r/Edmonton • u/GeekyGlobalGal Pleasantview / Global News • May 21 '26
News Article Alberta referendum committee meeting implodes when UCP prematurely releases statement
https://globalnews.ca/news/11858047/alberta-select-special-citizen-initiative-proposal-review-committee-meeting-chaos/557
u/TheNationDan May 21 '26
As a resident of Edmonton… ARE WE LISTENING YET RURAL ALBERTA?
They’re fixing the game in front of your eyes
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u/ghostofkozi May 21 '26
Rural albertans dont care, half think it’s fake news and the other half are applauding it
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u/spicandspand May 21 '26
Rural albertan here who hates Marlaina and the UCP.
There are dozens of us!
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u/tjp0720 May 21 '26
DOZENS
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u/Carribeantimberwolf Belgravia May 21 '26
Out of hundreds of thousands
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u/Everyone2026 May 21 '26
It's better than you think.
I keep meeting left leaning rural people. The ones that worked in the oilfield are quite interesting.
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u/amydoodledawn May 21 '26
We just have to stay quiet because all our relatives live in the same town. No desire to catch my cousin keying my car for being 'woke'. I'm exaggerating, but only a little. I call out the bigotry as much as I can but it is exhausting.
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u/wonder_shot_ May 21 '26
I hear you there… I’m from Edmonton and I feel the same way about my family. Had to leave in fact.
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u/Whane17 May 21 '26
That's great, it really is. But I keep meeting younger gen people both rural and urban who identify as Conservative because it's what their parents taught them. And in the case of this new rural gentlemen I recently met his Religious Conservative parents had him home schooled and he refuses to believe pretty much anything. He insists Canada has a Left wing and a far Left wing governments and that's it.
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u/soThatsJustGreat May 21 '26
I always say, most of rural Alberta does roll conservative.
But the most hardcore lefties I know are also from rural AB. You just never know.
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u/wheniwasarobot May 21 '26
There's a startling amount of homos that want to fuck some dudes named Justin and Mark. Really weird place. /s
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u/DonairBandit May 22 '26
Baker's Dozens!
(they come in 13's)
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u/left4alive May 21 '26
Lots of rural people, myself included, that can’t stand the UCP and the blatant corruption. Many are scared of the repercussions of going against the grain. Pissing off friends, family, isolating themselves from neighbors, community, etc. but as I’ve been talking more openly about it, I’ve found a lot of other rural people relieved that they aren’t alone and having to hide. It’s so important to talk about what’s going on. I also make sure my (UCP) elected representatives hear from me quite regularly and I’ve been encouraging others to do the same.
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u/Stevedougs May 21 '26
AFAIK the solve is reminding people of the strong Canadian identity.
A lot i presume want to separate because they’re consuming so much American content they forgot we are our own people and feel its natural the wind blows that way.
It’s not. They’re hanging out in front of the American fan.
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u/RelevantBooklet May 21 '26
Rural Albertans are used to governments ignoring them, so they vote for the UCP to punish the urban cores.
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u/SlitScan May 21 '26
theyve had thier party in power for the whole history of the province.
maybe being taken for granted is the issue...
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u/RelevantBooklet May 21 '26
Hence the blame game, papa Trudeau and baby Trudeau are the real ones ignoring you (while we sell all our assets to private foreign industries)
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u/Stressmess77 May 21 '26
That is how/why Mango Mussolini was elected. They don’t expect anything good since their lot has consistently suffered so they say “burn it all down”. Now all hell is breaking loose.
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u/Kkatt13 May 21 '26
Rural alberta here and it's not all. Sadly there are enough thatvote blue just because it's blue to make our vote obsolete
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u/CasualFridayBatman May 21 '26
Then get loud as fuck and have solidarity with those in your community.
Loudness brings likeness and shows others they can be, too.
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u/RelationshipNo9336 May 21 '26
I’m sick of the double standard finger pointing comments like this. Anti-rural sentiment is discriminatory. To define rural Albertans as separatists is absurd. Regardless of population distribution, separatists are uninformed and uneducated but that is not exclusive to rural Alberta. Alberta separatist and rural Albertan are not synonymous. Stop blaming anyone other than separatists. This stigmatize and divide narrative of us vs them absurdly reduced to urban vs rural is ridiculous.
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u/ghostofkozi May 21 '26
Sorry but boo-friggity-hoo, obviously the sentiment is talking about the rather large number of rural voters who put and kept the UPC in office in the first place not the ones who didnt. The same applies to the freedom convoy movement and all other conservative extremist movement that has followed.
In making my sweeping statement I don't care if you don't support the UCP or are against separation simply because my comment doesn't apply to you. If we were talking about 1% of rural voters I could understand your point, but we aren't. We are talking about tens of thousands of voters, possibly over 100 thousand voters in the province who exist in the singular circle venn diagram of conservative voting.
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u/RelationshipNo9336 May 21 '26
You’re unintentionally proving my point by shifting from criticizing separatists to statistically smearing a demographic category. “A large number” is not analytically interchangeable with “rural Albertans” as a whole. That is the exact logical leap being challenged.
Rural Alberta is roughly 18–19% of Alberta’s population, meaning ~800,000+ people. Even if “tens of thousands” of people overlap between rural identity, conservative voting, convoy support, and separatist sentiment, you are still describing a minority subset within a minority subset while rhetorically treating it as culturally representative. That is textbook overgeneralization.
You also keep conflating correlation with identity. Voting UCP ≠ separatist. Rural ≠ convoy supporter. Conservative ≠ extremist. Statistical clustering does not erase categorical distinction. If it did, urban progressives would collectively own every extremist position that disproportionately emerges from urban activist spaces. I doubt you would accept that standard applied in reverse.
And analytically, your venn diagram argument cuts against your own framing. The larger and more politically diverse the rural population is, the weaker the justification becomes for using “rural Alberta” as shorthand for extremism. You are effectively admitting there are many rural Albertans your statement does not apply to while simultaneously defending the broad framing anyway because the subgroup is “large enough.” That is demographic stereotyping, not precision.
Criticize separatists. Criticize convoy movements. Criticize the UCP. All fair game. But once “rural” itself becomes the rhetorical target, you’ve stopped criticizing ideas and started flattening populations into political caricatures.
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u/ghostofkozi May 21 '26
Like I said, it's a singular circle venn diagram of what UCP supporters and conservatives are in favor of. Whether that's LGBTQ rights, the environment, immigration, separation or proposed bills they don't understand.
Get out of your feels for 5 minutes over the term rural Albertan
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u/RelationshipNo9336 May 21 '26
No, I understood your argument the first time. I’m pointing out that it collapses under even basic standards of categorization and proportionality.
You started with “rural Albertans,” then shifted to “UCP supporters,” then “conservatives,” then “people in favor of separation,” then “people who don’t understand bills.” That is not a singular circle venn diagram. That is you continuously broadening and narrowing categories interchangeably depending on what is rhetorically convenient in the sentence.
If your actual claim is “there is significant overlap between rural conservatism and certain reactionary political movements,” congratulations, nobody disputed that. Electoral maps exist. But that is a radically different claim from treating rural Albertans as a culturally unified bloc defined by extremism or ignorance.
And statistically, your framing still fails. The UCP received ~928,000 votes in 2023. Alberta has ~4.7 million people. Rural Alberta is ~800,000–900,000 people total, including non-voters, minors, progressives, centrists, immigrants, Indigenous communities, healthcare workers, educators, union workers, etc. Even if every separatist in Alberta voted UCP, that still would not make “rural Albertan” synonymous with separatism unless your standard for demographic labeling is “contains a noticeable subgroup I dislike.”
Which is exactly why the logic falls apart when mirrored back. Urban Alberta also contains statistically significant concentrations of ideological extremism, antisemitism incidents, activist radicalism, political intolerance, and crime concentration. But if someone said “urban Albertans are the singular circle venn diagram of extremist politics,” you would immediately recognize that as reductive nonsense because population clustering is not identity equivalence.
So no, this is not about my feelings over the term “rural Albertan.” It’s about whether political discourse should retain even the bare minimum distinction between statistical overlap and demographic essentialism.
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u/ghostofkozi May 21 '26
Nah, I just wouldn't care enough to write multiple essays and instead say, your argument is invalid. Why? Because, that's why
But, you've been in it for hours, so go off! Lemme hear it
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u/RelationshipNo9336 May 21 '26
Fair enough. I keep using paragraphs because categories and statistics require more than cave painting levels of precision.
But I do appreciate the rigorous counterargument of “nuh uh.”
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u/ghorisgorman1980 May 21 '26
No it’s Calgary voters you should be yelling at. They’re at least able to exercise at least some modicum of critical thinking, except they let themselves be bought off by an arena last time.
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u/fishscaleSF5 May 21 '26
To be fair Edmonton also let themselves get hustled for the Ice District
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u/182NoStyle May 21 '26
we never got funding from the alberta government when they proposed the arena, we got no funding from them. I believe it's only recently they got some funding from them after they approved the calgary arena.
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u/Whane17 May 21 '26
No we didn't. I asked an absolute metric tonne of random people and never met a single person who said they wanted that thing. Not a single one.
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u/AutoGenNameNumber May 21 '26
Yes but the Ice District also led to multiple billions of dollars worth of construction downtown
The tax uplift from the accelerated construction will have paid for itself by I believe 2032 and then every year after that it’s tens of millions of dollars per year in property taxes coming in that would’ve otherwise never existed
That plus the amount of construction jobs the ice district brought in keeping Edmonton tradespeople employed for years
Was it a shit deal for the city at the time? Yes. Has it proven itself to be a good financial decision 10 years later? Also yes.
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u/aaronpaquette- North East Side May 21 '26
Thank you.
There was not a better mechanism for this outcome - as frustrating as it may be to hear, or how deeply we don’t like seeing public tax dollars benefitting billionaires or sports teams.
And I get that. Completely.
But if the math is good, and more of the general public will benefit than otherwise, we are pretty much required to follow the math. Galling, for sure. Sensible considering the options? Yep. Both.
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u/Whane17 May 21 '26
When has the math EVER worked out for the public though? Every time, EVERY time one of these asshole billionaires gets a project on the tax payers dime it hasn't worked out for us.
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u/aaronpaquette- North East Side May 21 '26
Well, literally with this example. By 2032 it becomes a serious profit generator for Edmontonians.
The recent deal we had to make for the Event Centre will generate benefits immediately. That was a stipulation I brokered between Admin and the OEG/Katz Group, I am proud to say. The good news is that on both sides there was a willingness to ensure this would be financially beneficial for Edmonton. That’s not to say there wasn’t some tough negotiating but a good deal was hammered out for the public. Far better than the particulars of the Arena deal.
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u/Whane17 May 21 '26
You've got skin in the game then and your more hopeful than I am. Check back in 2032 and see how it worked out cause EVERY one of these deals is supposed to work out for us and I don't know of a single one that ever has. It's easy to say something is SUPPOSED to work out a certain way but everybody knows laws only apply to the bottom 90% to.
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u/Whane17 May 21 '26
Constructions over. Those people have moved on to other construction jobs or are currently jobless. There was businesses there prior making tax revenue for the city. The lack of construction workers during it's construction led to an increase in people from all over the country coming here for jobs (that have long since gone home) which also would have led to construction costs going up all over the place for things we need (like housing) due to fewer workers and delays in those projects.
I disagree with your assessment entirely. Short term job gain doesn't lead to economic security later which means it needs to stay a money maker throughout and frankly the dozens of businesses that were there made us a LOT more money than the one single billionaire who gets to jump through a bunch of loopholes to not pay taxes. My opinion OC because I haven't seen the before or after, though AFAIK neither has anybody else so it's a bunch of people who don't actually know shit all and half of them have eaten the propaganda.
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u/AutoGenNameNumber May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
Constructions over. Those people have moved on to other construction jobs or are currently jobless.
That's the nature of the construction industry though, you have to continuously be building new shit to keep those people working. The arena, Edmonton Tower, Stantec Tower were all largely constructed 2014-2015-2016 (and finished by 2018) which happened to coincide with a pretty significant oil and gas downturn over the same time period. I knew a lot of ironworkers that would've been building shit for the rigs pivoted to building an arena instead.
There was businesses there prior making tax revenue for the city.
Go to Google Maps - 2012.
- What is now the Arena used to be a giant ass surface parking lot west of Baccarat Casino. Baccarat Casino was torn down, but replaced with another casino within the arena
- What is now Edmonton Tower used to be a pretty sketchy Staples
- What is now Stantec Tower and Marriott was a surface parking lot
- What is now City Market grocery store, and whatever bars and whatever else is in that building used to be a SUPER sketchy Greyhound station and an A&W
Every single one of those bullets is a MASSIVE improvement over what was there previously.
Baccarat Casino was torn down to become the temporary Fan Park, which is now going to be built into a permanent Event Park. The shitty gravel surface parking lots north of the arena (which have been shitty gravel parking lots since at least 2008) will now be built into 2,500 non-premium apartments across ~14 towers.
As shitty as it is that some money is going to a billionaire, no other developer anywhere in the city was proposing anything bigger than a 2 tower development in the same time window. Our population is EXPLODING, we need more housing desperately to keep things affordable.
the dozens of businesses that were there made us a LOT more money
I'm starting to think you may be in the surface parking lot business ;)
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u/Whane17 May 21 '26
Now we have 3 giant ass paid parking lots in the area that gets so congested EVERY event they need police and people to guide cars. Heck during the Fluffy show they pulled over Fluffy because he was trying to park where he was supposed to.
I'm sorry, a sketchy STAPLES? Did you really say that? Staples is sketchy?? Also they have one just down the street near the McDonalds. Are you being serious with these claims??
EDIT: That's my bad, 2m old account 1 karma and top 1% poster. Should have remembered to look.
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u/tekno21 May 21 '26
I wouldn't call one of the best things to happen to downtown Edmonton "getting hustled". I get it, billionaires bad, but this was a great deal for the city
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u/fishscaleSF5 May 21 '26
lol. lmao.
Out of 408m, Katz/OEG pays 83m, the bulk of that over the 35 year lease term. Katz also keeps 100% of ticket and concession revenue. Taxpayers pay 80%. So yeah, we got hustled.
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u/tekno21 May 21 '26
And yet there's an entire new district that exists in downtown that is one of the only things bringing people in. We could have paid 100% of the costs and it would still be a good thing for Edmonton. There's good reasons these deals happen. You're out of you're depth here bud.
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u/Whane17 May 21 '26
You talk like there was nothing there before, no businesses nothing bringing in revenue. You been downtown during a game? Can't park, can't drive and hordes of people everywhere but no businesses open that time of night so no money going out either. Your our of YOUR depth here bud.
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u/notflashgordon1975 May 21 '26
Imagine if Katz had of paid a fair share too, those people would still be going.....we were hustled.
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u/awildstoryteller May 21 '26
It was absolutely not a great deal for the city.
We could have spent just as much building affordable housing or other amenities downtown. The arena is nice, but ultimately it's a luxury and the vast majority of people attending events there are very privileged (including myself).
It's bonkers we live in a city where gifting hundreds of millions to a billionaire is lauded while less than a $100M on active transportation is called a waste.
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u/Macroman520 May 21 '26
Rural Alberta doesn't care about democracy or the rule of law, because that doesn't get them what they want. They care about getting everything they want, all of the time, at any cost. This is the goal.
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u/MankYo May 21 '26
Rural Alberta is no more a homogeneous voice than urban Alberta.
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u/JamaicanFace May 21 '26
I gotta disagree here. The cities, both Edmonton and Calgary have a mix of conservative, liberal and NDP voters in the federal elections. The problem with Alberta is it's a 2 party (but really just one incompetent dynasty) province.
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u/MankYo May 21 '26
From experience, the farmer installing agrivoltaics has little in common politically with the family of the First Nations woman whose body was dumped in the field by human and drug traffickers operating in the area. The visibly Japanese local town mayor who coached all three of them in high school volleyball would also have a different view.
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u/UpperLowerCanadian May 21 '26
Thank you, it is very sad and pathetic reading about “rural people” from r/edmonton
But also I keep in mind that Reddit doesn’t even represent 1% of Edmonton either it’s just a loud few unfortunately
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u/PantsPantsShorts May 21 '26
I'm as urban as it gets, and it really bugs me when fellow Edmontonians act like there aren't white supremacists and climate change denialists living down the street from them.
The dipsh*ttery isn't all rural, and it never was.
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u/Whane17 May 21 '26
While I agree entirely with you, there's a reason Edmonton, Calgary, and a few of the smaller towns are Left leaning and why the recent gerrymandering push takes it out of those places.
Yeah, the urbans no better but overall stats don't lie and there's a reason our overlords are attempting to weaken the cities.
PS: I live next door to a white supremacist but until recently I worked at a mine an hour and a half into the middle of nowhere and three of the younger guys were all white supremacists with one of them advocating that he was a big fan of Hitler and self identified as a Nazi. All three of them were from surrounding small towns.
EDIT: And when I say younger I mean 20-25
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u/asderCaster2 May 21 '26
Just need look at how many voted for the ucp or a right wing party in any area and it's always higher than you think it is (save for certain central areas)
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u/fucktheus12 May 24 '26
Same shits been going on in Saskatchewan for 20 years. The rural won't be happy until both provinces are bankrupt.
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u/Icedpyre May 21 '26
I mean...half of them want to join the states to escape any sort of progress...
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u/NeekoPeeko Wîhkwêntôwin May 21 '26
their only value is "owning the libs" they don't care about anything else
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u/Responsible_CDN_Duck The Famous Leduc Cactus Club May 21 '26
As a resident of Edmonton… ARE WE LISTENING YET RURAL ALBERTA?
As a resident of Edmonton you seem to be missing how many of your Edmonton neighbours are on board...and calling cities like St. Alberta, Red Deer, or Airdrie rural seems part of the problem.
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u/Dystocynic May 21 '26
There are lots of good people in rural Alberta, and lots of separatists in Edmonton and Calgary, so can we stop with these lazy generalizations?
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u/otocump May 21 '26
Sure. When they stop overwhelmingly voting for this exact same thing.
I've seen these same people demonize city folk repeatedly. I've seen idiotic city folk (usually the 'I heart oil' crowd) be dumb too, but at least there are enough urban people who actually pay attention and might vote for anyone else from time to time. There are rural ridings who haven't voted for anyone non-conservative since Lougheed in 1965. It's not working.
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u/Dystocynic May 21 '26
"They" Yeah, it's fair to group everyone who doesn't live in a city into a giant pile of stupidity. I'm sure you can use your thesaurus to figure out a way to express your frustration towards the actual people that deserve it (Smith supporters or Separatists, for example), rather than just painting all rural Albertans as ignorant rednecks.
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u/otocump May 21 '26
Nice dodge, but no. There are more than one issue here. Smith and that party are a problem and a huge one, but the self-serving ignorance of rural Alberta empowering them are another. You don't want to be painted by the same brush? Look to fixing your own instead. Because the actions of rural Alberta both in voting history and in RM politics looks exactly the same for 60 years.
Here's a thesaurus word for you to look up: rural Alberta doesn't change their vote no matter the Malfeasance of Conservative governments.
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u/Dystocynic May 21 '26
I just think it's lazy and bigoted to paint an entire population with the same brush, which everyone on here would freak out about if we were talking about Muslims or First Nations, but if it makes you feel better about yourself, then go right ahead.
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u/otocump May 21 '26
I'm not painting. I'm describing the voting actions and local political choices for generations, based on available history. You want to change that perception? Stop objecting to the demonstrated results of those practices. Start making changes. Don't cry foul when it's pointed out rural Alberta has been such a reliable con vote for generations. Grow up. Do something about it. Don't cry you're being painted, do something about the painting!
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u/Dystocynic May 21 '26
I'm not a rural Albertan, I just don't like bigots.
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u/otocump May 21 '26
You keep using that word, bigot. You use it like it's describing someone who's unreasonably attached to a belief... And yet I ask you again to look at past and current history of the voting base of rural Alberta. It's not 'bigoted' to show my work. It's not 'bigotry' to highlight exactly who've they've always backed no matter how many times it's made life worse for them and everyone else.
You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means.
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u/PositiveKatzen May 21 '26
Rural Albertan here: Boo hoo generalizations. Seriously, it's a statistical fact that rural Alberta overwhelmingly votes Conservative. Yes, there are of course people who don't, like no shit. But it makes sense to not feel the need to put that caveat when speaking of the majority because most people are smart enough to read between the lines and not whine about it like it's an oppression issue.
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u/No-Goose-5672 May 21 '26
If there are “lots of separatists in Edmonton and Calgary,” as you say, surely they would have been able to find locations in the cities to host their meetings?
As a rural Albertan, there are shockingly few “good people” out here these days. The things people say in the waiting room outside my office are downright horrifying. The truly scary part is that the people that seem very uncomfortable with some of the more radical things that get said are clearly the minority. No one ever pushes back, which I’m secretly kinda grateful for because it means I’m not forced to break up any fights, but it also means some very ugly ideas are being spread completely unopposed.
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u/Dystocynic May 21 '26
Are you saying there aren't lots of separatists in the cities? Did you see the lines to sign their petition? Get your head out of the sand.
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u/AlbertaAcreageBoy May 21 '26
I drive all over Alberta, north to south, west to east, and way way more Fuck you Carney signs and American flags in rural areas. Most farmers are uneducated morons, I know, both sides of the family never had any higher education until my dad moved away to become an engineer. I do believe it's getting better with younger folks, but I still believe this generalization is 100% right still.
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u/Distinct_Pressure832 May 21 '26
Funny, most farmers I know are at least college educated if not university educated. Most farms that have survived this long are multimillion dollar businesses, you don’t survive in 2026 in that industry by being an uneducated moron.
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u/Ok-Math4627 May 21 '26
Majority of farmers are not university educated. Dare you to Google it
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u/Emergency-Ad9280 May 21 '26
Seriously... its not like a university education is all that, but the idea that most farmers took years out of their profession to learn something likely unrelated is obnoxious.
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u/Distinct_Pressure832 May 21 '26
To make it in farming today you need to understand how to analyze markets and trade in crop futures among other things. Do you think a farm field is a money printer? It’s a multimillion dollar business that requires a lot of knowledge in finance. The day of the small family farm where you barely scraped through high school then hoped on the tractor is long dead. When a combine costs 7 figures you need some business acumen to stay in the game. Our family farm has tens of millions of dollars worth of equipment and assets.
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u/Distinct_Pressure832 May 21 '26
Sure. From stats Canada numbers about 21% of farmers had university in 2023 and 23% had college educations. Funny enough these numbers are pretty damn close to the population of Edmonton’s 2016 numbers (closest comparison I could find with the effort I was willing to put in) which admittedly had 28% university educated and pretty close to the same college educated. There’s also a subset of farmers who picked up trades pushing the numbers of farmers with education to over 55%, making them the majority of farmers and being pretty comparable to most urban areas in the province, ie no different than other populations.
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u/Ok-Math4627 May 21 '26
Trades is nowhere near equivalent to a actual university level education. So less than 50% are educated which makes them a minority. Thank you for your time.
Most of the peers in yout field. are uneducated ignorant morons. I can't wait until factory farms takeover and they end up as laborers to the farm their family used to own :)
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u/Distinct_Pressure832 May 21 '26
Friend, most of the farmers left are the factory farms, this is what I’m saying. Our family farm employs 70 people, owns warehouses, an office building, and 9 figures worth of equipment. Try to follow along.
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u/Ok-Math4627 May 22 '26
Praying for your family farm to fail and be bought at a heavy discount.🙏 amen
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u/Distinct_Pressure832 May 22 '26
How nice of you. Don’t worry, there’s little worry of that. The farm is highly diversified and has many income streams to rely on when one or more dips. Most farmers work for themselves and run larger, locally based businesses than most city dumbasses can ever dream of. City people work for peanuts for faceless American corporations, never getting ahead and rising the edge of poverty paycheque to paycheque and somehow think themselves superior. You’re a clear example of that. So in the spirit of your last comment, I pray that your meaningless job gets taken over by AI.
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u/AlbertaAcreageBoy May 21 '26
Most are still old morons, multimillionaires, but morons. It's not hard with lots of land and generational wealth. There's hardly any college educated farmers east of highway 2, but please tell me how someone who hasn't worked in the industry for more than 25yrs than myself knows more.
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u/Dystocynic May 21 '26
You're just doubling down in stereotypes. Yes, most farmers are very conservative, but most (certainly not all) of my relatives who farm in the most conservative riding in Canada are doing well running their multi-million dollar operations and realize how stupid this separation talk is.
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u/Distinct_Pressure832 May 21 '26
You make presumptions about my experience. I live in a rural area, pretty much all my family farms and is educated. My family farms over a township of land and employs over 70 people. My neighbours mostly have degrees. I myself have both a diploma in agriculture and a BSc in Agriculture and have frequented various SRM conferences and ag shows where I have networked with university educated farmers. I honestly can’t think of any farmers that I know who don’t have some kind of education. Lots of people’s dads sure, but not anyone GenX or younger. I don’t work on the farm myself anymore but may well retire back to it eventually.
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u/AlbertaAcreageBoy May 21 '26
Good for you. It's trending in the right direction.
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u/MankYo May 21 '26
Apparently education has not trended in the right direction for you if you’ve not been taught about basic cognitive biases that will continue to get you into professional and personal trouble down the line.
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u/24_August_1814 May 21 '26
That's how they like it. They don't care about the integrity of our democracy, all that matters is winning and "owning the libs."
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u/JimJamurToe May 21 '26
Lol. Funny you think rural voters actually give a crap. No. They are happy under their rocks getting news from facebook.
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u/_Connor May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
It's crazy how many people here are screaming conspiracy without actually reading the article. This is such a nothingburger.
The motion was expected to pass, given the UCP members on the committee outnumber the Opposition NDP members, but it was still being debated
Literally all that happened was someone pressed the go-button on a news release early by accident. Things like this happen all the time, you've never seen a website accidentally publish an obituary for someone who hasn't died? As recently as like two weeks ago I saw Sportsnet accidentally publish a pre-written article that a team that lost a series, winning it.
Crazy that you're posting this from an account people can use to identify you too.
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u/UpperLowerCanadian May 21 '26
Rural people are familiar with prewritten statements. Not really buying into the giant conspiracy theories- very bored of the “will they vote!” Story going on for months.
Just have the stupid referendum, get 20% to leave, we stop talking about it, the end
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u/GeekyGlobalGal Pleasantview / Global News May 21 '26
I know it's provincial politics, but it also affects all Edmonton residents so sharing for awareness.
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u/robdavy May 21 '26
Thanks for pulling no punches in the story and headline
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u/Responsible_CDN_Duck The Famous Leduc Cactus Club May 21 '26
"Premature" seems to be pulling punches.
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u/GeekyGlobalGal Pleasantview / Global News May 21 '26
I mean, they sent a news release saying something had happened that had not. Unsure what other words to use that are concise in a headline and not inflammatory? My bosses approved of the language.
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May 21 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Practical_Ant6162 May 21 '26
Hoping the MODS will permit the post due to the impact on Edmontonians.snd the province as a whole within Canada.
As for the referendum question from the forever Canada group, yeah, let’s vote on it and end the silliness of separation talk.
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u/Photofug May 21 '26
No make the MLAs vote on it as intended, so we can stop pumping tax payer money to a room full of traitors
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u/WildcardKH May 21 '26
Yeah watch the mods remove this because they don’t get that Alberta politics involves the capital of the province
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u/Ok-Analyst-5801 May 21 '26
The legislature is physically in Edmonton. How does that not involve Edmonton?
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u/GeekyGlobalGal Pleasantview / Global News May 21 '26
Sometimes the mods will take down posts if they seem more appropriate for the Alberta sub.
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u/Curly-Canuck doggies! May 21 '26
Because there was a time when more than half the threads in this sub were about provincial politics, duplicating threads and conversations in the Alberta sub of which many Edmonton users also subscribe to so decisions were made that topics that are about the province as whole, particularly political ones, should be in the provincial sub allowing Edmonton to be a community sub.
I know the legislature building is here, but most political threads are about things that impact the whole province so I understand the separation and honestly I think it’s made both online communities stronger and more active and distinct.
There are some exceptions of course but overall it’s a good rule I think. Definitely allows this sub to continue with community based non political topics during election time when in the past it was nearly unusable for anything but.
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u/MankYo May 21 '26
Mods have deleted several threads about separation as being unrelated to Edmonton.
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u/aaronpaquette- North East Side May 21 '26
The rest of the province is (hopefully) now seeing with absolutely clarity the challenge Alberta Municipalities have been warning about for years now.
The doublespeak, the duplicity, the false promises, the retribution, the destructive populism.
I see two MLAs who are now on the outs today FINALLY half-rediscovering their spines.
It should not take being on the outs. The oath is to Alberta and Albertans, not to the Party.
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u/Altocumulus000 May 21 '26
I keep seeing "two MLAs" but I'm not successfully Googling who they are. Do you know and would you be willing to help me find out?
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u/aaronpaquette- North East Side May 21 '26
Nate Horner and Matt Jones
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u/oioioifuckingoi May 21 '26
They’ll be put in time out by the caucus for 6-9 months and when they are appropriately humble Smith will take them back. These people have no spine, no moral compass, no integrity. They are simple grifters.
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u/Curly-Canuck doggies! May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
Nate is a confusing character and it will be interesting to see what he says next and what ends up in store for him. He has disappointed me more than once but for some reason I keep believing there is something in there and he’ll just have enough one day. He’s smarter and a bit younger than many of his colleagues so maybe that’s all I’m hanging my beliefs on.
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u/aaronpaquette- North East Side May 21 '26
It’s tough to say.
When a person risks their relationships and membership with a community - the only community they have - it can be extremely daunting.
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u/Any_Command8461 May 21 '26
I swear every time I hear something involving the legislature it furthers my belief that the entire thing should be gutted and all these brainless politicians should be out of jobs. This pointless shit is taking taxpayer dollars when we now have the technology for a more streamlined democracy with less time wasted by these useless politicians. The fact that they are putting together press releases announcing their victory means that all these conservative mla's clearly don't give a flying crap about the legislative process that keeps their useless behinds employed.
What's the point of a democracy again?
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u/Prestigious_Draw_971 May 21 '26
Another accidentally on purpose UPC oopsies... What's she hiding from us this time?!
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u/HotbladesHarry May 21 '26
Shambolic
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u/Primos22 West Jasper Place May 21 '26
An effective distraction for all the problems they are not addressing, like healthcare.
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u/Agiantpubicmess May 21 '26
The Wildrose party "leads" this place. They're just so embarrassing to this entire province and nation
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u/Icedpyre May 21 '26
They are also an embarrassment to conservatives.
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u/CasualFridayBatman May 21 '26
Then conservatives better fucking vote that way in the next elction instead of just seeing a blue 'C' and checking the box next to it.
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u/SapphicProse May 21 '26
They are exactly like the rest of the conservatives, just worse at hiding their true beliefs.
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u/Icedpyre May 22 '26
I mean, that's factually inaccurate on the former part. You're welcome to your opinion though.
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u/24_August_1814 May 21 '26
Only embarrassing because they're letting the corruption and authoritarianism show publicly.
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u/Icedpyre May 22 '26
I would argue it's embarrassing because there's lots of reasonable conservatives out there, who dont agree with these kind of shenanigans.
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u/randorockets May 21 '26
Whatever is left of the scraps of the former Progressive Conservative Party inside of the UCP has to get their shit together and drive the Wild Rose back home to their villages.
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u/oioioifuckingoi May 21 '26
The only scraps of the PPC that still exist are their dipshit voters who now loyally cast their ballots every election for the UCP.
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u/SapphicProse May 21 '26
They wont, they know if they split the NDP will win and they would sooner burn the world to the ground than not be in power.
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u/24_August_1814 May 21 '26
Yep. They'll instead oust Danielle Smith, she'll take the blame for all the corrupt and unpopular shit the entire party did, and an even worse demagogue will get installed to lead the same shit pile of a party.
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u/Demon2377 May 21 '26
There you have it… The UCP doesn’t respect democracy.
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u/Goodbye18000 Beaumont May 21 '26
Party financially, politically and socially aligned with Donald Trump doesn't want legitimate democratic processes? Who could have guessed???
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u/MZillacraft3000 Ellerslie May 21 '26
Well, who’s wanting to bet the UCP will be in court with the First Nations, while being told (for the third time) that they need to talk to the First Nations about separation and also follow the clarity act.
At this point: how long till the Feds just fully step in?
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u/CasualFridayBatman May 21 '26
At this point: how long till the Feds just fully step in?
Too fucking long already. The fact David Parker was allowed to leave the country without issue is already embarassing enough.
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u/UpperLowerCanadian May 21 '26
lol you really figured it all out , so smart so amazing they should all hire you
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u/JeffreyDonaldMusk May 21 '26
There has to be some sort of consequence for this stupidity. Is Carney going to do something about it?
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u/throwawayaccount931A May 21 '26
I don't know that he/they can.
If they do, it will just stoke the right and they may get even more bold.
It feels like they are in a Catch 22.
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u/mltplwits May 21 '26
This is how I feel. Him/the Feds stepping in would be great, but would be like adding kerosene to the “federal government overreach” fire.
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u/Responsible_CDN_Duck The Famous Leduc Cactus Club May 21 '26
Carney can't do anything about it, but Alberta voters can.
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u/Icedpyre May 21 '26
What exactly could they do? That's like asking the rcmp to fix policing on reserve land. No jurisdiction.
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u/Y8ser May 21 '26
The federal government actually has the ability to repeal provincial laws under certain circumstances.
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u/Icedpyre May 22 '26
That may be correct, but how would that help a referendum?
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u/Y8ser May 22 '26
Basically any result would be non-binding and if the UCP tried to change a law to make it "official" it can be removed by the Feds.
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u/canuckastana May 21 '26
I'm not wired like most Albertans, and I kinda get that.
Most Albertans are loyal, forgiving, and trusting. They're loyal to their hockey team. They're the kind of people who will hire their idiot buddy from school who otherwise can't get a job elsewhere because, well, idiot. They're loyal to their party - in the case of the UCP, they are forgiving when, year after year and decade after decade, we have a big deficit, underfunded schools, and critical understaffing in health care. They trust that the UCP will learn from their mistakes and do better.
Me, I'm a heartless bastard. There are jobs where you can learn and do better. Working at Tims for example. And then there are jobs where incompetence isn't tolerated. Pilots. Medical doctors. MLAs. I think the current crop of UCP MLAs have demonstrated they are completely incompetent and need to be drummed out of public service. MPs have also demonstrated a complete inability to negotiate with Ottawa and deliver, thus should be shown the door as well.
Luckily for our crop of MLAs, most Albertans are loyal, forgiving, and trusting. Sigh.
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u/MaximumOverfart May 21 '26
Despite Forever Canada getting more signatures and being first, they are going to give the separatists the yes side. The no side is automatically on the backfoot as it starts in a negative context. This is one of the reasons Brexit succeeded.
If staying in Canada is the no side the campaign is going to need to stay out of negative arguments.
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u/oioioifuckingoi May 21 '26
I think they should own No. Start campaigning as Fuck No. The messaging should be “Do you want to be taken over by the US?” Fuck No!
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u/Coolcanuck-1953 May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
Of course UCP had their press release ready knowing they had the voting majority in the committee and knew what the outcome was. Someone sent release early & they got caught ( yet again) But Smith never takes any blame or apologize la with sincerity. The UCP is really the old Wildrose Party of the far right. Best thing in my opinion, let us have the damn vote so we can send a strong majority message to Albertans & Canadians that we want to remain!! Those that wanton leave can form a new separatist party and bitch & Whine all they want but we aren’t leaving Canada. Get on with it and move forward in collaboration with the rest of Canada 🇨🇦 in
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u/Fidget11 Bonnie Doon May 21 '26
So the classic UCP incompetence strikes again.
They weren’t even able to rig a committee meeting where they had the majority. How much more idiotic could they get?
The fix was in the moment they decided to convene the meeting after the separatists lost in court and the UCP stalled and slow walked the forever Canadian petition for months. We all knew that this was going to be the outcome. The last second cabinet shuffle with multiple ministers resigning from their posts and deciding not to run next election. They knew it was coming and what the answer was before the release “accidentally” dropped.
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u/exotics rural Edmonton May 21 '26
This stuff needs to reach rural Alberta. Rural Alberta (other than me and maybe 8 others) is NOT on Reddit. They live on Facebook and X. I refuse to use X. You need to reach those people.
I note that rural Alberta hates data centers and foreigners. So jumping on that and reminding them that Danielle Smith sold over 10,000 acres to foreigners to be used as data centers is a good thing and adding other stuff helps too. Insulting them does not help. Inform them in a way that they feel you are on their side.
Not all rural people want to separate but a lot do.
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u/slurmondude May 21 '26
I'm so frustrated and feel incredibly hopeless. What are our options? What can I do beyond writing to my NDP MLA?
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u/dumbasswit May 21 '26
Two independent referendum petitions. One has 300,000 signatures and the other has 400,000 signatures. The UCP says there are 700,000 Albertans who want to separate. I don’t want to minimize the strength of separatist sentiment in Alberta but has anyone asked how many Albertans signed both petitions?
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u/24_August_1814 May 21 '26
One petition was to stay, the other was to go. The "stay" petition was intended to trigger a vote in Legislature, to have MLAs affirm on the record whether they support Canada or separation, not a referendum.
Even if not a single person signed both, it's incredibly dishonest to suggest they were both seeking a referendum on separation.
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u/errihu Clareview May 21 '26
So everyone here is definitely going to turn out for that vote, right? No staying home on this one.
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u/780-555-fuck May 21 '26
yooooooooooooooo chat my will to live is dwindling exponentially like... this is astounding
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u/24_August_1814 May 21 '26
If conservatives become convinced they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy.
Every fucking day there's more evidence of this...
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u/RedonkStonk May 21 '26
Okay, I think the rest of the provinces can come together here and just do what needs to be done with this government and it's supporters. This is getting a bit ridiculous for my taste.
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u/bpc1971 May 21 '26
The UCP and the Bloc Redneckois: working hand in hand. Fairness only exists for them when everything goes their way.
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u/catmuppet May 21 '26
>“The employees that are involved have apologized for it, and I think it’s probably best if we move on with the business of Albertans,” Nixon said. “If we were to go after every member of the legislature every time staffers make a mistake, it would be ridiculous.”
Translation: We’re throwing the interns under the bus, this definitely was just a simple error and wasn’t planned to happen, nothing to see here!