed" is of little meaning at 3.1% unemployment. Government IT cannot compete with the tech sector, which grew during the pandemic.
The people I'm talking about are valuable people. Everybody who's worked in an office knows there's people that know everything, "keep the place running". (In the Army movies, it's the sergeants. Militaries all try to bump off that 5% of their opponents, that turns the other side into a milling mob; Canadian snipers excel at it.)
The "snipers" that hollowed out the passport office were probably at-home schoolkids. And a bunch of near-seniors getting a case of the fukkits. Those government perqs include early retirement for about 80% of full-retirement.
A plaque saying "Fix the Problem not the Blame" should be placed above many many desks in this country.
"We think we spend too much time assigning blame. We need to start spending more time finding solutions." This, so much.
And with this comes a willingness to admit, maybe, we don't know what the solution is yet, and start trying things at a small scale to figure stuff out before we throw huge dollars at it (or keep stalling with another task force).
It’s how you do it. Deal with the easy and most necessary first while you’re thinking about the rest. Once some things are successfully completed, it has been my experience that a willingness to continue on arises, and, since the other things have been thought about, there should be a kind of plan. I have witnessed this many times in my work. Once you demonstrate that there are things that can be done right away, it’s rather amazing how that clears the way, so to speak.
On Ukraine, I'm not even prepared to listen to crapping upon my own country, not while France and Germany are so below us on the Ukraine Support Tracker:
https://www.ifw-kiel.de/topics/war-against-ukraine/ukraine-support-tracker/
Germany and especially France can start chipping in, proportionate to their larger size than Canada, their much closer proximity. We are fighting (via our support for Ukraine) FOR THEM, as well, to get them out of the damn mess they dug themselves into, trusting Russia to control their electricity and winter heat.
I used to visit Toronto frequently a long time ago and was back there just before Covid. I had forgotten how truly ethnically diverse it is. I had also forgotten how dynamic - in good and ways - downtown is. Finally I truly love how they sprinkle crazy people in an egalitarian way all through downtown. In my City they are mostly in one neighbourhood. For the three days I was in town there was a lady outside our hotel who screamed angrily at everyone who came down the street. Her energy and dedication were impressive.
I was not in this country when Toronto decided to undertake a kind of Grand Plan that brought the suburbs under the metro blanket. From my non-TO vantage point, it seems to me that this has impeded the city’s progress and City Council reflects this. Am I right?
Firstly, condolonces to Jen and her family.
I think there is a typo in "that the return of the PIPELINE wouldn’t prevent Russia from continuing to choke gas supplies to Europe". Is it possible you meant to say TURBINE?
Great dispatche. I'm happy to have read it and watched the video. Great points on "blame" vs "responsibility". I am certainly guilty as charged.
There is zero traction for an Alberta separatist or sovereignty movement. None. The elite and opinion makers don't support it and quite frankly Albertans aren't rebels. They don't have the will or stomach for it. Union or an association with the US though, yeah that can take off. It would have support from the opinion makers and elite from the top down. Central Canada can only kick down Alberta's movers and shakers so much before it looks for a new suitor. Ottawa has been so focused on Quebec and the Montreal Liberal Party for unity that it has forgotten about the rest of the country.
Toronto, one of the worlds most generous immigration systems doesn't build a city. It requires investment and leadership as well and Toronto suffers from a pathetically risk adverse elite that quite frankly isn't so sure about the world city thing. A big fish in small pond is fine, but a big pond?
Toronto is so wound up the city can't be managed properly and the leaders don't even trust corner stores to sell beer on a cold day let alone let the plebs have a cold one in the park. Mediocre Laurentian leadership in Toronto holds it back more than anything IMHO.
With respect to Danielle Smith, there is a logic to her decisions if you look deeper. At here floor crossing in 2015, she had predicted that a divided conservative government could not win against the NDP which ultimately proved to be true. With respect to vaccine mandates and federal decisions, her views paralleled a lot of rural Alberta which had one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country. This contributed to a lot of the flack around Jason Kenney, the increased infection rates, and his subsequent demise.
Similarly the Equalization Referendum and Sovereignty Act, although they will likely never succeed, at least indicate that Alberta has a bit of a problem with climate plan. Note that Saskatchewan has notionally said very similar things. It is like throwing rocks at the tanks when the Russians invaded in 1968 as it is more for the visual effect than anything else.
The challenge against the carbon tax however was different. It did have a possibility of succeeding because the carbon tax was both a pure carbon tax and a cap-and-trade effort in which the federal government could target industry sectors. Doug Ford dropped the cap-and-trade legislation that Kathleen Wynne brought in and Trudeau brings it back to tame Alberta's carbon emissions.
Why make this an election issue? Because climate change action is an existential threat to Alberta. About 70% of Alberta's exports are still oil and gas so anything you do to Alberta's oil and gas sector directly affects the incomes of all Albertans. There was a time before heavy oil helped Saskatchewan's income when I got to see some of this first hand. At the time the government was taking some primary roads and converting them back into gravel because hey didn't have the money to maintain them. To anyone in the oil and gas business, Steven Guilbeault is about as threatening as a gorilla with an assault rifle.
Will urban Alberta forgive Danielle Smith her foibles enough to elect her rather the leader of a party which is demonstrably anti resource industry? Rachel Notley has only avoided flack because she is politically invisible for the moment. I predict a political cat fight.
Christy Clark was in office in BC starting in 1996. in 2001 Gordon Campbell made her Deputy Premier and the Education Portfolio. She proceeded to trash the BC public school system but private schools and their parents made out like bandits. The changes made were challenged by the BC Teacher's Federation and were later found to be unconstitutional.
Christy left politics in '04 for her 3-year-old (she said) and took up with a radio station CKNW. And she wrote a few articles for Post Media. The Christy Clark Show ran until 2010 when she ran for party leader after Gordon Campbell stepped down with a 9% approval rating. Besides leaving education in shambles she was also involved in the BC Rail Scandal, privatizing BC Ferries and padding the books with ICBC monies.
She learned nothing while talking into a microphone. I'm sure Smith is much like our Christy. Listen if you like but remember they don't actually know anything useful at all. It's just blah blah blah and indignation.
You can do a lot worse than Notley and you have. David won't take the job, he's retired and enjoying life and his grandkids.
Why keep using the word woke. You don't know what it means. There is nothing common about sense. You should know that by now too.
I remember that for Horgan to get into power against Clark he had to make a deal with the Green Party. Since that time the greens have declared him a traitor for supporting LNG projects. But that's politics. The UCP dump Smith and Horgan dumps the greens. It shows the bipolar nature of the NDP however. They like union jobs and a lot of oil and gas jobs are union. They also want to tie themselves to the green movement which hates oil and gas but not as much as coal.
Rachel Notley and Jason Kenney have something in common. They are both tied to a party with conflicting interests.
You are not entirely wrong but the Green Party only took 3 seats in 2017. Just enough to hold the balance of power with the NDP against the BC Libs. Prior to the 2020 election, Green Party leader Andrew Wilkinson said he hopes Horgan wins the premiership again as BC is well served by the NDP. No, they didn't see eye to eye on everything but keeping the Libs out was the only logical thing to do. Weaver stepped down from the caucus in early 2020 so there was only 2 Green MLAs left. Not really a dumping.
Your first mistake is that there is a UCP in Alberta. Even those in the party know there is nothing united about it. A lot of people voted for the NDP. A lot of people remember Smith. While I don't know a lot of people who still live there, the ones that do are fed up with Kenney and don't look to Smith as a replacement.
Smith's sovereignty gig starts with: "Alberta’s treatment within Canada has become intolerable." Moves on to "the Empire Strikes Back", and wraps up explaining that they are "Western Canadians" even though they are still on the wrong side of the Rockies. The entire screed is another kick at the can of "Separation For Dummies" and one long whine. It's all the Feds' fault and they don't want to take it anymore. Nothing about responsibility (or blame). Nothing about what the people of Alberta have gone through the past 2 years and what they'll do to make life better for the people. No addressing current problems or issues. It's a very one-sided, cherry-picked, effort by two lawyers and a poli-sci prof who managed to write it in 45 pages including footnotes and pictures. Maybe these guys can find all that money that Jason lost.
Notley didn't do what you wanted her to. BFG. You call her brain dead and tone deaf. She did a lot for Alberta. Kenney, not so much. You? Even less.
You are up and time zone(s) over from me. What are you up to, peeking in sleeping people's bedrooms? I'm a night owl and I do my best work during the quiet hours. And you say night shift with a definite sneer as if any occupation that keeps people up late is a bad thing. You don't know what woke means and you also don't know its antonym.
You don't seem to take joy in anything Pat. So easy to always go with the ugly.
You often make mistakes. Admit it.
Kenney is not necessary for anything useful. He's a grifter and a fraud and a cheat. If the money, $4B, isn't missing where is it? Where did it go? Wylie covers both cheeks saying it's missing but not really missing. Even the AG is lame. Is Alberta the only province, er sovereign entity, that doesn't have to account for what it blows out the door? It's not my concern except when the riffraff slides over the mountains into the west. I'm sure the RCMP or the about to be newly formed para-military of AB will look into it soonish.
I remember Smith's bus.
I still can't believe that Gondek ran on a climate change platform. Any contribution that Calgary can make is meaningless.
She owes victory to the campaign manager. Curiously, the same strategist briefly worked for Danielle Smith. The Sprawl has a great story on the talents and Stephen Carter: https://www.sprawlcalgary.com/the-strategist-stephen-carter
Starting with Nenshi we have a lot more political engagement through the internet, which Gondek also took advantage of. I consider it the "air war" of political strategies.
The airport people? I forgot to tell you, some were buried, some cremated. Does that help?
Baggage loader doesn't have a lot of skill, but it's miserable work, in horrid conditions for terrible pay. Ticket agent is now worse based on current passenger behaviour. We had a chance to rise to the occasion. Instead, we dug for the bottom.
"Government policy killed travel"? That's utterly absurd. Government policies weren't even in place when airlines started shutting down as passenger bookings plummeted. Traffic in Toronto dropped by 90% within 2 weeks after the NBA shut down and COVID's reality arrived in North America. People made their own decisions. Recall that at the time, very little was known about it, and governments were way behind. That's what crippled the industry; that and not making any coherent plans for a restart.
How much "government assistance" is still in place for workers? Aviation's collapse is global. Nice that at least you recognise that.
You really do think the very worst of your fellow man/woman. Yes, I suppose that in the past two plus years someone at all of the airports/ferries/transit companies said, "screw this, let's all go work for Mr X at XYZCorp because the pay/hours/job is better than humping luggage in the rain/snow/sleet/heat and we won't have strangers screaming in our faces or we could start that business we always wanted or maybe something else. And a few no doubt decided a life of leisure was the ticket.
COVID was unprecedented. The world tipped and has not completely righted itself. Maybe it never will. But most people, even with training, skills, certifications and clearances for one thing are perfectly willing and capable of making changes to avail themselves of other things. It is also known as freedom. Not everyone expresses themselves as poorly as those sad clowns in Ottawa this past winter.
If they are not behind their desks as you seem to think they belong, where do you imagine they went? They aren't collecting CERB, they haven't vanished, they are still out there. I'd wish them all the best if I were you.
I'm on the wet coast and on Friday we learned that the CEO of BC Ferries (one of the largest ferry fleets in the world) has been sacked. 173 missed sailings in 28 days, due to staff shortages, an insane reservation system, and a choice of 3 apologies. Staffing has long been a problem because regular crew are on call, miss 3 calls and you are out of work. There must be a minimum number of crew on board for a certain number of passengers (Transport Canada rules/regs (gatekeepers!)) If the number of crew is too low a ship that holds 100s of cars & walk-on passengers does not sail. Everyone waits for the next boat while more people line up behind them ... for hours. Soon it's thousands waiting and people are angry.
Now if BC Ferries (they know summers are always crazy busy) actually improved the crew's conditions, and hired them full-time, the training is pretty basic, cash in the cafeteria is even more basic, pay a living wage most of the problems including cancelling all sailings from one island all day! would not happen. Once BCF was a great job. Now, not so much.
It turns out the CEO was making more $$ than he should, he had 7 VPs also making big money, and he will get severance because he is leaving before his contract is over. Privatization at its finest.
Where did all the deck hands go Pat?