[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[Barrister]

Key points from the http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/alberta/alberta-government-admits-mistake-says-no-media-to-be-excluded-for-now/article28784286/?click=sf_globe article, which is pretty much what i said

Oates said Tuesday that the pair had not signed up ahead of time for the royalty review news conference – as required from all media – and therefore couldn't attend.

As for the Trudeau visit, the legislature was under tight security and only mainstream media organizations and accredited legislature press gallery members were allowed, she said.

Except that doesn't match - at all - with what the Alberta Justice lawyer said, which was

Thank you for your letter of February 8th, 2016.

Our client's position remains that your client and those who identify as being connected to your client are not journalists and are not entitled to access media lock-ups or other such events.

Thank you for writing.

It also doesn't match with what the journalists were told - that they were on a "no go" list.

Why doesn't it match?  Seems pretty simple. They were not accredited so of course they were not allowed in.  Unless of course one is looking for a reason to criticize a particular government...

On the one hand the NDP admits to "a mistake".  That is, that they did something wrong.

On the other hand, they don't actually admit to what they did wrong.  They claim they were justified to exclude The Rebel in these circumstances.

It doesn't match.  Either they made a mistake, or they didn't.

[crazy canuck]

It seems pretty simple to me.  They were entirely justified in not admitting them because the people in question didn't go to the bother of obtaining the appropriate credentials.   The whole thing got blown out of proportion and the government wisely concluded it was not worth the hassle.

[Barrister]

It seems pretty simple to me.  They were entirely justified in not admitting them because the people in question didn't go to the bother of obtaining the appropriate credentials.   The whole thing got blown out of proportion and the government wisely concluded it was not worth the hassle.

Except there is no accreditation process for the provincial legislature.  And they had already let The Rebel reporter in to the media lock-up, only to kick them out later on.

Look: the reporters from The Rebel said they were kicked out because they were on a "no go" list.  The letter from  Alberta Justice says they were kicked out because 'they are not media'.  Those two stories seem entirely consistent.  It's also consistent with the government saying they made a mistake.

It's only the PR flack that says "well they didn't sign the proper paperwork and didn't get accreditation".  That doesn't match the facts we know about the incident.



Exclaimer: since we're talking about the Alberta Government, and I am employee of same, I should make clear that I am exercising my s. 2(b) Charter Rights to free expression.  Nothing I say here should be construed as me acting on behalf of the Alberta government.  Any opinions expressed are my own.

[Grey Fox]

That should be your signature, BB.

[Habbaku]

What the fuck is an "Exclaimer"?

[Valmy]

What the fuck is an "Exclaimer"?

It is something you shout to the heavens.

[PRC]

[Grey Fox]

Did my taxes last night. The federal form has a estimate of the Liberal's new Canadian Child Allocation to replace the taxable Conservatives payment.

That thing IS Generous if it passes without changes in the next budget. Better than what I get from Quebec.

[Barrister]

Did my taxes last night. The federal form has a estimate of the Liberal's new Canadian Child Allocation to replace the taxable Conservatives payment.

That thing IS Generous if it passes without changes in the next budget. Better than what I get from Quebec.

I think you have it backwards.  The Conservative payment was not taxable - the Liberal plan is more generous, but is taxable.

[Grey Fox]

No, the UCCB is taxable. The Canadian Child Tax Benefit(CCTB) is tax free.

The new, Liberal planned, CCTB (ACE in French) is tax free & is more generous than the 2 Conservatives payment.

[Barrister]

I stand corrected.

[Grey Fox]

It's ok, it is not a significant part of your yearly income.

It's 10% of mine.

[viper37]

*deleted

[Barrister]

So Alberta's deficit for 2016-2017 is going to be ten billion dollars.  All for a province of 4 million people.

The number was so high the finance minister Joe Ceci refused to actually say the words "ten billion", saying only it would be $5 billion more than previously though (which was $5 billion).

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/finance-minister-warns-of-looming-10-billion-deficit-budget-1.3461744

[Valmy]

So Alberta's deficit for 2016-2017 is going to be ten billion dollars.  All for a province of 4 million people.

The number was so high the finance minister Joe Ceci refused to actually say the words "ten billion", saying only it would be $5 billion more than previously though (which was $5 billion).

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/finance-minister-warns-of-looming-10-billion-deficit-budget-1.3461744

I hope you have $2,500 set aside to cover your share BB.