The Progress Report

‘MAGA performer’ booked to perform at the Legislature is a far-right associate of Artur Pawlowski and the Proud Boys

NEW: I take a closer look, with help from @reportbywilson.bsky.social, at Sean Feucht, the "MAGA performer" scheduled to perform at the Legislature band stand in a couple weeks.

www.theprogressreport.ca/_maga_perfor...

Former health minister and opposition health critic Sarah Hoffman joined us on the pod last week to discuss this

Data shows 90% of trespassing tickets on Edmonton transit go to those with no fixed address | CBC News Transit peace officers in Edmonton gave out 5,721 tickets for trespassing in 2024 — a move that housing and legal advocates say is disproportionately ​​​​​​​harming those who are homeless. Data obtain...

The city is expending quite a lot of resources on what amounts to essentially a tax on homelessness.

Measles cases in Alberta on 2025-07-28:
• Total cases: 1,574 (+36)
• North cases: 496 (+17)
• South cases: 905 (+14)
• Calgary cases: 49 (+5)

Safety of JN.1-Updated mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines This cohort study investigates the association between booster vaccinations containing the JN.1 lineage and 29 serious adverse events in Denmark.

🚨Yet ANOTHER big study highlighting safety...👇

Sum: "NO increased risk of 29 adverse events was observed after vaccination with the updated COVID-19 mRNA vaccine..."

Safety of Updated mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines jamanetwork.com/journals/jam... via @jama.com

#VaccinesWork

Alberta covered $150M in oil and gas companies’ unpaid rent | The Narwhal Issue of oil and gas companies’ unpaid rent in Alberta is ‘intertwined’ with unpaid municipal taxes, cleanup bills: law professor

When oil and gas companies are unable, or unwilling, to pay rent they owe to landowners where they have wells, the Alberta government pays it for them.

The tab is now nearly $150 million since 2010, Sharon J. Riley reports: thenarwhal.ca/alberta-oil-and-gas-unpaid-rent-2024

Smalls was here in Alberta to support the labour movement just recently. He was the keynote speaker at this year's AFL convention and spoke at the Common Front rally at the Legislature.

Opinion: The International Court of Justice’s statement on fossil fuels puts Carney in a tough spot An advisory opinion on responsibility for emissions means that Canada could be on the hook for major climate-change-related damages in the years ahead

Highly recommend this Globe oped today by UBC law prof @michael-byers.bsky.social: The International Court of Justice’s statement on fossil fuels puts Carney in a tough spot...
www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

YouTube video by Kim Siever Why your coworkers should know how much you get paid

My latest YouTube video

Why your coworkers should know how much you get paid

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpPT...

“Once again, the Premier is improperly attempting to apply political pressure on an independent decision-maker and interfere with the rule of law"

Alberta NDP raise concerns after Justice Minister Micky Amery suggests Elections Alberta withdraw court action on separation qustion

@mickeyamery Statement: Response to Citizen Initiative process The recently passed amendments to the Citizen Initiative Act are intended to be broadly permissive and to allow Albertans the opportunity to launch a referendum petition without needless bureaucratic red tape or court applications slowing the process. As it is the Government of Alberta that ultimately decides how or if to implement any referendum result, those government decisions will ultimately be subject to constitutional scrutiny. We encourage Elections Alberta to withdraw its court reference and permit Albertans their democratic right to participate in the citizen initiative process.

Statement re: Citizen Initiative Application Update July 29, 2025 Media inquiries The Chief Electoral Officer is an independent, non-partisan Officer of the Legislature. The Citizen Initiative Act permits important questions that have constitutional implications to be put to a referendum. The constitutional referendum question proposed is: Do you agree that the Province of Alberta shall become a sovereign country and cease to be a province in Canada? This is a serious and significant question, with the potential to have profound impact on all Albertans. The Chief Electoral Officer has responsibility under the Citizen Initiative Act to determine if the requirements of s.2 of that Act have been met. One of those requirements set out in section 2(4) of the Act is that “An initiative petition proposal must not contravene sections 1 to 35.1 of the Constitution Act, 1982”. Given the potential implications of the constitutional referendum proposal and given the Legislature has expressly authorized the Chief Electoral Officer to state a question seeking the opinion of the Court, the Chief Electoral Officer has referred a question to the Court for its opinion. The Chief Electoral Officer has requested the Court provide an opinion on the following question: Does the following proposal contravene section 2(4) of the Citizen Initiative Act, in that it contravenes any or all of sections 1 through 35.1 of the Constitution Act, 1982: “Do you agree that the Province of Alberta shall become a sovereign country and cease to be a province in Canada?” Without limiting the scope of the question posed, does the proposal contravene any of the following sections? Section 1 – The guarantee of the rights contained in the Charter Section 3 – Democratic rights of citizens Section 6 – Mobility rights Section 7 – Right to life, liberty and security of the person Section 15 – Equality before and under law and equal protection and benefit of law Section 24 – E…

This morning Alberta's justice minister said "we encourage" Elections Alberta to stop seeking guidance from the courts on a proposed referendum on separation.

This afternoon Elections Alberta issued a public statement reminding everyone it is "an independent, non-partisan office."

4 candidates dominate 2024 Calgary municipal election fundraising While many of the notable candidates for Calgary’s next municipal election say they didn’t fundraise in 2024 at all, campaign disclosure data from last year shows that a select few have put together a...

While there aren't any huge surprises in Calgary's 2024 municipal fundraising disclosures, a few names stand out and give us some sense of who's lining up behind whom:

it_ain't_pretty_ on X: "This truck has tried to hit the group twice now https://t.co/tjRYoe2LqB" / X This truck has tried to hit the group twice now https://t.co/tjRYoe2LqB

Over on the bad site, a thread with some footage of the folks Feucht's tour brought to Portland in 2021. Not the most pleasant guests, it seems x.com/riotORwrong/...

Pro-Trump Christian musician to play Alberta legislature grounds in Edmonton Sean Feucht, who has faced cancellations of his East Coast events, is to play at an event on the Alberta legislature grounds on Aug 22.

Postmedia's un-bylined article about Feucht last week does not mention the Proud Boys incident

Hate watch groups voice alarm about Sean Feucht's Portland security volunteers (RNS) — ‘If you mess with them or our 1st amendment right to worship God - you’ll meet Jesus one way or another,’ Feucht said when he tweeted a photo of his security team.

More from another angle—here's coverage from Alejandra Molina mentioning the Pawlowski connection

Christian Worship Event Held on Portland Waterfront Didn’t Receive Permit From The City

Feucht's event there, which the Weekly says violated city permits, was a co-production with another character Albertans may be aware of—anti-vax street preacher Artur Pawlowski

Without Police Intervention, a Portland Waterfront Worship Event Leads to Clash Between Political Factions

Last week the Journal reported that the Smith government lent a hand to Sean Feucht, a pro-Trump musician who plans to play at the Legislature.

In 2021 Feucht's "Right to Worship" tour employed the Proud Boys, who then engaged in brawls across downtown Portland, according to the Willamette Weekly

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The bills for the UCP coal blunder are due, and they're huge Progress Report newsletter #358: The bills for Kenney and Savage's coal stunt come due, and they're huge. Also: everybody's got measles and the cops are on steroids

In this week's Progress Report newsletter: the bills for a 2020 stunt by the Kenney UCP on coal are due, and they're making the Turkish Tylenol look like peanuts. Also, our usual round-up of political stories from around the province

Statement on the Attempted Intimidation of Globe and Mail Reporter Carrie Tait - Canadian Association of Journalists Your Content Goes Here In Canada, journalists shouldn’t need to look over their shoulders just for doing their jobs. But that’s exactly what’s happening to Globe and Mail reporter Carrie Tait, who ha...

CAJ: “Targeting a journalist for simply doing their job is a cowardly act that endangers not only the reporter, but also the vital public interest work that journalism represents. Carrie Tait should be saluted for her work — not spoofed or surveilled.” caj.ca/statement-on...

From the inbox: Alberta forests and parks minister Todd Loewen, whose family owns an outfitting business, is taking a taxpayer funded trip to Oklahoma to promote Alberta as a "leader in sustainable bird hunting."

10 years later, documents shed new light on EPS steroid scandal

NEW: New documents provide previously unknown information on the scale and impact of the EPS steroid scandal, in which interim chief Warren Driechel was implicated.

www.theprogressreport.ca/10_years_lat...

‘It Was Violent’: People’s Commission Report Shines Light on Violence, Harassment and Hate Crimes During ‘Freedom Convoy’ Final report documents widespread ‘violence’ by convoy extremists – and abandonment of community by Ottawa Police

Despite efforts by their propagandists and apologists to revise history and reimagine the Freedom Convoy as a "peaceful protest," there were in fact numerous incidents of violence and harassment documented on the streets of Ottawa

Alberta concerned over Ottawa plan to accept newcomer parents, grandparents this year EDMONTON - Alberta's immigration minister says he's concerned about the federal government's plan this year to accept thousands of parents and grandparents of immigrants already in Canada.

Alberta concerned over Ottawa plan to accept newcomer parents, grandparents this year

News from me today: www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/prairies_bc/...

Well, at least the Alberta Party will finally have a clear and coherent political position.

Tired: sole-source contracts to friends.
Wired: settlements to friends.

Coal company wins $142.8-million from Alberta government over policy flip-flop Atrum Coal agreed to drop its lawsuit and surrender coal leases back to the government in exchange for cash

In 2020, the UCP suddenly scrapped land rules that had been in place since 1976, inviting a flurry of new investment into coal expansion. Then mass public pressure and a court challenge drove them to reverse that—which left the province vulnerable to lawsuits from those investors, like this one:

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Alberta's measles catastrophe by @Jim Storrie In the grip of anti-vax culture and governed by an anti-vax premier, Alberta is now the site of the world's second-worse active measles outbreak, with more total cases than the entire United States of...

This week on the Progress Report podcast, a frank chat with former Alberta NDP health minister Sarah Hoffman about Alberta's ongoing measles outbreak—one so bad that we've got more total cases than the entire United States of America.

Honestly a bit surprising that Danielle Smith took so long to jump on this one, considering how popular the issue is with the anti-vax base. Maybe she finally saw RFK Jr. posting about it