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Grassroots and Common Sense

  Common Sense. Grassroots. Both terms bandied about by the populist crowd that imply a connection with a pool of knowledge gleaned from generations of pioneers and builders who laid foundations of societies. Often held up by those who insist that there’s a huge disconnect between the governors and the governed. Both terms are now being manipulated by those governors in order to appease those disenfranchised by that very disconnection. Weaponized, in fact. There’s no denying those characteristics that built our societies were important. Stubborn resolve, ingenuity, independence, and straight up mettle met some real life or death circumstances face on. Never say woah in a tight spot, my dad would say. When faced with adversity, that foundational knowledge pulled them through. When times were hard, communities pulled together to spread the load. When faced with gaps in knowledge to tackle new challenges, they sought advice from professionals who had that knowledge. The problem is,
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Letter to your UCP MLA

  I’m writing you this letter to voice my deep concerns about the United Conservative Party’s activities. In no particular order: I’m strongly opposed to the UCP’s push to create an Alberta Pension Plan. We’re being misled by the notion we’re over-contributing to the national plan. We’re being well served by the Canada Pension Plan – one of the world’s best performing pensions and are contributing at the same rate as every other Canadian. It is well managed and diversely invested to ensure stability and reliability. Relying on AIMCO to manage our retirement savings is risky given its poor performance and heavy reliance on fossil fuel investments. The world is decarbonizing and we’ll be saddled with a pension with no foundation. The money spent on promoting this venture (my tax dollars) should have been put to use in more urgent places. I’m also opposed to the moratorium on renewable energy projects – a multi-billion dollar hit to our provincial economy and an equal visible hit to o
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Convicted by Conviction

              It has been a constant stress.             On my life, my marriage, my every waking moment. I’m reminded throughout the day by the change in my sense of smell that I was infected by a virus with long term consequences. I do consider myself lucky that this is the only lasting problem I have – so far.             Except my real long covid ailment is psychological and persistent.             Early in the pandemic I took a stance that aligned with the “all in this together” crowd that valued expert opinion and community responsibility. I sought information from accredited sources with evidence-based research. This quickly put me at odds with most of my community and indeed, my family who quickly jumped on the bandwagon that suspected Covid 19 was some sort of engineered hoax and that public health restrictions were government strategies to suppress freedom in order to forward some sort of authoritarian agenda. It doesn’t help that our current provincial government is on
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Selective Freedom

  Curious why the honkers haven't mustered up a fleet of lifted, flag adorned half-tons, minivans, and Peterbilts to cruise downtown YYC in protest of mandatory treatment for addicts. Seems in the groove for their freedom bent. After all, they were pretty revved up about how their freedom to choose not to be vaccinated or put a mask on wound up having consequences that seemed to them to be an affront to their liberties. But hey, addicts made their choices, right? So they have to live with the consequences, right? Hmm.. so, where's the outrage, the bullhorns, the bouncy castles? If there's a disadvantaged group that needs an advocate, wouldn't addicts who depend on their substances like the rest of us depend on air qualify? Or is it a measure of character when freedom fighters are silent when it's not about their freedoms? Go ahead, bring it up at a coffee shop near you where the Convoy supporters chat. Suggest that addicts shouldn't be mandated to enter co
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I Don't Want To Be That Anymore

              We stretched our bubble a bit the other night and went to a friend’s for supper. We’ve been trying to keep in touch with him since the recent death of his partner. He’s kind of an introverted fellow and we make some effort to keep him from cocooning and to give him a distraction from his thoughts as he stumbles through his grieving. Also there were some dear friends of his there and we settled in to a low key lasagna fueled evening.             The conversation was fairly light, but it soon became obvious that the other couple was itching to bring up the political scene. I thought it inappropriate given the general atmosphere and intent of the evening was to provide a non-threatening supportive environment for a grieving friend. So, I did my best not to engage.             I knew our friend was of Conservative inclination and he knew that I’ve become disenfranchised with the Conservatives. I don’t wade into that pond knowing that the waves we might make might compromi
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Splitting the Vote in Livingstone Macleod 031723

  Splitting the Vote in Livingstone Macleod - A Bogeyman Morgan Wilson             Looking at the way things have trended in the last 3 elections, it's pretty clear the pendulum has swung to its limits for all of the parties. Of note is the big jump in support for the Alberta Party provincially from 2015 to 2019. In Livingstone Macleod, the AP has more support than the Liberals, Green and Independence put together.             338 Canada polling is projecting a UCP win in Livingstone Macleod. 60% UCP (+/-8%) and 30% NDP (+/- 7%). The projected change in votes since the 2019 election is showing UCP slipping from 70.4% to 60%. The NDP is gaining from 20.8% to 30%. It's safe to say that the NDP is gaining votes from the UCP faithful who can't stomach what has become of the UCP as they have for the last three elections. The Alberta Party is projected to capture 3 to 5% of the vote, pretty much unchanged from 2019.             So, if there are UCP votes flowing out of the
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