Alberta Advantage Podcast – Détails, épisodes et analyse

In this live recording, Jeremy tells us how Kenney has shaped Alberta politics, and expounds on his ideological commitments, his flair for conspiracy and his effective use of political stunts. We also learn of Kenney's taste in music and get Jeremy's response to the toughest question he's been asked since the book came out. 

Order Kenneyism by Jeremy Appel from Dundurn Press. 

Gaza solidarity encampments on university campuses in the U.S. and Canada are experiencing violent police crackdowns. How do the student movements of the past inform what's going on now? Team Advantage digs into the history of student radicalism and speaks to encampment supporters about their experiences with police.

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The Bank of Canada is explicitly trying to increase unemployment by raising the cost of borrowing money. Is excessive employment the cause of inflation, and if not, what are the consequences of this policy likely to be? Economist Jim Stanford joins Team Advantage to talk about profiteering, the housing market, and the potential for a recession within the next year.

Follow Jim Stanford on twitter @JimboStanford, and check out Economics for Everyone at economicsforeveryone.ca.

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Nazis are bad! The Communists who defeated them are good! Somehow, this is massively confusing to Alberta Premier Jason Kenney!

Joined by special guest Breht O'Shea of Revolutionary Left Radio, Team Advantage examines Jason Kenney's confused sense of history. Why is he such a big fan of the debunked Black Book of Communism? Are Nazism and Communism the same, as Jason Kenney proposes? Who (and what social forces) benefit from this reading of history?

Thanks to Breht O'Shea of Revolutionary Left Radio for joining us. Find RLR at revolutionaryleftradio.com and on Twitter @RevLeftRadio.

Further reading:

Debunking: “Communism killed more people than naziism!” by Morgan Visser
https://medium.com/@discomfiting/debunking-communism-killed-more-people-than-naziism-7a9880696f67

Why Are the Trump White House and Media Citing an Antisemitic Book’s Claims to Demonize Communism? by Ben Norton
https://www.alternet.org/2017/11/trump-media-antisemitic-black-book-communism-whitewash-nazis/

The “Double Genocide” Theory: The New and Official Form of Holocaust Denial by Dovid Katz
https://jewishcurrents.org/the-double-genocide-theory/

Bill to remember 'Ukrainian Genocide' under Stalin treads tricky ground by Lahav Harkov
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Bill-to-remember-Ukrainian-Genocide-under-Stalin-treads-tricky-ground-540847

Edmonton monument glorifies Nazi collaborator
https://www.edmontonjewishnews.com/edmonton-monument-glorifies-nazi-collaborator/

Once upon a time, Alberta's cable channels and airwaves were considered a public good, worthy of a non-commercial educational broadcaster: Access Television. Team Advantage explores the history, ambitions, and legacy of this effort to build public, commercial-free and education-oriented programming, as well as the role of privatization in its eventual demise.

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After cutting healthcare expenditures by 17% over four years, Jason Kenney's UCP government spent $2 million for a review of Alberta Health Services. The review found very little in terms of major cost savings. The review's recommendations, however, propose an attack on the unionized workers that perform vital duties within Alberta's health care system, eroding pay, working conditions, and union presence at AHS sites. It also provides a justification for increased privatization of the workforce, AHS facilities, and surgeries. Alison McIntosh, research manager at the Parkland Institute, joins Team Advantage to discuss the implications of the review.

Follow Alison on Twitter @McIn_Ali, and follow the Parkland Institute @ParklandInst.

Read Alison's analysis of the Ernst & Young AHS Review here:
https://www.parklandinstitute.ca/review_of_ahs_a_pro_privatization_attack_on_workers

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Scrapping the previous NDP government's comprehensive curriculum review, Jason Kenney pledged to "get politics out of the classroom." The newly-formed Curriculum Advisory Panel, which does not include anyone who has taught in a classroom for the last 20 years, came up with some suggestions: provide "balance" when teaching lessons about climate change, and teach cursive writing. Barbara Silva, communications director of Support Our Students, joins Team Advantage to talk about the state of the curriculum rewrite, and public education more broadly, in Alberta.

Check out Support Our Students at supportourstudents.ca.

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Nowadays, a "public enterprise" means the government bought a leaky pipeline— but public enterprises have a long and successful history in Canada, providing services and public goods that private actors in the market economy could never muster. Journalist and author Linda McQuaig joins Team Advantage to discuss her latest book, The Sport & Prey of Capitalists: How the Rich Are Stealing Canada's Public Wealth. Discover how the Trudeau Liberals' Infrastructure Bank is a giant handout to BlackRock! Unearth the history of Canadian National, Canada's public railway, and its role in shaping radio broadcasts and the CBC! Gasp in shock as you learn that a wildly popular public Postal Office Savings Bank existed in Canada until 1968, when Canada's big private banks lobbied to undermine it!

Follow Linda McQuaig on Twitter @LindaMcQuaig and check out her book at lindamcquaig.com.

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Kenney's UCP government recently announced a new funding model for post-secondary education: 40% of institutional funding will now depend on performance measures, such as graduate employment rates, median graduate income, provisioning skills to labour markets, and sponsored research revenues. While this is a dream for auditors and management consultants, this new bureaucracy threatens the integrity of Alberta's universities and colleges, and risks phasing out innovative new research. University of Regina professor Dr. Marc Spooner joins Team Advantage to discuss the implications of this new funding model.

Follow Marc on Twitter: https://twitter.com/drmarcspooner/

Read Dr. Spooner's piece in the CAUT Education Review, Performance-Based Funding in Higher Education: https://www.caut.ca/sites/default/files/caut-education-review-performance-based_funding_in_higher_education.pdf

Read Dr. Spooner's opinion piece in the Calgary Herald: https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/opinion-why-performance-based-funding-for-universities-is-not-the-answer

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Imperial Oil's internal documents prove that they knew the realities of climate change decades ago— yet continued to confuse the issue in public as it continued to ramp up production. Murtaza Hussain, journalist for The Intercept, joins Team Advantage to discuss his recent piece, "Imperial Oil, Canada’s Exxon Subsidiary, Ignored Its Own Climate Change Research for Decades, Archive Shows." Find out what Imperial Oil knew and when— and discover their interest in surveilling prominent members of the Canadian left.

Follow Murtaza Hussain's work: twitter.com/MazMHussain and theintercept.com.