Happy New Year to everyone!
It’s a new year, and it’s time for AB Resistance to move forward!
Our first step toward that end, is building an organizational structure. This is the time that it is imperative that we have our members step up. We need people who are willing to dedicate some time and their applicable skill sets to step forward. We have been fortunate to have had so many register indicating various areas of expertise that would benefit our our organizational structure. Our success will depend on these members offering their assistance.
To that end, our first round of surveys, seeking volunteers has just been distributed. Many more groupings of surveys will follow. We will then expand that structure outward.. If you have received one of our first surveys, please know that it is because the skill sets you identified are important to building a successful core that will establish the solid foundation that is needed in any successful organization. We are excited to hear from all of you and anticipate a positive response.
One further note regarding building our structure. Jim, who offered his legal expertise, has had a change in his circumstances. He is still on board with us, but will not be able to dedicate the time that he had first anticipated. As a result, we will need more legal assistance. It is important that we understand every aspect of the elections legislation, and that we stay strictly within its parameters. If anyone in our membership can assist us in this area, it would be appreciated. Please email me at [email protected]
Once we establish our core, or advisory group, and.are well on our way to expanding our structure, decisions will be made regarding our public launch and our appearance on the Breakthrough. We have now reached 1270 memberships! We would really like to see one hard push for additional members prior to our public launch. Please remember to post our registration webpage on all your social media posts. Also, pass it along to your friends, family and any groups or associations you may be affiliated with. Recruitment is something all of us can be doing on a regular basis.
One Disaster After Another
This is the only way that I can describe the state of the UCP. No sooner than one disaster came to light, another was right on its heels.
Tylenot: The Tylenot debacle, the medication Smith ordered from Turkey that cost taxpayers $100 Million, raised its ugly head once again. It was revealed that the medication, which was administered to neonatal newborns over a span of two
months, resulted in plugged off NG/nasogastric (feeding) tubes. The viscosity was not conducive to administering
through these tubes. In order to unplug these tubes, the first choice would be to flush them with water.
However, the water required could result in necrotic damage to a vulnerable newborn. Noted was that although there were “adverse events”, there were not any injuries. Suspected “adverse events” would likely include the retraction and reinsertion of a new NG tube. For anyone who has not experienced this, it can be a traumatic medical event, especially on a newborn.
This was difficult enough to process, however, a new revelation made it even more disturbing. It was discovered that when the medication came into Canada, it was only approved for 2 years and over. So why was it being administered to neonatal newborns in the first place? When asked this very question, Danielle Smith responded that her “medical experts” had approved it. Ms Smith has promoted medications for COVID, such as Ivermectin, whose efficacy has been scientifically proven to be baseless.
I believe that Danielle Smith has an obligation to tell Albertans who these medical experts are. If the premier is going to make medical decisions based on these experts, we have a right to know who they are and what their backgrounds are.
This debacle is one that we should not be allowed to be swept under the rug. That’s so easy to do, with one disaster after another exposed.
Meet Rebecca Schulz
Rebecca Schulz is the Minister of Environmental and Protected Spaces. Her husband, Cole Schulz, is employed as a lobbyist for a firm that represents companies whose objectives are contrary to a progressive environmental policies. Cole Schulz has actively been lobbying the UCP government for changes on how O&G well site reclamations certificates are issued.
On Dec 14, 2023, Rebecca Schulz introduced the launch of a pilot project aimed at expediting the process of issuing reclamation certificates for dirty oil well sites. This pilot program will allow eligible operators to reduce the size of the site to be cleaned to only 60% of its original size. Once that 60% is cleaned up, a reclamation certificate will be issued.
1. Who then becomes responsible for cleaning up the remaining 40%? Not the oil company, because they’ll be in possession of a reclamation certificate.
2. This is a blatant conflict of interest issue.
Meet Todd Loewen – Minister of Forestry, Parks and Tourism
Last year the UCP split the Hunting and Fishing portfolio. They then put the Hunting portfolio under Forestry, thus under the purview of Todd Loewen. What would be the point of that you might ask? Todd Loewen is the owner of Red Willow Outfitters, a hunting guide company in Valleyview, AB. It is said that his family is running the company while he is in office, but he still receives a $5000 stipend from the company on a yearly basis. However, when you access the company’s information, Todd Loewen is still listed as the owner.
As we speak, Todd Loewen is in Nevada, at taxpayers expense, selling trophy hunting licenses to American hunters. In his sights this time are our bighorn sheep. He has stated his intention to expand the trophy hunting program in Canada to include other animals such as the grizzly bear. Now we know why the Hunting portfolio was split off from Fishing, and put under Forestry. Anyone wondering who those American hunters will be hiring as guides? This is just wrong, on so many levels.
Public Healthcare Disaster Continues
For what it’s worth, public healthcare is barely even a viable institution under the UCP. Daily, the president of the Alberta Doctors Association, Dr. Parks is posting the horrendous details of a system in failure. It can not sustain itself much longer. Dr. Parks has issued a State of Emergency, to no avail. There has been absolutely no contact, nothing from Adriana Lagrange, Danielle Smith or the UCP. Dr. Parks indicated that the most recent contract between the association, included an agreement to work together on plans, immediate, short term, and long term to mitigate the healthcare disaster. That agreement was signed 16 months ago. Since then, there has been no contact from the UCP or any of its representatives. 16 months.
Then came the letter from the new and improved AHS to the nurses union. The AHS will require them to cut 10% of their nursing staff and to cut 10% of the overtime. Our nurses are barely hanging on by their fingertips, and now this.
The newest and very appropriate metaphor which describes the state of our healthcare is “ tarps and duct tape”. This came about when the Red Deer hospital (Adrian Lagrange’s riding) had to create new examining rooms in the ER. They did the only thing they could, creating new examining rooms from tarps and duct tape. The same examining rooms soon had to be constructed at the Foothills Hospital in Calgary. The reason for this was that the rest of the ER had basically turned into acute care.
Examining rooms were taken up with patients waiting for beds, at times for days. Acute care in the ER without the staff to care for them. From this, emerged the duct tape ribbon. Many healthcare workers took to wearing them. If you want to support our healthcare workers, you can make one yourself, and wear it proudly. They would appreciate your support.
By the way, the Red Deer hospital in Adriana Lagrange’s riding? They never saw her nor heard from her. We see her often on social media, posting photo ops. It’s deplorable.
On Tuesday, one more hit for the healthcare system, and some specialized patients. Alberta announced that it was pausing its kidney matching systems. In other, words, no matching, no transplants. Why? They don’t have the staff, nor the OR’s to accommodate these patients. This really was hitting bottom, and healthcare workers, expressed their dismay and disillusionment. Think of how those patients were feeling.
Danielle Smith and the UCP are intentionally ignoring the disastrous state of our Public Healthcare System. They are allowing it to fail. There can be only one reason for this. At the opportune moment they will slowly begin privatizing the system. I can think of no other reason for their action, or inaction. We at AB Resistance must be even more stalwart in the face of this abdication. We must not allow this to happen.
The Grid
Over the weekend, Alberta was hit with three Emergency Alerts, asking us to cut back our power usage as the power grid was on the edge of going down…in -40 degree weather. You could almost see in flashing lights (barely) “Blackouts”, “Tell the Feds”.
Of course, the first reaction of many was that this was the NDP’s fault for shutting down the coal plants. No…those 6 coal plants the NDP had targeted? None of them were ever shut down, aside from when they were converted. 3 had been converted to NG, 2 are slated to be converted in the spring, and 1 was converted to dual fuel. As well, every one of them were up and running, and always had been. On the AESO website, it was showing 7 plants off line. That has still not been fully explained.
Prior to the UCP taking over in 2019, the NDP were in the process of of moving to a capacity market. AESO: “We recommend that Alberta move to a capacity market. It will insure reliability and specifically compensate for firm generation. With the addition of renewable resources, the electricity system will have sufficient or even excess reliability."
Not only did Danielle Smith put a 6 month moratorium on renewables, with projects worth $34B in the queue, the UCP also reversed the decision to move to a capacity market. An AESO warning once again on Monday was was mediated by renewables, and the warning was lifted.
Amidst this crisis, was Scott Moe, bragging that he’d saved Alberta’s grid with power from his coal plants, which he’ll never shut down. Meanwhile we had Nathan Neudorf claiming that the cause of the alerts was due to a decrease in power sharing with SK. Someone’s lying.
We find out later that Manitoba had actually helped out SK with power, and BC had helped us…quietly, without all the Scott Moe bravado. BC and Manitoba are are almost totally 100% hydro and green powered.
Meanwhile, Danielle Smith is on holidays at her second home in Panama. She will be back in time to sit on a stage with Tucker Carlson, endorsing his racist, bigoted conspiracy theories with her very presence. That money Smith spent on her “Tell the Feds” campaign? That would have paid for 3 MRIs and the specialized rooms they need to function in.
This is the UCP and this is only part of the damage Danielle Smith has done to our province…in only 14 months. We will not survive another 3 ½ years of Smith and the UCP. They are well on their way to destroying our public institutions. The corruption that we can see? You know that saying, if you see one rat…. This govt came in with an agenda that had nothing to do with prioritizing Albertans needs, or building a province that ensured our children had possibilities, and a healthy successful future. Too many believed the lies. We must not let them stand. We can make a difference. We must stand
together and stand up now.
Thank you all for joining us. You give us hope and the motivation to keep fighting.
WE ARE STRONGER TOGETHER!
Regards,
Marg Tokar
Harvey H
Tracey C
AB Resistance