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Alberta Politics Daveberta Podcast

Episode 66: Aloha! Making sense of Alberta politics in 2021

Dr. Jared Wesley joins Dave Cournoyer on the Daveberta Podcast to discuss Jason Kenney’s leadership of the United Conservative Party, Rachel Notley’s focus on health care during the pandemic, the Alberta Party and Wildrose Independence Party leadership races, and the equalization referendum and Senate nominee elections that will coincide with the October municipal elections.

We also break down the first week of year that saw UCP MLAs in hot water after spending the Christmas break on hot holidays.

Dr. Wesley is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Alberta and the lead researcher for Common Ground.

The Daveberta Podcast is hosted by Dave Cournoyer and produced by Adam Rozenhart.

The Daveberta Podcast is a member of the Alberta Podcast Network: Locally grown. Community supported. The Alberta Podcast Network includes dozens of great made-in-Alberta podcasts.

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2 replies on “Episode 66: Aloha! Making sense of Alberta politics in 2021”

I don’t think Albertans will find a worse provincial government than the UCP. There is only one contender for that, and it would be the Wildrose Independence Party.

Enjoyed the podcast, the part about the Senate elections right at the end was quite intriguing. Perhaps it might get further coverage as the fall elections get closer.

I agree with the thoughts something is off with the Senate election. It is a Federal appointment, the election idea is being pushed by the Provincial government, so what election does is get put in with? Municipal. Perhaps, that is the first problem.

I also agree with the comments that it makes more sense for Senators to represent districts, not be province wide. Frankly I think the Triple E proponents are their own worst enemies. If they think Ontario and Quebec are ever going to entertain PEI having the same number of Senators as them, those proponents are delusional. However, I agree Alberta is under represented and that should be fixed.

There are ways mathematically to give increased representation to the primarily western Provinces who are under represented, while not taking away from other provinces. I think it would be more productive to explore and advocate for that. The US model doesn’t always work well there and with only 10 provinces rather than 50 states those shortcomings would only be worse here. However, unfortunately I suspect the Provincial government doesn’t care as much about coming up with a better, viable model for Senate reform, as it does about a short term symbolic distraction.

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