I remember going to a political science conference in Chicago just months after Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election.

What I learned from my American colleagues stuck with me. Unsurprisingly, the lesson came through a baseball metaphor. +

The Alberta government is two kids in a trench coat climbing out of a clown car engulfed in flames falling off a cliff into a snake pit filled with sulphuric acid and fecal smeared bamboo spikes.

I have received dozens of messages about this piece today. Almost all of them from conservatives grateful that we are finally having this discussion.

The coalition for democracy is very diverse. I hope it's growing and getting active.

Seems appropriate to post this on May Day

Alberta, Danielle Smith & the UCP continue to show us that this is all just a game to them.

People they don’t like won in municipal elections. So they will punish the people of those cities…to get back at them? To own the libs? To bully citizens & elected officials?

Who…

Me: Draws 4 cartoons against the Liberals in 7 days.

CPC: -Nothing-

Me: Draws 1 cartoon against the Conservatives.

CPC: 'Government propagandist'...'You love Trudeau'... 'Trudeau-lover'...

Stopped in at a little Vietnamese place for a late lunch. There were five customers in there. I overhear two of the guys making small talk. They’ve both come from Kitchener-Waterloo.

I apologize for interrupting and tell them I went to U Waterloo.

A weird little confluence.

Dizzy McFlipFlop and the Case of the Turncoat Water Carrier.

He introduced me to Leonard Cohen, and for that I will be forever grateful.

I just learned that my high school English teacher who taught me OAC Canadian Literature has died. Mr. Ian Underhill is a huge reason I am where I am.

For his class, I did an Independent Study on Canadian Prairie Literature, which is eventually what I earned my PhD in. 💔

“If I’ve lost Rick Bell, I’ve lost middle Alberta.”

—“Tricky Dani” Smithnwesson

(Of course, she didn’t say that, but she’s also not overly burdened by self-awareness or self-reflection.)

Calgary Sun The headline says it all. These are people with jobs or going to school and need transit to get there. They are struggling to make ends meet and need a bit of help. And a vindicative government just kicked an important crutch out of the way.

We pay $90 for a Conservation pass so that these trails will be protected!

If you’re as angry as we are, then let’s work together to get this stopped!

Here’s how to help…

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calgary.citynews.ca/video/2024/04/…

If a low-income user of ETS can provide some documentation to show that they are an AISH recipient or would otherwise have qualified for a low-income transit pass, perhaps ETS can allow them to travel for free?
Amarjeet Sohi

The single most impactful thing we did in 11 years was this pass. I have cried hearing the stories of how it changed the lives of poorer people in our community. And it was cost effective! (for Calgary, 1/20 the price of the Turkish Tylenol, half of the cost of the pension plan…

They have hundreds of millions of dollars to help build an arena for billionaires, but cut a few million for low-income transit passes.

This sure sounds an awful lot like socialism for the rich and rugged individualism for everyone else.

I understand federal politics had a normal one today.

I also hear Smith and the UCP are taking transit away from the poors unless they get on the new rail line to Banff to work the coal mines.