The Breakdown With Nate Pike

There’s new required reading for followers of Alberta Politics in the form of the book “Blue Store - The Rise & Fall of Jason Kenney” and we were able to sit down with one of the editors of the boom, political scientist Dr. Duane Bratt! Not only does Dr Bratt share how this book, which is a compilation of essays by renowned political experts from across the province came to be, but he also shares his thoughts on the upcoming provincial election and why this book is so important to understand Danielle Smith and the possible future of the UCP! As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that we’re trying to produce here at The Breakdown, please consider signing up as a monthly supporter at our Patreon site at www.patreon.com/thebreakdownab. If you’re listening to the audio version of our podcast, please consider leaving us a review and a rating, and don’t forget to like and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

It's Election eve! With a writ drop expected for Monday, May 1st Alberta Politics is getting ready to gear up to top speed and we're back with our weekly recap! Danielle Smith doubled down on forced treatment early on in the week, but that was just the start! We also saw a major announcement about a new arena in Calgary as well as another series of scandals from UCP candidates, including Smith herself as she posed for pictures with a convoy organizer who is still facing legal consequences! All this and we take a look at the recent revelations around the far right extremist group "Take Back Alberta" and the continued influx of conservative heavy hitters lending their support to the NDP in an attempt to stop the free fall into chaos that many see conservatism experiencing! As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that we’re trying to produce here at The Breakdown, please consider signing up as a monthly supporter at our Patreon site at www.patreon.com/thebreakdownab. If you’re listening to the audio version of our podcast, please consider leaving us a review and a rating, and don’t forget to like and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The "election season" is only continuing to heat up and in the weekly roundup we do our best to break it all down! Between Danielle Smith doubling down on only taking one question per reporter going forward, the bizarre last minute changes to a major event in Calgary, another UCP candidate being disqualified, Smith's council member stepping down after we highlighted his racist ramblings, the shocking leak that the UCP is looking at how to force treatment of people against their will, there's no shortage of things to get caught up on! Plus on our regular open forum we hear from our audience on the question of what defines media and what defines journalism these days! As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that we’re trying to produce here at The Breakdown, please consider signing up as a monthly supporter at our Patreon site at www.patreon.com/thebreakdownab. If you’re listening to the audio version of our podcast, please consider leaving us a review and a rating, and don’t forget to like and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Fingers are flying in Alberta politics as we take a look at the events of the last week! Danielle Smith is under investigation by the Ethics Commissioner, but what does that really mean? Plus Smith and the UCP clamp down hard on media questions and it appears that one of the individuals that was appointed to Smith's newly announced Council on Multiculturalism and Inclusion was rejected by the UCP as a candidate for sharing anti-semantic, holocaust denying memes... Plus we're joined by AISH advocate Don Slater for a conversation on what members of the disabled community would like to see from political parties in the next election before we turn the mic over to our audience for our regular town hall! As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that we’re trying to produce here at The Breakdown, please consider signing up as a monthly supporter at our Patreon site at www.patreon.com/thebreakdownab. If you’re listening to the audio version of our podcast, please consider leaving us a review and a rating, and don’t forget to like and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Alberta politics only continues to get more dramatic and dynamic as we the province slouches towards the next election and we try and make sense of it on our weekly roundup! This last week saw the further privatization of EMS, worsening toxic spills up North, Danielle Smith continue to self immolate (and try and walk back her publicly stated goals of adding user fees to healthcare) and the UCP go on the offensive with the NDP in a profoundly out of context way! Plus we round out the last half of the show by opening up the mic to our Twitter Spaces listeners! As always, if you appreciate the kind of content that we’re trying to produce here at The Breakdown, please consider signing up as a monthly supporter at our Patreon site at www.patreon.com/thebreakdownab. If you’re listening to the audio version of our podcast, please consider leaving us a review and a rating, and don’t forget to like and follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.