The Progress Report

Euan Thomson from drugdatadecoded.ca joins us on the pod once again, this time to tell us about his investigation into the Calgary police's use of facial recognition technology. * Premier's Office spent nearly $20K on PragerU fundraiser gala [https://www.theprogressreport.ca/premier-prageru-fundraiser] * 'MAGA performer' booked to perform at the Legislature is a far-right associate of Artur Pawlowski and the Proud Boys [https://www.theprogressreport.ca/_maga_performer_booked_to_perform_at_the_legislature_is_a_far_right_associate] * Calgary police "image recognition" software identifies individuals in photos & videos posted online [https://drugdatadecoded.ca/calgary-police-image-recognition-software-identifies-individuals-in-photos-videos-posted-online/] The Progress Report podcast is listener-funded and runs no ads—please consider becoming a patron at www.theprogressreport.ca/patrons [http://www.theprogressreport.ca/patrons]

Jeremy recounts the harrowing tale of his visit to a separatist rally on Canada Day in Mirror, Alberta. Check out Jeremy's original article on this event on his blog The Orchard at www.readtheorchard.org/p/canada-day-with-the-separatists. To support the Progress Report podcast and keep us free of advertisements for mattresses and nutritional supplements, head over to theprogressreport.ca/patrons.

Press Progress's Stephen Magusiak joins Jim and Jeremy to talk about this week's G7 conference—and not about the unimportant parts, like global geopolitics, but about what really matters: what Albertans were doing. Who was organizing around G7 locally and were they successful? The fellas get into it. Support the Progress Report pod by becoming a patron at theprogressreport.ca/patrons :) Stephen writes for Press Progress, which you can find at pressprogress.ca

The 20-year president of the Alberta Federation of Labour is up for re-election this Sunday. Jim and Jeremy take a look at the present situation, check out some Gil McGowan campaign literature, and speak to the AFL leadership candidate who didn't ignore our interview request.

Through projects including the national business coalition Each+Every and his publication Drug Data Decoded (www.drugdatadecoded.ca), Euan Thomson has put his heart and soul into combatting the ongoing drug poisoning crisis, and he joins us on this episode of the Progress Report to bring everyone up to date with the crisis's current status. But Euan of late has also been an ally to the Palestinian solidarity movement and it's in that capacity that he took a beating from police during last year's violent crackdown on demonstrators at the University of Calgary. In this episode Euan and Jeremy also discuss the crackdown, and why one Calgary Liberal candidate in particular is implicated in the story in a bad way. Full show notes and our other content is available at www.theprogressreport.ca. Jeremy's article for The Maple on the U of C situation, mentioned in the episode: https://www.readthemaple.com/liberal-star-candidate-helped-shut-down-pro-palestine-encampment/

Dr. Wing Li from Support our Students and Chris Gallaway from Friends of Medicare join us to analyze Alberta's weird, complicated, anti-worker 2025 budget. Full show notes at https://www.theprogressreport.ca/pod-analyzing-the-2025-budget We are grateful for any support you would like to provide to this independent media project. To become a Progress Report patron, head to https://www.theprogressreport.ca/patrons

After nine years as Progress Alberta's executive director and the editor of the Progress Report, Duncan Kinney is moving on to stabler, more raise-a-family-able things. Join us as we reminisce about some of our greatest hits during Duncan's tenure and talk frankly about the issue of 'activist journalism.'

Joel Laforest, policy advisor to Calgary councillor Courtney Walcott, joins us on the pod to go over the politicking around the city's efforts to fix its zoning laws, the housing crisis, and how it all relates to the UCP's Bill 18 and Bill 20.

Jeremy Appel joins the pod to talk about his newly published book, Kenneyism: Jason Kenney's Pursuit of Power. We discuss how Jason Kenney's ghost continues to haunt us still and the effects his time in politics have wrought at the federal and provincial level.

The Progress Report podcast is back and fellow Progress Reporters Jeremy Appel and Jim Storrie are around to break down the resolutions and the vibes heading into this weekend's UCP AGM. This is the first AGM with Danielle Smith at the helm and we'll see where her loosey-goosey leadership style plays with an increasingly bug-eyed UCP grassroots.

Police body cameras are sold as a solution that will increase trust, transparency, and accountability with police. Daniella Barreto of Rights Back at You joins host Duncan Kinney to debunk every one of these claims and make the case that police body cameras actually suck ass.

Canadian Anti-Hate Network writer and research Peter Smith joins host Duncan Kinney to talk about the recent spate of far right protests at all-ages drag reading events and other queer events in Alberta—and the counter-protests that resist them.