Hosting the Olympics in Calgary is a bad idea! Team Advantage considers Calgary’s 1988 Olympic bid and how we lucked out financially the first time, the ridiculous demands of the International Olympics Committee (including private traffic lanes and seasonal cakes), fun fascist-Olympics crossovers, the social costs of hosting the Olympics, B.C.’s completely not-ominous “Assistance to Shelter Act” that helped kidnap and displace homeless people, militarized police forces, evictions and gentrification. Finally, Team Advantage examines the role of local Yes supporters and boosters and considers Lenin’s wise words: “Put no faith in phrase-mongering, it is better to see who stands to gain!”

Paige Gorsak is running for the federal NDP nomination in Edmonton-Strathcona, a seat currently held by the NDP’s Linda Duncan (who is not seeking re-election). Kate interviews Paige about her ambitious platform and bold vision for the future, which includes a fossil-fuel phaseout and just transition fund, housing as a human right, free education, universal healthcare, drug decriminalization, and Indigenous sovereignty.

Members of the Federal NDP in Edmonton-Strathcona can vote for Paige at the nomination meeting on November 26th, 2018. See votepaigegorsak.ca for details.

We’re being told that wheat is legal now … ? To celebrate the Greatest Grain, Team Advantage dives into Alberta’s agrarian history, including the “clearing” of the plains, anti-capitalist ideas and agrarian radicalism, the history of the Canadian Wheat Board, Soviets stealing grain from America, the reorganization of rural life as Alberta discovers oil, and why the free market sucks.

Transcript after the break (special thanks to Isaac for transcribing):

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Team Advantage submits themselves to a reading of a known piece of socialist propaganda, Tommy Douglas’ Mouseland. Will they ever be the same again?
If you’re in Calgary this Friday, October 19th at 7pm, join us at the Hop In Brew (213 12 Ave SW) to hang out! Team Advantage will be there along with Duncan Kinney of Progress Alberta, who will be selling copies of Mouseland for $25.

Background image by Jill Pelto. http://www.jillpelto.com/landscape-of-change

David Gray-Donald, publisher of Briarpatch magazine, joins Team Advantage to discuss his experience at this past summer’s Global Petroleum Show in Calgary. Is the fossil fuel industry planning decarbonization and energy transition? What climate scenarios are they considering? What problems is the industry ignoring, how are they mobilizing their supporters into astroturf campaigns, and what role do these campaigns play?

Read David’s recent pieces:
Checking in with the oil crowd – August 29, 2018
The Oil Industry’s PR Offensive – August 30, 2018
What Canada’s major media are forgetting when they report on oil – August 13, 2018
Too fast, and now too furious – August 31, 2018

CW: Kavanaugh stuff.
The Calgary Herald will not apologize for Naomi Lakritz’s terrible opinions because they “are a platform for free speech.”
Team Advantage reads the Calgary Herald’s September 29, 2018 Editorial: The importance of free speech.
https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-the-importance-of-free-speech

The conclusion of our compelling Social Credit series! Team Advantage takes a hard look at Premier Ernest Manning, his religious views (and how these impact his politics), the discovery of oil in Leduc 1947 and Alberta’s emerging relationship with large multinational corporations, paranoia over CCF-style welfare-state programs, and some absolutely shocking antisemitism.

Our Teen Tankie Podcast Gang reassembles to discuss the brouhaha surrounding Unifor’s recent video identifying strikebreaking labourers. Unifor Local 579 has been locked out for 21 months (!) by the aerospace company D-J Composites in Gander, N.L.

What happens when public education isn’t quite public? What happens when your public schools have to compete with each other in the name of “choice in education” or “parental choice?” Team Advantage is joined by Barbara Silva, Communications Director for Support Our Students to discuss how exclusivity, artificial scarcity, specialization and market logic have contributed to an increasingly dysfunctional education system. As an alternative, we make the case for a comprehensive, accessible, robust public education system in Alberta!