‘Freedom Convoy’ had to be removed to avoid major economic damage: officials

The ‘Freedom Convoy’ https://href.li/?http://globalnews.ca/tag/freedom-convoy blockades at major border crossings across the country had to be removed quickly in order to avoid serious, long-term damage to Canada’s economy, finance department officials said Thursday.

The demonstration against COVID-19 https://href.li/?http://globalnews.ca/tag/covid public health measures in February saw major ports of entry in Ontario and Alberta blockaded, resulting in a daily trade loss of “around $56 million per day,” finance officials told the Public Order Emergency Commission https://href.li/?http://globalnews.ca/tag/emergencies-act-inquiry in an interview, according to a summary.

Every day the protests continued, the financial hit Canada’s economy took compounded, warned Michael Sabia, deputy minister of the department of finance.

“Whatever we could do, we wanted to do quickly because doing it quickly meant shortening duration — and shortening duration meant avoiding the worst economic consequences that we were concerned about,” Sabia said as he testified before the Emergencies Act inquiry. |[Freedum Convoy 2022

|Read more https://globalnews.ca/news/9285400/emergencies-act-inquiry-pm-national-security-adviser/|

#freedum #politics #cdnpoli #convoy2022 #EmergenciesAct

Alberta’s Childlike Fantasies

It’s nice to feel special. Everyone enjoys that sense of certainty when you feel seen and loved and important. And while that feeling of primacy is crucial to early childhood development, it can become a dangerous indulgence later in life if large groups of people feel they are exempt from the consequences of their actions, the laws of nature, or even our shared reality.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and her core followers in the United Conservative Party are exactly such snowflakes. Smith declared to her enthusiastic supporters that the first action of her government would be to pass the “Alberta Sovereignty Act https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-alberta-sovereignty-act-danielle-smith/,” effectively treating the Canadian Constitution like a buffet. This magical thinking holds that Alberta could somehow select those federal powers deemed palatable and cast aside others such as federal environmental oversight like so much jello salad.

This audacious claim to Alberta exceptionalism was central to her pitch for party leadership. Rivals who dared acknowledge reality were scorned as sellouts by her true believers. Former premier Jason Kenney declared Smith’s proposed Alberta Sovereignty Act a “full-frontal attack on the rule of law https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/danielle-smith-wins-alberta-premiership-race-vowing-table-sovereignty-bill-2022-10-07/” and “catastrophically stupid https://calgary.citynews.ca/2022/09/06/smith-sovereignty-act-kenney-catastrophically-stupid/,” as did almost all of Smith’s leadership competitors. Rational thought however is a hard sell in Alberta these days and Smith swept to power with a majority UCP support. |[Read more](Alberta’s Childlike Fantasies | The Tyee https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2022/11/16/Alberta-Childlike-Fantasies/)|

#abpoli #ucp #policies #politics #smith #sucking

Wildfire, Flood Projects in 112 Indigenous Communities Blocked by Federal Funding Backlog

The federal government still hasn’t provided First Nations with the support they need to respond to emergencies such as wildfires and floods despite warnings almost a decade ago, says a new report from Canada’s auditor general.

Karen Hogan audited Indigenous Services Canada’s handling of emergency management, concluding the department was too reactive, instead of proactively spending on infrastructure to mitigate damages when floods, fires and landslides strike, The Canadian Press reports.

The AG points out that as of April, there were 112 such projects that did not have funding despite meeting the criteria for eligibility. It says 74 of them had been in the department’s backlog for more than five years.

“Until these projects are completed, First Nations communities are likely to continue to experience emergencies that could be averted by investing in the right infrastructure,” the report reads. |Read more https://www.theenergymix.com/2022/11/16/wildfire-flood-projects-in-112-indigenous-communities-blocked-by-federal-funding-backlog/|
#cdnpoli #politics #indigenous #wildfires #floods #funding #EmergencyManagement

What is going on with Alberta’s pensions?

Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan suggested it was tantamount to theft. He pointed out that the ATRF’s returns have been substantially better than those of AIMCo and that it has been independently managing its own retirement savings since 1939.

The federation is worried that its retirement funds will essentially be funnelled to capital-starved Alberta petroleum companies.

Toews said in an editorial in the Edmonton Journal on Nov. 26 that the UCP is looking at leaving the CPP to create an APP, also managed by AIMCo, as his government believes Albertans make a disproportionate contribution to the CPP ($2.9 billion more than they receive in benefits) and that an APP would have smaller contribution rates (5.85 per cent versus the current 9.9 per cent) with increased efficiency.

The former CEO of AIMCo, Leo de Bever, had a different take in an interview with BNN Bloomberg on Nov. 15, noting that a homegrown APP “mathematically… wouldn’t make a great deal of sense from an administrative efficiency point of view.”

Keith Ambachteer, president of KPA Advisory Services and director emeritus at the International Centre for Pension Management, said. |Read more https://www.federalretirees.ca/en/news-views/news-listing/april/what-is-going-on-with-albertas-pensions|
#abpoli #politics #cpp #AIMco #greed #fossilFuel #Investments

An Alberta Pension Plan has merit — but not as a source of fresh capital for the energy sector

Max Fawcett, the author of the article, says the plan has merit. Max is wrong.

Unlike the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, which is largely
immune to political pressure because of its governance model and
pan-Canadian mandate, AIMCo could theoretically come under pressure from
the Government of Alberta.

Sections 19 and 20 of the AIMCo Act,
which established it as a Crown corporation, explicitly state that it
must follow “directives” issued by the Treasury Board — ones that could
include how or where to invest.

Danielle Smith, the former leader
of the Wildrose party and a popular talk radio host, said the quiet
part here out loud in a recent CBC interview. (Skip to the 5:36 mark in
the video below.)

“If CPP starts bailing out of energy resources,” she said, “we don’t
want to be in a position where our money is being used to support solar
and wind or other experiments that the CPP — driven politically by a
Trudeau government — might want to invest in.”

Never mind that
the Trudeau government can’t actually influence the CPPIB’s strategy, or
that investments in solar and wind are increasingly attractive to asset
managers around the world. Smith’s apparent belief that Alberta’s
pension assets should be used to support the province’s biggest industry
is a leap that a lot of people are probably willing to take — even if
AIMCo’s track record on this front is something short of enviable. |Read more https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-pension-plan-aimco-max-fawcett-1.5374110|

#abpoli #AIMco #CPP #oil investments #environment #Danielle Smith