What’s the history of these Green New Deal proposals? What’s in them, anyways? And how do the policies proposed by AOC, Bernie and the NDP’s “Power to Change: A new deal for climate action and good jobs” compare?

Team Advantage takes a critical look at the history of GND proposals, comparing and contrasting their strengths and weaknesses.

After delivering a $4.5 billion corporate tax cut, Jason Kenney’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Alberta’s Finances proposed that Alberta’s expenditures are much too high. Chaired by Janice MacKinnon (who oversaw draconian cuts that shut down 52 rural hospitals in 1993 as NDP Finance Minister in Saskatchewan), the report recommended a $600 million cut to Alberta’s operational spending and a four-year freeze.

Trevor Harrison, director of the Parkland Institute, joins Team Advantage to discuss an alternate blue-ribbon report he recently co-authored, Cutting Through the Blue Ribbon: A Balanced Look at Alberta’s Finances.

How does Alberta’s economy stack up when compared to other provinces and the Canadian average? How does Alberta’s debt compare to the balance-books of other provinces? Are Alberta’s expenditures really out of line? What would happen if Alberta used stable revenue streams (taxation!) to finance its expenditures, and used its non-renewable resource revenues to fund the necessary transition? All this and more…

In the interest of inter-provincial solidarity, bridging Canada’s language divide, and making Alberta conservatives mad by saying Québec is good and cool: buckle up for an episode about Québec’s 1972 General Strike!

Joined by Central Canada Correspondent Brendan, Team Advantage takes a look at the radical Québecois politics of the late 1960s and early 1970s, culminating in a general strike in 1972. We examine the history of uneven development, the politics of anticolonial struggle, the radicalisation of labour groups, the state repression brought on by the 1970 October Crisis, the death of Michèle Gauthier, and the events of 1971-72.

Follow Brendan on Twitter @NeeedlesEye.
Watch “24 heures ou plus” from the NFB: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPQZAHiZtNw

Isn’t it weird that when Pierre Elliott Trudeau proposed a National Energy Policy in the 1980s, the spectre of nationalization was a horror to the oilpatch— but today, we find this same oilpatch wrapping itself in the Canadian flag?

Professor Shane Gunster joins Team Advantage to discuss his recent piece in the CCPA Monitor, “Extractive populism and the future of Canada,” and unpacks the loaded concepts the fossil fuel industry has mobilized to garner political support and legitimacy.

The SRSLY Wrong Boys and Team Advantage join forces to roast Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau! Find out why the Canadian Woke Bae’s progressive neoliberalism has been immensely disappointing! Consider the danger of performative-progressive politics in an age of far-right populism! Be amazed by the co-optation of substantial policy changes, and wonder at the smooth veneer of maintaining the status quo!

Support Srsly Wrong at patreon.com/srslywrong and follow them on twitter at @srslywrong.

And of course, please support the Alberta Advantage at patreon.com/albertaadvantage and follow us on twitter at @BertaAdvantage!

Writer James Davidge and artist Nick Johnson join Team Advantage to discuss their graphic novel, 1st Legion of Utopia, an “epic tale of killers, queers, and the birth of Canadian socialism.” The story follows a violent world of social unrest, political excitement, and pansy clubs— set in the Great Depression, it explores the forces surrounding the founding of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation in the frontier city of Calgary.

Follow them on twitter: @JamesDavidge @illustratednick

Remember how the CCF’s Regina Manifesto (1933) was a pleasure to read? Well, here we find out how the party ‘moderated’ its position. Formulated in the middle of the post-war boom and the Cold War, the Winnipeg Declaration softens the language and ambitions of the CCF, which would go on to become the NDP in 1961.

Kate interviews Dr. William Carroll, Professor of Sociology at the University of Victoria, and co-director of the Corporate Mapping Project. The CMP recently released a list of the Fossil-Power Top 50, which provided detailed profiles for the most influential organizations in and around the fossil-fuel sector. Some important Calgary-based organizations made the list— find out why!

What would it take for New Democrats to develop politics suited to our political moment? Team Advantage discusses how the origins of the NDP have shaped its trajectory, the party’s grappling with the realities of neoliberalism, and thinks through what a realistic social-democratic project would look like given the political realities of our day.

Canadian corporate cash stashed overseas hit a record high of $353 billion in 2018. Meanwhile in Alberta, Jason Kenney is lowering the corporate tax rate to 8%, the lowest in Canada.

Toby Sanger, Executive Director of Canadians for Tax Fairness, joins Team Advantage to discuss the problem of tax havens, tax avoidance, the fallout from the Panama and Paradise Papers abroad and at home, Trump’s corporate tax breaks, the myth of job creation, and more.