The Breakdown With Nate Pike

Welcome to episode 6.27, a conversation with Harm Reduction and recovery advocate Guy Felicella! Guy made headlines recently when he was barred from a recovery conference in Calgary, and he generously sat down with us to explain what happened, but we get into a whole lot more than that, including the nature of recovery, the crossover of BC and Alberta politics and a whole lot more! Don't forget, we now have merch that's available at www.abpoli.ca, including a cold weather lineup! 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, Instagram and Threads!

Time for another panel! With the political temperature in Alberta reaching a rolling boil over Calgary and Edmonton initiating blanket rezoning (even though Edmonton has completed the rezoning already), particularly to access federal housing funding, we decided it was time for another deep dive! To make sense of this we’re joined by Robert Tremblay of the Calgary Climate Hub, Kathryn Davies of “More Neighbours” and Edmonton City Councillor Micheal Janz! To learn more about the climate hub or to attend their speaking event prep, visit https://www.calgaryclimatehub.ca/rezoning_speak_city_hall_train_apr24 To learn more about “More Neighbours” and the specifics on the zoning, you can visit https://www.moreneighbourscalgary.ca/rcg Don't forget, we now have merch that's available at www.abpoli.ca, including a cold weather lineup! 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, Instagram and Threads!

It's another Alberta Politics roundup and what a week! EMS profitization! Policing subsidization! Why is misrepresented BC drug policy playing such a big role in Alberta politics right now? We debunk a boatload of myths and we do a deep dive on Danielle Smith's Bill 18 and its attack on municipalities, post secondary education and well... pretty much everything? Don't forget, we now have merch that's available at www.abpoli.ca, including a cold weather lineup! 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, Instagram and Threads!

There’s a lot of conversation around the physician shortage in Alberta, but how did we go from being on of the most appealing provinces for physicians to practice in to one that is struggling to even fill residencies? To get some answers, we sat down with President of the Alberta Medical Association, Dr Paul Parks! But we don’t stop at the physician crisis, we also get into the literal disintegration of healthcare in Alberta, the opioid crisis and we revisit the legendary December 10, 2023 press conference and vaccinations! Don't forget, we now have merch that's available at www.abpoli.ca, including a cold weather lineup! 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, Instagram and Threads!

We sit down again with Disability Advocate Don Slater to get his thoughts on how the provincial budget affects disabled Albertans, unintended consequences for the fight against the carbon tax, the erosion of social contact and a whole lot more! Don't forget, we now have merch that's available at www.abpoli.ca, including a cold weather lineup! 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, Instagram and Threads!

It's time for another Alberta Politics Roundup and Speakers Corner and sure enough, this episode goes so long we're breaking it into two parts! In Part 1, we take a look at the recent Take Back Alberta troubles, the effect of the houselessness processing facility in Edmonton, the status of the grassy mountain coal mine, the latest on the NDP Leadership race, Premier Smith's attempt of a performative federal committee hearing before we get into the recent OFFICIAL UCP anti-trans tin foil hat event! Look for our speakers corner part 2 as well, because not only do we hear from a few of our regular speakers but we also hear from advocate and politico Anna Murphy! You can read the blog post that we reference during the show at https://crystalgaze2.blogspot.com/2024/03/you-got-played-girl.html?spref=tw Don't forget, we now have merch that's available at www.abpoli.ca, including a cold weather lineup! 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, Instagram and Threads!

We've been working on having conversations with all of the candidates for the NDP Leadership, but as you'll see this conversation is more than a little different, and it's because what Jodi brings to the table is very different than any of the other candidates. Not only do we get into all of the same topics that we have addressed with the other candidates, including the future of the NDP, Alberta's economic and energy future, the environment and safe supply but we also get into a simultaneously complex and simple conversation on Truth and Reconciliation, the incredibly complex governance structures that make up Alberta as a treaty province and a whole lot more! Don't forget, we now have merch that's available at www.abpoli.ca, including a cold weather lineup! 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, Instagram and Threads!

We're continuing in our efforts to interview all the ecandidates for the NDP Leadership Race and we're very excited to present this conversation with Naheed Nenshi! We cover housing, energy, affordable housing, Grassy Mountain, renewables, and a whole lot more in this episode! Don't forget, we now have merch that's available at www.abpoli.ca, including a cold weather lineup! 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, Instagram and Threads!

In this episode, we're talking education with members of the Edmonton Public School Advocacy Network, Nancy Hunt, Jodi McDonald, Nancy Kirkpatrick! The UCP government introduced their new budget recently, and that's budget sees funding for private schools and early childhood centres increasing at four times the rate of public K-12 spending, the EPSAN is raising the alarm about how this budget doesn't begin to address the current situation and how the projections show decreases in funding year over year! You can visit their website at https://www.epscnetwork.com and you can sign the petition they talk about in this episode at https://chng.it/6sQTNfMz94! Don't forget, we now have merch that's available at www.abpoli.ca, including a cold weather lineup! 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, Instagram and Threads!

In this episode we're addressing the rumors surrounding former MLA, Minister and Deputy Premier Thomas Lukaszuks alleged entry to the NDP Leadership race, But wait, there's more! We also cover the RCMP investigation into the UCP Leadership race, the provincial budget, TBA and a whole lot more! Don't forget, we now have merch that's available at www.abpoli.ca, including a cold weather lineup! 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, Instagram and Threads!

We're back for another roundup of Alberta Politics and the last week has given us a lot of big events to talk about! We start by getting into the bizarre state of counselling as a profession in Alberta before we take a look at the RCMP investigation into the 2017 UCP Leadership Race, Danielle Smith's bizarre take on Pharmacare and we end with a deep dive on the state of coal mining in Alberta, particularly the proposed Grassy Mountain Mine that the UCP is inexplicably pushing through! Don't forget, we now have merch that's available at www.abpoli.ca, including a cold weather lineup! 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, Instagram and Threads!

We're continuing on with our series with NDP leadership candidates with a conversation with current MLA and NDP Leadership Candidate, Rakhi Pancholi! As with all of our conversations so far, we get into her vision for the Alberta NDP going into the future, her position on the relationship with the federal NDP, safe supply, the carbon tax and a whole lot more (including an Oregano scandal?) Don't forget, we now have merch that's available at www.abpoli.ca, including a cold weather lineup! 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, Instagram and Threads!

There's been a lot of talk about Danielle Smith's proposed policies limiting access to gender affirming care, and we've talked a lot about statistics and studies here on the show when it comes to gender affirming care... But enough of the academia. We sat down with an ACTUAL physician in Alberta who provides gender affirming care to cut through all of the noise and the fearmongering to hear from someone who actually provides gender affirming care what is happening in Alberta, what the rules are, who can get care and how and a whole lot more! Don't forget, we now have merch that's available at www.abpoli.ca, including a cold weather lineup! 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, Instagram and Threads!

We're continuing on with our series with NDP leadership candidates with a conversation with former Justice Minister, Current MLA and Current NDP Leadership Candidate, Kathleen Ganley! As with all of our conversations so far, we get into her vision for the Alberta NDP going into the future, her position on the relationship with the federal NDP, safe supply, the carbon tax and a whole lot more! Don't forget, we now have merch that's available at www.abpoli.ca, including a cold weather lineup! 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, Instagram and Threads!

This is probably our most important episode of The Breakdown ever. We're back for our regular live round up of Alberta Politics, including the announcement of the fact Alberta intends to opt out of the new national Pharmacare program, the multiple environmental disasters that the province is inevitably facing, Smith's recent provincial address and her newest episode of "Your Province, Your Premier". But it's the call in from Alberta Physician Dr. David Keegan on the loss of his trans nephew to suicide that everyone needs to hear, because that death is directly attributable to Smith's recent barrage of anti-trans policies. And we now have merch that's available at www.abpoli.ca, including a fall lineup! 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, Instagram and Threads!

For episode 6.12, we’re proud to present this heartfelt conversation with Marni Panas! Marni is an advocate, a leader and a whole lot more, and she generously joins us to share her perspective on how Smith's anti-human rights policies already have and will continue to cause very real harm to the trans community. And we now have merch that's available at www.abpoli.ca, including a fall lineup! 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, Instagram and Threads!

On this episode we take a deep dive on the history or "Parental Rights" in Alberta and we further explore how Danielle Smith's new anti-trans, anti-choice, anti-expertise policies will affect all Albertans with Canada Research Chair for the Public Understanding of Sexual and Gender Minority Youth, Dr. Kristopher Wells! And we now have merch that's available at www.abpoli.ca, including a fall lineup! 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, Instagram and Threads!

With 3 official candidates for the NDP Leadership race having announced their intention to become the next leader of the NDP, we're very excited to present our first conversation with one of them! Sarah Hoffman has been a multi-term MLA, deputy premier and Minister of Health during the NDP's time in government. She joins us in this episode for a conversation on what she sees as the future of the NDP, her position on a carbon tax, healthcare, housing Danielle Smith's assault on trans kids and adult choice and a whole lot more! And we now have merch that's available at www.abpoli.ca, including a fall lineup! 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, Instagram and Threads!

After Danielle Smith announced on her radio show on January 27th that she would be introducing some gender and pronoun policies, Political Scientist Dr. Duane Bratt joined us to try and make sense of what she was saying. No one was prepared for what she actually announced though. So a week later, we're thrilled to welcome Dr. Bratt to the show for an in depth conversation on Smith's policies and he has dropped the gloves and pulls no punches in this not to be missed episode! And we now have merch that's available at www.abpoli.ca, including a fall lineup! 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, Instagram and Threads!

Danielle Smith and the UCP have launched a series of policies attacking trans kids, the LGBTQ2S+ community, parents ability to choose medical procedures with and for their kids, teachers and the education system and the entire medical community. In this episode we fact check Dani from her launch video to several press conferences, and it becomes pretty clear pretty quickly that what Dani says this about isn't at ALL what it's actually about. And we now have merch that's available at www.abpoli.ca, including a fall lineup! 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, Instagram and Threads!