Housing crisis? There ain't no stinkn' housing crisis.

There is, however, an 'overabundance of stupid' crisis.

Thanks to Friday’s cabinet shuffle, more than half of the entire United Conservative Party caucus in the Alberta legislature is now a member of Premier Danielle Smith’s cabinet.

To be precise, 57.4 per cent of the 47 UCP MLAs now have a cabinet portfolio. When you subtract Speaker Ric McIver, just appointed to replace Washington-bound Nathan Cooper, that rises to 58.7 per cent.

This is not normal and it’s not an indicator of healthy government. There are now 27 cabinet ministers, two of them meaninglessly labelled as associates but in cabinet nevertheless, up from an already disproportionately large group of 25.

Fully four of them make up the junta, for lack of a better word, responsible for managing health care — or, as was argued in my hot take Friday, for dismantling public health care.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/44343977

Before the Usual Time is a short book (180 pages) that spans multiple indigenous cultures. I appreciated getting a taste of each of the authors' experiences and cultures, and the poems are approachable for those new to poetry. The stories are inventive and the writing is excellent. I'd highly recommend it!

Featuring writings from:

• Leanna Marshall - Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (Ontario)
• Emma Petahtegoose - Atikameksheng Anishnawbek
• Joan Naviuyuk Kane - Inupiaq
• Ardelle Sagutcheway - Eabametoong (Ontario)
• Craig Santos Perez - Chamorro Guahan (Guam)
• Sherwin Bitsui - Diné of the Todich'ii'nii (Arizona)
• Chuquai Billy - Lakota Sioux/Choctaw (New Mexico)
• David Groulx - Ojibway (Ontario)
• Sy Hoahwah - Comanche/Southern Arapaho
• Cathy Smith - Mohawk
• Dennis Saddleman - Coldwater Reserve
• Craig Commanda - Kitigan Zibi
• Emily Clarke - Cahuilla
• Darlene Naponse - Anishinaabe from Atikameksheng Anishnawbek
• Lori Flinders - Couchiching First Nation, Lynx Clan
• Ajuawak Kapashesit - Cree, Ojibwe, and Jewish descent

Any excuse for Loblaws to raise their prices even higher than they have been.

Intersex Infant Surgery: Not Banned

Queen Elizabeth died in 2022. I haven't seen any money with the new king on it. Do they think he's going to die too so just waiting to avoid having to redo the work?

Article contains significant errors. MEC was never owned by its members. If it were, we would have had a say when it was sold, voting on whether to accept the offer, and receiving a share of the payout. MEC was never actually a cooperative. I think there should be consequences for this deception. I also think there need to be more consumer cooperatives than there are. Please mention any you know below.

Have you noticed how many AMERICAN owed corporations are now claiming Canadian connections?

McDonalds is claiming Canadian ownership, because their franchises are owned by Canadians.

Lazyboy, which has no manufacturing or assembly n Canada, is claiming a 'buy Canadian' slant because the Lazyboy stores in Ontario are licensed to Canadian owners.

Even saw an add where ESSO is claiming Canadian roots, for over half a century.

Next, Walmart will be touting that it has Canadian roots.

What it currently looks like:

https://costar.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/7706ba2/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5000x3331+0+0/resize/2100x1399!/quality/100/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fcostar-brightspot.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2F7f%2F04%2Feed9a1d24574ae823ff092216d18%2Faerial-2025-04-07t113800.729.jpg

No comment other than the phrase in title is prominent on the hats intentionally shown behind the young man being interviewed here. I'll let everyone reading this decide for themselves whether this is a problem or not.

EDIT: For the record, perhaps my original commentary on this post was attempting to be too 'clever'. I was most definitely * not * trying to promote these chuckleheads. It was posted in order to ensure people know the enemy -- there are some scary forces working in Canada to instill the horrors we are seeing down south, right here, right now.

Can anyone make sense of this article? Seems absolutely full of contradictions.

Trump threatens to increase imports of pharmaceuticals into America. Trump threatens increased tariffs on pharmaceuticals. Somehow, American pharmaceutical companies will export drugs cheaply to Canada and then import them back to America and sell them cheaper than they can sell the drugs kept back in America. The world is seemingly dependent on American pharmaceutical firms. India makes most of the world's generic drugs. Canadian drug plans are, by and large, really pushing for the substitution of generics for brand names for reimbursement purposes. Drugs are a lot cheaper in Canada. Somehow, Canada is supposed to import the drugs made in India through American channels, paying American tariffs, instead of directly from India. So Americans can buy them back cheaper than Canadians pay. The ''free enterprise' system, as exemplified by the American drug producers, will always result in the lower price. No American government, Republican or Democrat, has been remotely successful in bringing down American drug costs. There are too many rich people who can afford to pay absurdly high costs for drugs. The top 10% of American income earners is still equal to the entire population of Canada. That is a LOT of demand for drugs-at-any-cost. The Republican "Keep government out of private enterprise" party wants the American federal government to be more like our Canadian government in being able to regulate pharmaceutical profits and drug costs. Instead of wanting Canada to join America, several States want to join Canada when it comes to securing lower drug costs. Trump wants Canadians to pay more for drugs so Americans can get them cheaper. Somehow, wait for it, according to Trump's non-logic America is subsidizing the costs of drugs in the rest of the world, and 'The National Security of America' is at risk.

Pete Hoekstra thumbs through an imaginary document, and pauses for effect: “This is a serious proposal — pile one.” Then he raises a second document. “I can’t believe this,” he guffaws. “This is a joke.” Straight to the discard pile.

That, says President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Canada, is how it will go — one way or another — when newly elected Prime Minister Mark Carney submits a proposal on a revamped economic and security agreement with the United States

The long story short is that in nine years, over the lifetime of the Trudeau government, federal subsidies to business more than doubled through the introduction of over 100 new programs. Every Canadian went from paying just over $310 to businesses large and small to over $800 per year in 2023/24.

A group representing major foreign streaming companies told a hearing held by Canada's broadcasting regulator on Friday that those companies shouldn't be expected to fulfil the same responsibilities as traditional broadcasters when it comes to Canadian content.

The Motion Picture Association-Canada, which represents large streamers like Netflix, Paramount, Disney and Amazon, said the regulator should be flexible in modernizing its definition of Canadian content.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is holding a two-week public hearing on a new definition of Canadian content that began Wednesday. The proceeding is part of its work to implement the Online Streaming Act — and it is bringing tensions between traditional players and large foreign streamers out in the open.